Theories of Education System

Question 1

What do functionalists believe makes a successful society?

Answer 1

• Functionalists believe that a successful society is based on a value consensus.
• These are a common set of beliefs and principles that society should work with and towards.

Question 2

What does Durkheim outline in his value consensus theory?

Answer 2

• Education helps create a value consensus by transmitting and teaches instilling society’s shared norms and values, which help to build social solidarity.
• This prevents anomie, which is the breakdown of society, as it stops disagreements about how the system and hierarchy of society should be run, helps maintain a stable society.

Question 3

Give an example of how social solidarity in the education system occurs in subjects.

Answer 3

• E.g. History instil a sense of shared cultural heritage, encouraging an individual to see themselves as part of society.

Question 4

How can this be criticised through ethnocentric curriculum?

Answer 4

• Focus of the curriculum on one particular ethnic group to the detriment or exclusion of other groups. For example, the National Curriculum may value white western history.

Question 5

How does this disadvantage ethnic minorities?

Answer 5

• This puts ethnic minorities at a disadvantage as their history is not being represented. This causes alienation, causing ethnic minority students to feel separated from the subject and wider society; does not create social solidarity.

Question 6

What do Davis and Moore outline in their theory about the education system?

How does education contribute to role allocation and why is this significant?

Answer 6

• They are functionalists who argue that society requires a skilled workforce that is fully qualified to deal with the increasing demands of capitalism.
• Contributes to role allocation such as through the use of examinations and assessments to place students in sets and streams based on their academic performance.
• This promotes ideas of social mobility and meritocracy. This is significant for society because the education system matches individuals to their future jobs based on talent.

Question 7

How can this point be developed using Parson’s view that ‘society is meritocratic’?

Answer 7

• In a meritocracy, it is said that everyone has equal opportunities if you work hard enough to achieve success no matter the social class, economic background or ethnicity an individual has.

Question 8

How can this be criticised through the feminist perspective?

Answer 8

• One criticism of this is that feminists argue that meritocracy is a myth.
• This is because women suffer from the gender pay gap. For example, women in the same professions as men are paid far less.
• Therefore, the education system does not contribute to role allocation because women who perform highly in the education system and are put in the top jobs are still paid less than men in the same job.

Question 9

What do Bowles and Gintis outline?

Hint: Marxism

Answer 9

• Bowles and Gintis used the term ‘correspondence principle’ to show how there is a negative correspondence between school and work. For example, in school uniforms, ties and suits are used in order to prepare the students for the workplace - where they will be expected to work under a boss.
• This is significant because it shows that education creates an obedient workforce for capitalism.
• The correspondence principle is a way in which the education system conceals the ruling class ideology imposed on the working class, keeping students under false class consciousness so that they can work under the bourgeoisie in the future, rather than promote social solidarity.

Question 10

How can this be criticised through Willis’ study on the Lads.

Answer 10

• However, Willis argues that many students reject the values of the school and resist their teacher’s authority.
• They were part of an anti-school subculture, where the working class boys praised one another from partaking in behaviours against the school ethos.
• The working class boys were not socialised into work, rather it was that they were waiting to leave education - this goes against what Bowles and Gintis argue. Therefore, education is ineffective as an agent of socialisation.

Question 11

What does Althusser argue about the role of the education system?

Hint: Ideological State Apparatus

Answer 11

• Ruling class are aware of the proletarian revolution. In order to avoid this, the ruling class looks to control masses and keep the people under the false class consciousness.
• Thus education acts as an ideological state apparatus. For example, values of obedience are taught through the hidden curriculum through assemblies and line-ups.

Question 12

What is the myth of meritocracy?

Answer 12

• Capitalism promotes meritocracy and social mobility but places barriers to working class children (such as in access to material resources) and when they are unable to succeed informs the working class people that they did not work hard enough.

Question 13

How can this be criticised through the Post-modernist view of Education?

Answer 13

• However, one criticism to this is that Postmodernists suggest that there are more pathways to success other than normal education.
• Even if working class children face barriers to education, it is only one way of expressing abilities in contemporary society; can achieve success through attending drama and music schools.

Question 14

Outline three ways in which the education system may be seen as patriarchal.

Answer 14

• Male gaze: females are seen as sexual objects
• Bias in subject choice: teachers and career advisers may pressure female pupils to take subjects for traditional career paths such as nursing and teaching based on gender stereotype.
• Double standards: teachers tend to give more of their time and attention on men than women

Question 15

Outline two ways in which schools may promote competition between pupils.

Answer 15

• Entrance exams: pupils compete against each other to earn a place at a desired school.
• Streaming: pupils compete against each other by achieving the best grades in order to get into higher streams.

Question 16

Outline Bourdieu’s concept of Symbolic Violence and how it disadvantages working class.

Answer 16

• However, students such as the working class who do not possess middle class habitus are at a disadvantage and are subject to symbolic violence, where they reject the middle class habitus that are imposed on them.
• For example, the education system may do this through the dress code. The dress code may be formal, using clothing such as suits and ties, and based upon the tastes of the middle class.
• As a result, working class students are forced to comply with the tastes of the middle class and those who do not are removed from learning, putting them ‘in their place’, as their subculture is deemed to be ‘tasteless and worthless’. —> leads to alienation.

Question 17

Outline Bourdieu’s concept of Symbolic Capital and how it advantages middle class pupils.

Answer 17

• The education system was constructed by those with middle class habitus, who have symbolic capital.
• This means middle class students with these middle class values and tastes, will also gain symbolic capital with teachers as they have similar habitus to those in control of the education system.

Question 18

How does Archer and Nike Identities develop upon Bourdieu’s research regarding Symbolic Violence and Symbolic Capital?

Answer 18

1. Working class students are aware of how their habitus is looked down by the middle class habtius centred education system.
2. This symbolic violence leads them into obtaining alternative methods of achieving symbolic capital
3. Through wearing brands such as nike tracksuits provide the working class with a sense of identity and is a means of generating symbolic capital and self-worth.
4. The middle class habitus is not valued by the working class because it is unrealistic e.g. unaffordable and undesirable because it does not fit their preferred lifestyle or habitus.
5. As a result, working-class pupils may choose to join anti school subcultures because the way they choose to shape their identity in the working class habitus does not match with the values of the middle class habitus centred education system.

Question 19

What is a key difference between functionalist and new right perspective in education?

Answer 19

• A key difference with functionalism is that the New Right do not believe that current education system is achieving these goals such as social cohesion and the reason for its failure in their view is that it is run by the state.

Question 20

Why has the state-run education system failed according to New Right sociologists?

Answer 20

Chubb and Moe argue that the state-run education system has failed because:

• It is inefficient because it fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by the economy
• Private schools deliver higher quality education because unlike state schools, they are answerable to paying consumers - the parents

Question 21

How can this be solved?

Answer 21

• To solve this, we must fully marketize education —> introducing policies that encourage schools to compete against each other to drive up the standards of schools such as through league tables.

Question 22

What should be the role of the education system according to New Right sociologists in terms of curriculum?

Answer 22

• One of the roles of the state according to New Right is to ensure that schools transmit a shared culture. By imposing a single National curriculum, it seeks to guarantee that schools socialise pupils into a single cultural heritage.

Question 23

How can the New Right perspective be criticised?

in terms of Marxism and Class Differences

Answer 23

• Gerwitz and Ball both argue that competition between school benefits the middle class who can use their cultural and economic capital to gain access to more desirable schools.
• Marxists argue that the education system does not impose a shared heritage culture, as the New Right claim, but impose the culture of a dominant minority ruling class and devalues the culture of the working class and minority ethnic groups.