Marxism

Question 1

Marxism

what is marxism?

Answer 1

Marxism is a conflict perspective that views society as having a fundamental conflict between two classes with society. These classes are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

Question 2

Marxism

who are the bourgeoisie?

Answer 2

• they are the owners of production (factories, machinery, offices etc)
• they live off the labour of others
• they are the rulling or upper class

Question 3

Marxism

who are the proletariat?

Answer 3

• the vast majority of the popualtion
• have to sell their labour to survive
• the working and middle class

Question 4

Marxism

what do Marxists believe about education?

Answer 4

• Education is an important part of the superstructure (institutions such media, family, religion, state) of society.
• Education’s purpose is to serve the needs of the ruling class who control the economic base.

Question 5

Marxism

what are the two main functions that education performs in capitalist society and explain them?

Answer 5

1) Reproduction of inequalities - generally trains pupils from working class backgrounds to do working class jobs while provding elite education for the children of the wealthy. Preparing them to take up positions of power in society
2) Legitimates (justify) inequalities - through the myth of meritocracy, it persuades members of society that their positions (Particularly their jobs) reflect their ability, rather tham their position

Question 6

Hidden curriculum

what is the hidden curriculum according to marxists?

Answer 6

• it is the organisation and content of education that is shaped by this curriculum, which acts to deter the ambition of the working class pupils through:
  –> encouraging working class pupils to passively accept their failure
  –> transferring blame for educational failure and underachievement away from capitalism

Question 7

Althusser (1971) - Ideological State Apparatus and consciousness

what does Althusser say about how the bourgeoisie maintain their power?

Answer 7

Althusser argued that bourgeoisie maintain power by using:
1. Repressive state apparatus
a. Coercive power like the police and the army
2. Ideological state apparatus
a. Institutions that spread bourgeois ideology and ensure that the proletariat is in a state of false class consciousness.
b. Education is one institution in this – it prepares the working class to accept a life of exploitation.

The more effective the ISA is, the smaller the RSA will be.

Question 8

Class consciousness

what are the two types of class consciousness?

Answer 8

1. Class in itself – share the same economic position but are not challenging capitalism. Most will accept capitalist ideology as ‘normal.’ This is known as false class consciousness.
2. Class for itself – members are class conscious – aware that capitalism needs to be abolished.

Question 9

Class consciousness

how does class consciousness affect the proletariat?

Answer 9

The proletariat develop a consciousness of its own economic and political interests in opposition to the bourgeoise through capitalist exploitation e.g. dropping wages, rise in cost of living. The proletariat move from a class in itself to a class for itself.

Question 10

Althusser (1971) – Function of education

what does Althusser argue the main function of education is and how it is done? (give example)

Answer 10

• Althusser (1971) argued that the main function of the education system is to maintain, legitimate and reproduce capitalism and inequalities.
• It does this through the ISA by transmitting ruling-class ideology as ‘common sense.’
• E.g., in Britain and other capitalist countries, pupils are encouraged to accept the benefits of private enterprise and individual competition without question.

Question 11

Althusser (1971) – Function of education

Why is the ISA important for capiatlism?

Answer 11

the ISA reproduces the conditions needed for capitalism to flourish wihout having to use force. Force would expose capitalism and capitalists as oppressive, so it is only used when necessary. Instead, ideology gets the same resuluts by exerting

Question 12

Reproduction of capitalism

how is capitalism reproduced?

Answer 12

This is done both through the formal curriculum and through other aspects of school life (hidden curriculum):
1) Formal curriculum - decisions about what is taught and what is not taught impact the nature of the value consensus that the education system produces.
2) Hidden curriculum - education also teaches us about hierarchy, respect for authority, obeying the rules. Marxists like Althusser would argue that that these serve to keep the rich and powerful in their positions and to prevent rebellion and revolution.

Question 13

Bourdieu (1977)

what does Bourdieu argue about education?

