Perspectives On Education

Question 1

Social solidarity

Answer 1

Refers to the bonding/integration of people together in society through shared values, and a common culture and understanding.

Durkheim: Solidarity and Skills Teaching
Social Solidarity: Durkheim argues that society needs a sense of solidarity. Without it, social life and cooperation would be impossible because each individual would pursue their own selfish desires. The education system helps to create social solidarity by transmitting society’s culture (shared beliefs and values) from one generation to the next. For example the teaching of a country’s history instils in children a sense of shared heritage and a commitment to a wider social group. This can also be achieved through the hidden curriculum.

Question 2

Define ‘value consensus’

Answer 2

The need for societies to have a common set of beliefs and principles to work towards.

Question 3

Meritocratic

Answer 3

Means status or position in society is chosen by your own abilities and efforts, rather than because of your class, ethnicity, gender, the family you were born into or who you know.

Question 4

What do functionalists argue?

Answer 4

They argue that in order for society to function effectively, there must be social order and stability, otherwise society will collapse.

Question 5

Why is functionalism seen as a structural theory?

Answer 5

Because it claims that social structures such as religion, family, and school perform a number of ‘positive functions/roles’, both for a society as a whole and for individuals, in order to help maintain social solidarity. They are only interested in the positive functions performed by education.

Question 6

What are the two key functions?

Answer 6

The socialisation function: the school system helps socialise students into society by teaching individuals about the accepted behaviour and rules of society, which helps achieve social solidarity.
The economic function: the school system plays a key role in slotting people into ‘appropriate’ future occupations in society.

Question 7

Durkheim: social solidarity

Answer 7

Durkheim claims that the education system teaches students the shared norms and values of society which creates social solidarity.

Question 8

Parsons: Meritocracy

Answer 8

He believes every individual is given an equal opportunity to achieve their full potential on an individuals talent without being discriminated against on the grounds of social class, gender or ethnicity. Parsons sees school as a ‘miniature’ version of society, as both are meritocratic. In school, individuals succeed or fail depending on their own ability and efforts. This prepares them for life in modern society and its economy, which is competitive and individualistic.

Parsons see schools as an important place for secondary socialisation; acting as the bridge between the family and wider society. This bridge is needed because the family and society operate on different principles, so children need to learn a new way of living if they are to cope in the wider world.
Within the family, the child is judged by particularistic standards (rules that only apply to them). They also have an ascribed status (fixed at birth).

Question 9

Parsons ideas

Answer 9

he sees education as performing an important role in terms of establishing shared norms and values, school is simply the bridge between the family or primary socialisation and entry to employment. He views the education system as a positive system of placing the best students at the top both in school and eventually the work place.

Question 10

Role allocation

Answer 10

A system of allocating people the most appropriate jobs for their talents using exams and qualifications.

Davis and Moore see education as a device for selection and role allocation. They argue that inequality is necessary to ensure that the most important roles in society are filled by the most talented people. It would be inefficient and dangerous to have less able people performing roles such as surgeon or airline pilot. Not everyone is equally talented so society has to offer a high reward for these jobs. This will encourage everyone to compete for them and society can then select the most talented individuals for these positions.
Education plays a key part in this process as it acts as a proving ground for ability. The most able gain the highest qualifications which gives them entry to the most important jobs in society.

Question 11

Ascribed status

Answer 11

A position in society that a person has as a result of their birth or other circumstances over which they have no control.

Question 12

Achieved status

Answer 12

A position in society that one earns based on efforts, abilities or choices.

Question 13

Statement: Education sifts and sorts people into their appropriate jobs

Answer 13

An element of this is ascribed: natural ability, talent or intelligence.

Question 14

Marxists: myth of meritocracy

Answer 14

made up to legitimise the system of unfairness in which the bourgeoisie rule and the proletariat are exploited and are persuaded to believe the rich/powerful reach positions through hard work and natural ability rather that privileged birth. The myth of meritocracy sets up a way of making the working class accept that they are working class.

Question 15

What does the education system teach

Answer 15

it teaches people the value of making an effort as it’s rewarded, it ensures people end up performing the social roles they’re best suited

Question 16

Evaluating parsons: false class consciousness

Answer 16

Argue class inequalities are reproduced in next generation and education system plays key role in this, argue myth of meritocracy helps develop a false class consciousness (working class are unaware of the inequality their class faces).

