...Outline and assess the Marxist view of the role of education in society. Marxists view society as based on conflict. They believe that the role of all institutions in society can be understood in terms of how they relate to the economic system. They therefore see the education system as an institution which reproduces the class system and provides the economy with a suitable workforce. The labour force needs professional and managerial workers, as well as skilled and unskilled manual workers. According to Marxists, the role of the education system is to provide workers for every part of the economy. Support for this Marxist view comes from Bowls and Gintis who highlight a strong correspondence between what is learnt in schools and what is required in workers for the Capitalist system. For example, they found that in school the pupils who succeed the most are obedient and unquestioning, rather than independent and inquisitive. Bowles and Gintis believe that these qualities are valued in workers as they will accept the authority of their employers, and not question their orders. This idea is backed up by a study they conducted ‘schooling in capitalist America’. The hidden curriculum is said to teach motivation to pupils by trying to encourage achieving good grades. This is then used when the pupils leave school as they are motivated to work hard to attain a wage. It also teaches people to accept the heirachy. It does this by teaching the pupils about authority and power...
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...Assess the Marxist view of the role of education (20 marks) Marxists view society as based on conflict. They believe that the role of all institutions in society can be understood in terms of how they relate to the economic system. They therefore see the education system as an institution which reproduces the class system and provides the economy with a suitable workforce. The labour force needs professional and managerial workers, as well as skilled and unskilled manual workers. According to Marxists, the role of the education system is to provide workers for every part of the economy. Support for this Marxist view comes from Bowls and Gintis who highlight a strong correspondence between what is learnt in schools and what is required in workers for the Capitalist system. For example, they found that in school the pupils who succeed the most are obedient and unquestioning, rather than independent and inquisitive. Bowles and Gintis believe that these qualities are valued in workers as they will accept the authority of their employers, and not question their orders. Bowles and Gintis believe that the content of the curriculum is not very important and that pupils learn most from the ‘hidden curriculum’, that is; the experience of being in school e.g. getting used to doing boring things for the reward of the qualification etc. However Bowles and Gintis have been criticised mainly because they did not actually conduct any research in schools. Also some critics question...
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...Outline the key contrasts between the Marxist and Neo-Marxist view on education (12) As Marxists Bowles and Gintis (1976) believed that through the term ‘Correspondence Principle’ that education corresponds to employment so if you knuckle down and learn at school it will result in better jobs/careers in your lifetime, this gives the workforce structure and organisation. The values of education reflect on the workplace. They also believe that education prepares a workforce through the hidden curriculum. This teaches the working class the values needed within employment and also how to talk and act in a polite manner. A final key function in which they believed in was ‘Meritocracy’. They see it as a myth and in reality they class people’s backgrounds on how well they work because people believe that the education system is meritocratic, it legitimates the system making it seem fair towards others. As a neo Marxist Paul Willis (1977) conducted a study on a group of lads in a midlands comprehensive school in the 1970’s. He believed that counter school culture is opposed to the values in society. Whilst studying the lads he found that they had formed a counter culture which valued traditional working class masculinity, emphasizing toughness and despising weakness. In this counter culture they were sexist so looked down on women and also racist which meant that they looked down on ethnic minorities. Shop floor culture is another key function of Paul Willis’ study; it’s not so different...
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...Sociology of Education Unit 10 What do Marxists say about the education system? Learning targets: • Marxists see that the ruling class or 'bourgeoisie' rule the workers or 'proletariat'. • The bourgeoisie have the wealth and the power to rule. The proletariat are exploited because they are not treated fairly. • Marxists argue that the education system plays a key role in disseminating the ideology of the ruling class. • Education acts as a force of oppression for the children of the working classes Key questions (AO1) What do Marxists believe? (AO1) How do Marxist theories apply to the education system? (AO2) What strengths are there to the Marxist view of education system? (AO2) How have Marxist views been criticised by other writers? Summary of key points Marxists see capitalist society as being ruled by the economy. The minority, the ruling class or 'bourgeoisie' rule the majority, namely the workers or 'proletariat'. The bourgeoisie have the wealth and the power to rule. The proletariat are exploited because they are not treated fairly. This is the basis of class inequality. Institutions such as organised religion, the mass media, the political and the education systems all reinforce the ideology that the rich and powerful should control society. They promote an ideology or belief that our society is fair and just and...