Answer 13

• Education system devalues the culture of the working class (for example classical music and ‘serious’ literature rather than popular culture).
• Middle and upper classes succeed by default rather than greater ability.
• A process of cultural reproduction takes place - culture of the middle class is reproduced and given higher status than working class culture.
• Bourdieu sees this as a form of ‘symbolic violence’ against the working class.

Question 14

Bourdieu (1977)

what does Bourdieu say is working class culture?

Answer 14

• colloquial language used
• working calls go to fast food restaurants
• don’t wear as much designer
• take public bus or walk
• they believe that nothing they can do can change their status

Question 15

Bourdieu (1977)

what does Bourdieu say is middle class culture?

Answer 15

• reading non fiction and classical literature rather than pop literature
• watching documentaries rather than soap operas
• middle class go to restaurants
• wears designer
• more likely to use cars and tube lines
• more likely to play classical instruments

Question 16

Bourdieu (1984) & Evans (2009)

what is habitus? (use Bourdieu (1984) & Evans (2009) arguements)

Answer 16

Habitus refers a culture or worldview that is associated with a social class or social group. Working class habitus is viewed as inferior and therefore working-class culture is seen as inferior:
* Bourdieu (1984) – working class students think about the opportunities available to them as part of their habitus – do not believe they would ‘fit in’ at elite universities
* Evans (2009) – supports this. WC students were reluctant to apply to elite universities, and those that did felt hidden barriers

Question 17

Bourdieu (1984)

what does Bourdieu (1984) say about symbolic capital?

Answer 17

• Pupils who have middle-class tastes and preferences gain ‘symbolic capital’ (status) from the school.
• Working class habitus is viewed as worthless (e.g. clothing).
• Bourdieu – withholding symbolic capital is ‘symbolic violence’ – this reinforces the class system and keeps the WC students ‘in their places.’

Question 18

Archer ‘Nike identities’

How is Archer’s study testing Bourdieu’s idea of symbolic capital?

Answer 18

the working class are giving each other status by wearing nike as it creates self worth within their peers and would create a better status as the middle class would wear gucci

Question 19

Archer ‘Nike identities’

What is a ‘Nike identity’?

Answer 19

working class pupils were conscious that society and school would look down on them, so to overcome the symbolic violence they feel they gained self worth through style by consuming branded clothing such as Nike

Question 20

Archer ‘Nike identities’

Why are working class students negatively affected?

Answer 20

a lot of the students turned to crime and drugs so that they were able to fund these pieces of clothing. It also led to conflict with the school’s dress code

Question 21

Archer ‘Nike identities’

What are the key conclusions Archer draws?

Answer 21

• students not able to afford ‘Nike’ identity
• led to clashes with teachers
• were aware of financial pressures and ‘shady activities’
• were aware that university would mean their lifestyle would change

Question 22

Bowles and Gintis (1976) – Correspondence principle

what does Bowles and Gintis (1976) say about education?

Answer 22

• Education serves capitalist interests by preparing children for work in capitalist businesses.
• Education corresponds to employment, reflecting the needs of capitalist businesses.
• Education prepares a hardworking, docile, and obedient workforce that will not challenge management, they do this through the hidden curriculum

Question 23

Bowles and Gintis (1976) – Correspondence principle

what does the school do to prepare students for the workplace?

Answer 23

School:
- wear uniform
- punctuality
- respect head teachers and teachers
- workin with other students
- rewarded fro academic performance
- external rewards
- conformist pupils are rewarded
- Competition in education

Workplace:
- dresscode
- Punctuality
- respect boss and higher placed collegues
- working with collegues
- promotions for hard work
- conformist workers are rewarded
- competition for positions and payrises

Question 24

Benefit for capitalism

how does the processes within education benefit capitalism? (use Rikowski’s arguement for support)

Answer 24

• These processes keeps the proletariat divided and, in the case of workers, prevents them from rebelling, or setting up their own businesses in competition with their employers.
• This supports the myth of meritocracy - people are conned into believing that success or failure is based on merit.
• Rikowski (2002, 2005) argues that there has been a ‘business takeover’ of schools e.g. businesses sponsoring Academies, the subcontracting of many school services (for example educational psychology services) to private businesses and an ever-growing emphasis on competition between schools.

