Education - sociology

• Durkheim - two key roles of the education system 


  1) Promotes social solidarity

  2) Prepares young people

  
• Parsons


  1) Secondary socialisation = education teaches universalistic standards and acts as a bridge between family and wider society

  
  

  2) Meritocracy = a meritocratic society is built on 2 key values:

  +Individual achievement

  +Equal opportunity

  
• Davis and Moore


  Role allocation = for society to function effectively, the most talented individuals need to be allocated to the most important jobs

  
• Evaluation of the functionalist view

  + Hargreaves argues that schools put more of an emphasis on competition than social solidarity

  
  

  + Ascribed characteristics are more important in determining income later in life than achievement in school

  
  

  + Education is not meritocratic because schools discriminate against some groups e.g. w/c, black pupils
• Althusser


  + ISA = control people's beliefs and ideas indirectly e.g. religion, the mass media and education

  + RSA = physical force used by the state to repress the w/c e.g. police, courts and the army
• Bowles and Gintis


  The correspondence principle = the education system mirrors work structure

  
  

  E.g. obedience to teacher = obedience to boss, value of extrinsic rewards, acceptance of inequality through the ISA

  
• Bowles and Gintis - evaluation of role allocation


  + found that the most obedient students got the highest grades

  + means that the education system rewards those who conform to the qualities required of the future workplace
• Bowles and Gintis - myth of meritocracy


  + Argue that in reality, success is based on class background

  + By promising the untrue claim that rewards are based on ability, it helps workers to accept inequality
• Sugarman - w/c subculture

  1) Present time orientation

  2) Immediate gratification

  3) Collectivism

  4) Fatalism
• Sugarman - m/c subculture

  Deferred gratification - m/c taught to work for long term rewards e.g more tend to go into higher education
• Berstein - language codes


  + Elaborated code = sophisticated, complex language used (typically used by the m/c)

  
  

  + Restricted code = Basic, simple language (typically used by the w/c)
• Demie and Lewis


  w/c families unable to provide stimulating home environment nor effective enforcement rules
• Douglas - parental interest


  m/c parents were more likely to encourage their children to succeed and socialise them more effectively to achieve in education
• Bourdieu - cultural capital


  Norms and values of the middle class
• Habitus


  The culture that we possess due to our life experiences

  
  

  + m/c habitus = cultural capital + symbolic capital

  + w/c habitus = symbolic violence as their habitus is seen as worthless
• Archer


  w/c develop nike identities as they can't get status so they gain it through style and branding of clothes
• Gewirtz - parental choice


  Privileged skilled choosers - mainly m/c, prosperous and confident, use their economic and cultural capital to get educational capital for their children

  
  

  Semi-skilled chooser - mainly w/c, lack cultural capital but do have aspirations for their children

  
  

  Disconnected chooser - mainly w/c, lack cultural capital, don't know about schools admissions policies
• Ingram


  + Studied 2 groups of w/c boys, one of which passed the 11+ test unlike the other

  
  

  + Grammar school = strong m/c habitus unlike secondary school

  
  

  +The boys who went to the grammar school were ridiculed out of school (symbolic capital) and inside of school (symbolic violence)
• What do interactionists focus on?


  + Organisation of school

  + Teacher's expectations
• What did Becker find from 60 interviews with teachers from Chicago?

  That each teacher had an ideal pupil
• What is an ideal pupil?


  Refers to the image that a teacher has in their head of the pupil that they would most like to teach
• What does the labelling theory propose?

  Once a child is labelled it becomes their 'master status' - eventually leads to a self fulfilling prophecy
• What is a master status?

  The label that everyone identifies you with once you have been labelled as such
• What did Rosenthal and Jacobson prove?


  That teachers' expectations have a huge effect on the performance of pupils
• What was the procedure of Rosenthal and Jacobson's study?

  + Based on a test, they randomly chose children who supposedly would intellectually bloom over the year

  + Pointed these children out to the teachers

  + Came back after a couple of months and after doing another set of tests, found that those children did better
• What did Fuller find?

  + Black girls in a London comprehensive school - teachers didn't have high expectations of them

  + They went against their labels - rose above them and achieved

  + Shows that internal factors aren't as significant
• What did Ball find?

  + Teachers had higher expectations of children in top sets so pushed them more (warmed up) whereas lower sets were not (instead cooled down)

  
  

  + As a consequence, students in top sets got better grades so went on to university
• Willis


  + Studied 'the lads' (12 w/c boys) - they didn't care

  + Formed anti-school subcultures

  + Didn't care about their labels

  + socialised into a w/c subculture
• Lacey


  + 2 main reasons for subcultures:

  1) Differentiation - ways in which pupils are categorised by teachers on the basis of their perceived ability

  2) Polarisation - e.g streams; pro vs. anti-school subcultures
• Vincent et al


  + Black m/c prefer being known as 'professional' not m/c

  + Still below white m/c

  + Had aspirations for their children
• Byrne


  + Migrant parents do not have much choice so send children to local schools

  + Area they live in affects their education

  + Parents don't understand the education system, so are unable to support their children in succeeding
• Pryce


  + Asian culture = more cohesive as they ignore racism better

  + Impact of slavery = cultural resistance (Hall)
• Driver and Ballard


  + Asians tend to have a more pro-school attitude

  + Asian extended family = provides more help and support for their children
• Murray


  African-Caribbean lone-parenthood is to blame because the lack of male role models means that mothers struggle to socialise and financially support their children
• Strand


  + Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian - aspirations for higher education

  + Examples of this include private tuition and greater school involvement
• Arnot


  + Media created anti-school role model for black pupils

  + 'Ultra-tough ghetto superstar' e.g rappers like 50 cent
• Stahl


  + Double bind = fear of both success and failure

  + This middling position helps them to seem 'ordinary'

  + Most boys had egalitarian outlook where they wanted to fit into society
• Powell


  + Students exposed to 2 messages

  + Media - high profile entrepreneurs that didn't go to university

  + Peer networks- friends who went to university but didn't have high income jobs

  + Non- graduate jobs = more attractive
• Strand (2)


  + Black students are subjected to institutional racism

  + Teachers underestimate their ability due to behavioural problems overshadowing academic talent

  + White students more likely to be entered in higher tier
• Gillborn


  + Teachers need to be more self aware of their choices - hold these racist views subconsciously; due to the media etc

  + Causes teachers to set lower expectations for black pupils

  + Black Caribbean children are 3X more likely to be expelled than their white counterparts