exam scope
TRANSCRIPT
Exam scope
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What I need to study f0r the exam
• Functionalist and conflict theories how they account for educational and social inequalities
• Cultural capital and code theories and their explanations of differential learning experiences and outcomes for different learners
• Giddens’ structuration theory and how the interplay of structure and agency determine people’s educational achievement and general destinies.
EDUCATION, ITS NATURE AND ROLES
Education- defined differently in different disciplines. Definitions are informed by sociological, philosophical and psychological interpretations of education:Sociological- Education as socialisation/enculturation-the
transmission of culture from one generation to the next. The influence exercised by the adult generation on those not yet ready for social life (Durkheim, 1956).
Philosophical- Process of passing on worthwhile content in a cognitive manner (RS. Peters, 2007).
Psychological- Education as cognitive development, the social construction and transmission of knowledge, assimilation and accommodation of new schemata (Piaget, Vygotsky).
Education & Schooling- A Distinction
Schooling - an institutional process of acquiring education/knowledge.
Schooling as a sub-set of the educational process. Education takes place in institutions called families, churches, schools, colleges and universities. Schooling developed at a time when societies were developing from being traditional to being modern. Mass schooling developed alongside industrialization.
Societies, the world over, now have schools whose main purposes are explained in terms of grand perspectives-that tell overarching stories to explain the relationship of school and society or the nature of schooling and the purposes it serves.
Functionalist view (lens) of the relationship of education and society
Functionalist aka consensus or equilibrium theory. • A type of theory which explains a social
DEVELOPMENT in terms of its structure and contribution to the operations of larger social development, institution or society (Saha, 1997)
• Concerned with functions of education for society and the relationship between education and social change
• Functionalists believe survival of society is at stake if it fails to socialise its members in skills and knowledge necessary for perpetuating that society
Durkheim’s views on education and society
• Durkheim’s primary sociological preoccupation was with social solidarity and social order
• Concerned with the effects of the decline of rituals and community in the transition from traditional to modern society
• Industrialisation had led to the breakdown of traditional rituals and methods of social control which in turn led to the breakdown in social solidarity and cohesion
• Decline in the collective conscience and the rise of individualism led to a state of ‘anomie’• Anomie is the condition of normlessness in individuals
and society No reactionary – Durkheim believed that society needed to develop new forms of social control and cohesion that allow for the newly developed individual to exist within a cohesive modern society
The functionalist view of education and society
• Education is of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony
• Schooling has important role in maintaining social order and to instil moral values
• Moral values seen as the foundation of the social order and society perpetuated through educational institutions
• Classroom as “small societies” or agents of socialisation
• Schooling has specific roles in relation to intellectual, social, political and economic socialisation.
Talcott Parsons• Modern functionalists have their roots in the work of Parsons
• Schooling performs an important function in the development and maintenance of society through equality of opportunity
• Inequality is functional and necessary as it ensures that the most talented individuals fulfil the most important positions
• Modern societies differ from traditional societies in that they are meritocratic
• Modern society differed from all previous societies and schooling has an important role in its development and maintenance and the creation of conditions for equality of opportunity
• Parsons identified three key functions of education in society: Socialisation (enculturation) and selection (gate keeping function) and allocation which are necessary to transmit culture and to allocate individuals into particular roles..
Davis and Moore’s views of meritocracy• Talent, hard work should determine the allocation of individuals to positions
rather than accidents of birth• Education becomes a key institution in a meritocratic selection process where
social mobility should be by ability.• This democratic liberal functionalist perspective views education as a vital
institution in a modern capitalist society• Although considerable inequalities remain, society is characterised by
evolutionary movements • Education is seen as bringing about difference in attainment. However, these
differences bring about new forms of inequality• Achievement in schools have an impact on our life chances, influence our income,
status and position in the system of social stratification/ranking• Necessary for the system to prevent conflict which may arise as a result of
differentiation• At the same time that education causes conditions for creating “inequality” by
sorting people into subordinate and dominant positions, it also helps to legitimise and justify this inequality.
Why societies have schools Functionalist theorists such as Durkheim
and Parsons view schools as agents of socialisation to teach cultures and values that were once taught in families and kinship groups.
They are important institutions for promoting social cohesion, bringing about social stability
With changes in the economies, schools are now a way of preparing people for different forms of work- teaching skills and knowledge essential for participation in the world of work and civic activities.
