Marxist views on education Flashcards
Who are the main marxists theorists
-Bowles and Gintis
-Althusser
What are Bowles and Gintis views on education
-They see the role of education as reproducing power overtime. This is done by forms of consciousness , interpersonal behaviour and personality it fosters and reinforces in students which is done through the hidden curriculum.
-Their theory is known as the correspondence theory, they see a close correspondence between the social relationships in the workplace and the social relationships in the education system.
-
According to bowles and gintis , how are the social relationships in the workplace similar to those at school (correspondence theory)
1)Submission to authority ;
Schools are organised on a hierarchical principle. Students have little control over the subjects the study or how they study them.
this prepares them for the workplace where they will be required to accept authority of supervisors and managers.
2)External rewards ;
Students don’t have much control over their work and this results in them getting little satisfaction from it. instead they are motivated by the possibility of examination success and the promise of employment. This mirrors the world of work where workers are motivated by wages rather than the work itself.
Bowles and Gintis theory on meritocracy
-The education system provides a large part of the justification for and acceptance of inequalities in the capitalsy society.
-it legitimates inequality by creating the belief that schools provide the opportunity for fair and even competition. that success is a result of talent and dedication
Evaluation of Bowles and Gintis
Althusser’s theories on education
-The role of education in a capitalist society is the reproduction of a labour workforce/working class.He argues that in order for ruling class to survive the reproduction of the labour force is essential.
Althusser - ideological state apparatus
-Education is an ideological state apparatus as it transmits ruling class ideology which creates a false class consciousness (it justifies the position of the ruling class)
Althusser - reproduction of social inequality
-Education deliberately engineers working class failure (working class students don’t have the same quality of education and opportunities as the elite) to create an unqualified workforce.
Althusser - legitimisation of social inequality
-Middle class students have access to more cultural and economic capital which puts them at an advantage
-education encourages students to blindly accept capitalist values through the hidden curriculum.
Evaluation of althusser
Neo-Marxist Giroux:
The Marxist view is too deterministic - Rejects the view that the working class passively accepts their position to become compliant workers.
The existence of anti-school sub-cultures, truancy and exclusion suggests that both the hidden curriculum and the correspondence principle have failed.
Social Democrats: Floud & Martin suggest that Marxists exaggerate the effect education has on working-class achievement.
They point out that government policies such as comprehensivisation have improved the chances of the working class.
Neo-Liberals: Saunders claims that middle-class educational achievement is due to biological differences.
New Rights: Chubb and Moe argue that Marxists fail to see that education has failed all social groups, not just the working class. Education has failed to equip students with the skills required for success in the global marketplace.
Postmodernism: Marxists fail to realise that education reproduces diversity, not inequality. Morrow & Torres claim that students claim their own identity rather than being constrained by class.
