Education: Theories Flashcards
Functionalism- function of education according to Durkheim
Social solidarity
Specialist skills
According to Durkheim how does education carry out the function of social solidarity
Social solidarity is the idea that individuals feel part of a shared community with common norms and values. Education promotes this by helping people feel connected to society and preparing them for life beyond family and friends in wider society(‘society in miniature’). (Essential for society to function)This is done through the curriculum (e.g. History) – which teaches a shared heritage and collective identity, rules and rituals – which encourage cooperation, respect, and understanding of social roles. It is also transmitted by learning the same core values, education reduces conflict and promotes social unity
What is social solidarity
the idea that individuals feel part of a shared community with common norms and values
According to Durkheim how does education teach specialist skills
As societies have become more advanced, jobs require a greater degree of skill and expertise. Education teaches these specialist skills needed for specific jobs, such as literacy and problem solving, allowing individuals to effectively contribute to the workforce. For example, in later stages of schooling like A levels and GCSEs education become more specialised to different roles, while earning schooling teaches foundational skills such as maths, writing and reading. This helps promote social solidarity by ensuring everyone plays their part in society, contributing to its overall functioning and helping people to foster a shared sense of unity.
According to Parsons what are the functions of education
Socialisation
Meritocracy
According to Durkheim how does education carry out the function of socialisation
Education is responsible for socializing individuals by teaching them universalistic norms and values that are necessary for participating in society(E.G laws, and school rules).While the family instills particularistic values specific to the individual(different for each child), education helps individuals transition to broader society by teaching rules that apply equally to everyone. This shift prepares individuals to interact with a wide range of people and adapt to societal expectations.
Universalistic values
Standards and rules that apply to everyone in society
Pluralistic values
Those that apply to individual children, enforced by the family. Often based on ascribed status
How does education carry out the function of meritocracy according to parsons
Education provides equal opportunities for all individuals to succeed based on their talent and effort, not their social background.This allows individuals to be rewarded according to their abilities and ensures that the most talented individuals are selected for the most important roles, promoting a more fairer and efficient society by allocating roles based on merit. This passes on important values such as the importance of hard work and effort.
According to Davis and Moore how does education carry out the function of role allocation
Education ‘sorts and sifts’ individuals based on their abilities and efforts, ensuring that the most important roles are filled by the most capable people.Therefore, social inequality is necessary, supporting a meritocratic system where rewards are based on merit, ensuring efficiency and stability in society.
How does education act as an ‘ideological state apparatus’ according to Althusser
The ideological state apparatus refers to institutions like education, media, and family, which maintain the power of the ruling class by shaping people’s beliefs and values. Education, as an ISA, socialising students to accept their roles in society, reproducing social inequality by passing on the ideology of the ruling class, which teaches the WC to accept inequality.
(The repressive state apparatus- uses force to maintain control (E.G police, Justice system, military), ensuring compliance and protecting the state quo.)
What is meant by an ‘ideological state apparatus’
The ideological state apparatus refers to institutions like education, media, and family, which maintain the power of the ruling class by shaping people’s beliefs and values.
Functions of education according to Bowles and Gintis
-The Correspondence theory
-The ‘myth of meritocracy’
What is the correspondence theory (B+G)
Schooling takes place in ‘the long shadow of work’, preparing students to take on their roles in the capitalist workplace through the hidden curriculum. For example, by teaching them obedience and respect, teaching students to accept authority and to conform, ultimately creating a subservient workforce that maintains the capitalist system and reproduces social inequality.
How does education promote ‘the myth of meritocracy’ (B+G)
Education is a ‘myth making machine’ that supports capitalism by pretending success is based on merit rather than on social class, teaching the working class to accept inequality and their poverty as their own fault, rather than as a result of how the system is. As a result,this creates an obedient workforce, who do not challenge the system due to the fear of unemployment, which keeps them willing to work for low wages and not strike. This operates through the hidden curriculum.
Bourdieu-Capital
Schools reproduce class inequalities by favouring the culture of the middle class, giving middle class students an advantage, while the working class do not have this same advantage and so making it difficult for them to succeed. Working class students also do not possess as much economic and social capital as the MC, who are able to use this to access better opportunities.
Illich (1995)-‘De schooling’
Schools are repressive and stop students from thinking for themselves, pushing students to accept authority and conform, instead of encouraging creativity and freedom. Those who obey are rewarded whilst those who don’t are excluded, leading to inequality. Schools should be abolished to solve this, letting students learn freely in their communities, doing what interests them, and this word lead to more real learning and less control.
Feire -Deschooling
Schools oppress learners, training them to accept authority and inequality, instead of questioning it, helping the ruling class to stay in power by teaching everyone t accept this system as the ‘natural state’ of things.
Example of deschooling
E.G Steiner and free schools, such as Summerhill in Suffolk. This school gives students the freedom to choose what and how they learn .E.G they have the choice to attend lessons if they want to and help run the schools themselves through democratic meetings.
Willis (1977)- Neo marxist- ‘leaning to labour’ study
Willis identified a group of working class boys called ‘the lads’, who formed an anti school subculture that rejected the values promoted by school, such as obedience, academic success, and respect for authority. Instead, they valued working-class masculinity, toughness, and manual labour, seeing school as pointless and boring. They resisted school rules by misbehaving, mocking the girls and the ‘ear oles’, and doing the bare minimum. Despite this resistance, the boys ended up in low-skilled, manual jobs similar to their fathers. This showed that even though they challenged school authority, their actions still led them to reproduce their working-class status—highlighting how class inequality continues through education.