Schooling is essential for a harmonious division of labour in a meritocracy. It provides equal opportunities to people of different backgrounds to enable them to advance themselves
Why societies have schools: A functionalist viewTeach literacy skills- e.g. functional literacy such as
the 3 RsTeach formal, abstract and critical thinking skills Teach school knowledge and logical ways of
thinking and problem-solvingProvide access to written symbol systems and
codified knowledge.Provide an environment where teaching and
learning occurPrepare people for the world of work beyond schoolNation building, citizenship, political cohesionTeach the values of society to young adults Individual development
Structural Functionalism
• Classic functionalist, Durkheim and contemporary functionalist Parsons ,stress consensus and agreement as important in maintaining social order and they also understand that change is inevitable but emphasise the evolutionary nature of change. ‘
• They acknowledge group conflict but argue that without the common bond to unite groups society will disintegrate’
• Therefore they examine social processes necessary for establishing and maintaining social order
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• Functionalists believe that in a highly integrated, well functioning society, schools socialise students into appropriate values and sort and select them according to their abilities.
• Educational reform is supposed to create structures, programmes and curricula that are technically advanced, rational and that encourage social unity
• Schools function in the interest of the majority of citizens in democratic societies and the functions of education are to develop intellectual, political, social and economic capacities.
Critiques of Functionalism
• Fails to recognise divergent and conflicting interests and ideologies and tends to support interest of dominant groups
• Relationship among schooling, skills and jobs is not necessarily rational or fair
• Difficult to analyse interactions such a class room dynamics of teacher-student or student-student relationship
• Does not deal with content of educational process• Built in assumption that change is slow and deliberate and
does not upset the balance of the system
Conflict theory of education and societyThe conflict theory is a critique of the functionalist view.
School/education is seen as an institution that promotes social class inequality. Where functionalists see meritocracy, conflict theorists see class inequality and differences.
Conflict theorists such as Karl Marx view schooling as part of the capitalist system, which promotes social class inequalities.
The founding father of this theory is Karl Marx (1818-83), the German-born philosopher, economist and sociologist .
Developed as a radical critique of functionalism especially the over-socialized conception of man (structural determinism)).
The conflict is between the two major social classes, ruling
and subject class (bourgeoisie and proletariats, haves vs. have-nots, dominant & dominated classes)
Originally dubbed Marxism in honour of the founder.
Conflict view of education and society (continued)
Conflict theorists (e.g. Marx, Althusser; Bowles & Gintis) see schooling as part of the problem of social class inequality, rather than a solution to it.
They criticize the meritocratic assumption (implicit in functionalism) arguing that schools appear to offer equal opportunities to learners hence in practice they do not. Their contention is that schools actually reproduce social class inequalities and at the same time these inequalities appear fair and natural as if they are a result of individual abilities rather than social position. It is in this analysis that conflict theorists allege that schooling functions to reproduce society and the status quo of class inequality. Therefore it needs to be changed as part the broader social changes. Drawing from the functionalist and conflict perspectives discussed above, the following reasons and purposes can thus be given to account for the role of schools in society:
Why societies have schools: a Conflict view
• Conflict theorists such as Marx, Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, Weber, Collins are of the view that in a capitalist society schools are mechanisms for the continuation of social class inequality.
• Schools serve the interests of the ruling/dominant social class- they socialise learners into the culture of the dominant social class.
• Schools are ideological state apparatuses that serve the interest of the ruling class.
• Schools engender class inequalities
Conflict School• Classic theorists are Marx and Weber –
contemporary theorists are Bernstein, Bourdieu and others in this tradition
• As the word conflict suggests, this approach assumes conflict or tension in society
• The conflict or struggle is between the classes i.e. the working class and the capitalist class according to Marx and to Weber, the tension is between different status groups
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• In terms of the Marxist view, the capitalists own the means of production i.e. the machines, tools, land, factories etc. to produce the means for survival
• The working class owns their labour power or ability to work and can only survive by selling their labour power to the owners of the means of production/property
• The capitalist extract surplus value/profit from exploiting the labour power of the working class by paying them wages that is just enough to ensure their survival and for their reproduction
Karl Marx and the Labour Theory of Value
• For Marxists profit is extracted from the hours worked for which workers are not fully compensated i.e. if the working day is 8 hours, the worker is compensated for half the value of time
• The capitalist uses the productive forces (land, labour and capital) to extract profit which is the basis for accumulating wealth
• The owners of the means of production own this surplus which increases their existing property but does not create any such property for the workers who actually produce it
Max Weber
• Marx and Weber understood class differently• Weber believed economics as well as culture played
a determining role in shaping society• Weber’s theory deals with conflict, domination and
groups struggling for wealth, power and status• These groups differ in property ownership, cultural
status such as which ethnic group dominates or what power is derived from positions in government or other organisations
Continue• For Weber owning or not owning property are categories into which ‘class
situations’ can be inserted – economics and culture are equally important
• Weber particularises property into possessions - anything ’useable for a return’ such as cattle, products of ones own labour etc. Kelsh,D
• Unlike Marx, for Weber property is de-historicised - not seen as part of relations of production rooted in the development of the productive forces over time.
