The role of education in society Flashcards
Which functionalist theorists put forward ideas?
Durkheim
Parsons
Davis and Moore
What two functions did Durkheim identify?
Social solidarity
Specialist skills
How does education help social solidarity?
Members feel part of a community and are able to cooperate. It transmits culture and history from one generation to the next and gives them commitment to a wider social group
How does education provide specialist skills?
It teaches people specialist knowledge needed to play a part in the social division of labour since most industrial economies require a variety of different specialities.
What function did Parsons put forward?
Education is a bridge to wider society. In the family, the child has ascribed status but in educaion and life its acheived. They’re judged by a set of impersonal rules and meritocratic principles.
What are meritocratic principles?
Where everyone is given equal opportunity to suceed.
What function did Davis and Moore identify?
Education allocates children to their future work roles by making people compete for the best jobs to ensure they are filled by the most talanted people. Inequality is therefore important.
What evaluative points can be made about functionalism?
The education system doesn’t teach specialist skills well enough
Myth of meritocracy
Turmin says we don’t know when a job is more important
Marxists argue it transmits the ideology of the ruling class
Interactionalists say pupils are not passive
The New Right say the system fails to prepare them for work
How does Turmin critisize the functionalist view?
We don’t know when a job is more important
How do Marxists critisize the functionalist view?
It transmits the culture of the ruling class
How do interactionalists critisize the functionalist view?
Pupils are not passive puppets that accept everything they are taught. They can rebel.
What points can be made about the New Right view?
Chubb and Moe: Marketization
Two roles of the state
What 2 roles do the New Right argue the state should fufill?
Make a framework for schools to compete such as legue tables
Ensure schools transmit a shared culture through the national curriculum
What do Chubb and Moe argue? (New Right)
There should be a market system to put control in the hands of the consumers. Parents can then shape schools to suit their needs
What evaluative points can be made about the New Right’s view?
Gewitz and Ball: Competition benifits the middle class
The real cause of low standards is lack of funding
Contradiction between parental choice and national curriculum
Marxists: Causes opression
How do Gewitz and Ball criticise the New Right?
Competition between schools benifits the middle class as they can use their cultural and economic capital to get into better schools
What points can be made about the Marxist view?
Althusser: Repressive and Ideological state apparatus
Bowles and Gintis: Hidden curriculum and legitimisation of inequality
Willis: Counter cultures
What does Althusser argue are the roles of the state:
Repressive state apparatus: Rule maintained by force in army and police
Ideological state apparatus: Rule through controlling ideas in the media and education
What did Althusser argue is the role of education?
To reproduce class inequality and get the working class to accept their place through the myth of meritocracy
What points do Bowles and Gintis make?
The correspondance principle and the hidden curriculum The legitimisation of class inequality
How does the education system carry out the correspondance principle and hidden curriculum according to Bowles and Gintis?
School and work are very similar with higherarchies and obediant students. School takes place in the long shadow of work and the correspondance principle operates through the hidden curriculum to prepare children for their role of being exploited.
How does the education system legitimise class inequality according to Bowles and Gintis?
Suggests inequality is fair due to the myth of meritcoracy. It justifys the priviledge of the upper class and blames people for their situation.
How does Wills criticise traditional Marxism?
People can resist indoctrination
How do Postmodernists criticise Marxism?
A different type of labour is needed today so eduation encourages diversity
How do Modernists criticise Marxism?
They argue that there are other factors that affect attainment not just class
