Neo-Marxist Perspective on Education

Question 1

who is the main Marxist in this Neo Marxist perspective

Answer 1

Paul Willis (1977)

Question 2

when was Paul Willis

Answer 2

1977

Question 3

what do all Marxists agree on (to do with capitalism)

Answer 3

capitalism cannot function without a workforce that is willing to accept exploitation

Question 4

what do marxists think education ensures

Answer 4

the working class pupils are slotted into and learn to accept poorly paying and alienating jobs

Question 5

what does Paul Willis’ study show

Answer 5

working class pupils can resist attempts to indoctrinate them

Question 6

what does Willis’ work help explain

Answer 6

why pupils reject school values and rules

Question 7

what does Willis disagree with on Bowles ad Gintis ideas

Answer 7

that schools brainwash students into passively accepting their fate

Question 8

what techniques did Willis use

Answer 8

qualitative research techniques

Question 9

what synthesis did Willis achieve

Answer 9

a one between macro and micro analysis, structured and social action theory

Question 10

whats Willis’ explanation seen as

Answer 10

Neo-Marxist theory on education

Question 11

what was Willis’ study on

Answer 11

12 working class boys over their last 18 months at school and following them in the transition from school to work

Question 12

where was Willis’ study carried out

Answer 12

the school was in the middle of a large working class housing estate in the West Midlands

Question 13

What did Willis find of the 12 boys

Answer 13

they formed a distinctive friendship group w a particular attitude, leading to the development of a counter school subculture

Question 14

What type of attitude did the 12 boys have in Willis experiment

Answer 14

Counter school subculture

Question 15

What did the boys attitude oppose

Answer 15

School value

Question 16

What did the 12 boys reject

Answer 16

Educational success

Question 17

What did the 12 boys call the hardworking pupils

Answer 17

The ‘ear’oles’

Question 18

What was the 12 boys main priority at school

Answer 18

Having a laugh, overcoming the boredom of school, as a way to gain status that school denied them

Question 19

Why did Willis find the boys rejected educational qualifications

Answer 19

They knew they weren’t essential for work, they were irrelevant

Question 20

What did Willis claim unlike to Bowles and Gintis

Answer 20

The boys weren’t submissive and weren’t shaped by education

Question 21

What did Willis say their attitude meant

Answer 21

They were destined for low skilled jobs that capitalism needs to be performed 
Also destined to maintain their low class position

Question 22

What did the boys anti school subculture help them accept

Answer 22

Inferior pay and conditions associated with work in a capitalist workforce

Question 23

What does Willis claim the boys saw within the ed system

Answer 23

The ‘con trick’ of eduction and the ‘myth of meritocracy’