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American Schools:
Institutions Struggling with Expanding
Expectations, Cultural Contradictions, and
Persistent Inequalities
Jefferson’s legacy--education as
the foundation of democracy
• Creative and rational thought is
democracy’s cornerstone
• All citizens need basic literacy, the
talented need far more
• The common good must be balanced
with individual liberty
Horace Mann’s legacy--the
common school as “great
equalizer”
• common curriculum in a common place
• knowledge and habits of citizenship, as
well as the basic literacy
• the “creator of wealth undreamed of”-eliminate poverty and crime
• shape the destiny of a wise, productive
country.
Ever increasing 20th-century
expectations
• 1900-- cultural preservation--Americanizing
immigrants
• 1910--workforce preparation--staffing the factories
• 1950--national security--beating the Russians in space
• 1960--the “great society”--eliminating poverty and
segregation
• 1980--economic competitiveness--beating the
Japanese; first in the world in math and science
• 2000--“Leave No Child Behind”--creating a more
literate domestic workforce in a global economy where
unskilled work can be “outsourced”
Sociological theory in the early
20th century--explaining school’s
social role
• Structural theories of how society works
– Durkheim (Functionalism)
– Marx (Conflict Theory)
• Cultural beliefs, values, norms: Belief in Meritocracy
--MERITOCRACY: social status is gained by academic
achievement and not by ascribed characteristics. This
achievement is by individual effort and innate ability.It
could be viewed thus: I.Q + Effort = MERIT
Functionalism
• In the social sciences, specifically
sociology and sociocultural
anthropology, functionalism (also called
functional analysis and structural
theory) is a sociological paradigm that
focuses on the ways in which social
institutions fill social needs to
maintain social stability.
Functionalism
• Functionalists see society as being
structured like a human body with many
interrelated parts that function together to
maintain a healthy whole. So as a body
has a heart, lungs, liver etc....society has
Education, the Family, the Economy etc..
• Therefore to understand the education
system we must consider how it functions to
contribute to the healthy maintenance of the
whole social system.
• Functionalists argue that for a healthy
society, individuals must obey society's
norms and values.
• We are socialized into these 'normative
behavior's that are the core of the social
structure.
• Society’s need to transmit social
solidarity and value consensus
through education plays a vital role
in this.
Quick Group Discussion
• What contributions does the education
system make to the maintenance of value
consensus in this country?
• What is the relationship between education
and the economy, and how does this
relationship help/hurt society as a whole?
The originator of the functionalist perspective,
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) argued that the
main function of education is the transmission of
society's norms and values in three mains areas:
• 1. SOCIAL SOLIDARITY • For example the teaching of history provides social continuity.
• 2. SOCIAL RULES • At school we learn to co-operate with strangers and to be selfdisciplined.
• 3. DIVISION OF LABOUR • Education teaches individual skills necessary for future
occupations. This is a most important function in advanced
industrial society with its complex division of labor.
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) argued that Education is
like a BRIDGE between the family and wider society preparing us for our adult roles in society.
• The family is the PRIMARY agent of SOCIALISATION - : “It
is because the human personality is not "born" but
must be "made" through the socialisation process
that in the first instance families are necessary. They
are factories which produce human personalities”
(Parsons, 1955: 16)
• Education is the main SECONDARY agent of
SOCIALISATION. In advanced industrial society we are
judged in terms of ACHIEVED status and universalistic
values. That is to say we are judged in terms of what we
achieve and schools prepare us for this. At school our
conduct is measured against the universal school rules and
our status is achieved through examination.
• For Parsons schools operate on meritocratic
principles. This means that everyone is treated in
the same way and that everyone has the same
chances to succeed.
• Therefore those that achieve the most in school do so
on merit. For Parsons Ability + Effort = Merit.
• Schools operate on this principle and reward the most
ability and those who try hardest with exam success.
• This is important as it ensures that these best people
will fill the most important jobs in society.
• Therefore schools ensure that the best people will
perform the most important jobs - and this will benefit
society as a whole.
Parson’s Assumptions
Schools Reinforce
a) The value of achievement
- by rewarding those who achieve through
exam success.
b) The value of equality of opportunity
- by offering everyone an equal chance to
succeed.
c) Role allocation by testing and evaluating
students, schools match the students' talents
and capacities to the jobs they are best suited
for.
• 1) Are the 'Values and Norms' being transmitted by the
education system really those of society or could they be those
of a ruling class or elite?
• 2) Do schools really operate on meritocratic principles? What
about Public and Independent schools, do they not have
advantages over the state sector schools? And even within
schools there may be banding or streaming - that will mean all
children do not have equality of opportunity.
• 3) Do examinations really grade pupils in terms of ability and
ensure that the 'best' people fill the most important jobs? It
could be argued that exams only test pupil's ability to remember
and regurgitate facts and have very little to do with ability in any
other areas.
• 4) It may well be that ascribed status such as sex, race, class is
a more important factor in educational success and that the
meritocratic principles of the education system may be ideology
to legitimate actual inequalities in society that the education
system helps to reproduce.
