What can you recall about Marxism?

1
What can you recall about Marxism?
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vYR5ApYxkU-U

• Try and write down at least three things.
• If you get stuck, share ideas with a partner

2
Writers in the Marxist tradition of sociology
claim that the education system is a conspiracy
which exists to deny the children of the working
class access to an understanding of their true
class position.Your current task is to assess
that claim and to support your arguments with
evidence

• What can Marxists tell us about education and
  differences in attainment?

3
Sociological Targets

• To understand Marxist views of education.
• To evaluate those views.
• To use sociological evidence and research to
  support your judgements.

4
Personal targets

• To write an essay length answer
• To contribute to whole class discussion in an
  orderly fashion
• To think critically about sociology explanations
  of inequality in education

5
What is Marxism?

• Marxists see capitalist society as being ruled by
  the economy.
• The minority, the ruling class or bourgeoisie
  rule the majority, namely the workers or
  proletariat.
• The bourgeoisie have the wealth and the power to
  rule.
• The proletariat are exploited because they are
  not treated fairly. This is the basis of class
  inequality.

6
Marxism summarised

• Education reproduces the inequalities and social
  relations of production of Capitalist Society.
• Education serves to legitimate these inequalities
  under the guise of Meritocracy.

7
Louis Althusser

• Althusser believed that education socialises
  working class children into accepting their
  subordinate status to the middle class.
• Education conveys the ideology of the ruling
  class.
• Education prepares individuals for the world of
  work, in order to accept their position in a
  capitalist society.

8
What do you think of these ideas? Have a minute
of discussion with your study partners
9
Bowles and Gintis

• Bowles and Gintis (1976), say the main function
  of education in capitalist countries is to create
  workers.
• Correspondence theory suggests that educational
  inequality mirrors the inequality of wider
  society.
• If capitalism is to succeed it must have an
  industrious and obedient workforce that is too
  divided to challenge the authority of the rulers.
• The education system succeeds in fulfilling this
  aim by means of the hidden curriculum

10
What do you think of these ideas? Have a minute
of discussion with your study partners
11
Ivan Illich (1973)

• Schools kill creativity, insist on conformity,
  and offer indoctrination into capitalistic
  society.
• Children learn to accept authority in an
  unthinking fashion and this leads them to accept
  government dictats in the same way.

12
What do you think of these ideas? Have a minute
of discussion with your study partners
13
Paul Willis (1977)
Resistance is futile

• Did an ethnography of twelve anti-school boys
  the lads
• These boys rejected school and other children
  within it, presenting themselves as superior
• Willis claims that working class children choose
  to fail in school as a rejection of capitalism
• Their rejection of school is an act of resistance

14
What do you think of these ideas? Have a minute
of discussion with your study partners
15
Two Marxist viewpoints

• Traditional Marxist
• Louis Althusser
• Schools pass on messages that people accept
  without question. They are socialised into
  accepting capitalism

• Neo- Marxism
• Paul Willis
• Children can see through the ideology, but it
  doesnt matter. The reality is low pay work,
  poverty and oppression regardless.

16
What is evaluation?

• Evaluation is the process of judging the value of
  a research project, an idea or a concept, using
  further concepts, studies and theories to support
  the judgement that is made.
• Strengths and weaknesses are identified in an
  evaluation

17
What are the strengths of Marxism?

• It points out how ideology is transmitted within
  schools via the hidden curriculum.
• It recognises conflict of interest in schools
  not everyone shares values.
• It points out the inequalities of both
  opportunity and outcome in the system

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And the weaknesses?

• It assumes teachers are unaware of class dynamics
  and are all middle class agents
• Many working class children do succeed in the
  education system
• It overemphasises class and ignores other
  structural inequalities ethnicity and gender

19
Outline and assess Marxist views of education.

• Criteria for success
• Outline Marxism
• Outline what the theorists say
• Assess the strengths of Marxist thinking
• Assess the weakness of Marxist thinking.
• Refer to AO1 knowledge about the educational
  system of the UK
• Use the concepts of sociology
• Refer to studies, writers or theory in your
  answer.
• Use evaluative language in your answer

20
Design a poster comparing and contrasting
functionalist and Marxist views of education

• Criteria for success
• There will be a simple explanation of each theory
• Two broad similarities between the theories will
  be identified
• Two major differences between the two theories
  will be identified.
• Images and colour will be used effectively to
  highlight key points.

21
Popular theories Critical theories
thinking Functionalism and the New Right Marxism and liberation theory
work To select people for the right jobs in society To ensure that the children of the wealthy and powerful get the best jobs
ideas Education offers people morals and values Education trains people to accept a view of the world that is conformist and passive so that poorer people can be exploited
socialisation People are trained in skills for future life People learn not to question authority and are offered an education which limits them to specific workplace roles
curriculum People are given the curriculum that they will need to do well in society. The curriculum is tailored to the needs of those in power and reflects ideological beliefs
Social mobility Education exists to provide a route up through society for the most able Education serves to keep most people in their place.
22
Independent study

• Develop your notes on this topic by looking at
  the e-book on the NGfL-Cymru website.
• Add notes from books and downloads on Marxism to
  your folders.

23
Introduction - Outline what Marxism is in
general Briefly explain Marxist views on
education Contrast this to Functionalism
To conclude Sum up, weigh up and contrast to
Functionalism and meritocracy.
One Marxist view is that education is an
important agent of socialisation which prepares
children for subordinate positions and
exploitation within capitalist system. Louis
Althusser called this Ideological State
Apparatus. However not all working class children
fail in school and end up in low-paid jobs.
One weakness is that Feminists might argue that
it focuses too heavily on class inequalities and
so is race and gender blind. However traditional
marxism did state that women and ethnic
minorities are more disadvantaged by capitalism.
Another weakness is that the labour govt have put
in place many policies to ensure education is
meritocratic such as encouraging unis to accept
more W/C students. Although only 1 in 5 HE
students are W/C and Reay et al (2005) found M/C
students more confident to apply for prestigious
unis
Another Marxist view is that Ed is to reproduce
an obedient workforce to meet the needs of
capitalism. Evidence is from Bowles and Gintis,
correspondence theory and hidden curriculum. Are
children in school really that obedient and
unquestioning? Are all teachers in favour of
ruling-class ideology?
Outline and assess Marxist views of education
Marxists also believe that material deprivation
caused by capitalism disadvs W/C children, recent
govt turnaround on EMA supports this argument.
Although Pierre Bourdieu argues that it is
cultural capital (middle-class ways of behaving
and speaking in school that advs M/C children.
One strength of the Marxist view. It points out
the existence of the hidden curriculum (Bowles
and Gintis) However Reynolds notes that it would
be impossible for schools to be completely
controlled by the ruling class and that teachers
are not unaware of class issues in school, The
Marxist view also recognises class inequalities
and how there is conflict s of interests(in
contrast to the Functionalist consensus view that
school teaches shared norms and values.
A Neo-Marxist view is that young people resist
capitalism by rejecting the school system. (Henry
Giroux) Evidence is ethnographic study by Paul
Willis 12 lads . Resistance only lead them to
low-paid insecure jobs. This shows that the ed
system reproduces class inequality. However
Willis study used participant observation of
only 12 pps and is therefore not very reliable
or generalisable