Question 25

Evaluation

Question 26

Neo-Marcxism

what is neo-marxism and what does it include?

Answer 26

Neo-Marxism is an attempt to provide a more contemporary understanding of class society based on the ideas of Marx and Engels. It tends to include ideas which:
* Integrate new methodologies (those who use both Marxist and Interpretivist approach)
* Are writing more recently (however this doesn’t always apply)

Question 27

Giroux (1984)

what does Giroux (1984) argue about education?

Answer 27

• He argues that working-class pupils do not passively accept everything they are taught.
• He believes that working class pupils actively shape their own education and sometimes resist the discipline imposed on them by the school.
• Schools are sites of ideological struggle by different classes and by different ethnic, religious and cultural groups struggling to ensure that education provides the things they wish for.
• Giroux acknowledges that capitalists have more power than any other single group, but they don’t have all the power.

Question 28

Willis (1977)

what did Willis (1977) do?

Answer 28

• Studied 12 working class-boys at a Midlands school on a working-class housing estate, for their last 18 months of school and first few months at work.
• Willis used a variety of methods – ‘observation and participant observation in class, around the school and during leisure activities, regular recorded group discussions, informal interviews and diaries’.
• Tried to understand the perspective of the students and how they saw the present and the future.
• He soon found that schools were not as successful as Bowles and Gintis supposed in producing docile and conformist workers.

Question 29

Willis (1977)

what does Willis (1977) say about the lads?

Answer 29

When Willis followed the lads into their first jobs in factories, he found strong similarities between shop-floor culture (shop floor is the factory floor) and the counter-school culture. Willis claims that in some ways the lads see through the capitalist system, but in other ways they contribute to their own exploitation:
* recognise that ‘the possibility of real upward mobility is so remote as to be meaningless’,
* Investing time, emotion and energy into school work is hardly worth the effort.
* meritocracy is an illusion and that the majority of working-class lads will remain at the bottom of the class system.
* Despite these ‘partial penetrations’ into the nature of capitalism, counter-school culture directs them into low-skill employment

Question 30

Neo-Marxist conclusions

what are the conclusions of neo-marxists?

Answer 30

• The hidden curriculum is not always accepted.
• Education does not always succeed in socialising pupils into dominant values.
• It suggests that both functionalism and Marxism exaggerate conformity in education.

Question 31

Marxism and Neo-Marxism evaluation

give an evaluation for Marxism and Neo-Marxism views

Answer 31

• Postmodernists: Marxism is out of date. The correspondence principle no longer exists. Also, we live in a post-class era.
• Feminists: Argue that schools reproduce patriarchy rather than capitalism.
• Romanticisation: Working-class students are often seen sympathetically, and in Willis’ case heroic, rather than often poorly behaved students who can make bad decisions.
• New Right: Saunders (1996) claims that middle class educational success is ‘deserved’ because middle class children inherit a genetic predisposition to be more intelligent than their working class peers.

Question 32

Functionalist comparison

compare Marxism and Neo-Marxism views to funcationalism

Answer 32

• There are similarities in the analysis by Functionalists and Marxists, however Functionalists tend to be positive whereas Marxist tend to argue this is for the benefit of capitalism
• E.g. hidden curriculum, Marxists see it as entirely benefiting capitalism while functionalists see it as entirely benefiting society.
• Both do not acknowledge that education may have different effects for different groups at different times - E.g. intersections of class and gender
• Neither identify concrete solutions that could be implemented today

Question 33

Social Democratic criticism

what does the Social Democratic say about education?

Answer 33

• Social democratic perspectives are associated with educationalists and politicians who would like to see greater equality.
• Education is crucial for promoting equality of opportunity in a meritocratic society.
• Governments need to intervene to ensure equal opportunities in education, as it is not inherently meritocratic.
• The expansion of comprehensive schools in the 1960s and 1970s, along with higher education growth, benefited the working class by increasing access to professional jobs.