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...«The role of education is to enable children to prepare for their place in society» To what extent would Marxists and Functionalists agree on this? In sociology there are two main structural approaches consensus theory (functionalism) and conflict theory (Marxism). They have different perspectives that see society differently. Education is the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university; it is one of the institutions society consists of. Accordingly functionalists’ and Marxists’ view of the role of education in society differs. Both functionalism and Marxism agree that schooling socialises students into their place in society, however they have a conflict view on whether this is a ‘good’ thing or not. Functionalists assume that educational institutions serve the needs of industrial society, by an advanced division of labour. Educational institutions are examined for the positive contribution they make towards maintaining society and it is seen as vital part of socialization. Education also serves the needs of the social system by socializing pupils to shared values, norms and beliefs. This leads to great social solidarity. Emile Durkhiem (1903) identified two main functions of education: creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills. He argues that society needs to have sense of solidarity, where every individuals should feel themselves to be part of the community. Durkhiem stated that school serves a function in a complex...
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...Essay – Mr Baines “Assess the Marxists view of education” (20) The Marxist view is that the capitalist society is not good because it is unequal between working class and upper class people. According to Karl Marx, there are 2 groups of people; the proletarians (lower class) and the bourgeoisie (ruling class). The proletarians will be workers, and will become exploited and taken advantage of by the bourgeoisie (owners). The education system serves the ruling class. This means that from a young age in schools, children have been socialised to be able to work for the ruling class. Louis Althusser (1971) is a Marxist who argues that working class students are accepting society because of socialisation and legitimation. Althusser also says that students are learning the ideology of the ruling class and how the ruling class forms and controls society. This shows that the school is part of an ISA (ideological state apparatus), which can control our ideas and beliefs, whereas it is also a part of RSA (repressive state apparatus) and is forcing people to think in a certain way. Education makes students accept the system and inequality. It shows that however hard pupils try in education, working class students will always get working class jobs and middle class students will always get middle class jobs. Overall, the Marxist view on education is that children go to school to prepare themselves to work for upper class people. However, education serves the ruling class by making...
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...AS Sociology Sample 20 mark question Assess the Marxist view of the role of education (20 marks) Marxists view society as based on conflict. They believe that the role of all institutions in society can be understood in terms of how they relate to the economic system. They therefore see the education system as an institution which reproduces the class system and provides the economy with a suitable workforce. The labour force needs professional and managerial workers, as well as skilled and unskilled manual workers. According to Marxists, the role of the education system is to provide workers for every part of the economy. Support for this Marxist view comes from Bowls and Gintis who highlight a strong correspondence between what is learnt in schools and what is required in workers for the Capitalist system. For example, they found that in school the pupils who succeed the most are obedient and unquestioning, rather than independent and inquisitive. Bowles and Gintis believe that these qualities are valued in workers as they will accept the authority of their employers, and not question their orders. Bowles and Gintis believe that the content of the curriculum is not very important and that pupils learn most from the ‘hidden curriculum’, that is; the experience of being in school e.g. getting used to doing boring things for the reward of the qualification etc. However Bowles and Gintis have been criticised mainly because they did not actually conduct any research...
