Unit 2 SCLY2 - Education with Research Methods; Health with Research Methods
Summary
Summary AQA Sociology - Marxist Perspective on Education (10 marker)
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Course
Unit 2 SCLY2 - Education with Research Methods; Health with Research Methods
Institution
AQA
A* Sociology Student, sat exams in 2022 and received a grade of over 95%.
These are answers for AQA (but would work for all exam boards).
Past paper question on the topic of perspectives in education specifically that of the marxist perspective on education, answered to 10/10, 100% (high A*, ...
Applying Material from Item A, analyse two ways in which the education system might serve the
needs of capitalism (10)
One way in which Marxists may argue the education system might serve the needs of capitalism is
through the production of ‘new generation(s) of workers. Marxist sociologists such as Bowles and
Gintis (1976) assert that the education system maintains these capitalist values through teaching
obedient attitudes – through a close correspondence between the school and the workplace, the
‘correspondence principle’. This argument promulgates the belief that within school, students are
taught the norms and values that will make their future exploitation by employers easier, an
example of this is motivation via external rewards, as within school students may undertake
repetitive lessons for high grades, whereas in the workplace they work repetitive jobs and are
rewarded by wages. With the workers funnelled into the necessary required worker for the
bourgeoisie, the education system reproduces an exploited ‘new generation’ of workers perpetually
ensuring the continuance of capitalism is not hindered. However, in contemporary society, neo-
Marxists, such as Giroux (1984) reject this premise that the children are moulded by the capitalist
system and suggests that the existence of anti-school subcultures (truancy and exclusion) show that
the correspondence principle may be failing in practice. This is further supported by Willis (1977)
report ‘Learning to Labour’ in which he studied working-class school children in their final year of
school and found that these deterministic theories did not hold up, undermining the view of Bowles
and Gintis and supporting that of Giroux. However he believed that the outcome was much the
same and this rejection led to academic insufficiency in which students are unable to socially
progress as they do not have the facilities to leading to low-paid work enabling the poverty trap.
Another method in which Marxist sociologists argue the education system serves the needs of
capitalism is socially controlling the proletariat to not ‘overthrow this unequal system’. Marxist
sociologist Louis Althusser (1971) argues that the educational system argues as an Ideological State
Apparatus (ISA), which brainwashes the population, denying them to see their own exploitation
(known as ‘false class consciousness’ due to the misguiding view of their own position within
society). The ISA is taught through functions such as the hidden curriculum, which is taught covertly
within education and Marxists take the view it assimilates proletariat students into accepting and
legitimising their place within society, and those who ‘stand out’ or ‘fail to comply’ are treated with
social control – being given sanctions (i.e. detention). Thereby, this function ensures that this
‘unequal system’ is not overthrown as the proletariat accept their place within society as inevitable,
ascribed and invariant – perpetuating capitalism. This is supported through an overwhelming wealth
of evidence, proving that the middle class do better in education (wealthiest 7% of families can send
their children to private school in turn giving them increased life chances such as increased
university prospects), because the working classes are more likely to suffer from material and
cultural deprivation – and legislation such as the 1988 Education Act benefited them, as argued by
Ball.
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