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Flashcards on the Role of Education in Society (2.5)
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- 1According to functionalist, society is a system of interdependent parts. What are these parts held together by?A value consensus.
- 2Functionalists believe that each part of society performs functions that help to maintain society as a whole. Emile Durkheim identifies the two main functions of education. What are they?1. The creation of social solidarity.
2. The teaching of specialist skills. - 3The first function of the education system is the creation of social solidarity. Durkheim argues that this is a necessary function. Why?He believes that without social solidarity, social life and cooperation would be impossible because each individual would pursue their own selfish desires.
- 4How does the education system help to create social solidarity?It transmits society's culture from one generation to the next.
- 5School also acts as a 'society in miniature', preparing children for life in wider society. How?Both in school and at work we must cooperate with people who are neither family nor friends. We must behave according to a set of impersonal rules that apply to everyone.
- 6The second function of the education system is the teaching of specialist skills. Again, Durkheim regards this as a necessary for social harmony. Why?Because modern industrial economies have a complex division of labour, where the production of even a single item involves the cooperation of many different specialists. These specialists need the specific knowledge and skills required to perform their role.
- 7Which American functionalist draws on Durkheim's ideas, seeing the school as the 'focal socialising agency' in modern society?Talcott Parsons.
- 8Parsons states that the school acts as a bridge between the family and wider society. Why is this bridge needed?Because family and society operate on different principles, so children need to learn a new way of living if they are to cope with the wider world.
- 9Within the family, a child is judged by particularistic standards and their status is ascribed. How does this differ both in school and in wider society?In school and in wider society, we are judged by the same universal and impersonal standards and status is largely achieved, rather than ascribed.
- 10According to Parsons, the school prepares children to move from the family into wider society because it teaches us meritocratic principles. What is meritocracy?It's the belief that everyone receives an equal opportunity to succeed. Individuals who do succeed have done so through their own ability and effort.
- 11Functionalists argue that schools also perform the function of selecting and allocating pupils to their future work roles. How are they able to do this?By assessing individuals' aptitudes and abilities. They can then use their assessment to match individuals to the appropriate job.
- 12Which sociologists argue that education is a device for selection and role allocation?Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore.
- 13Davis and Moore focus on the relationship between education and social inequality. What do they argue inequality is necessary for?Ensuring that the most important roles in society are filled by the most talented people.
- 14Education plays a key part in the process of role allocation. Why?It is where individuals can show what they can do and 'sifts and sorts' us according to our ability.
- 15The functionalist perspective has been criticised. Some critics argue that the education system doesn't teach specialised skills, as Durkheim claims. For example, what does the Wolf review of vocational education claim?High-quality apprenticeships are rare and up to a third of 16 to 19 year olds are on courses that don't lead to higher education or good jobs.
- 16Which sociologist criticises Davis and Moore for creating a circular argument?Melvin Tumin.
- 17How do marxists criticise the functionalist theory of education?They argue that education in capitalist society merely transmits ruling-class ideology and does not instil the shared values of society as a whole, contrary to functionalist claims.
- 18Finally, what does interactionist Dennis Wong argue about the functionalist theory of education?He argues that they are wrong to regard people as mere puppets of society. Wong states that functionalists wrongly portray pupils as passive and accepting of everything they are taught, which isn't necessarily the case.
- 19Neoliberalism is based on the idea that the government should not try to regulate a free-market economy and should instead encourage competition, privatise state-run businesses and deregulate markets. According to neoliberals, where does the value of education lie?It lies in how well it enables the country to compete in the global marketplace.
- 20Neoliberals believe that the country will only be successful in the global marketplace if schools do what?Become more like businesses, empowering parents and pupils to consume their services and creating competition between schools to raise standards.
- 21The new right is a conservative political view that incorporates neoliberal economic ideas. Why do the new right favour the marketisation of education?Because they believe that the state cannot meet people's needs and people are best left to meet their own needs through the free market.
- 22There are a handful of similarities between the new right and functionalist views. Give examples:- Both believe that some people are naturally more talented than others.
- Both favour an education system run on meritocratic principles.
- Both believe that education should socialise pupils into shared values. - 23However, what is the key difference between functionalism and the new right?The new right believes do not believe that the current education system are achieving the above goals, and the reasons for its failure is that it is run by the state.
