MARXIST PERSPECTIVE

• Marxist Theories of Education Perspective

  • Key Theorist:

  1. Althusser
  2. Bowles and Gintis
  3. Willis (Neo Marxist)

  • Role of Education: To transmit ruling class ideology(capitalism) to serve a capitalist economy by legitimising (allowing) and reproducing(maintain) inequality
  • Functions of Education:

  1. Social control
  2. Specialist Skills
  3. Secondary Socialisation
  4. Sifting and Sorting
• Althusser: Social control (legitimises Inequality)

  • education system is an important ideological state apparatus (ISA)
  • A brainwashing tool used by the state
  • Function~
  • To keep the bourgeoise in power
  • To ensure that the proletariat fail to see their own exploitation( false class conscious) , and don't rebel = social control
  • education system teaches pupils skills to ensure they will comply with capitalism through hidden curriculum i.e.
  • getting trips for good attendance ( teaches to follow rules
  • get rewards for following teaches rules (teaches obedience to authority)
• Althusser: Social Control

  • Althusser exposes the MYTH OF MERITOCRACY - as schools actually discriminate in favour of privately educated and middle class students
• Althusser: Social Control

  AO3:

  • Functionalist View- Meritocracy is NOT a Myth as education system has same national curriculum , same exams , marked by same criteria Therefore it is down to ones ability
  • Interactionalist View- believe there is free will Therefore not all people will passively accept the social control so will break the rules and in some cases achieve social mobility
• Bowles and Gintis: Specialist Skills( reproduces inequality in)

  • Found Capitalism needs workers that are passive and obedient , accepting low pay and authority , that work hard IN A FORDIST ECONOMY - education system teaches these skills
  • education system teaches pupils to be obedient , submissive attitude , hard work to be wage slaves through,
  • the the hidden curriculum it teaches to be passive, docile and obedient in an indirect way
  • the education system mirroring the fordist workplace
  • Known as Correspondence Principles [HEADCF]
• Bowles and Gintis: Specialist Skills

  Correspondence Principles ~ the way the control of school mirrors the workplace in a capitalist society and fordist economy[HEADCF]

  • Hierarchy

  1. Students~ obey teachers; Employers obey mangers (hierarchical structure)

  • Extrinsic Satisfaction- rewards that are separate from work itself

  1. Students~ work for qualification NOT for satisfaction or interest in subject; Employees~ work for satisfaction of pay NOT liking job
• Bowles and Gintis: Specialist Skills

  Correspondance principle

  • Alienation- lack of control over day to day routine

  1. Students have no control over what subjects taught or timetable; Employees have no control over shift pattern or break

  • Docile dreaming- finding something monotonous(boring)

  1. Students~ learn that school routine is boring and tedious; Employees do same role in mass production assembly line in fordist economy
• Bowles and Gintis: Specialist Skills

  Correspondence Principles

  • Competition- competing with one another

  1. Students~ compete to be top of class/set; Employees~ compete to get promotion

  • Fragmentation- the way tasks are broken up

  1. Students~ tasks broken up in subjects that are unconnected; Employees i.e. in a restaurant one minute serve , then take orders then later wash etc...
• Bowles and Gintis: Specialist Skills

  AO3:

  • Postmodernist- say education doesn't function to support a capitalist fordist economy where people are on mass assembly line with correspondence principles AS we are NOW in a POST FORDIST ECONOMY where there is more small specialised markets rather than mass production , workers needed are more skilled and diverse workforce so schools need to enforce creativity
  • Others view ( Neo Marxist Willis)- Many studies indicate that working class pupils reject authority and join anti school subculture seen in Willis study" learning to labour"
• Bowles and Gintis: Secondary Socialisation (legitimise inequalities)

  • education system transmits capitalist view that benefit the bourgeoise and their ruling class ideology
  • They say MERITOCRACY IS A MYTH as it reproduces(maintains) and legitimises(allows) class inequality
  • the lower class are socialised into vocationalist subjects WHICH leads to less paying jobs
  • the middle class are socialised into core a levels WHICH leads to high paying jobs
  • Suggest functionalists view that the education system is a neutral filter is false it is actually a class filter( it sift and sorts based on class)
• Bowles and Gintis: Secondary Socialisation

  AO3:

  • Interactionalist- they are deterministic assuming that pupils have no free will and passively accept indoctrination , they fail to explain why some pupils reject schools values
  • Functionalist View- MERITOCRAY IS NOT A MYTH as he education system has same national curriculum , same exam marked by same criteria so its down to ability
• Bowles and Gintis: Secondary Socialisation

  AO3:

  • Feminist View- Marxist ignore the main function of the education system is reinforce patriarchal ideology as Boys are at an advantage as they are pushed into STEM subjects which supply them with the to jobs HOWEVER girls are pushed into health and social and childcare subjects which lead to lower jobs
  • New Marxist Willis- Anti school subculture is created which shows that the hidden curriculum and correspondence principles are failing to socialise kids
• Bowles and Gintis: Sifting and Sorting+( Willis)(reproduces inequality's)

  • education trains pupils from working class background into working class jobs
  • As working class are usually in lower sets and vocational subjects which Finn says is second rate education
  • and Middle class into higher sets and core subjects
  • This is because working class don't have the same materials available as middle class to achieve their highest potential and schools don't help them with achieve it
  • Evidence from Willis study "Learning to Labour"
• Bowles and Gintis: Sifting and sorting

  • evidence seen in Willis study "learning to labour" even though boys rebelled the fact that they didn't value the education rules and placed lower values on achieving higher occupation , they still couldn't escape the education system that benefits middle class boys
• Bowles and Gintis: Sifting and Sorting

  AO3:

  • Evidence suggest working class students performing high in education and pursue high status job roles. And some who don't achieve high in school doesn't necessarily mean they are restricted from high status job roles- Marxist view is deterministic
  • Marrow and Torres- Marxist believe class first and ignore intersectionality
• Willis-Neo Marxist

  • Internal Marxist Critic
  • Took Marxist and Interactionalist and action theory approach
  • looked at how social class and capitalism affected 12 working class boys and recognised free will~ took a small scale observation method
• Willis-Learning to labour

  • Researched 12 wc boys through Overt Participant Observation
  • Found The boys resisted education attempt to create a passive obedient workforce-
  • Revolted the school system creating a anti school subculture similar to shop floor culture of manual wc male workers
  • The boys floated school rules and rejected their values
  • It was guaranteed that by doing this they would have low paying jobs as had no qualifications
• Willis Learning to labour

  • AO3:
  • Willis romanticised the boys as wc heroes as they didn't accept capitalism ideology despite the anti social behaviour
  • The boys were aware they were being observed so they ma have exaggerated their behaviour
  • McRobbie- He didn't include women in his research