and Society Week 1: Education and Power Education and Society
Can schools improve society? If so, how?
Can individual teachers improve society?
What barriers are there to improving society
through education?
Jot down your thoughts about these
questions. As a class, we will try to agree on our top 5 hows, and on our top 5 barriers. What is education?
The Sociology of Education What are the
functions of education in society? Who fails, who succeeds, and why?
2 perspectives on education: Conflict
theories versus consensus theories.
Conflict theories suggest that schools
function to reproduce existing divisions in society, particularly class divisions. Some focus on the economic reproduction of society; others focus on cultural reproduction.
Consensus theories suggest that education
is important to ensure that children are socialised into basic societal values and allocated into adult roles. Consensus Theories
Emile Durkheim, one of the founding
fathers of Sociology, argued that education has important functions for holding society together.
Believed that education transmitted core
shared values and beliefs.
"Society can survive only if there exists amongst
its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands. Emile Durkhiem
Do you agree or disagree with this
statement? Durkheim (continued)
Durkheim believed that education had several
functions:
1. To transmit core beliefs and values.
2. To create social solidarity to make individuals feel part of a meaningful group/ nation/ etc.
3. To maintain social roles to teach
students to follow social roles by accustoming them to rules, hierarchy and expectations.
4. Division oflabour to allocate students to
the jobs that will best suit their abilities. Conflict Theories
Consensus theories tend to be closer to
the common-sense view of education, but that doesnt mean that conflict theories are wrong.
Perhaps schools are getting poorer
students from working-class backgrounds used to the idea of failure, and to being told what to do and completing boring, repetitive work day in, day out? (Bowles and Gintis theory) A Brief History
Until the 1950s, the sociology of
education was dominated by the consensus approach. But studies revealed the persistence of inequalities in education, especially of class and gender.
Policies introduced to address such
inequalities, but they persisted.
So, some theorists became more interested
in theorising the role of education in (intentionally or inadvertently) reproducing such inequalities.
Complete hand-out exercise on these two
perspectives on education. Power
2 different theorists of power:
1) Weber. 2) Foucault. Before I talk about these, consider
Who has power over your life? How do
they exercise their power? Do you mind? How do you know what to do? What would happen if you didnt do it? 2 Theories
1. Weber power is something you have
or dont have. It is hierarchical and top- down. People may disobey that power if it is seen as illegitimate.
2. Foucault power is everywhere, and is
not possessed by any particular person. We are all constrained by internalised notions of what is seen as common- sense or a self-evident truth. It is often invisible, so disobeying it is not seen as an option. Education and Power
The education system is a system of power.
Some of that power is power that some people
have over others.
Some of that power is the power that the system
has over everybody.
a) Open your envelope. 4 different forms of power
are included, and 4 examples of power in education. Match each form of power to the right example.
b) Can you come up with one more example of each
sort of power?
c) Can you put the different forms of power in order,
according to which you think is the most important in education? Education and the State
Subject of next weeks lecture.
Clearly, such a powerful institution has
attracted the attention and interest of successive governments. Summary
Complete fill the gaps worksheet to
summarise the material covered to far. Socialisation
One ofthe functions of education
identified by consensus theorists. Lets look at this concept in more detail.
The process whereby the culture of a
society is transmitted to its children.
Primary socialisation takes place in the
home/ in the family.
Secondary socialisation takes place
outside the home, teaching children (and adults) how to act appropriately in different situations. Schools and Socialisation
Brainstorm places and institutions that are
sites of secondary socialisation. Education is just one of many.