Sociology education topic 1 paper 3

Functionist -Durkhiem

the positive, functionalist view of education is represented by

1. transmission of societal norms and values - the curriculum encourages students to have a common value and language system reinforcing the value of meritocracy.

2. creation of social solidarity (togetherness) - schools helps create social solidarity through subjects like history, reinforcing national identity and feeling bigger than yourself

3. schools is a microcosm - school help teach kids that there are rules and values to society with punishments which are made clear and misbehavior damages society 

4. prepares for the division of labour - education teaches specific workforce skills such as specialization into subjects, allowing their skills and become interdependent upon one another in order to produce goods ands services 

functionist - Parsons

reinforces Durkheim’s view on education:

1. education acts as a bridge between the family and wider society - a mother may ascribe their child as being special, however in wider society universalistic standards apply, with the school helping to ease transition, creating a meritocratic society 

2. education socialises young people into the basic values of society - two major values in schools, the value of equality and opportunity, with all children coming out winners or losers and thinking this is fair as they have both had equal chances for success

3. education selects people for their future roles - schools by testing and evaluating students, allow them to match their talents and skills by what they are best suited towards

Functionist / new right - Davis and Moore

1. Education’s effective role allocation – link education to system of social stratification, which ensured the most talented and able are allocated best / most important positions in society, with high rewards as incentives. Meaning competing for top positions  

2. Education sifts, sorts and grades – rewarding the most talented with high qualification, providing entry to functionally important roles  

3. Education runs on meritocratic principles – stratification and inequality is normal, natural and desirable, with limited amount of talent showing people need to be persuaded to make a sacrifice in staying in education, promising higher rewards.  

Functionist / new right - Saunders

Societies reward different positions unequally to have beneficial effects - if society didn’t use higher pay to motivate people, the only way to get them to do important jobs would be through force, so unequal rewards are useful because they persuade people to work hard and fill key roles. 

2 – education is run on meritocratic principles – gives equal chance to succeed, people competing with one another and those with greater achievement receive more merit and rewards. Therefore, inequality is justified because it promotes economic growth and people who are not happy should simply work harder to gain rewards 

3 – in society, there is unequal distribution of ability / effort – children of middle class parents deserve to be more successful than working class as they work harder and have greater genetically inherited ability, meaning it is no surprise that they end up in higher paid jobs  

new right - Buchman and Tullock 

Public choice theory – services like education provided by government tend to be ineffective and inefficient, so the marketization of education is advocated instead:  

1. Creates competitive market – new right education should be organised like how supermarkets compete, competing on aspects and within regions, which would drive up standard to attract more ‘customers’  

2. Local councils are monopolies – consumers cannot choose alternative education providers, with the government funding meaning no incentive to respond to customers, rather teflecting teachers and bureaucrats interests. Marketization would make an education system about the needs of consumers  

3. To much state expenditure damages economy - teachers and bureaucrats act in their own interests, leading to rising education spending, higher taxes, and a weaker economy, while parents have little control over schooling. bringing competition and market forces into education would fix these problems, boosting economy, and make society more meritocratic. 

new right - Chubb and Moe

Government in education is unresponsive to needs of parents and state schools had low standards, with the 2 ways parents to avoid this is to pay for private school or move ton an area parents preferred  

State schools have little freedom / autonomy – they are accountable to local councils and government bureaucrats, reinforcing their own ideas and incentives, reducing autonomy of schools / headteachers, restricting meeting needs for parents, while private schools have to please customers in order to survive  

Power must be decentralised and given back to local producers (schools) and customers – encouraging education demands to be met, with private and state schools then competing in an open market for children to attend their schools. Making them adapt and improve, becoming more flexible and responsive, improving equality of opportunity and forming meritocracy of education 

Marx

Role of education benefits the ruling class by maintaining their power and control, justifying their privilege and legitimizing wealth:  

1 – education is part of the superstructure of society – the bourgeoise control the infrastructure (economic system) to control and shape the superstructure (social / political system) e.g. bourgeoise made the education system to serve their interest, with ruling class controlling what to teach in school, which prepares working class pupils for the tedium of manual work and exploitation in the workplace  

