marxism

Question 1

Ao1 for social control

Answer 1

Althusser sees the education system as an ideological state apparatus to brainwash people.
As a result of the brainwashing the proletariat failed to see that on exploitation and have false class consciousness.
The hidden curriculum is responsible for this for example being taught that they must respect those above them in school hierarchy.

Question 2

Ao3 for social control

Answer 2

Functionalist would reject this idea as negative and not learn things like respect. The hierarchy is good for society as people are encouraged to work harder and achieve status, when they work harder they contribute more to society and help it going.

Question 3

Ao1 correspondence principle

Answer 3

Bowles and Gintis are Marxists who criticize the education system this is because they believe education maintains capitalism and keeps an unfair system where the poor remain poor.
Capitalism requires passive and docile workers so that authority is accepted and that he school functions to provide workers with these skills through the correspondence principle this is when the school mirror the workplace.

Question 4

Ao3 correspondence principle

Answer 4

Post modernists argue that Marxism is now irrelevant.
That their ideas may have applied to modern industrial society but we are now in a post modern society and that the economy is completely different so schools today teach children to be active, creative and flexible not passive and docile.

Question 5

Ao1 secondary socialisation

Answer 5

Marxist agree that education passes on the norms and values of society but these are capitalist values which benefits the bourgeoisie. An example of these is capitalist values is meritocracy where pupils are taught that everyone achieves based on ability and effort. For Bowles and Gintis the education system helps prevent people from recognizing their exploitation so they do not rebel against the system for class inequality.

Question 6

Ao3 secondary socialisation

Answer 6

Bowles and Gintis assume we all conform once we are socialised into the values of capitalism but the working class students do not always accept the legitimacy of school as Willis’s study mentions.

Question 7

Ao1- Wiilis learning to labour

Answer 7

Willis challenges the view of secondary socialisation by Bowles and Gintis.
Using group interviews Willis studied a group of 12 working class lads in anti school subculture. They broke school rules by smoking and disrupting classes. They did not accept the hidden curriculum and were able to see through the meritocractic ideology and they realised they were never going to succeed

Question 8

Ao3 learning to labour

Answer 8

Willis has been criticized for romanticizing the lads and representing them as working class heroes despite their antisocial behavior and their sexist attitudes.
Its also very small scale and unlikely to be representative as it is gender blind