Marxist theory of the role of education

Question 1

How does the education system maintain capitalism

Answer 1

• transmits the ruling ideology which is the norms and values of capitalism
• maintains false class conciousness which is when you are not aware of your class position (being exploited and oppressed)

Question 2

Bowles and gintis (1976)
- ruling class ideology

Answer 2

• reproduces new generations of workers who are taught to accept their place in society
• schools do this through the correspondence principle
  
  • bourdieu relates with this point as he says people stay in their class due to lack of cultural capital (maintains the status of the r/c)

Question 3

What is the correspondence principle

Answer 3

• where education mirrors the workplace taught through the hidden curriculum ( which is all the lessons that are learnt in school without being directly taught e.g punctuality, hierarchy)

Question 4

Althusser (1971)
- false class consciousness

Answer 4

• education justifies class inequality and disguises exploitation (ISA)
• bowles and gintis further explain this with their ideas of the ‘myth of meritocracy’ so we just accept it and deal with it
  However - paul willis shows us that some people don’t accept it and some people reject it e.g ‘the lads’ who knew their future and didn’t listen because they knew they would get manual jobs

Question 5

What is the myth of meritocracy?

Answer 5

-it is the idea that the thought that everyone has equal opportunity to achieve and rewards are based off ability is a myth and that the main factor determining whether someone has a high income is their class background

Question 6

Evaluation of the marxist view of education

Answer 6

1) capitalism requires a docile and obedient workforce which is criticised by postmodernists as the education system needs to reproduce a diverse workforce who have initiative and unique ideas
2) ‘class first’ approach which is criticised by postmodernists as society is more diverse and education reproduces all of forms of inequality like maintaining patriarchy

Question 7

cultural capital

Answer 7

• values, knowledge and behaviours that we all have in different ways
  -ruling class have more of this which helps them get to the top
• puts them at an advantage as it leads to top grades which leads to top jobs
• have more connections and their achievement is influenced by their class ability