Question 17

Feminist view of education overall

Answer 17

• Share ideas with functionalists and Marxists
• Feminists see the education system as transmitting patriarchal values

Question 18

Postmodernist beliefs

Answer 18

1.) People create society as they go along. It is not possible to ‘know’ society: or how society works as it is not a ‘thing’.
2.) Truth is just another opinion.
3.) There are no rules, so people choose to do what pleases them.
4.) Gender and sexuality are a matter of personal choice.
5.) Theories are pointless because they all have weaknesses.
6.) People choose what to believe in a ‘pick and mix’ of different ideas.
7.) People gain satisfaction from buying things which give them an identity, this is consumerism.
8.) Society only change, things do not improve.
9.) Social groups are fragmented, so people choose their gender and class.

Postmodernism means literally ‘after the modern era’. The modern era was a time of certainty and stretched from the 18th century to the late 20th century.
Postmodernists believe that this era was far more predictable than the times we live in today, e.g. jobs were for life and class was a major source of identity.
Since around the 1970’s we have been living in times characterised by risk and diversity. Consequently this has had huge implications for education .
Moor and Hickox 1994
Argue that such policies as the National Curriculum are doomed to failure because they can’t keep up with the increasingly diverse nature of society.
The continual testing, target setting and recording of results is seen as an attempt to keep some kind of order.
Criticisms
Some argue that no such thing as a post-modern world exists and that issues such as social class are just as important today as ever. Postmodernists criticise sociological theories for being ‘meta-narratives’ (large all-embracing explanations). However, in putting forward their views are not postmodernists falling into the same trap?

Question 19

Modernist beliefs

Answer 19

1.) Society creates order out of chaos; the purpose of sociology is to learn how society works and improve it.
2.) Knowledge produced by science is the truth.
3.) People follow social rules because it makes good sense to do so.
4.) Gender is fixed at birth and based on sex.
5.) Theories can offer the answers to problems in society.
6.) People tend to belong to one particular belief system such as Marxism or Christianity.
7.) People gain satisfaction and value from making things.
8.) Society is constantly improving itself and the world can only get better.
9.) People belong to known social groups such as gender or classes.

Question 20

Criticising Postmodernism

Answer 20

1.) The work of postmodernism tends to be descriptive as it cannot be used as the basis of sociological research. Identifying social diversity does not explain it.
2.) The theory states that there is no theory. This is a contradiction in itself.

Question 21

Strengths of postmodernism

Answer 21

1.) It shows the social attitudes are changing as older belief systems have less influence.
2.) People responding to choices helps explain social change.
3.) It highlight the impact of the media and consumerism on modern culture.

Question 22

Recognising postmodernism

Answer 22

Postmodernists tend to think in terms of choice and uncertainty. They emphasise that change is natural to society and that no particular way of life is correct. They discuss the way that people are individualistic, concerned with image and with consumerism products, especially technology and the media. They agree with interactionists that people interpret the world and then develop that idea to say that people construct the reality that best suits their needs.

Question 23

Jean Francois lyotard

Answer 23

Lyotard claimed that there are no useful meta-narratives in modern society because all of them are too simplistic. Knowledge is no longer a way in which we can be controlled by the powerful because modern technology means we all can access it. Ideas can now be judged on how useful they are, not on their ‘truth’.

Question 24

Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007)

Answer 24

Baudrillard was interested in the media. He said that we are swamped by the media images and messages so that all we do is consume. We do not buy products because we like them, we buy them because they give us an identity of some kind. In our society, appearance and image are all we care about because there is no reality to life.

Question 25

Neoliberalism

Answer 25

An economic doctrine that has had a major influence on education policy. Neoliberals argue that the state should not provide services such as education, health and welfare.

Question 26

The new right

Answer 26

A conservative political view that incorporates neoliberal economic ideas. A central principle of New Right thinking is the belief that the state cannot meet people’s needs, and they are best left to meet their own needs through the free market.

The New Right approach to education reflects many of the ideas of the functionalist perspective. The New Right argues that education should:
• Train the workforce, making sure the most able students have their talents developed and are recruited into the most important jobs whilst others are prepared for lower-level employment.
• Socialise young people into a collective value and responsible citizenship, and thereby build social cohesion and social solidarity to ensure a stable and united society.
However, a key difference is that the New Right do not believe the current education system is achieving these goals. The reason for its failure is that it is run by the state.

Question 27

Similarities between the new right and functionalists

Answer 27

-Both believe that some people are naturally more talented than others.
-Both favour an education system run on meritocratic principles of open competition and one that serves the needs of the economy by preparing young people for work.
-Both believe that education should socialise pupils into shared values, such as competition, and instil a sense of national identity.

Question 28

Difference between the new right and functionalists

Answer 28

The New Right do not believe that the current education system is achieving these goals.

New Right argue state education takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Imposing uniformity and disregarding local needs. Consumers have no say, and the education systems are therefore unresponsive and inefficient.

