Provides detailed yet concise summaries of all topics within the education module of A-Level sociology. All relevant sociologists, theories, methods and perspectives are included, alongside criticisms and comparisons.
AQA sociology education: social class, ethnicity and gender differences
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that sociology can and should be a science
AQA A level Sociology Families and Households Notes
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Sociology
Education
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THE ROLE OF EDUCATION - FUNCTIONALISTS
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION:
- Creating social solidarity.
- Teaching skills needed for work (role allocation).
- Passing on core norms and values.
ROLE ALLOCATION:
- Process of sifting and sorting people into the roles that they will go on to perform in life.
DURKHEIM:
- Education transmits norms and values.
- Compared schools to a miniature society (microcosm).
- Social solidarity is created through education.
CRITICISMS OF DURKHEIM:
- Marxists: education system only benefits a select few as the system is biassed and
focuses on socialising the capitalist ideology.
- Durkheim's views are polarised.
- Feminists: system validates gender inequality.
PARSONS:
- Education creates a bridge between family and society.
- Passes on the universalistic value of achievement.
- Can change ascribed status to achieved status (social mobility).
CRITICISMS OF PARSONS:
- Social class plays a big role in educational achievement (e.g: MC can afford tuition).
- Disregards external factors (e.g: material deprivation).
DAVIS AND MOORE:
- Role allocation is a key part of their study.
- Inequality is necessary so all spots in society are carried out.
BLAU AND DUNCAN:
- The modern economy depends on the use of human capital and a meritocratic education
system does this best.
MARXISTS
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION - MARXISTS:
- The state enables the ruling class to maintain a dominant position/ideology.
ALTHUSSER:
- Repressive state apparatus: bourgeoisie maintain rule by using physical force (police,
courts, army).
- Ideological state apparatus: bourgeoisie control people's ideas, values and beliefs
(education, media, religion).
- Bourgeoisie ideology is spread to ensure that the working class are kept in a state of
false class consciousness.
- Prepares the working class for a life of exploitation.
, - Education promotes and teaches passive acceptance of hierarchy.
BOWLES AND GINTIS:
- Correspondence principle: schools mirror the workplace;
+ Hierarchy.
+ Rewards/sanctions.
+ Passivity.
+ Motivation.
+ Fragmentation.
CRITICISMS OF BOWLES AND GINTIS:
- Views are outdated.
- Feminists: do not consider other impactful factors (e.g: gender inequality).
- Functionalists: school is meritocratic and Marxists disregard social mobility.
FEMINISTS
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION:
- Feminists believe that the education system transmits patriarchal values.
- Heaton and Lawson: argued that the hidden curriculum taught patriarchal values in
schools.
LIBERAL FEMINISTS:
- Would continue to criticise the education system's transmittal of patriarchal values, but
would value the progress that has been made over the years.
RADICAL FEMINISTS:
- Argue that the education system is still fundamentally patriarchal and continues to
marginalise and oppress women.
DIFFERENCE FEMINISTS:
- Not all girls have the same experience in education and ethnic minority girls are often
victims of specific stereotyping and assumptions.
THE NEW RIGHT
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION:
- Chubb and Moe: state-run education in the US has failed because:
+ It has not created equal opportunities for disadvantaged groups.
+ It fails to produce students with the skills needed for the economy (lack of human
capital).
+ Quality of education is lacking as they are not answerable to parents like private
schools are.
- Neoliberal economic ideas on a free market and a non-interventionist approach by the
government. Believe schools should operate like businesses and compete on the global
marketplace.
- Failing schools are not answering the demands of their consumers, which creates lower
standards of achievement for pupils and a less qualified workforce.
, - The state must impose a framework on schools through league tables and OFSTED
inspections, and transmit a shared culture through the national curriculum.
CRITICISMS OF THE NEW RIGHT:
- Gerwitz and Ball: competition between schools benefits the middle class who can use
their cultural and economic capital to gain access to more desirable schools.
- There is a contradiction between the New Right’s support for parental choice as well as
the state imposing a compulsory national curriculum on all its schools.
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