Marxism Flashcards
Althusser
Althusser believes that education is part of an ideological state apparatus (passing on ruling class ideas), which is ideal compared to having to use a repressive state apparatus (physical control, such as being arrested). This means that education legitimates class inequalities by passing on ideologies. Says that ideology in capitalist society is fundamental to social control
Bowles and Gintis
Correspondence theory: School’s main function is to condition future workers into norms, values, and routines. This is known as social reproduction. Schools, like society, have a hierarchy and rules, so school mirrors society
They also disagree with functionalists and say meritocracy is a myth to legitimise inequality
Bourdieu
Cultural capital theory: The failure of the working class is the fault of the education system, not the working class culture. The closer the student’s style to the teacher’s, the more likely they are to succeed, so middle class students have the advantage because they have the same linguistic background as the teacher (bourgeoisie parlance as opposed to common parlance), so there is an in-built barrier to success. This cultural capital is translated by education into economic capital
Boudon
The cost of persistence puts students off from continuing education because it effects their parents financially, and socially will have to be cut off from friends/family. This means there is a strong social pressure not to continue in education as friends will have left and got jobs, isolating them because they will have a different culture and climate. For many this cost is too high, and so they do not pursue further education
Willis
Studied 12 working class lads who had created an anti-school sub-culture that was racist, and sexist, and focussed on “having a laff”. Willis found that they assumed that they would not get anywhere in education, so they didn’t. Individuals have free will, the lads created the anti-school culture
The rejection of the school culture by the lads actually prepared them for the world of work better than others
