1. Sociological Perspectives

What is the functionalist view of education?

Education transmits culture, promotes value consensus, prepares a skilled workforce, and reinforces social solidarity.

What did Durkheim say about education?

School is a 'mini society' that teaches cooperation, unity, and moral responsibility.

What did Parsons believe education does?

Bridges family and society, shifts status from ascribed to achieved, and supports meritocracy.

What is the role allocation function (Davis & Moore)?

Education sorts people by ability for job roles; inequality motivates competition and skill development.

What are criticisms of the functionalist view?

Ignores inequality; outdated in diverse societies; overemphasises credentials; promotes ruling class values.

What is the New Right/Neoliberal view of education?

Favors marketisation, parental choice, competition, and a shared national culture.

What did Chubb & Moe propose?

A voucher system for school choice to improve standards through accountability.

Criticisms of New Right ideas?

Benefits MC families; ignores inequality and underfunding; reinforces ruling class values.

What is the Marxist perspective on education?

Education maintains capitalism, reproduces inequality, and legitimises class structure.

What did Althusser say about education?

It acts as an Ideological State Apparatus transmitting capitalist ideology and control.

What did Bowles & Gintis argue?

Schools mirror the workplace and reward obedience over creativity via the hidden curriculum.

What did Cohen say about youth training schemes?

They discipline young people and prepare them for low-paid work.

What did Willis find in 'Learning to Labour'?

Working-class 'lads' reject school but still end up in WC jobs, reinforcing capitalism.

Criticisms of Marxism?

Too deterministic, ignores gender and ethnicity, assumes passive acceptance of ideology.

What do postmodernists say about education?

Education must adapt to a diverse, flexible, post-Fordist economy with creative workers.

What did Morrow & Torres argue?

Class isn't the only inequality; race, gender, and sexuality also matter.

Criticisms of postmodernism?

Class-based inequalities and structural inequality still persist.

What is the interactionist view of education?

Focuses on small-scale teacher-student interactions, labelling, and expectations.

What did Becker say about labelling?

Teachers label students based on their image of the 'ideal pupil'.

What did Hargreaves et al. say?

Teacher judgments are formed in stages and influence expectations.

What is the Pygmalion effect (Rosenthal & Jacobson)?

Teacher expectations can shape student performance and outcomes.

What did Stanworth & Spender find?

Boys receive more attention and praise than girls in classrooms.

What did Wright find about teacher attitudes?

Teachers saw Asian pupils as passive and Afro-Caribbean pupils as problematic.

Criticisms of interactionism?

Too deterministic, overlooks structural factors, relies on less reliable qualitative methods.