Theories of Education

Question 1

What are Durkheim’s beliefs about education?

Answer 1

• Instilling Social Solidarity
• Secondary Socialisation
• Teaching Specialist Skills

Question 2

How does Durkheim believe the education system instills social solidarity?

Answer 2

BY learning about history, children learn to see themselves as part of a bigger picture and people should work together for common goals.

Question 3

How does Durkheim believe the education system teaches social rules?

Answer 3

Schools ensure everyone follows a particular set of rules and have to behave in the same way. Learning to interact within a set of rules is learning how to function in society.

Question 4

How does Durkheim believe the education system teaches specialist skills?

Answer 4

People were going to work in mass production. performing a specialist function with specialist skills. Children have to learn skills that facilitate them to work in an assembly line.

Question 5

What is Secondary Socialisation?

Answer 5

Provides universal norms and values shared by broader society. We learn universalistic standards rather than those particular to your family or community.

Question 6

What is Mechanical Solidarity?

Answer 6

People had face-to-face contact with each other and had very little contact with people in other parts of the country/world. Often happens in Agrarian societies.

Question 7

Why would Marxists criticise Durkheim’s view?

Answer 7

They question where the shared values come from and who they serve. They don’t accept that there are neutral norms and values that are best for everyone in society and argue that the powerful in society use education to spread their ideology.

Question 8

Why would Durkheim’s views be considered outdated?

Answer 8

• Postmodernists would argue that society os very multicultural and diverse thus schools do not produce a shared set of norms and values for the society as a whole, and PMs do not think that they should do this as society is too diverse to follow one set of norms
• Contemporary economy is no longer based around assembly lines, therefore it does not suit modern economy
• Specific skills are learnt in in-work training, not through necessary education

Question 9

Why does Hargreaves (1982) criticise Durkheim?

Answer 9

Argued that the education system encourages individualism and competition rather than social solidarity and set norms and values. Educational norms discourage collaborative learning and instead encourages individuals to try and beat each other which is the opposite of social solidarity.

Question 10

What is Parsons’ view on the role of education?

Answer 10

• Facilitates role allocation

- Encourages a meritocratic society

Question 11

What is Meritocracy?

Answer 11

Individuals that work hard will be rewarded in society and those who do not work will be left behind. This ensures that people end up performing in the social roles they are best suited to.

Question 12

How was Parsons influenced by Durkheim?

Answer 12

• Believed it was important to establish shared norms and values
• Education facilitates role allocation
• Education system helps society be meritocratic

Question 13

How did Marxists criticise Parsons view?

Answer 13

Criticise view of role allocation and ‘sifting and sorting’ arguing that the appearance of meritocracy is nothing but ideology. ‘Myth of Meritocracy’. Argue that class inequalities are reproduced in the next generation and that the education system plays a key role in this.

Question 14

What is the ‘Myth of Meritocracy’?

Answer 14

Proletariat are persuaded to believe that the bourgeoisie reached their positions due to hard but and not status leading them to accept this inequality.

Question 15

What did Davis and Moore believe about education?

Answer 15

• Education facilitates meritocracy
• System of unequal rewards is necessary
• Social stratification is essential

Question 16

What did Davis & Moore say about Social Stratification?

Answer 16

Social stratification facilitates meritocracy as it is the ability to access a higher reward, that encourages individuals to put in extra effort. Through intense competition, the best get to the top and unequal rewards are essential motivation to work.

Question 17

Why did Marxists criticise Davis & Moore?

Answer 17

Social Stratification is precicely what means the education fails to grade people by their ability or effort. The children of those with high-paid jobs, leave with qualifications and can go and get high paid jobs themselves. ‘Myth of Meritocracy’.

Question 18

What is the New Right view on education?

Answer 18

• There should be competition in and between schools
• Create policies to standardise and improve equality in schools
• For education to be properly meritocratic there has to be genuine competition, not collaboration and fairness

Question 19

What are some criticisms of New Right views?

Answer 19

• Problem with excessive competition is that the losers are children and this allocates them that social role.
• The reason why fee-paying schools perform better than state schools is s alot more complex than just market principles.

Question 20

What is an Ideological State Apparatus?

Answer 20

Institutions that spread bourgeois ideology and ensure the proletariat is in a state of false class consciousness.