Marxist

• Althusser

  The state contains 2 apparatuses which keep the bourgeoisie in power:

  Repressive state apparatus- maintain ruling class by force / threat of it (police, courts, army).

  Ideological state apparatus- controls people’s ideas, values & beliefs (religion, media, education system).

  Education system reproduces and legitimises capitalism by teaching that inequality is inevitable.
• Bowles & Gintis

  Study of 237 New York High School students concluded that schools reward personality traits that make make for a submissive, compliant worker.

  The correspondence principle - operates through the hidden curriculum - parallels between school & work.

  Myth of meritocracy.
• Bourdieu


  Ruling class possess cultural capital which the education system is based on.

  Habitus - the cultural environment that the different classes inhabit. Different classes have different ideas on what is acceptable / achievable. Eg w/c may view higher education as impossible & therefore accept lower grades.
• Willis


  Studied 12 w/c boys who formed a distinct counter-culture opposed to school. They were scornful of conformist boys. Reject the school’s meritocratic ideology. Viewed manual work as superior.