Studied by 6 people
Socialisation
Children are socialised with a value system that comes from the ruling class ideology, accepting norms and values that reflect this ideology. For example, norms of punctuality, hard work, competition, respect for authority etc. This makes children into hard working, obedient workers who don’t challenge authority and respect hierarchy, shaping individuals to become effective in a capitalist society.
Preparation for the world of work
Marxists see education as preparing children for the world of work but think that children are being prepared to be efficient workers in order to benefit the ruling class. This makes children into effective workers as they get used to work life through the 8-3 model, learning basic literacy, numeracy, and ICT skills, along with being used to monotony and boring tasks as well as sanctions for bad behaviour. Individuals then become valuable to owners of business and generate money and progress industry for the elite.
Meritocracy
Marxists believe that the idea of meritocracy is a myth. If children accept that some people are better than others it means they are likely to accept their unfair status outside of school. They also believe education benefits the middle classes through things such as cultural capital, material deprivation, and labelling. Wealthier children have more money which means access to things like private tutors and places to work, as well as cultural capital which creates an unconscious bias for teachers. This myth means that pupils with money and middle class culture progress and do well.
Childcare
According to Marxists, the ruling class are happy to set parents free to work as the more time they are at work, the more money they can make for the ruling class. Schools allow parents to generate more money for the owners of industry as they look after their children.
Role Allocation
Schools arrange students into specific skill sets, becoming increasingly specialised at different levels. For example, choosing 4 GCSEs, 3 A-Levels, and 1 Degree. This means that people end up in a job that suits their skills, and owners of businesses have the right people in the right role.
Louis Althusser
Argued that education is part of the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), this means that education transmits values and norms of the ruling class. Education helps to convince children that these norms and values are normal rather than oppressive.
Bowles and Gintis (1976)
Argued the ‘correspondence theory’ - that what goes on in schools corresponds with what goes on in the workplace. Low status children learn to accept that they need to work hard in school and therefore work. Higher status children have more freedom and control over the decisions they make. Thus the higher up the scale a child is the more personal freedom they have.
Glenn Rikowski (2005)
Noticed that there has been a huge change in management of school, with many businesses taking over from local authorities - or at least sponsoring local schools. In many cases the schools have since started studying more BTECs and GNVQs.
Bourdieu (1977)
Argued that working class people are tricked into accepting their position in society through the myth of meritocracy.
Marxist interpretations of education are too simple
Henry Giroux (1984) is a Neo-Marxist who argued that the working classes do not simply ‘accept ideology passively’, some working class pupils actively shape their own educational outcomes and do not accept everything they are taught in schools. Some working class students recognise that the education system works against them and work harder.
Critical thinking
Some elements of education encourage critical thinking rather than passive acceptance, for example sociology. Why would an education system actively encourage a subject that highlights these processes?
Brown (1997)
Criticises Bowles and Gintis specifically saying that they place too much emphasis on obedience in schools because schools actually have a lot of collaboration and teamwork. B+G conducted their research in the USA in 1976, meaning it’s not relevant to the UK now. In general, schools promote many values including leadership and collaboration.
Teachers
Teachers tend to be left wing sympathisers and don’t necessarily promote a ruling class ideology. In fact, 80-90% of teachers vote for Labour or Liberal Democrats with only 10-20% voting Conservative.
