marxist view on education

Question 1

Althusser on education (state apparatus)

Answer 1

Links to correspondence principle
>social institutions like education shape our behaviour
>the working class outnumbers the ruling class so they control them through state apparatus
>(RSA) through police, control, force military
>(ISA) through thoughts and beliefs, education, media, religion

Question 2

what are the criticisms of althusser

Answer 2

>functionalists agree but say it benefits society
>Lack of evidence over ruling class dominating working class
>Postmodernists say there are more pathways to success.

Question 3

What is the correspondence principle?

Answer 3

> The correspondence principle is transmitted through the hidden curriculum.
The knowledge and work children learn in schools corresponds to what future employers need.
An acceptance of hierarchy in schools and work
Pupils and workers put up with boredom and exploitation to get the reward at the end e.g grades or money.

Question 4

What did Paul Willis research? (neo marxist)

Answer 4

> He conducted in participant observation of 12 lads who formed a counter school subculture.
Their point was to rbell and “ave a laff”
They saw school as pointless to the factory jobs they wanted.
They’d seen through the myth of meritocracy
The lads actively resisted school authority and criticised the idea of passive subservience which means accepting authority and doing what you’re told without questioning it.

Question 5

The legitimisation of class inequality

Answer 5

>In school we are taught that we all have an equal chance to succeed
>we believe that if we fail its due to our own lack of ability and effort this is why working class accept lower paid jobs 
> Marxist believe pupils are taught the truth that working class kids face an unfair disadvantage because of social class

Question 6

critics on marxism in education

Answer 6

> not every working class pupil fails
some students rebel
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