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Summary AQA A Level Sociology Education Revision Notes
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The Marxist perspective on education● Marxist see education as based on class division and capitalist exploitation.
Karl Marx described capitalism as a two class system.
● The capitalist class (or bourgeoisie) - They are the minority class and own the
means of production (offices, machinery, factory, land) and they profit by
exploiting the proletariat.
● The working class (the proletariat) - They work under capitalism and are
poorly paid, alienated , unsatisfied , have no control of the labour they perform
and own no means of production.
● Class system - The class division creates the possibility for class conflict. If
the proletariat realise they are being exploited they may demand the
abolishment of capitalism, higher wages or better working conditions.
● Marxists argue capitalism remains because they control the state.
● The education system plays a very significant role in capitalism due to its
function to prevent revolution and maintain capitalism.
AO2 - Louis Althusser
● He argues the state consists of two elements 'apparatus' that help to keep the
bourgeoisie in power.
● The repressive state apparatus - They maintain the power of the
bourgeoisie by the threat of it. This includes: the police, courts and army and
they might use force (physical coercion) to repress the working class.
● The ideological state apparatuses - The ISAs maintain the power of the
bourgeoisie by controlling people's ideas and beliefs. It includes religion, the
media and the education system.
Functions of education according to Althusser.
-Education reproduces class inequality by transmitting it from generation to
generation, by failing each successive generation of working-class pupils in
return.
-Education legitimates (justifies) class inequality by producing ideology that
hides its true cause. Its function of ideology is to persuade workers to accept
that inequality is inevitable and that they deserve their subordinate position in
society. If they accept these ideas, they are less likely to challenge or threaten
capitalism.
AO2 - Bowles and Gintis
● They conducted a study of 237 New York high schools Bowles and Gintis
concluded that schools reward precisely the kind of personality traits that
make for a submissive, worker.
● Students who showed independence and creativity gained low marks and
those who had characteristics such as obedience and discipline (like
punctuality) gained high marks.
● They believe that education stunts and distorts pupils' development.
, ● They argue that capitalism requires a workforce with the kind of attitudes,
behaviour and personality type suited to their role as exploited workers who
accept hard work, low pay and orders from above.
Bowles and Gintis parallels between school and workplace
● They argue that schools and workplaces are alike in many ways, they are
both hierarchies with head teachers or bosses at the top making decisions
and giving orders and workers or pupils at the bottom obeying.
● They argue that school takes 'the long shadow of work'. They refer to the
similarities of schools and workplace as 'correspondence principles'.
● They argue that the hidden curriculum had correspondence principles, all the
lessons that are learnt in school without being taught.
● Pupils became used to accepting hierarchy and competition, working for
extrinsic rewards and so on, in this way schooling prepares the working class
for their role as exploited workers of the future reproducing capitalism.
Bowles and Gintis
● The proletariat may find that they are being exploited and have a revolution,
so the education system prevents this from happening by producing
ideologies that serve to explain and justify why inequality is fair, natural and
inevitable.
● They argue that education is a 'giant myth making machine' . It has the myth
of meritocracy. They argue that meritocracy does not exist.
● There is evidence that shows that the main factor determining wether
someone has a high income is their family and class background and not their
ability or achievement.
● They argue that meritocracy(where jobs and pay are allocated based on
individual talent and achievement rather than social status) serves the higher
class and makes it seem they've achieved success through fair competition at
school
● The argue that the education system also justifies poverty through 'poor-are-
dumb' theory of failure. It blames poverty on individuals (didn't work hard
enough at school) and not capitalism and makes them less likely to rebel
against the system.
AO2 - Paul Willis
● Willis studied a group of 12 working class lads using unstructured interviews
and participant observation.The lads.
● The lads opposed the school and called the ones who conformed to the
schools rules ear oles and 'taking the piss' out of ear oles and girls. They
found the school meaningless and boring. They rejected the school's values
of working hard to achieve middle class jobs. The boys' anti school culture
and the culture of manual workers both saw manual work as superior and
intellectual work and effeminate. They saw the girls as effeminate.The lads
● This explains why the lads counter-culture of resistance to school helps them
to slot into the jobs that capitalists need someone to perform such as:
, - They have been used to boredom and ways to have fun at school , they don't
expect satisfaction from work and are good at finding ways to deal with unskilled
labour.
- Their acts of rebellion guarantee they will end up in unskilled jobs because they
may not gain good qualifications.
AO3 - Criticism of the Marxist view of education
● Marxist disagree with each other about how reproduction and legitimation in
school take place. Bowles and Gintis take a deterministic view.
● They assume pupils indefinitely accept the school's values. However, they do
not offer an explanation as to why some pupils reject the school's values.
Willis rejects the idea that schools brainwashes pupils into accepting their
fate.
● He shows that this is not always the case whilst simultaneously showing how
those who reject the values of capitalism may still end up with working class
jobs.
AO3 - Criticism of Willis
● He has been criticised for romanticising the lads and portraying them as
working class heroes even though they were sexist and misbehaved. His
study was also small and might not be representative so we can't generalise
them.
AO3 - Postmodernists criticism of the Marxist perspective
● Morrow and Torres argue that Marxist take a 'class first' approach and ignore
all other types of inequality like gender, sexuality or ethnicity.
● They argue that sociologists should explain how education reproduces and
legitimates all forms of inequality, not just class and how they are interrelated.
AO3 - Feminists criticism of the Marxist view of education
● Madeleine MacDonald argues that Bowles and Gintis ignore the fact that
schools reproduce not only capitalism but patriarchy too. Angela McRobbie
points that females are largely absent from Willis' study.
Functionalism and the role of the education
● Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of independent
parts held together by a shared culture of value consensus
● Secondary socialisation is a key function of education in order to remain this
consensus - Education system has a role in creating social solidarity
● Education should teach the specialist role in creating social solidarity
● Another function of education is to sort people by ability - most talented are
prepared for the most important jobs I.e. Surgeons (role allocation).
● Schools should act as a bridge between family and wider society
AO2 - Durkheim
● Was the founder of functionalist sociology, identified two main functions of
education; creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills
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