Marxist Views on Education Flashcards
What is Marxism?
The belief that the upper class (bourgeoisie) can easily exploit their employees (proletariat)
Who are the 3 Marxists you should know when it comes to education?
Louis Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, Paul Willis
What did Louis Althusser come up with?
Ideological State Apparatus
What is the ideological state apparatus?
This is the idea that young people are taught to accept bourgeoisie norms and values as normal (hegemony). This helps create a state of “false class consciousness” where the poor do not realise they are being exploited and they are okay with it
What did Bowles and Gintis come up with?
The Correspondence Principle
What is the correspondence principle?
The idea that things that happen in school correspond to things that happen in the workplace, meaning it trains the workers of the future how to effectively work for the bourgeoisie
What are examples of the correspondence principle?
- Obey Authority
- Discipline + Sanctions
- Extrinsic Satisfaction (motivated by rewards)
- Lack of Control
- Acceptance of Boredom
What did Paul Willis come up with?
Learning to Labour
What does Paul Willis’s idea “learning to labour” mean?
He researched why w/c boys stay in w/c jobs. He found they formed anti school subcultures and had no interest in educational success as they believed they would stay in the w/c with low paying jobs. They were perfectly trained as exploitable workers of the future
How can you evaluate Althusser’s view on education?
Althusser’s ideas are impractical - if there was a conspiracy to pass down bourgeoisie N+V, there must be a more effective way to do so than the education system
How can you evaluate Bowles + Gintis’s view on education?
Since their research was conducted 50 years ago, can we really correspond their findings to the modern day education system?
How can you evaluate Paul Willis’s view on education?
Has issues with validity, it was a very small study conducted many years ago. To what extent can we apply it to modern education