• Weber is noted for his work on the bureaucracy and for the concept of status group relationships
• Power relationships and conflicting interests of individuals and groups influence educational systems
• Education is one means to achieve the desired ends.
Continue• Weber classifies the many class situations into four social classes• Two main classes under capitalism:• working class (proletariat) all those who have to sell their labour
power to survive• petit bourgeoisie (middle class) professionals, small business
entrepreneurs and managerial class• the ruling class (bourgeoisie) owns the means of production (the
commanding heights of the economy) survive through profit, rent or inheritance/interest
• These classes are unified not on the basis of a relation of owning to the means of production but on the basis of having in common a specific causal component of the life chances. Kelsh, D
Labelling and pupil achievement• Theorists argue that through a complex process , involving
the practises of the school’s and children’s responses ,certain pupils are propelled (Cause to move forward with force)towards success and others towards failure
• The categorization of pupils by their teachers sets in motion the self-fulfilling prophecy. This implies that whether pupils are labelled as good or not so good they may gradually be persuaded to bring their own self-image in line with the label given by the teacher . ‘what is the point of trying if the teacher already knows that you are a hopeless case?’
Labelling Theory• Ray Rist was interested in how everyday taken-for-
granted rituals serve to hold society together• Provides an understanding of how everyday
practices in schools such as labelling and ability grouping contribute to reproduction of education and social inequalities
• Drawing on labelling theory from sociology of deviance, he showed how teacher expectations of students based on categories such as race, class, gender affect student perceptions of themselves
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• Showed how labelling of students became self-fulfilling prophesies and how these labels became life sentences
• Concluded that interactionism processes of school resulted in educational inequality reflecting the larger structures of society
• In reality system of public education perpetuates what it’s committed to eradicating i.e. class barriers which result in inequality in the school and the economy
Ability Grouping • Nell Keddie • ability as a sorting and organising mechanism in
classroom• Derives from student’s social, moral and intellectual
behaviour• Teachers have notions of what a ‘good student’ is –
these desirable attitudes are biased towards the middle class as opposed to the working class child
• Therefore necessary to unpack and problematise the notion of ability
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• Definitions (classifications) and evaluations of both teachers and knowledge are socially constructed
• Knowledge is made available to students perceived to have higher ability and denied those perceived with lower ability
• Interpretive approach examines how teachers perceptions of students are social constructs
• Draws attention to the danger of applying categories or labels as if these infer true representations of reality
• Fails to recognise symbolic character of reality
Use of the approach
• Interpretive tradition concerned with understanding social processes through which an educational reality is produced
• Theorists focus on the way that knowledge is organised, transmitted and assessed
• Focus on stratification in classroom highlights how:– Teachers’ expectations influence their assessment of
student performance– Expectations along with categorisation and labelling of
students may affect their progress
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• Focus is on interaction between groups or peers, between teachers and students or between teachers and principals
• Also on student attitudes and achievements; their values of self-concept and its effect on their aspirations
• Studies look at what students should do to appear worthy or able in the judgement of the school
• Pressures of evaluation lead students to adopt strategies of pleasing the teacher
• Shows learners not brainwashed but can hinder learning
Conclusion
• Achievement is socially constructed in the classroom
• Students labelled accordingly• Students accepting negative labels fail to
achieve• Their life chances are negatively affected
perpetuating the inequalities of the larger social system
Structural and cultural reproduction
• Structural and cultural reproduction theorists in the conflict or Marxist tradition
• Bowles & Gintis in their book ‘Schooling in Capitalist America’ (1976) in their view education needs to be examined in relation to its economic base
• ‘education is integral in the reproduction of the dominant class structure’
• Class and power relations of economic life are reproduced in capitalist society
Schooling and social class reproduction
• Analysed differences between different forms of educational transmission (pedagogy)
• Social class differences in curriculum and pedagogy are related to inequalities in achievement between middle class and working class students
• Developed this approach into a systematic analysis of pedagogic discourse and practices
• This approach concerned with production, distribution and reproduction of official knowledge and how knowledge is related to structurally determined power relations
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• Analysis of social class assumptions of pedagogic practice is the foundation for linking micro educational practices to macro-sociological levels of social structure and class and power relations
• Developed a systematic structuralism theory that describes how educational system is related to the social division of labour– of the relationship between society, schools, and the individual and