2 – education transmits ruling class ideology – use education to hold and maintain power, showing a false and distorted view of society, with hidden curriculum used to transmit ruling class ideology e.g. loyalty and obedience rewarded. Creating a false class consciousness of reality, for inequality to be ‘natural and just / reasonable’ being a disguise to hide the true nature of class exploitation 

3 – helps maintain and reproduce class inequalities – social stratification system is closed and education helps reproduce inequalities, with types of schools for elite and those for everyone else, with state schools crushing creativity making compliant workers, with elite schools taught high level skills to prepare for the best jobs, keeping them on top  

Marx - Althusser

For the ruling class to survive / prosper, reproduction of labour power is essential:  

1 – education is an ideological state apparatus – education functions alongside other ideological apparatus e.g. media and religion, to ensure the continuing power enjoyed by the ruling class and reproduction of labour power 

2 – reproduction of ruling class ideology + socialisation into it – education used to win peoples hearts and minds, transmitting ruling class ideology as this is far more effective for controlling workers e.g. accepting disadvantages/ exploitation as natural and just  

3 – reproduction of skills necessary for efficient workforce – transmits necessary attitudes and behaviors required for capitalist survival – hidden curriculum limits ambition and acceptance of failure – upper-middle class taught the agents of exploitation to rule over lower classes 

marx - Bowles and Gintis 

There is a close correspondence between social relationships and work and in education 

This developed the ‘correspondence principle’ - the ide the hidden curriculum shapes the future workforce by:  

1. Produces subservient workforce and docile workers  

2. Hidden curriculum accepts hierarchy (listening to teachers, no control over study) preparing them for future work  

3. Learn to be motivated by external rewards - ‘jug and mug principle’ with the only want from education being external rewards like qualification  

4. School subjects are fragmented (little connection between subjects) just like jobs are  

Education system helps provide surplus labour – leads to high unemployment % ensures reserve army of labour, reducing pay and legitimising inequality  

Society is not meritocratic / no equal opportunity – it is an illusion and a myth of meritocracy, the wealthy gain the best qualification, legitimizing class inequality 

marx - Bourdieu

1 – major role of education is cultural reproduction – reproduction of ruling class minority culture e.g. appreciation of classical music literature and art, with working class culture seen as inferior  

Makes educational systematically biased in favour of dominant classes, devaluing working classes - the education system is based on ruling‑class culture and bourgeois parlance, while middle‑ and upper‑class children, already socialised into the dominant culture, have an inbuilt advantage therefore achieve more, with an inbuilt barrier being in working class children as they do not have the same opportunities 

Education eliminated working classes from higher level educaiton, accomplished by examination failure or self-elimination:  

• Lack of cultural capital, more likely to fail exam, preventing higher education  

• Those successful will make the ‘realistic decision’ of leaving at 16 as they recognise schools are against them 

• Socialis inequality is legitimised in education  

Social democratic - Hasley

The class system stands in the way of educational opportunities, seen by the effects of the Tripartite system  

Tripartite schools: grammar, secondary modern, technical college  

• Middle class pupils more likely to be in grammar schools, which provided more academic education than vocational, forcing class divisions further, wasting the potential of working class 

Solution: comprehensive system address tripartite problems – one type of schools, designed for meritocracy of education and curriculum  

Inequalities produced from the free market are embedded in the education system and were disastrous – prevented equality of education opportunity e.g. clear from national statistics those who fail education are disproportionately working class 

Social democratic -Crosland

The Labour government education secretary - ‘I’m going to destroy every fucking grammar school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland’  

Initiated the comprehensive revolution of the 60s – introduced the comprehensive system, turning 1/3^rd of grammar schools into comprehensive schools which went against the idea of deciding schools based of 1 exam, with secondary modern children described as working 50 years ‘with their hands’.  

