A2 Soc - Role Of Education Marxist Views

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Marxism says education legitimises

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inequality through ideology

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Neo-Marxist Althusser sees education as

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part of the "ideological state apparatus"

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The "ideological state apparatus" is

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a tool of capitalism used to justify, maintain & reproduce class inequalities

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According to Althusser, education transmits and reproduces ideology that

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ensures the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor

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Marxists also say that education is used to pass on

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the belief that society is fair so they aren't motivated to change society.

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The belief that education is a fair meritocracy

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is used to blame pupils for not succeeding

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Marxists agree with functionalists that education passes on culture

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but Marxists say this culture is ruling class culture

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Bourdieu uses the concept of cultural capital (language, skills, knowledge and attitudes)

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to explain how the middle class get the top positions

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Bowles and Gintis (1976) say education produces the docile workforce capitalism needs. This

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happens through the hidden curriculum

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Hidden curriculum is things that we learn

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at school that aren't part of the formal curriculum of school subjects

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Hidden curriculum, examples include -

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Pupils learn to sit down and be quiet, even when bored

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Bowles and Gintis found students who conformed

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got better grades and tended to be middle class

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Accepting the authority of teachers is part of the hidden curriculum. Bowles and Gintis say

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this prepares kids to be obedient workers.

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The hidden curriculum teaches pupils motivation by external rewards

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e.g. good grades rather than enjoying learning.

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The hidden curriculum is taught partly by the way school is organised because people sit & face

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a teacher standing at the front, showing the teacher is an authority figure, & that they should sit passively

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The hidden curriculum is also taught by subject organisation. In school, knowledge is

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compartmentalised into lots of different subjects like the division of labour at work

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Critique - Marxist views of education are deterministic

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they assume that all pupils get the "message" of ruling class ideology and learn to be good little workers

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Even some Marxists and neo-Marxists disagree with the traditional view

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of education as a tool to create an obedient workforce

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Neo-Marxist Paul Willis (1977) found that some

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kids aren't obedient; they form anti-school subcultures