sociology the role of education Flashcards
what is the functionalist theories of education
society has basic needs- to survive society needs social solidarity through everyone sharing the same norms and values otherwise society would fall apart, education performs positive functions for society and individuals by socialising new members of society and by helping create and sustain social solidarity
what did durkheim say about how education creates social solidarity
major function- trasmission of societys norms and values from one generation to the next necessary to produce social solidarity, transmits societys culture- shared bliefs and values through overt curriculum and hidden curriculum
school=society in miniature, child learns to interact with other members of school and follow fixed set of rules, preapres child for interacting with members of sociaety as adult and accepting social rules, ‘it is respecting the school rules that the child learns to repect rules in general that they develop the habit of self control and restraint simply because they should control and restrain themselves’, initiation into social duty and serious life
what did durkheim say about how education creates teaching specialist skills
individuals must be taught specialist skills so that they can take their place their place within highly complex division of labour to cooperate to produce items, promotes social solidarity, each person must have neccessary specialist knowledge and skills to perform that role, teaches knowledge and skills they need to play their part in the social division of labour
what are the criticisms of durkheims ideas
marxists- educational institutes transmit dominant culture which serves interest of ruling class rather than those of society as whole
willis and hargreaves- transmission of norms and values isnt always successful, comprehensive schools place too much stress of developing individual and not enough responsibily of indivial pupil to school, some reject values anf form anti school subcultures
doesnt teach specialist skills adequately, the wolf review of vocatoinal education- high quality apprenticeships rare and up to a third 16-19yo are on courses dont lead to higher education or good jobs
most occuptational skills learnt on the job or through firms own training schemes rather than through education qualifications
what did parsons say about education
school=focal socialising agent acting as bridge between family and wider society, necesary as family and society operate on different principles and children need to learn a new way of living if they are to cope with wider society
family-children judged according to particularistic standards that apply only to them, their status within the family is ascribed
wider society-individual judged against standards which apply equally to all members of society (laws- universalistic standards), status is achieved through merit based on meritocratic principles, at school it is through individual effort
child must move from particularistic standards and ascribed status of the family to universalistic standards and achieved status- education eases transition, exam system=judges pupils on merit and uniform applied to all studnets equally
transmit two major values-value of achievement (meritocracy) and value of equality of opportunity for every students to achieve full potential
school prepares young poeple for their adult roles
what are the criticisms of parsons
wrong-over socialised view of people as mere puppets in society, wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all that they are taught and never reject school values
parsons assumes western education system= meritocratic but existence of pruvate school and inequalities tied to social class gender and ethnicity challenges this view
what is davis and moore view on education
as a means of role allocation- sifts and sorts people according to their abilities, the most talented gain high qualifications lead to functionally important jobs with high rewards, lead to inequalities in society but is natural and desirable because there is only limited amount of talent who need to be persuaded to make sacrifice by staying on in education rather than earning wage and society therefore offers incentives through promise of greater rewards such as higher salaries
what are the criticisms of davis and moore
intelligence and abilityhave limited influence on educational achievement, achievement closely attached with social class gender and ethnicity- bourdieu mc students possess more cultural and social capital and therefore are able to gain more qualifcations than wc students
bowles and gintis-capitalist societies arent meritocratic children of wealthy and powerful obtain high qualifications and well rewarded jobs irrespective of their abilities disguises this with myth of meritocracy- those denied access blame themselves inequality=legitimised appear to be fair
ramge of class fifferences in educational achievement suggest that not everyone actuall has the same chance in education
compare functionalists and the new right
new right and functionalists =some people naturally more talented than others, education should be run on meritocratic principles of open competition, education should socialise students into shared values and provide sense of national identity
functionalists- state can run efficient education system
new right=too much resulted in inefficiency national economic decline and lack of personal and business initiative, state cant meet peoples needs and education ends up as one sixe fits all not meeting individual or community needs or needs of employers for skilled and motivated employees, state run schools arent accountable to those who use them schools that get poor results dont change because they arent answerable to their consumers the result is lower standards and a less qualified workforce
what is the solution for the new right
the issue is how to make schools more responsive to their consumers= solution is marketisation
marketisation=intro of market forces of consumer choices and competition between suppliers into areas ran by the state
creating an education market forces schools to respond to the demands of students parents and eomplyers, competition with other schools means that teachers have to be more efficient, a schools survival depend on its ability to raise achievement levels of students
what did chubb and moe (new right) say about giving the consumer choices
compared achievement of 60,000 from low income families in 1015 families and pruvate high schools in usa, data shows students from low income families do 5% better in private schools- suggests state education isnt meritocratic
state education failed create equal opportunities because doesnt respond students needs, parents and communities cant do anything about failing schools while the schools are conttrolled by the state, pruvate schools produce higher quality education because they answerable to paying consumers (parents)
what did chubb and moe say was the solution
intro market system in state education that is give control to consumers, this should be done by voucher system in which each family would be given voucher to spend to buying education from a school of their choice
what is the evaluation to new right views
there are other reasons for this improvement apart from into of a market
low standards in some state schools are the result of inadequate funding rather than state control of education
gerwitz-competition between schools benefits mc who can get their children into more desirable schools
marxists-education imposes culture of ruling class not a shared culture or national identity as the new right claim
what is the marxism view on education
main function-reproduce inequalities of capitalist economic system, legitimise ruling clss culture and power, socialise the wc into culture of failure so that they take up without question routine and dull work
what did althusser say about education
education as part of the ideological state apparatus, reporduce class based inequalities by creating the belief that capitalism is normal natural and just
reproduces class inequality by transmitting from gen to gen by failing each successive gen of wc pupils
legitimises class inequality by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause, persuade workers to accept that inequality is inevitable and that they deserve subordinate position, wc less likelt to challenge capitalism