Fairer education equalises distribution of rewards / privilege, diminishing degree of class stratification – strong belief in educational equality, as it would equalise distribution of rewards to diminish the degree of class stratification, increasing social mobility  

Social democratic - Shultz

Giving everyone an opportunity to learn is how we all benefit:  

Making society more meritocratic and ensuring full potential development means everyone makes their maximum contribution to society, encouraging economic growth and prosperity therefore education should equip individuals no matter what with essential skills for this to happen  

Skills and knowledge are forms of capital – investment in humans has the same effect as machinery – more spent on education, the better workforce there will be, which will then repay itself overtime e.g. seen in American agriculture, where education of farmers made them better workers. 

Human capital investments are tied to an individual – examples of human capital – uni, college, on the job training as they add to persons productivity lifetime, with more experience / education meaning higher incomes, thus governments should support all students from all social classes to make society meritocratic  

Social democratic - Czerniawski

School's hierarchical structure reflects social inequality – power at the top, hierarchal by older students having greater voice and status 

However, ‘student voice’ challenges existing hierarchy by giving students greater say in how their institution is run, having greater control over environment, making them more motivated 

‘Every child matters policy’ encourage exam board, schools and colleges to incorporate student voice – e.g. employment of staff, training teachers and design of schools and timetables, showing a useful way to improve participation in schools and long-term democratic participation in society  

Student voice can be a catalyst for change – improves pupil self-esteem, confidence and status, improving their performance at schools. Gain access to untapped knowledge that students have about schools. 

criticism - Durkheim

Education transmits societies norms and values	Marx – transmit's ruling class rules and values
Education creates social solidarity	Creates social class hierarchy
Education acts as a microcosm education making a value conscience	Education creates a microcosm of capitalism

criticism - Parsons

1. education is a bridge between family and society - this in an ideological state apparatus

2. education transmits basic roles of society - education transmits ruling class ideology

criticism - Davis and Moore

1. education sifts, sorts and grades pupils - Bowls & Gintis - education fragments knowledge rather than sifting

2. education is ran on meritocratic values - Bowles & Gintis - education cannot run on meritocratic principles as it is a myth in itself

criticism - Saunders

1. middle class children are more intelligent - IQ tests are systematically biased

2. schools reward based on objective criteria - private schools exist

criticism - Buchman ant Tullock

education is ineffective - this is outdates as it was made during the Tripartite system era

competition raises educational standards - Lauder et al - competition means middle class parents move to catchment areas

criticism - Chubb and Moe

schools should be run like a business - Hargreaves - leads to Kentucky fried Schooling (education is the same, no matter the location)

schools should compete with each other - Ball - result in more money in marketing rather than school resources

criticism - Marx

ruling class influence the education system to suit themselves - Durkheim - education system transmits societal norms and values in society

education helps maintain class inequalities - education creates social solidary and workplace skills

criticism - Althusser

Education is an instrument of the ruling class - Parsons - education socialised young people for basic values of society

schools teaches behaviours required for capitalism to survive - Davis and More - education is ran on meritocratic values

criticism - Bowles and Gintis

the hidden curriculum produces a subservient workforce - Durkheim - schools prepares individuals for the division of labour

education provides a surplus of skilled labour - Davis and Moore- education sifts and sorts individuals for their talents and abilities

criticism - Bourdieu

Saunders:

education enables social reproduction - Saunders - inequality is justified

education has bias against working class - Saunders - middle class children deserve to be more successful

criticism - Halsey

scrapping tripartite ends inequalities - Ben and Chitty - an introduction of more selective schools

comprehensivisation will improve working class school standards - Ben and Chitty - a lack of standardisation, working class will underachieve as grammar schools still exist

criticism - Crosland

comprehensive schools are popular - there are still grammar schools in the country

comprehensive system suppresses ruling elite - Larkin - still elite school boys in top position

criticism - Shultz

schools prepare for productive working lives - school curriculum fails to meet requirements of employers

spending in education creates economic growth - does not automatically produce growth

criticism - Czerniawski

student voice allows for reduction in social inequality - does not fully means all students will prosper outside of education

student voice is a catalyst for change in schools - it is up for students and teachers to meet this standard