The role of education Flashcards
What are three main functionalists who comment on the education system?
Durkheim
Parsons
Davis and Moore
What is Durkheim’s view of education?
Durkheim says education passes on societal norms and values to integrate people into society and strengthen social solidarity through value consensus
What is Parsons view of education?
Describes school as a bridge between family and adult roles of society by passing on universal values of achievement and selecting children into appropriate roles because it is meritocratic
What is Davis and Moore (1945)s view of education?
Believe that within schools there has to be a system of ‘principles of stratification’ which is a system of unequal rewards which motivate people to train for the top positions
What is the main functionalist view of education?
Education is meritocratic
- Talent + Motivation + Equal opportunity = qualifications and a high position in society
What are the main marxists views of education?
- Education prepares children for the world of work by giving them skills and values employers need
- Education passes on ruling class ideology that supports capitalism
- Education legitimises inequality
What is Bowles and Gintis view of education?
There is a correspondence between experiences of school and adult work, so school prepares them for work by :
- The hierarchy
- Motivation
- Day broken into units
- Subservience is rewarded
- Hidden curriculum
What is Althusser’s view of education?
Education promotes the capitalist ideology through the use of the ISA which is used to legitimise and reproduce the capitalist system (working class kids = working class jobs)
ROLE ALLOCATION
What is WIllis’ view of education?
Says the education doesn’t turn out an obedient workforce and that some kids form an anti school subculture, by coping through mucking up
What is Bourdieu’s view of education?
Uses cultural capital to explain how middle class children generally go on to fill the top jobs in society
What are some similarities between functionalists and marxists views of education?
They both look at the picture but they tend to ignore social interaction (except willis) and both say education has a huge impact and is closely linked to the economy and work
What are some differences between functionalists and marxists views of education?
Biggest difference is how they view inequality in education.
- Marxists - education helps to reproduce and legitimise inequality
- Functionalists - education passes on the value of meritocracy and lets people better themselves
What are some criticisms of functionalists view of education?
- Evidence of differential achievement in terms of class, gender and ethnicity suggest education is not meritocratic
- “Who you know”»_space; “What you know” - allocation function does not work properly!!!
- Education doesn’t prepare for work
- Education serves the interests of particular groups in terms of ideology and values, but does not explain conflict
What are some criticisms of marxists view of education?
- Marxists assume people are passive victims - exaggerates how much w/c students are socialised into obedience
- Most people are aware of the inequality in education and don’t think that this inequality is legitimate
What do liberal feminists say about education?
Liberal feminists want equal access to education for both sexs