of– how schooling systematically reproduces social inequality
Code theory
• Basil Bernstein:
this is a term used to describe the theoretical and empirical project of British sociologist Basin Bernstein
Approach is a synthesis of macro and micro level approaches i.e. combines Functionalism, Conflict and Interactionism Theories
Attempted to produce a theory of social and educational codes (meaning systems) and their effect on social reproduction but the Code theory developed into a social theory examining relationship between social class, family and the reproduction of meaning systems
For him there were social class differences in the communication codes of working class and middle class children ,differences that reflect the class power relations in the social division of labour ,family and schools
Continue• Distinguished between restricted codes of working class and elaborated codes of the middle
class
• Restricted codes are context dependent whereas elaborated codes are context independent and universalistic – e.g. stories told without pictures
• Code theory controversial because it was labelled a deficit theory• Defended as functionally related to the social division of labour where context dependent
language seen as necessary for production
• Elaborated code of the middle class necessitated by changes in the division of labour and their new role in reproduction rather than production
• Schools require elaborated codes disadvantaging working class kids with their restricted codes
• Argues for integration of structural class and power relations of the system (macro-level) and the interaction of educational processes (micro-level)
Contribution of Pierre Bourdieu
• Examined the dynamics and impact of social class:– What characteristic distinguish people in the
various classes?– Can people move from one class to another,
especially to a higher class?– What rigidities stand in the way of movement
from one class to another
Class and Culture• Class and culture often confused• For sociologists class is the position in the hierarchy or status• Culture is the way people express that status ,or the particular
ways in which a social group lives out and make sense of its given circumstances and conditions of life
• Three main classes under capitalism: working class (proletariat) all those who have to sell their labour
power to survive petit bourgeoisie (middle class) professionals, small business
entrepreneurs and managerial class the ruling class (bourgeoisie) owns the means of production (the
commanding heights of the economy) survive through profit, rent or inheritance/interest
Cultural Capital
• Culture the way people express their status or class: “particular ways in which a social group lives out and makes sense of its given circumstances and conditions of life”– Culture includes the distinctive language, ideological
behaviour patterns , attitudes and values, artefacts dress, and shaped historical experiences of a group of people.
– Cultural capital a resource, whose social value is a function of the prestige of the group that possesses it or;
– prestige of individuals depends on how much of what kind of cultural capital they own
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– Middle and upper classes possess cultural capital or symbolic representations of cultural domination e.g. language, ideas, knowledge of music, art and literature which have exchange value in the educational and cultural market place
– Cultural capital is made up of factors to which people react in social interaction which shape the construction of social beliefs and social realities
Society, culture and education
– Bourdieu attempted to test a theory of society, culture and education that synthesizes Durkheim and Marx
• Investigated theoretical and empirical underpinning of culture and stratification
• Sees culture as an economy and stratification in cultural and material economy reciprocally related
• Culture as realm of power struggle related to struggle over the means of violence that characterise politics
Symbolic Violence
• Schooling is part of symbolic process of cultural and social reproduction
• Symbolic violence is “power which manages to impose meanings and to impose them as legitimate by concealing power relations which are the basis of force”
• Although schools appear neutral they actually advantage the upper and middle classes through symbolic representation
Giddens• THE BRITISH sociologist Anthony Giddens (1977,1974,1984) has attempted to
overcome the division between structure and action.• Although the details of his arguments are complex ,his basic point is simple.
• Giddens claims that structure and action are two sides of the same coin. Neither structure nor action can exist independently ; both are intimately related .
• Social action create structures ,and it is through social actions that structures are produced and reproduced, so that they survive overtime.
• He uses the word” structuration to describe the way that structure relate to social actions, so that certain sets of social relationships survive over space and time.
Structuration theory and Education• The theory of structuration is a social theory of the creation and reproduction of society that is
based in the analysis of both structure and agents, without giving primacy to either.
• The theory was proposed by sociologist Anthony Giddens to examine social practices at the basis of the inseparable intersection of structures and agents.
• Though the theory has received much criticism, it remains a pillar of contemporary sociological theory.
• Giddens's theory of structuration notes that social life is more than random individual acts, but is not merely determined by social forces.
• Structuration theory reminds us that there is a structure of opportunities that individuals encounter at any historical time in their lives.
