Marxism and Education

What does Althusser claim?

That education is an ideological state apparatus.

Ideological state apparatus- Althusser

• AO1- An ideological state apparatus is a part of society which keeps the bourgeoisie in power by reproducing and justifying inequalities like for example, through education. Education reproduces the conditions necessary for capitalism by training students to accept their position in the social hierarchy.

• AO2- Education reproduces inequalities through unequal access to resources, a curriculum that may not reflect diverse backgrounds (ethnocentric) (Subjects such as history may only teach about historic events that happened in Britain), and the “hidden curriculum” that transmits social norms and expectations.

• AO3- The UK government has made it illegal for teachers to promote anti-capitalist views, proving that education is a tool used by the bourgeoisie to protect capitalism.

Specialised Skills regarding the Marxist view of education

• AO1- Marxists believe that education teaches us “the specialised skills” we need to fulfil the futures of our class. Our talents are almost predetermined based on social class labelling, and therefore, the opportunity for upward social mobility is limited for the working class.

• AO3- Too critical- overlooks those who can overcome their labelling backgrounds. Feminists would argue that Marxism overlooks gender inequality in social mobility. E.g., Glass ceiling- The Idea that you can see the jobs that are to be achieved, but due to their gender cannot due to the “glass ceiling.”

Marxist view of meritocracy

• AO1- Marxists believe that not everyone has an equal chance! The higher a person’s social class, the more likely they are to get better jobs and grades.

• MERITOCRACY IS A MYTH.

• AO2- For example, working-class students are disadvantaged since 90% of OFSTED failing schools are in deprived areas.

• A poor OFSTED rating may lead to problems like recruiting the best teachers, so even if the students work hard in lessons, not having a specialist teacher may have a negative impact on their grades. E.G. A PE teacher teaching maths due to underfunding.

Correspondence Principle- Bowles And Gintis

• AO1- The way we learn things in school corresponds/ mirror the way we are expected to behave in work.

  • This is achieved through the hidden curriculum. These are the lessons which are taught to us but are not specifically referred to in the curriculum.

• AO2- Schools in a capitalist society teach the hierarchy of authority among teachers (e.g. head-deputy-classroom teacher) and between teachers and students. This prepares students for work in a capitalist society as the hierarchy of authority is also seen in workplaces. (e.g. managers-supervisors- workers).

• Other examples include ;

  • Alienation through students’ lack of control over education (e.g. over what to study, and timetabling) reflects alienation through workers’ lack of control over production (e.g. managers decide what, how and where to produce)

Indoctrination- Althusser, Bowles and Gintis

• AO1- Pupils are ‘brainwashed’ by the ruling classes to be the ideal workers.

• AO2- Obedience- Intervention sessions “exploit” the time of students, presented as helping students, when it's helping the education industry meet its targets.

• Passive- Unquestioning inherent weakness, problems with decision-making in schools.

• Students don’t see this exploitative nature as they are socialised to respect authority.

• False consciousness; told it’s a benefit to you, when really it benefits the system.

• AO3- Chomsky (neo- marxist) argues that school is a filtering system- the most compliant reach the top of politics, business and media and help protect The bourgeoise, the less compliant are made to internalise failure and often end up in ‘dead end jobs’

Paul Willis- “Learning to Labour”

• AO3- Neo- Marxist Paul Willis criticises this concept of brainwashing because many students rebel from education as a secondary agent of socialisation.

• His study looks at 12 boys from the Midlands. Who engaged in an anti- school subculture and behaviours such as smoking, drinking and bullying.

  • Because they failed in school they decided to turn to alternative means.

  • Called “Learning to Labour”

  • Studies how the boys who rejected the school still ended up in low-paid manual jobs.

• AO3- A whole range of academic subjects actively encourage students to think critically about society and the role of the elite;

  • Sociology

  • History

  • English

  • Media

• Students are explicitly taught about features of the hidden curriculum including enterprise days and employability skills, etc.

• Bowles and Gintis’s research is not representative of all western school as studies that support it were carried out in a few American high schools.

Evaluation of the Marxist View on Education

• Reveals how education serves capitalist interests. Strong explanation of how education maintains class inequality.

• Highlights ideological control. Helps explain how inequality is justified through the myth of meritocracy.

• Willis’ Learning to Labour has inspired follow-up research examining the link between gender, ethnicity and class inequality in schools.

• Marxists don’t agree on the way in which class inequality is achieved;

  1. Bowles and Gintis take a top-down deterministic view that pupils passively accept indoctrination.

  2. Willis takes a bottom-up social action view that some students rebel against education although still ending up in a working class job. Girls were also absent from this research meaning the results of it may not be possible to generalise.

• Marxism takes a class-first approach to education ignoring other forms of inequality based on gender, sexuality and ethnicity.

• Too deterministic- assumes that all students passively accept their position. Willis himself showed students can resist school ideology, although ironically this still led to class reproduction.

• Ignores the positive function of education. Doesn’t recognise that schools can offer social mobility, particularly in late-modern society. Functionalists argue that schools promote meritocracy and social cohesion.