Sociology scholars

EDUCATION:

Marxist perspective:

Paul Willis- recognises that schools do not produce a willing and obedient workforce, students don’t obey teachers, they can be disruptive and challenge school.

Willis studied a group of twelve working-class male pupils he referred to as’the lads’ in a school on a working class housing estate in Wolverhampton in the 70’s. The lads developed an anti-school subculture. they attached little interest in qualifications and would rather have a laugh and get into the world of work. School was boring and pointless to their lives as they wanted to involve themselves in the ‘real world’ of male, manual work.

Functionalist perspective:

Durkheim’s view- interested in how education contributes to social order via social solidarity and teaching specialist skills and knowledge.

He believed that school society in miniature and its role is to socialise students into wider society.

Parson’s view- a key value of society is meritocracy. School is a key bridge between family and wider society. Society’s a meritocracy and schools should promote meritocratic ideals- this leads to value consensus.

particularistic standards vs universalistic standards

New Right perspective:

Some people are more naturally talented than others, schools should be like businesses- answerable to parents and children. free market. schools are run by businesses principles- this is called marketisation.

they believe the current education system is failing because of government interference.

competition helps improve education and delivers better value for money for the taxpayer.

failing schools should be shut down.

Chubb and Moe (1990)- state education has failed, the state has failed to support disadvantaged groups such as minorities and rural education. private schools are able to deliver higher quality education because they are answerable to paying customers.

Labelling:

Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968)- investigated labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy by labelling some primary school children as ‘bright’ and some as low ability. Those that were labelled as ‘bright’ after a fake IQ test made more progress.

Stereotypes:

Harvey & Slatin (1975)- showed 96 teachers 18 photos of children from different backgrounds- found white, middle class children were identified as the ideal student. Teachers had lower expectations of lower class, non-white children.

Students identities-

Subcultures:

Lacey (1970)- researched the process of differentiation (schools treating different ability students differently) can lead to polarization (when students become divided into two opposing groups- top streams, bottom streams)

Hargreaves (1967)- interviewed secondary school boys and found anti-school attitudes developed because of low streams and the label of being worthless.

Achievement (ethnicity):

Sewell (1998) found that some black pupils worked hard to reject racist labels and embraced academic success

Sewell (1998) also found groups of African Caribbean boys in the lower streams who were more likely to be part of anti-school subcultures

Archer (2003) researched Muslim boys in the North West of England and while they found it important to have a masculine identity, a breadwinner role was part of their culture so they still worked hard

Achievement (social class):

Willis (1977) found working class boys actively chose to reject school and pro-school subcultures, their main aim was to have a laugh. They felt schooling did not favour them.

CULTURE AND IDENTITY:

Conceptions of culture:

Jencks (1993)- culture is the ‘whole way of life of a society’

Marshall (1998)- culture is everything ‘in human society that is socially rather than biologically transmitted’

Process of socialisation:

Parson’s believes that the family is a ‘personality factory’. the child is a blank slate at birth and parents train their child to fit the mould of society

Durkheim (1912) said that the major role of religion was to socialise society into value consensus by using sacred symbolism that becomes ‘moral codes’.

Durkheim believed that subjects such as RE, history and languages linked education to society. Education enforces British values.

Marxists see socialisation as benefiting the ruling class. Family is used by the capitalists class to instil values such as obedience that will benefit the ruling class. These values ensure people are exploited in later life.

Marsh and Keating (2006) argue that effective socialisation should happen to children without them even noticing it.

Gerald Handel (2006)- interactionist- socialisation is not a one way process. Peer group socialisation occurs between individuals with similar authority.

Identity and social class:

Ken Roberts (2011)- the upper class consists of two groups- the old upper class and the new upper class. old upper class- aristocracy, wealth from the ownership of land. new upper class- formed in the 19th century. made money from mining and industry

John Scott (1991)- identified that conservative values of tradition and the acceptance of privilege, heritage and authority are regarded as particularly important aspects of upper class identity.

Savage (1995)- describes four distinct middle class groups and identity (professionals, managers, self-employed owners of small businesses, white collar or clerical workers)

Roberts (2011) emphasised the similarities between members of the middle class e.g. career success, homeownership, value education.

Skeggs (2015)- researched the way TV shows and game shows frequently portray the WC as immoral, lazy and uncultured.

Murray (1994) and Mount (2004) identified the ‘underclass’- those who are on benefits often single parents, drug addicts and criminals.

Charlesworth (2000) studied on a council estate in Rotherham and found most suffered from low self-esteem, negative self identity, negative experience of education, turn to drinks and drugs.

Gender:

Judith Butler (1999)- gender is a performance. Gender does not come naturally- requires practice. Therefore, it is possible to deviate from expected gender attributes.

Statham (1986)- found that by the age of 5, most children have acquired a clear gender identity; they know what gender they belong to and understand the appropriate behaviour.

Mort (1996)- metrosexual man. Concerned with image and invest in personal grooming products. e.g. David Beckham

Mac an Ghaill (1996)- crisis of masculinity. decline of traditional industries, rising unemployment. work is central to the identity of traditional men. they look for other ways to establish masculinity and in youth this manifests as lack of engagement in school, delinquency or gang culture.

Sexuality:

Taylor (1997)- gay women have always had a lower social profile than gay men

Cronin (1997)- sexuality was a matter of choice until the 17th c. at this time a distinctive social identity became established.

Ethnicity:

Hennink et al(1999)- found in their study that 75% of Sikh and 85% of Muslim teenage girls expected to have an arranged marriage.

Singh Ghuman says this is a product of successful primary socialisation

Modood (1997) found that skin colour was an important source of identity to many young African Caribbeans

National identity:

Guibernau and Goldblatt (2000)- no case can be made for a single, original, authentic group of Britons. However, a sense of British identity has gradually developed around 5 key themes:

geography
religion
war
the British empire
monarchy