Sociocultural Perspectives on Education- Exam 1

epistemological framework

foundational system of beliefs about acquisition of knowledge

Social construction

epistemological framework; provides a lens to help us understand how historically, culturally, and interactionally contingent set of phenomena have created human identities; creates and embraces beliefs, values, and social meanings without questioning them, creates social identities, group differences, and assignment of roles, justifies oppression

5 ways of social construction of difference

use of dominant values, characteristics, and features of dominant group as neutral standard; labeling and reifying to include/exclude; stereotyping; terms to establish dominant/subordinate; “exoticizing” and “romanticizing” as a form of appropriation

social categorization

one group deemed superior; foundation of structural inequalities; help to engender and perpetuate oppression

Tools of social categorization

physical characteristics, biological differences, genetic differences

borders

daily reproduction of ideas and myths that lead to “us” and “other”

marginalization

a deliberate strategy to confine some people in a situation the system of labor cannot or will not use

contingent marginality

competitive inequality because of economic dynamics

systematic marginality

disadvantages in socially constructed system

oppression

the exercise of tyranny by a ruling group; structural

faces of oppression

exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, violence

exploitation

results of labor of one social group benefit another social group

powerlessness

people/ groups deprived of authority or power and take orders but rarely have the right to give orders

cultural imperialism

the universalization of a dominant group’s experience and culture, and its establishment as the norm

Why is education sociological?

social process with intended and unintended functions; occurs in an institutional structure which is connected to other systems; involves human beings who interact to transmit knowledge, skills, and attitudes

functionalism

social institutions arise because they serve an important purpose that societies require in order to work properly

functionalism involves

assortative function of schooling, socialization and allocation of individuals on the basis of criteria, beliefs, and values, maintaining equilibrium, social order

socialization

agency through which individual personalities are trained to perform their adult roles

meritocracy

based on universalistic standards

human capital theory

schools teach valuable skills that will pay off in the future; schools expanded in response to need for well-educated people

conflict theory (Marxism, Collins, Bourdieu)

schooling is an arena in which elites struggle to reproduce their advantage through the success of their children; children of elite able to transfer cultural capital to academic capital

status culture

a particular lifestyle, taught to foster the desire of the dominant group

credential inflation

way by which elite groups reproduce the class structure

Bowles and Gintis work

IQ scores, occupational status, and income positively correlated. When SES controlled, IQ has little impact on income

school’s role in promoting capitalism

social dynamics of classroom mirror hierarchically structured patterns of values, norms, and skills in work force

symbolic-interaction

every aspect of school is symbolic and interpretive

critical theory

how power and empowerment are played out in schools

feminist theory

analyzes the relationship between women, education, and social status- challenges the assertion that schooling is a neutral endeavor

institutional theory

societies are governed by cultures, ideas, and norms that are widely accepted and built into important institutions; transmits culture via the curriculum; schools expanded because of changing ideas and norms

culture

shared motives, values, beliefs, identities, and interpretations or meanings of significant events that result from common experiences of members of collectives that are transmitted across generations

culture is

systematic, communal, dynamic

culture and social construction theory

through human interactions we create aspects of our culture, objectify them, internalize them, and then take these cultural products for granted

cultural capital

norms, social practices, ideologies, language, and behavior that are part of a given context

enculturation

immersion in our own culture makes us assume that our way of life is “normal” or “natural”

acculturation

the process of learning a new culture

learning

the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience

universalistic view of learning

all human groups perceive and learn in the same way

assimilationist pluralism

the idea of multiple groups being acknowledged but the final goal is that they be subsumed into a single whole

critical multiculturalism

recognition of diversity and pluralism should include economic inequality; mutual necessity of both recognition and redistribution of economic resources

benign multiculturalism

preference for social and cultural diversity, opposition to government intervention

boutique multiculturalism

market-based idea of diversity which celebrates voluntary identity expressed through choice and consumption

cosmopolitanism

recognizes the social values of diversity but skeptical about the obligations and constraints that group membership and societal cohesion can place on individual; group membership is voluntary

fragmented pluralism

focuses on existence of variety of distinctive and relatively self-contained mediating communities as a social reality, but also as a necessity and strength; individual subsumed by group rather than nation

interactive pluralism

realizes existence of distinct groups and cultures, need to cultivate common understanding across these differences through their mutual recognition and ongoing interaction

positionality

locate oneself along series of identity axes; engage in public self-positioning

standpoint theory

feminist critical theory, knowledge is socially situated, research focusing on power relations; all knowing will substantially involve the standpoint or social and historical context of particular knowers