Marxism Perspective

Question 1

What does Althusser argue?

Answer 1

According to Althusser, the state consists of two apparatuses which serve to maintain the ruling class (bourgeoise) in their dominant position

Question 2

what is the repressive state apparatuses?

Answer 2

it maintains the rule of the bourgeoisie by the threat of force and physical force e.g. institutions such as the police force and judiciary will use physical coercion to repress the working class and control behaviour in society so as to ensure the capitalist system is not under attack

Question 3

What is the ideological state?

Answer 3

it maintains the rule of the bourgeoise by controlling peoples ideas, values and beliefs e.g institutions such as the media and the educations system controls institutions such as the media and the education system controls thought-patters so that people are submissive and do not attack the bourgeoise

Question 4

What does the education system do according to Althusser?

Answer 4

it legitimates and reproduces class inequality

Question 5

How does education reproduce class inequality?

Answer 5

by transmitting class inequality from generation to generation by failing each successive generation of working class pupils in turn

Question 6

How does education legitimise class inequality?

Answer 6

by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause and the function of ideology is to persuade workers to accept that they deserve their subordinate position in society e.g. WC think that their poor working conditions and low pay is fair because they got bad grades at school, rather than acknowledging that they were not given the same educational opportunities as middle class people

Question 7

what are the criticism of Althusser’s view?

Answer 7

• social welfare policies in place to ensure that no one falls below the poverty line e.g. child benefits, bursaries and free school meals
• theory assumes that people are puppets are easy to control

Question 8

What does Bowles and Gintis argue?

Answer 8

that capitalism requires a workforce with the kind of attitudes, behaviour and personality type suited to their role as alienated and exploited workers willing to accept hard work, low pay and orders above

Question 9

What do Bowles and Gintis think the role of the education system is?

Answer 9

to reproduce an obedient workforce that will accept inequality as inevitable

Question 10

what are the similarities in school and work in capitalist society according to Bowles and Gintis

Answer 10

both schools and workplaces are hierarchies, with headteachers/ bosses at the top making decisions and giving orders and workers/ pupils at the bottom obeying

Question 11

What is the Correspondence Principle according to Bolwes and Gintis?

Answer 11

the relationships and structures found in education which mirror or correspond those of work and operates through a hidden curriculum

Question 12

What is the hidden curriculum according to Bowles and Gintis?

Answer 12

all the lessons learnt in school without being taught e.g. through the everyday workings of the school, pupils become accustomed to accepting hierarchies and competition, working for extrinsic rewards and levels of occupational structure

Question 13

What did Bowles and Gintis find from their study of 237 New York high school students and the findings from other studies?

Answer 13

Bowles and Gintis found that schools reward the kind of personality traits that make for a submissive, compliant worker e.g. they found that those who showed independence and creativity tended to gain low grades, while those who showed characteristics linked to obedience and discipline tended to gain high grades and therefore, schooling creates an obedient workforce ideal for the capitalist system

Question 14

What are the criticisms of Bowles and Gintis?

Answer 14

• the theory is outdated as modern economies rely on creativity and workers initiative rather than mindless workers
• in reality, students talk back, are late to class, skip class and do not obey and therefore the correspondence theory is not effective

Question 15

As the capitalist society is based on inequality, what is the danger according to B & G?

Answer 15

the poor will rebel against the system they feel is unfair and the education system helps to prevent this from happening by legitimating class inequality by producing ideologies that serve to explain and justify why inequality is fair, natural and inevitable

Question 16

Why do B&G argue that the education system is not meritocratic?

Answer 16

it pretends to be so that people accept their place in society as being their own fault

Question 17

What are the factors that determine whether or not someone has high income according to B&G?

Answer 17

family and class background and not their academic achievements

Question 18

What does the myth of Meritocracy serve to do according to B&G?

Answer 18

justify the privileges of the higher classes making it seem like they gained them through succeeding in open and fair competition at school and this helps persuade the WC to accept inequality as legitimate and makes it less likely that they will seek to overthrow capitalism

Question 19

What does B&G argue that the system helps to recreate?

Answer 19

class inequality in society where the wc grow up to be wc and the mc grow up to be mc

Question 20

What are the criticisms of B&G? MYTH OF MERITOCRACY

Answer 20

Education system is more meritocratic than B&G claim as there are more working class kids going of to uni than middle class in the uk

Question 21

Who does Willis disagree with?

Answer 21

traditional Marxists as they assume that people were submissive to the bourgeoise indoctrination and argued that the wc knew the system was rigid against them

Question 22

What did willis study?

Answer 22

the counter school culture of a group of 12 working class boys and they are scornful of the conformist boys and take ‘the piss’ out of the ear’oles and girls

Question 23

What did Willis find?

Answer 23

the boys rejected the schools meritocratic ideology that working class pupils can achieve middle class jobs through hard work and ultimately formed anti-school subcultures which ensured that they were best suited for manual labourer

Question 24

What is the criticisms of Willis?

Answer 24

• Willis sample is too small as he only studied 12 boys and therefore it is unrepresentative to wider society and cannot be generalised
  + study acknowledges that people are not puppets unlike other marxists