- 24According to the new right, what sort of an approach does the state education system take?A 'one size fits all' approach, imposing uniformity and disregarding local needs.
- 25The new right argue that consumers who use schools (pupils, parents, etc.) have no say, meaning schools are unresponsive and inefficient. Unsuccessful schools are not held accountable for their students' failure, who are less qualified and less prosperous as a result of their lack of success. What is the new right's solution?The marketisation of education - competition between schools will bring greater diversity, choice and efficiency to schools and increase schools' ability to meet the needs of pupils, parents and employers.
- 26Which two American sociologists provide a good example of the new right perspective on education?John Chubb and Terry Moe.
- 27Chubb and Moe argue that state-run education in the United States has failed for three main reasons. What are they?1. It doesn't provide equal opportunities.
2. It fails to produce pupils with the skills needed by the economy.
3. It is unanswerable to its consumers. - 28Chubb and Moe call for the introduction of a market system in state education. They argue that this would allow consumers to shape schools to meet their needs, thus improving quality. To introduce this market into state education, what sort of system do Chubb and Moe propose?One in which each family would be given a voucher to spend on buying education from a school of their choice. This would force schools to become more responsive to parents' wishes, as vouchers would be their main source of income. This is essentially how private education works.
- 29While the new right stress the importance of market forces in education, this doesn't mean they see no role at all for the state. They believe that the state has two important roles in relation to education. What are they?1. To impose a framework on schools within which they have to compete.
2. To ensure that schools transmit a shared culture, guaranteeing that students are socialised into a single cultural heritage. - 30According to the new right, what should education affirm?The national identity.
- 31How can education affirm the national identity?For example, the curriculum can emphasise Britain's positive role in world history, teach British literature and encourage Christian worship because Christianity is Britain's primary religion.
- 32Because of their desire for all students to be socialised into a single set of traditions and cultural values, what do they oppose?Multicultural education.
- 33The new right have been heavily criticised for their belief that state control is to blame for low educational standards. What do critics argue is the true cause of most educational failure?Social inequality and inadequate funding.
- 34How do marxists respond to the new right theory of education?They argue that rather than imposing a shared national culture, education imposes the culture of the ruling class and devalues the culture of the working class.
- 35Additionally, the new right have been criticised for contradicting themselves. How have they arguably done so?They support consumer choice while simultaneously discussing how the state should impose a compulsory national curriculum on all schools. These ideas are incompatible.
- 36What do marxist believe society and education are based on?Class division and capitalist exploitation.
- 37Karl Marx states that capitalism consists of two classes. What are they?1. The ruling class (bourgeoisie).
2. The working class (proletariat). - 38The power inequality between the two classes means that there is a potential for class conflict. However, despite this potential, capitalism is able to continue. Why?Because the ruling class also control the state and can manipulate state institutions to prevent revolution and maintain their power.
- 39Which sociologist argues that the state consists of two 'apparatuses', both of which serve ruling-class interests?Louis Althusser.
- 40What are the two apparatuses identified by Althusser?1. The repressive state apparatus (e.g. the police, army, etc.)
2. The ideological state apparatus (e.g. the media, the education system, etc.) - 41How does the repressive state apparatus maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie?By the threat or use of force.
- 42How does the ideological state apparatus maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie?By controlling people's ideas, values and beliefs.
- 43Althusser stated that the education system is an ideological state apparatus because it performs two functions. What are the two functions?1. It reproduces class inequality by transmitting it from generation to generation.
2. It legitimates class inequality by producing ideologies. - 44Which American marxists develop Althusser's ideas further?Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis.
- 45According to Bowles and Gintis, what kind of workforce does capitalism require?A workforce with the kind of attitudes, behaviour and personality-types suited to their role as alienated and exploited workers willing to accept hard work for low pay.
- 46How does the need for this passive workforce relate to the education system?It is the role of the education system to reproduce an obedient workforce that will accept inequality as inevitable.
- 47As such, what sort of personality traits are rewarded by the education system?Traits that make for a submissive, compliant worker (e.g. obedience and discipline).
- 48Bowles and Gintis conclude that schooling helps to produce obedient workers and thus does not encourage personal development. Rather, what do Bowles and Gintis believe it does?Stunt and distort development.
