The role of education in society - topic 5 Flashcards
funtionalism: durkheim located two main functions of education
social solidarity: the education system helps create social solidarity as its helps promote societys values shared beliefs and culture
specialist skills: modern industries have complex divisions of labours. durkheim argues that education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skills they they need to play their part in the social division of labour.
parsons meritocracy
-education allows eqaul achievment as status is achieved not ascribed as well as work for example getting a raise for hard work
davis and moore role allocation
-schools performs functions of selecting and allocatiing pupils to their future work roles. by assessing individuals aptitudes and abilities schools help match them to the roles their suited to.
evaluation of the functionalist perspective
-ample evidence that eqaul opportunities in education doesnt exist such as class, ethnicity and gender.
-marxists argue that education doesnt transmute shared values as a whole but only the ideology of the ruling class
-neo liberal and new right theorist believe the state education system fails to prepare young people adeqaulitly for work
Neo liberals view
-believe education,welfare and health should not be free as the free as it encourages competition, and would improve the economy.
-this allows them to compete in global market place and can only using pupils as consumers and competition between schools will build up standards
new right
-state cannot meet the peoples needs and the people are best suited to meeting their own needs through the free market.
similarities between new right and functionalism
-both believe some are more naturally talented than others
-both favour an education system that runs on merocratic principles of open competition
-both believe education promotes shared values,beliefs and culture
Evaluation of new right
-competition between schools benifit the middle class who can use culture and economic capital to gain access to more desirable schools
-marxists argue that education does not impose a shared national culture but imposes the culture of the dominant minority ruling class and devalues the roles of the WC
marxism althusser ideological state apparatus
-the repressive state apparatus: using force such as police, military and courts to repress the WC
-the ideological state apparatus: controlls the peoples ideas, views and beliefs through religion, media and education
Bowles and Gintis schooling in capatilist america
-argues that capitalism requires a workforce that needs a kind of attitude thats willing to accept hard work,low payed and exploitive orders from above, and school produces that attitude shown in a study of 237 NYC students.
the correspondence principle
-how the workplace and education share similarities i.e. heirachy, punishments
-the correspondence principle works through the hidden curriculum
-through this schools prepare students to reproduce the work force and and produce generational class ineqaulities.
the hidden curriculum
-the lessons that are learnt in school with out directly being taught
-for example, simply through working through out the day, pupils become accustomed to accepting heirachy
-phil cohen argues that the youth training scheme does the same thing
myth of meritocracy
Bowles and gintis disagree with parsons as class gender and ethnicity plays a role in ineqaulity
-they believe that the myth of meritocracy serves to justify the privileges of the MC making it seem as if they gained their success through open and fair competition in school
-this helps persuade the WC that ineqaulity is legitimate and less likely yo over through capitalism
marxists summary
-class conflict approach
-education is a ideological state apparatus
-serves the needs of capitalism
-legitamises class ineqaulity
Functionalist summary
-consensus view
-socialisation
-shared culture
-specialist work skills
-merocratic principles
