Sociology- Education

• Sociological views on education

  • Functionalism
  • Marxism
  • Material factors
  • Cultural factors
  • Interactionist approach
• Functionalism


  Education helps produce social solidarity, integrates individuals into mainstream society, teaches skills for future occupation
• Marxism


  Education spreads ideology to serve the capitalist class, reproduces class inequality
• Material factors affecting educational achievement

  • Housing (overcrowding, temporary accommodation, cold/damp)
  • Diet and health
  • Finances (cost of equipment, resources, transport)
  • Fear of debt
• Restricted code


  Limited vocabulary, short/simple sentences, descriptive - mainly used by working class
• Elaborated code


  Extensive vocabulary, grammatically complex, can convey abstract ideas - mainly used by middle class
• Parenting style


  Higher educated parents give consistent discipline, have high expectations and support active learning. Lower educated parents use harsh discipline which stops independent learning.
• Working class suffer from 'culture deprivation' - different values from mainstream society including fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification
• Labelling


  Teachers judge pupils based on how well they fit the 'ideal pupil' image, leading to self-fulfilling prophecies
• Labelling in schools


  • Working class pupils seen as badly behaved, given easier exams
  • Middle class pupils seen as obedient and academic
• Criticisms of labelling theory - assumes pupils will simply accept labels, fails to explore social context behind why labels are created
• Pupil subcultures


  • Anti-school subculture (the 'lads')
  • Pro-school subculture (academic achievers, new enterprisers)
• External factors affecting girls' educational achievement

  • Feminist movement
  • Changes to women's employment
  • Changes to family structure and gender roles
• Some working class girls still face gender stereotypes and restrictions on their aspirations
• External factors affecting boys' educational achievement

  • Decline in traditional male jobs
  • Lower literacy levels
• Feminisation of teaching


  Boys may not identify with female teachers, lack masculine role models
• Teacher expectations


  Teachers have lower expectations of boys, punish them more harshly
• Differences in communication styles between boys and girls in the classroom
• Introduction of GCSEs and coursework in 1989 increased the gender gap, as girls were better able to meet deadlines and spend more time on their work
• Factors influencing gendered subject choices

  • Gender socialisation
  • Gender subject images
  • Gender identity
  • Peer pressure
  • Gendered career opportunities
• Subjects are often seen as more suitable for one gender over the other, e.g. computing for boys, English for girls
• Girls were more organized and met deadlines, allowing them to spend more time on their work, therefore benefiting girls
• Differences in work habits between girls and boys are not due to natural differences, but are actually from socialization
• Factors that influence subject choices

  • Gender socialization
  • Gender subjects images
  • Gender identity
  • Peer pressure
  • Gendered career opportunities
• Gendered subjects images


  Boys and girls were drawn to subjects that fit with their gender
• Girls are put off by the formal teaching style of Computer Studies as it is seen as part of the male's domain
• Girls in single-sex schools hold less stereotyped images on subjects and are 2.4 times more likely to study physics at A-level
• Gender socialization


  The process of learning expected behavior of males and females in society
• Boys are encouraged to be strong and talk, while girls are encouraged to be neat, clean and tidy from a young age
• Boys read hobby books or information books, while girls are more likely to read stories about other people
• Gender identity and peer pressure

  Girls opt out of sport because sport is associated with being manly, and sporty girls feel they contradict their gender stereotype
• People's peers will police and influence their subject choices
• Gendered career opportunities


  • Males are more likely to go into manual jobs or business, while women are more likely to go into nursing, childcare, cleaning jobs
• Chinese and Indian students mainly achieve above average A-level results, while Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and African Caribbeans mainly underachieve
• Half of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis live in poverty, while over a third of Black Caribbeans live in poverty
• Ethnic minority groups are two times more likely to be unemployed compared to whites, and three times more likely to be homeless
• Almost half of Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers are paid below £7 an hour, compared to a quarter of white British workers
• There is racial discrimination leading to social exclusion, with ethnic minority applicants only getting one in 16 job interviews compared to one in nine for white applicants
• Cultural deprivation


  The argument that ethnic minorities fail to socialize their children properly, leading to lack of motivation and disruptive behaviour
• This cultural deprivation argument is criticized as victim-blaming and failing to recognize racism in schools and wider society