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...claim that the main function of education is to maintain a value consensus in society is portrayed by different sociologists in different ways e.g. feminists believe that to maintain a value consensus in society, patriarchy needs to be abolished. Different theorists believe in different functions of the education system, some think of it as promoting value consensus and some see otherwise. Functionalist Durkheim (1993) identified the two main functions of education were, creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills. Durkheim argues that society needs a sense of solidarity, without social solidarity, social life and cooperation would be impossible because each individual would pursue their own selfish desires; the role of education is to produce social solidarity. School also acts as a ‘society in miniature’, preparing us for life in wider society, school serves a function that cannot be provided the family or peer groups and that individuals must learn to cooperate with those who are neither family nor friends, he says the school is a place where these skills can be learned. Modern industrial economies have a complex division of labour, where the production of even a single item usually involves the cooperation of many different specialists. Durkheim argues that education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skill that they need to play their part in the social division of labour, therefore the main function of education is to maintain a value consensus...
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...Assess the Marxist contribution to an understanding of the role of education Marxism is one of a group of theories collectively called structural theories. Marxists tend to see the role of education as a process of conflict. They believe that the education system creates class inequality. Working classes accept that they will be working in the manual work force in the future, unlike the middle class students who believe they will be doing the higher and more skilled jobs, this is due to the myth of meritocracy. According to a Marxist perspective, the role of education is to create a better economy in the future. Both Bowles and Gintis identify this role as they created the correspondence theory, which means that school will always correspond to work as they both have similar features, preparing for the working world. Bowles and Gintis also believe that children mostly learn from the hidden curriculum which is based on your learning in school like obedience, manners, competition etc. This means that Marxists believe education plays a big part in society because schools are preparing students for jobs in the future. Furthermore, Willis suggests that education also promotes conflict because he recognised that schools do not produce an obedient work force just like Bowles and Gintis said as they don’t follow ruling class ideology. Willis studied a group of 12 working class boys and he said that they developed an anti-school subculture which shows a lack of authority through school...
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...Asses the Marxist View of Society Marxists believe that the ideas that people hold are formed by their position in society, and ideology is therefore seen very clearly as the ideas of particular social groups reflecting their interests. The Marxist view is most associated with the view that there is a dominant ideology in society. This is a set of ideas and beliefs held by the most powerful groups and, in particular, of the ruling class in society. Mannheim (1985 1936) generally associated the dominant ideology with the deliberate obscuring of facts in order to conceal the inequalities of capitalist society and to prevent existing patterns of inequality and the privileged position of the dominant class, and to prevent any social change that might threaten their interests. Althusser (1971) suggested the dominant ideology was spread through a series of ideological state apparatuses – social institutions like the family, the education system, the mass media, the and religion, which justified the power of the dominant social class. Gramsci (1971) further developed the Marxist view of ideology with his development of the concept of hegemony. Hegemony refers to process whereby the ruling class, through the dominant ideology, maintains its power by persuading other social classes, and particularly the working class, to adopt ruling-class ideology as part of their own beliefs and values, and therefore to consent to the rule of the dominant class rather than being forced to obey. An...
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...Assess the view that the education system exists mainly to select and prepare young people for their future work roles. In this essay, one will assess the view that the education system exists mainly to select and prepare young people for their future work roles. Some sociologists agree to this statement but at the same time other sociologists do not agree. The functionalists have a positive outlook to education they say that social institutions such as education perform positive functions for both the society and individuals, by socialising new members of society and by helping to create and maintain social solidarity. According to Durkheim (1903), he sees the major function of education as the transmission of society’s norms and values. He believed that in order for society to co-operate they needed to have a ‘sense of belonging’ and that the education played an important part in this process. He argued that education performed a function that cannot be done by either family or peer group and also argued that education teaches individuals specific skills to prepare them for future occupations, therefore education transmits both general values and specific skills. Although Durkheim (1903)’s argument was positively straight forward he was however criticised because he assumed that societies have a shared culture which can be transmitted through education but countries like Britain are now multi-cultural and it is debatable whether there is a single culture on which...