Conflict Theory
I.
•
•
Introduction
The structural-functionalist school of thought
portrayed societies as governed by a
consensus of values.
Conflict theorists argued that functionalist
sociology disregarded conflict of value and
interest in society.
Founder of Conflict Theory
• Karl Marx (1818-1883), founder of conflict theory,
argued that the competition of individuals and groups
for wealth and power is the fundamental process
shaping social structure. For conflict theorists, basic
questions about a social structure are "Who gets what
and why?”
• In the 1960's, the rise of conflict theories, stressing
the importance of stratification, class, conflict and
material interests led to increased interest in Marx.
Many conflict theorists are not Marxists, and there are
many different varieties of Marxism, but virtually all
conflict theorists recognize that Marx's theories
raise fundamental questions about inequality,
social structure and social dynamics.
Conflict Theory
What is Conflict Theory?
•
Conflict theory is a macro-sociological
theoretical perspective which assumes that
social behavior is best understood in terms of
conflict or tension between competing groups.
•
Instead of interpreting social life as normally
cooperative and harmonious, conflict theorists
view society as an arena in which different
individuals and groups struggle with each other
in order to obtain scarce and valued resources.
–
Conflict theory tends to argue that many social
struggles are zero-sum games in which, if one party
wins, the other(s) lose.
Conflict Theory
What is Conflict Theory?
•
Conflict theorists do not deny that certain types
of social arrangements are functional, but they
insist that we must always ask for whom they
are functional.
•
The conflict perspective suggests that change,
not stability is normal.
•
Social order is more commonly the result of the
exercise of elite power rather than a reflection
of true consensus.
Conflict Theory
Social Institutions
•
Conflict theorists object to the implication that
outcome is necessarily efficient and desirable.
•
From a conflict perspective, major institutions
help to maintain the privileges of the most
powerful individuals and groups within a
society, while contributing to the powerlessness
of others.
•
Conflict theorists argue that social institutions
have an inherently conservative nature.
•
Why should we preserve the existing social
structure if it is unfair and discriminatory?
Conflict Theory
Education
•
The functionalist perspective view portrays
contemporary education as basically benign.
–
•
Schools rationally sort and select students for future
high-status positions, thereby meeting society’s need
for talented and expert personnel.
The conflict perspective views education as an
instrument of elite domination.
–
Schools convince subordinate groups of their
inferiority, reinforce existing social class inequality,
and discouraging alternative and more democratic
vision of society.
Conflict Theory
Education
The hidden curriculum
–
–
–
Children must not speak until the teacher calls on
them and must regulate their activities according to
the clock or bells.
In a classroom overly focused on obedience, value is
placed on pleasing the teacher and remaining quiet
rather than on creative thought and academic learning.
This process may result in habitual obedience to
authority in a broader social context.
Conflict Theory
Education
Credentialism
•
Fifty years ago, high school diploma was a
minimum requirement for entry into the paid
labor force of the US. Today, a college diploma
is virtually the bare minimum.
•
The change reflects the process of
credentialism – a term used to describe the
increase in the lowest level of education needed
to enter a field.
•
Functionalist perspective
–
Such changes are a logical response to the increasing
complexity of many jobs.
Conflict Theory
Education
Credentialism
•
However, in many cases, employers raise
degree requirements for a position simply
because all applicants have achieved the
existing minimum credential (Collins 1979).
•
Conflict theorists observe that credentials may
reinforce social inequality.
Conflict Theory
Social Change
•
The functional perspective minimizes change. It
emphasizes the persistence of social life and
sees change as a means of maintaining the
equilibrium (or balance) of a society.
•
By contrast, conflict theories contend that
social institutions and practice continue
because powerful groups have the ability to
maintain the status quo. Change has crucial
significance, since it is needed to correct social
injustice and inequality.
Conflict Theory
Evaluation
Contribution
•
Conflict theory counterbalances the optimism of
functionalism by emphasizing the significance
of power and struggle in social life.
Conflict Theory
Evaluation
Problems
•
The conflict approach tends to ignore the many areas of
social life in which most people really do arrive at an
uncoerced consensus about important values.
•
Conflict theorists also sometimes fail to emphasize the
fact that much struggle is institutionalized through such
consensus – building procedures as elections or
collective bargaining between labor and management.
•
Conflict theorists often violate the principle of scientific
objectivity.
• 1) Are the 'Values and Norms' being transmitted by the
education system really those of society or could they be those
of a ruling class or elite?
• 2) Do schools really operate on meritocratic principles? What
about Public and Independent schools, do they not have
advantages over the state sector schools? And even within
schools there may be banding or streaming - that will mean all
children do not have equality of opportunity.
• 3) Do examinations really grade pupils in terms of ability and
ensure that the 'best' people fill the most important jobs? It
could be argued that exams only test pupil's ability to remember
and regurgitate facts and have very little to do with ability in any
other areas.
• 4) It may well be that ascribed status such as sex, race, class is
a more important factor in educational success and that the
meritocratic principles of the education system may be ideology
to legitimate actual inequalities in society that the education
system helps to reproduce.