The conflict perspective of education focuses on ways different social groups use education as a means of getting or keeping power, wealth, and prestige. The United States can very well be described as a society which places an overwhelming amount of importance on credentials, primarily on an array of educational qualifications. After World War II, degrees began being attained at a rapid pace. This included high school diplomas, bachelor’s and masters’ degrees, even doctorates. The question is why has this happened? The conflict perspective in contemporary sociology derives its inspiration from the work of Karl Marx, who saw the struggle between social classes as the “engine” of history and the main source of change. Conflict theorists assume …show more content…
For a fair amount of time, the common-sense explanation from the functionalists went almost unquestioned. The evidence provided, however, gives it little support. Some new jobs that require advanced knowledge and skills have of course appeared (for example, the atomic physicist). But the content of most jobs has not changed very during this century. The level of skills required of positions such as cashiers, lawyers, teachers, receptionists, sales representatives, or bus drivers is generally little different than it was decades ago. Yet, the competition in most career fields have become very aggressive and the same kind of jobs now demand more advanced …show more content…
The consumers of education are well aware that education is the key to social mobility, but to put a student through college is an expensive undertaking, particularly when indirect costs, such as the loss of the student’s potential earnings, are taken into account. The wealthier a family is, the more able it is to bear such costs. A crucial insight of the conflict perspective is that people do not have equal opportunity to achieve educational success. In practice, their chances are strongly influenced by the social class of the family into which they were born. Social stratification distributes education opportunities as unequally as it distributes resources of power. By strengthening the advantages that some people already have over others as a result of a chance of birth, the schools maintain the social inequalities that already exist. It is obvious that educational achievement is related to income, but it is not always so obvious that social class affects educational attainment. The fact is, however, that the average higher-status child stays in school longer and achieves better results while there than the average lower-status child. The superior educational achievement of the upper-status person is then translated into further social and economic