Question 29

Specialist skills

Answer 29

Modern industrial economies have a complex division of labour where the production of even a single item usually involved the cooperation of many different specialists. This cooperation promotes social solidarity but, for it to be successful, each person must have the necessary specialist knowledge and skills to perform their role. Durkheim argues that education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skills that they need to play their part in the social division of labour.

Question 30

Evaluation of Durkheim

Answer 30

Durkheim
Sociologists have criticised Durkheim’s ideas by pointing out that the education system does not teach specialised skills adequately. For example, the Wolf review of vocational education (2011) claims that high quality apprenticeships are rare and up to a third of 16-19 year olds are on courses that do not lead to higher education or good jobs.
Parsons
There is a great deal of evidence that equal opportunities in education do not exist. For example, achievement is greatly influenced by class/gender and ethnic background rather than ability. (Note: use information from your class/gender or ethnic learning table here to explain this evaluation point).
David and Moore
Tumin (1953) criticises Davis and Moore for putting forward a circular argument. How do we know that a job is important? Answer: because it is highly rewarded. Why some jobs are more highly rewarded? Answer: because it is important.

Question 31

Chubb and Moe: the marketisation of education

Answer 31

Chubb and Moe believe that state run education imposes a single type of school regardless of the wishes and needs of parents or local communities. They argue that there should be a free market in education, with a range of different types of independently managed schools and colleges, run like private business, answerable to the local communities’ parents and students.
They based their arguments on a comparison of the achievements of 60,000 pupils from low income families in 1015 state and private high schools, together with the findings of a parent survey and case studies of ‘failing’ schools. They found that pupils from low-income families consistently do about 5% better in private education than in state schools.
Based on these findings, Chubb and Moe call for the introduction of a market system in state education that would put control in the hands of the consumers (parents). They argue that this would allow consumers to shape schools to meet their own needs and would improve quality and efficiency.

Question 32

The role of the state

Answer 32

There remain two important roles for the state:
• To impose a framework on schools within which they have to compete. For example, by publishing Ofsted inspection reports and league tables of schools’ exam results, the state gives parents information with which to make a more informed choice between schools.
• To ensure that schools transmit a shared culture. By imposing a single national curriculum, it seeks to guarantee that schools socialise pupils into a single cultural heritage.

Question 33

Social Democratic

Answer 33

Social Democratic Perspectives: Start from the view that everybody should have an equal chance to succeed in the educational system. Equal Opportunity.
- A.H.Halsey (1961; 1980) – criticised functionalist views.
- Social class has a significant effect on educational attainment. Education and the Economy.
- There is a close link between education and economic growth.
- Educational system reflects this requirement.
Evaluation.
- Difficult to unravel the
relationships between education and the economy.
- Growth in vocational education with its focus on workplace skills.

Question 34

Feminists

Answer 34

Feminists focus on gender inequalities within society.
Reveals male dominance in society and how this is maintained.
Main role of education is to maintain gender inequality.
From the 1960’s onwards feminists highlighted the following gender inequalities in education.
Gendered Language – reflecting wider society, school textbooks used gendered language e.g. him, man. Downgrades women
Gendered Roles – how males and females are presented in textbooks and reading schemes.
Gender stereotypes – stereotyping of gender in traditional reading schemes
Women in the curriculum – missing in the background and hidden from history – plus stereotypes.
Subject choice – traditional ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ subjects with lower status and market value put on girls ones.
Discrimination – see 11+ exam.
FE and HE – traditionally less girls went often due to less encouragement – but no longer the case. Liberal Feminists
Different strands
Liberal feminists argue that legislation and education can help to change gender inequalities in society.
Many believe that this gradual process has had a great success rate already – males and females have access to equal opportunities in education. Marxist feminists blame the capitalist system for forcing women into the supporting role of wife/mother at home and in lower positions in the workforce. Education helps to preserve these expectations on both men and women. Radical feminists focus on the violent nature of patriarchy. The school classroom and playground are where this male violence (both physical and emotional) is learned. Black feminists argue that black females suffer different problems to white females. Their differential treatment at school by teachers and other students suggest that we should look at the situation of black women separately.

Question 35

Evaluation

Answer 35

Valuable in exposing gender inequality and partly because of the sociological research much of the Sexism has gone.
BUT – now girls achieve better than boys at all levels and are more likely to go to university, SO focus is now on boy’s underachievement.
Post feminists in line with post-modern thinking argue that there is no single meaning to being a ‘woman’.
Working class women have different experiences from middle class women, gay women have different experiences from straight women, gay working class women have different experiences…etc.
Consequently no overall theory can explain gender differences.