Education Notes - Sociology

Education, Socialisation and Citizenship:

Structuralists: Focus on purpose of education for wider society.

Consensus Perspective: Functionalist- Emphasise positive effects

Conflict Perspective: Marxist & Feminist- Critical

Functionalist- Consensus Perspective

Durkheim

* Education important in preventing anomie

* Being taught history important; teaches shared heritage, integration and solidarity.

* Family based on affective (affectionate) relationships. Society is based on instrumental (mutual self- interest). School teaches instrumental relationships gradually- ‘easing’ them into it!

Parsons

* Education teaches the value of achieved status’ rather than ascribed.

* Education teaches universalistic standards- rather than the particularistic standards seen in family

* Competition, equality and individualism are taught within education. These are crucial to capitalism and cannot be taught in family due to its cooperative nature.

Marxism- Conflict Perspective

Schools make proletariat passive and resigned to their fate. Making sure they don’t rebel!

Althusser

* Education acts as an Ideological apparatus- ‘brainwashing’

Apply this to schools, it can be argued hidden curriculum teaches obedience etc. and punishes free thinking. Official Curriculum teaches that alternatives to capitalism as dangerous!

Study: Bowles & Gintis (1976)

Schools mirror workplace. This is the correspondence principle, and it prepares children to accept their future exploitation as the proletariat. Note several similarities between workplace and schools:

Hierarchical, same values of uniform and punctuality etc, external rewards emphasised i.e. wages and grades as opposed to just enjoyment, fragmentation & alienation- form group, subject, department etc.

Also argue that education transmits myth of meritocracy! The belief that social mobility is achievable, when in reality it is an illusion- blaming the working class for...