Role & Function of the Education System, Relationship to the Economy & Class Structure

Question 1

Durkheim’s views on the function of education (Functionalism)

Answer 1

• Emphasise moral responsibilites and national solidarity
• Social solidarity should be achieved through establishing common values

Question 2

Parson’s views on the functions of education (Functionalism)

Answer 2

• Forms a bridge between family and wider society
• Teaches the meritocratic culture of society - in society, universalistic standards apply and the individual will be judged by everyone’s standards

Question 3

Davis & Moore’s views on the functions of education (Functionalism)

Answer 3

• Role-allocation using exams and assessment - meritocracy
• Helps identify the few needed for the most highly skilled jobs - it’s ok they make more money, because ultimately all of society benefits from everyone being in the job they’re best suited for

Question 4

What was the New Right view of the education system that developed in the 70s and influenced Thatcherite policies?

Answer 4

• Important for a healthy economy
• Needs to be run so that schools are not a drain on state resources

Question 5

Views of Chubb and Moe (1988) (New Right)

Answer 5

• Education needs to be treated like a business
• Customers need to be pleased, so schools need competition in order to remain dynamic and likely to improve

Question 6

Criticisms of the Functionalist View

Answer 6

• Ignores aspects of education that may be dysfunctional and benefit some more than others
• Too much is assumed - studies suggest not all are socialised into the system
• Accepts an institution that is not fit for all - Does education teach skills that benefit all or just the few, and then the rest are left behind?

Question 7

Criticisms of the New Right view

Answer 7

• Competition creates undue stress on children
• Stress of school improvement and constant evidence of progress has adversely affected schools (eg. false data, people quit teaching)
• Wider marketisation of schools (having more direct control over their funds) has led to some financial malpractice

Question 8

According to Functionalists, why is Education meritocratic?

Answer 8

• The assesment/exam system is the same for all the time the exam is taken
• Any student can pass if they work hard and overcome any perceived barriers

Question 9

Criticising Functionalism, why is education not meritocratic?

Answer 9

• Ignores how social divisions might affect achievement
• The existence of private schools is seemingly ignored
• Whitty, Power, and Sims (2013): students from priv. schools more likely to get into top unis with lower grades
• Sutton Trust (2010): priv. students 55x more likely to get into Oxbridge
• Britland (2013): private tutors increasingly used by middle class parents and not just for exam preparation

Question 10

Marxist view of Education

Answer 10

• Inequalities and social relations of productions in a capitalist society are reproduced over generations
• Working-class (WC) children left behind by the system and end up in menial jobs, while Upper-class (UC) are given an elite education or at least a cultural education applicable to Middle-class (MC) values - able to take positions of power in society

Question 11

The Correspondence Principle (Bowles & Gintis - Marxism)

Answer 11

• Close relationship between school and work - prepares kids to take their place as part of a hardworking, docile, and obedient workforce
• Achieved through a hidden curriculum of how school is organised

Question 12

Cultural Capital (Bourdieu - Marxism)

Answer 12

• Education system tricks WC into accepting failure, however the system just favours MC & UC culture more
• Cultural assets of the welathy are seen as worthy of reward and given greater value as cultural capital - cultural reproduction happens, where MC culture gains higher status

Question 13

Feminist view of the Education System

Answer 13

• Heaton & Lawson, 1996: Education system reproduces a patriarchy through a hidden curriculum

Question 14

How can it be argued that education serves the purposes of capitalism?

Answer 14

• Basic principles of achieving in a free market are established - meritocracy
• Role allocation
• Takes child from family and prepares them for universalistic standard of working hard, and the reward will match the effort
• Inequalities and social relations of productions in a capitalist society are reproduced over generations
• WC children are in general left behind by the system, whereas elite children are well prepared for society
• Values of the cultural elite are engrained over time

Question 15

How can it be argued that education serves the purposes of the patriarchy?

Answer 15

• Libfem: it’s getting better, but many parts still suggest more expectations on boys than girls
• Radfem: still exists to marginalise female concerns and oppress women
• Blackfem: not all females have equally benefited from changes in gender expectations over the last 20 years

Question 16

Criticisms of the Marxist view

Answer 16

• Too much focus on class inequality
• Correspondence principle is now dated - Brown (1997) argues that much of today’s work requires teamwork
• Not all education is anti-critical thinking
• Marxism is applicable to the conflict created by the social upheaval of the 19th C, so a Neo-Marxist viewpoint might be more applicable

Question 17

Criticisms of the Feminist view

Answer 17

• Education is a female dominated sector
• Girls consistently out-perform boys in the system

Question 18

Criticising conflict theories, why could it be argued that education is meritocratic?

Answer 18

• Rules of the game are set - no laws overly restrict a group
• There may be gaps in equity, but not equality
• All assessment is equal at every point regardless of educational setting
• If social disadvantage can be entrenched across generations, why can’t meritocracy be?
• At uni, state and private school kids all have the same experience