• For example, gender, class, race, religion, ethnicity may present different opportunities to different people at particular times in their life course.
• As a result, as structures schools may enable some while constraining other learners on the basis of the above factors.
• People whose structures e.g. family background disadvantage their ambitions and action are said to constrained by their social structures. Their agency (human action) is constrained
Social structures and their impact• Structures are parts of the social system that shape human behaviour. They are a
result of social practices. Giddens argues that a social system is simply a pattern of social relations that exist over a period of time and space.
• Giddens’s ‘theory uses the notion of duality of structure to imply the fact that human action/agency and social structure are in a relationship with each other, and it is this relationship which produces structure and agency.
• The repetition of the acts of individual agents reproduces the structure. This means that there is a social structure - traditions, institutions, moral codes, and established ways of doing things;
• but it also means that these can be changed when people start to ignore them, replace them, or reproduce them differently.
Rules and resources • In social life in general ,Giddens identifies two aspects of
structure : rules and resources .
• Rules are procedures that individuals may follow in their social life . Sometimes interpretations of these rules are written down : for example in the form of laws or bureaucratic rules . Such written expressions are not the rules themselves .
• the second aspect of structure ,resources ,also come into being through human action and can be changed or maintained by them .
• Allocative resourcesThese include raw material ,land, technology , instruments of production and goods . For Giddens ,such
resources are never just there, given by actions . Thus land is not a resource until someone farms it or
puts it to some other use
Authoritative resources
These are non-material resources that results from some individuals
being able to dominate others . In other words ,they involve the ability to
get other to carry out a person’s wishes ,and in this way human become
a resource that other individuals may be able to use . As in other
resources only exist in so far as they are produced by human interaction .
Authority is not something a person has unless they are actually using it.
Agency and reproduction
• Giddens's views on structures ,systems and most actions are closely tied in with hi idea of human actions since they are all part of the duality of structure .
• Human agents are constantly intervening in the world by their actions and in doing so they have the capacity to transform it /.
• Giddens seems to think that humans have basic desire for some degree of predictability in social life.
• They have a need for what he calls “ontological security ” or ‘confidence and trust that the natural and social worlds are as they appear to be’
• He suggests tentatively that this may be connected to the human ‘basic security systems ‘ essentially a natural concern with the physical survival of the body
Agency and transformation
• According to Giddens , the existence of mutual knowledge , and a need for ontological security , tend to produce regulations in social life .
• Patterns of behaviour are repeated , and in this way the structure of society ,the social system and the institutions are all reproduced . however ,this whole process also involves the ever-present possibility that society can be changed .
• agents do not have to behave ass others do, nor do they necessarily act in accordance
Agency and transformation
• According to Giddens , the existence of mutual knowledge , and a need for ontological security , tend to produce regulations in social life .
• Patterns of behaviour are repeated , and in this way the structure of society ,the social system and the institutions are all reproduced . however ,this whole process also involves the ever-present possibility that society can be changed .
• agents do not have to behave ass others do, nor do they necessarily act in accordance
The sociological imagination- C. Wright Mills
• American sociologist, C. Wright Mills developed the concept of sociological imagination as a way of thinking about structure, agency and history.
• Every individual has his own individual life, hopes and dreams, relationships and decisions, career aspirations, achievements and failures.
• At the same time each person lives in a particular society at a particular time. What happens to us often happens to other people as well. We fit into the social categories, families, schools, churches (sometimes without knowing it) and we experience structures of opportunities that are similar to others like ourselves.
• • The sociological imagination helps us to understand the relationship between
our own lives, the lives of others and the times in which we live. It helps us to understand our personal troubles and social issues. Personal troubles are problems that have to do with ourselves alone while social issues are problems that have to do with broader social patterns and opportunities.
glossary
Etymologically-The study of the sources and development of words
Paramount- Having superior power and influence phenomena- A remarkable development Contend- Have an argument about something Latin word, Socius-(society) and the Greek word -logos
(companion). Socio- and -ology, which imply society and a study respectively. Amalgam- A combination or blend of diverse things Stratified- (used of society) socially hierarchical Discern- See or hear differences; identify a particular part or
parts of a whole; detect with difficulty Inevitable- Incapable of being avoided or prevented Interactionist- A mutual or reciprocal action; interacting Meritocracy -A form of social system in which power goes to
those with superior intellects. Or The belief that rulers should be chosen for their superior abilities and not because of their wealth or birth
Divergent- (Tending to move apart in different directions) Proletariat -A social class comprising those who do manual
labour or work for wages ENGENDER- Give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always
intentionally