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...Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that the main function of the education system is to reproduce and legitimise social inequalities. 20 State education began in 1870 and a significant feature of education in Britain is the difference in achievement between pupils from different social classes. Despite many improvements to the education system, social class differences continue. Social class background has a powerful influence on a child’s success in the education system. For example, children from middle class families on average perform better than working class children. Functionalists see education as based on value consensus where as Marxists see it as based on class division and capitalist exploitation. Althusser saw schools as part of the ideological state apparatus, where people are persuaded to accept their exploited position in society. This maintains the rule of the bourgeoisie by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs. Althusser also argues that the bourgeoisie do not need to use the repressive state apparatus, this includes the police, courts and army. The bourgeoisie does not need to use the RSAs because they are used to maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie by force, therefore can manipulate the ways in which people think. Therefore the main function of the education system is to reproduce and legitimise social inequalities as in Althusser’s view education transmits class inequality from generation to generation and legitimates...
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...Assess the functionalist view of education (20 marks) In this essay, one will be testing out the functionalist view of education. Functionalism is a macro, consensus theory that has the idea that society is functioning well and efficiently. Functionalists believe education provides universalistic norms i.e they see it promotes the norms and values of wider society. One would suggest that Functionalists are bit naive in their view of the education system, as it could be argued that education doesn't benefit everyone, especially the working class. The first functionalist concept, one will be testing out is the Equality of Opportunity. This means that all students regardless of class, gender and ethnicity are seen as equally important by the school and are all given equal chance to succeed. The functionalist Durkheim says schools stress the importance of equal opportunities. In juxtaposition Marxists would say that this is a form of brainwashing. Working class children are told they have the same chances to succeed as everyone else so when they do badly they have no-one else to blame but themselves. Material deprivation means they have little chance of competing fairly. One would suggest that the Marxist view is a little more accurate in its argument as it's very optimistic to say that everyone has equal chance to succeed. The second functionalist concept, one will testing out is Meritocracy. This is the belief that individuals achieve according to their ability and effort...
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...Marxists believe that the ruling class dominates society, they also believe that society is based on conflict between classes (the working class and the ruling class) they believe that the ruling class (the bourgeoisie) exploit the working class (the proletariat) unlike the consensus view who believe in meritocracy. (Everyone gets equal opportunities) Althusser (a Marxist) claims that the state consists of two elements to help them keep in control; the ideological state apparatus that controls people's ideas and values. The ISA includes religion, mass media and the education that means that the education system is used by the ruling class as a tool to control people's views and ideas. The second element is the repressive state apparatus, which Marxists believe that when it is necessary to protect capitalist interests the state uses force to repress the working class via the police, courts and army. They believe the education works in two ways as an ISA; reproduction and legitimation. In the reproduction function, education produces class inequality by failing each generation of ensuring that they end up in the same kind of jobs as their parents end up in the same kind of jobs as their parents. Legitimation performs as a function in which education legitimates class inequality by producing ideologies that disguise its true cause. Education tries to convince people that inequality is inevitable and that failure is the fault of the individual, not the capitalist state. Functionalists...
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...Marxist View on Education Marxists view society as based on conflict. They believe that the role of all institutions in society can be understood in terms of how they relate to the economic system. They therefore see the education system as an institution that reproduces the class system and provides the economy with a suitable workforce. Example of this is Education picks the best students and teaches them much higher-level material such as Higher Tier. The labour force needs professional and managerial workers, as well as skilled and unskilled manual workers. So this makes some get those skills and a better grade and therefore on a much better position after in society such as a doctor, lawyer ect.. Meanwhile the lower tier students are in a way thought of the system that there is winners and losers, therefore in a way they are direction towards manual work where not much skill is required. According to Marxists, the role of the education system is to provide workers for every part of the society and the economy. Bowls and Gintis who illustrate a strong correspondence between what is learnt in schools and what is required in work for the Capitalist system, they see the people who are the most obedient and non questioning have the biggest success as those values are more valuable in the work place as this shows you ‘accept’ the authority of the boss and not question what has to be done in order to complete the job. Bowles...
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