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Summary Education full topic revision
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provides an in depth overview and full content revision of education sociology a level year 12 and 13
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Education- full topic revision,Sociological perspectives on
education
, Durkheim- Solidarity and skills Parsons- Meritocracy
Solidarity- • Argues that school bridges the gap between the family and wider society-
• Is necessary in society to be part of a community that learn society’s principles.
has shared norms and values, and that education Particularistic standards: rules/judgements that only apply within the family
provides it.
Universalistic standards: rules/judgements that apply to everyone, in schoo
• Says education does this by transmitting shared beliefs
and values from one generation to the next society.
EG: teaching a country’s history gives pupils a feel of • Believes school/wider society gives us achieved status gained through
shared heritage and commitment to wider social groups. efforts/achievement, not through fixed characteristic like gender or class-
• School is ‘society in miniature’- prepares us for later • Meritocracy at school helps us move from family to wider society, meritoc
life. everyone is given equal opportunities, and are rewarded through their ow
EG: teacher/pupils are like colleagues/customers at work.
Or school rules like dress codes are similar to workplaces.
Specialist skills- Functionalism
• Argues that education gives pupils knowledge and
skills needed for work.
• Economies have complex divisions of labour, so school
helps pupils to get the skills needed to fulfil their
Evaluation of the functionalist perspective:
‘place’ in the workforce. • Wolf (2011)- found that high quality apprenticeships are rare, and of
in high-paid jobs- means education doesn’t teach specialist skills adeq
• Equal opportunities don’t exist in education- achievement is based in
Davis & Moore- Role allocation gender and class- not ability.
• Argue that education allocated pupils to suitable future job roles.
• Tumin (1953)- David and Moore’s argument is circular, -we know a jo
• They focus on the relationship between education and
because it’s highly rewarded, and a job is highly rewarded because it's
inequality- That important roles in society need to be for the
• Marxists say education in a capitalist society only transmits ideas of the
skilled and talented, as some are naturally more talented than
the shared beliefs and values of society as a whole.
others.
• Education is where students prove their ability, and are then • Interactionalist Wrong (1961)- the functionalist view is ‘over social
sifted and sorted by ability. The highest qualifications get the people as society’s puppets- assumes pupils passively accept teaching
highest positions. reject values.
These are known as functionally important roles. • New Right and Neoliberals- argue that the state education system
students for work.
, However…
Similarities to the functionalist • New right believes the education system fails to do Solution- The mark
view: these things because it’s run by the state. educatio
• That some people are naturally more • Argues that education has a ‘one size’ fits all • This would create an
talented than others. approach- this imposes uniformity and ignores local market’.
• Favours the meritocratic system- needs. • Having competition b
principles of competition and preparing • Consumers (parents, pupils, employers) have no say- schools and empowe
students to join the workforce. making state education inefficient/unresponsive. will give us more: div
• Education should socialise us into • Overall, these factors mean lower achievement and efficiency in sch
shared values like competition and standards- which means a less qualified workforce. • School’s ability to me
national identity. all consumers will als
Chubb & Moe- consumer if education is marke
choice New Right Two roles for t
• They propose a ‘voucher system’ The New Right want ma
where parents ‘shop’ for a school education, but they still
to give their voucher to. Evaluation of the New Right perspective: state can fulfil:
• This forces schools to listen to • Ball (1994)- argues that competition between schools • The state imposing a
what consumers want, and only benefits the MC- because they can access better that schools compet
therefore raise education schools using their cultural and economic capital. parents more info so
standards. • Critics- the real cause of lower education standards is an informed choice
• Schools would have to compete lack of funding, not state control. example: Ofsted inspec
to attract ‘customers’ with these • New Right’s contradiction: they support parental choice, league table of school’s
changes because the vouchers but also want schools to have a compulsory national • The state ensures sc
would be their main source of curriculum. shared culture. Havi
income. • Marxists argue that there’s no shared culture in Curriculum makes su
• Parentocracy: ran/influenced by education- there is a ruling class culture that devalues social pupils into 1 c
parents. working class and ethnic minorities’ culture.
, Marx: Bowles & Gintis:
• Argued that education revolves around class division and capitalist exploitation- • Correspondence Principle- they argues school mirrors the workplace.
it isn’t based on consensus. EG: schools/workplaces both have hierarchies- headteachers/bosses up top, worker
• Class conflict: workers realise they’re being exploited so they demand higher bottom.
wages, better conditions, or no more capitalism. • Study: of 237 NY high school students, where they found that schools reward tr
• Marx thinks the proletariat will unite to overthrow capitalism and make a that make up a submissive/compliant worker, and that students showing indepe
classless, equal society. often had lower grades. They concluded that education helps produce obedient
• He says the education system is controlled by the state, reproduces class capitalism needs.
inequality and prevents a WC revolution. • They argue that the correspondence principle operates through the hidden curr
Althusser (1971): • Hidden curriculum: lessons learnt in school that aren’t directly taught on the
like being on time, wearing uniform, and working/obeying to get rewards.
• Says these keep the bourgeoisie in power.
This means school prepares WC pupils for the role of exploited worker, which repr
Repressive State Apparatuses: police, courts, army, etc. Maintain perpetrates class inequality from generation to generation.
bourgeoisie’s power by force or threats of force.
The myth of meritocracy- the legitimisation of
Ideological State Apparatuses: religion, education, media, etc.
• Bowles & Gintis- education is ‘a giant myth ma
Maintain rule by controlling people’s ideas/beliefs/values.
Argues education is an important ISA that preforms 2 functions: that meritocracy is a myth because no matter how
works, rewards aren’t based on efforts.
• Reproduces class inequality: transmitting it from They see meritocracy as a way to justify privileges th
generation to generation, by failing each successive gen of WC Marxism
have, and that others can ‘work hard’ and get them t
pupils in turn.
• Legitimising class inequality: making sets of values/beliefs Evaluation of the Marxist
that hide their actual cause. The ideology persuades workers to • Postmodernists- education produc
accept that inequality is inevitable and that they deserve inequality, the correspondence princ
subordinate positions in society. This means WC pupils are less because we need schools to make a l
likely to challenge/threaten capitalism. today’s Post-Fordist economy.
Willis (1997): • Principle is too deterministic- it assum
• Study shows that WC pupils can resist being indoctrinated, which Bowles & Gintis ignores. passive and accept indoctrination- fa
• He used qualitative research methods- unstructured interviews, participant observation to study the pupils can reject school’s beliefs and
lad’s counter-culture of 12 WC boys. • Morrow & Torres (1998)- argue t
• Found their counter-culture opposes the school, the are scornful to the conformist boys (ear’oles) as diverse, and Marxism takes on a clas
they listen to teachers. ignore inequalities of race, gender, an
• The lads find school boring/meaningless, so they go against values & rules by smoking/drinking, • MacDonald (1980)- Marxism ignores
truanting and disrupting class. Here they reject the idea that the WC can get MC jobs by working hard. reproduces patriarchy.
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