- 49Bowles and Gintis argue that there are close parallels between schooling and work in capitalist societies. Give some examples:- Both are hierarchal.
- Both are competitive and cause divisions.
- Both can result in a sense of alienation due to a lack of control.
- Both provide extrinsic rewards. - 50Where does schooling take place, according to Bowles and Gintis?In 'the long shadow of work'.
- 51Bowles and Gintis state that these parallels between school and the workplace are examples the 'correspondence principle'. What do they mean by this?The term refers to the way relationships and structures in education correspond to those found in the workplace.
- 52What does this correspondence principle operate through?The hidden curriculum - the 'lessons' that are learnt in school without being directly taught.
- 53Through the hidden curriculum, schooling prepares working-class pupils for their future role as exploited workers, reproducing the workforce capitalism needs and perpetuating class inequality. Which sociologist provides an example of this in the form of youth training schemes?Paul Cohen. He shows how youth training schemes do not teach young workers actual job skills, but rather the attitudes and values needed in a subordinate labour force.
- 54Because it is based on inequality, capitalism is always at risk of an uprising. The education system helps to prevent this uprising by legitimating class inequality. How do Bowles and Gintis describe the education system?As a "giant myth-making machine".
- 55What is a key myth promoted by the education system?The myth of meritocracy.
- 56What do Bowles and Gintis think of the concept of meritocracy?They think meritocracy does not exit.
- 57Evidence shows that the main factor determining whether someone has a high income or not is their family and class background. Why does the myth of meritocracy exist, then?Its existence justifies the privileges of the higher classes, making it appear as if they gained them through succeeding in open and fair competition at school. This persuades the working class to accept inequality as legitimate, reducing the risk of a revolution.
- 58The education system also arguably justifies poverty. How?Through the 'poor-are-dumb' theory of failure, which blames the individual (rather than capitalism) for their poverty.
- 59All marxists believe that capitalism can't function without a willing workforce to exploit, and all see education as reproducing and legitimating class inequality. However, while Bowles and Gintis see education as a straightforward process of indoctrination, what does Paul Willis' show?Working-class pupils can resist the indoctrination that schools carry out.
- 60As a marxist, Willis was interested in the way schooling serves capitalism. However, what approach does he also use in his study?An interactionist approach - he focused on the meanings pupils give to their situation and how these meanings enable them to resist indoctrination.
- 61Using qualitative research methods, Willis studied the anti-school culture of 'the lads'. The 12 boys who participated in his study defied school rules and values as a way of resisting the 'con' of education. What did Willis see a similarity between?The lads' anti-school culture and the shopfloor culture of male manual workers - both see manual work as superior to intellectual work, which they regard as effeminate.
- 62However, the lads' culture of resistance helps to condition them for the very jobs that capitalists want them to perform. How?- Having been accustom to boredom in school, they don't expect satisfaction from work.
- Their acts of rebellion guarantee that they will end up in unskilled jobs by ensuring that they do not gain worthwhile qualifications. - 63Marxist approaches are useful in exposing the 'myth of meritocracy', showing that education is an ideological state apparatus that serves the interests of capitalists. However, postmodernists criticise Bowles and Gintis' correspondence theory. Why?They argue that today's economy requires schools to produce a very different kind of labour force from the one described by Bowles and Gintis over 40 years ago. Postmodernists argue that education now reproduces diversity, rather than inequality.
- 64Marxist theories of education have also faced internal criticism. How?While Bowles and Gintis take a very deterministic view, Willis argues that students have free will.
- 65However, Willis has also faced criticism for his study. Why?- He romanticises the lads, portraying them as working-class heroes despite their anti-school and sexist attitudes.
- His study is very small, consisting of just 12 boys. - 66Critical modernists like Raymond Morrow and Carlos Torres criticise marxists for taking a 'class first' approach. What do they mean by this?They mean that marxists see class as the key inequality and ignore all other types of inequality.
- 67Feminists make a similar point. Which feminist points out that females are largely excluded from Willis' study?Angela McRobbie.
- 68However, what has Willis' study stimulated?A significant number of research into how education reproduces and legitimates other inequalities, such as gender and race inequalities.
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