Marxists & Postmodernism

• What does Althusser believe?

  The state consists of apparatuses which keep the bourgeoise in power:

  RSA- repressive state apparatus - maintains the rule by force or threat

  ISA - ideological state apparatus - controlling peoples ideas thoughts and beliefs
• What are parts of the RSA?


  Police, courts and army
• What are parts of the ISA


  Religion, mass media, the education system
• What functions does Althusser claim the education system provides?

  • Reproducing class inequality by transmitting it from generation to generation
  • Legitimising (justifying) class inequalities by producing ideologies to persuade people that inequality is inevitable
• What are the strengths of Althusser's ideas?

  • Highlights that education is made to seem fair when it isn't
  • Making people aware of inequalities increases chances of proletariat revolution
• What are the limitations of Althusser's ideas?

  • Working class pupils are not entirely determined by capitalist system and do not accept everything they're taught
  • Not everyone leaves school working class - social mobility
• What do Bowles and Gintis argue about the role of education in a capitalist America?

  Schools rewards submissive, compliant personality traits as these behaviour attitudes are suited to working roles as alienated and exploited workers
• What were Bowles and Gintis' main ideas about schooling?

  • The Reproduction Theory
  • The Correspondence Theory
• What is the Reproduction theory?

  The idea that education is a machine grinding out the inequalities that capitalism needs. This reproduces a workforce that has the necessary attitudes for exploitation.
• What is the Correspondence Principle?


  There is a correspondence between school and the workplace in structure, processes, and social relations
• How did Bowles and Gintis come to their conclusion about schooling in capitalist America (1976)?


  They studied 237 NYC high school students and other studies, noticing that schools reward personality traits over educational prowess.
• How do Bowles and Gintis describe the education system?

  As "A giant myth making machine"
• What does the myth of meritocracy do?

  Justify the privileges of the higher classes by persuading the working class that everyone has had equal chances and therefore poverty is blamed on the individual as opposed to capitalism
• What is the myth of meritocracy?

  When schools persuade everyone to believe that they have had equal chances and opportunity so that they blame themselves for failure
• What is the hidden curriculum?


  Informal teaching done in schools and classrooms that teaches pupils norms, values and beliefs conveyed in a wider social environment.
• What is a Fordist economy?

  An economy where production is based on assembly line mass production using a number of low skilled workers who will put up with alienating repetitive work
• What is a Post Fordist economy?

  An economy with a skilled workforce that uses advanced technology for customisable products as society and its needs advances
• What sort of education system would a Fordist economy require?

  A standardised education system where pupils are rewarded for subservient, compliant behaviour as opposed to creativity
• What sort of education do Post Fordist argue that economy has?

  One that encourages diversity and creativity, pushing specialised skills through self motivation, creativity, and supervision