Download Chapter 14 Education and Religion

Education and
Religion
Questions to think about:
1. How do the views of functionalist,
conflict, and interactionist sociologists
differ concerning education?
2. What are some of the current issues in
American education?
Education
 A society’s survival and future greatly
depends on the socialization of new
members.
 Education consists of the roles and
norms that ensure the transmission of
knowledge, values, and patterns of
behavior from one generation to the next.
Education
 Preindustrial societies education is
informal and occurs mainly in the familychildren learn values and norms as well
as basic skills-cooking, pottery making,
food gathering, hunting
 As societies have become more
complex, the process of education
involves formal education called
schooling.
Functionalist Perspective
 Functions performed by education work
to maintain stability and smooth
operation of society.
 Includes:
 teaching knowledge and skills
 transmission of culture
 social integration
 occupational placement.
Teaching knowledge and
skills
 Education provides the means through
which individuals can develop
approaches and solutions to new
problems
 Involves developing critical thinking skills
 Knowledge and ability to access technology.
Transmission of culture
 (After families) Schools provide means
through which children learn social
norms, values and beliefs.
 School also teaches:
 Patriotism-(pledge, patriotic songs-standing
when the national anthem is played)
 Loyalty (Japan-group conformity, respect for
elders, and cooperation)
 Socially accepted forms of behavior”expectations,” (taught to be punctual, obey
rules, respect authority.
Social integration
 School helps produce a society of
individuals who share a common national
identity.
 Modern multicultural societies: melting
pot versus tossed salad or mosaic
picture.
Occupational Placement
 Education serves to screen select
members of society to for work they will
do as adults.
 Some societies assign positions on the
basis of ascribed status.
 US – “tracking”
 Japan – entrance exams
Conflict Perspective
 Education system serves to limit the
potential of certain individuals and groups
to gain power and social rewards.
 Two factors that maintain inequality:
 Social Control
 Tracking
Social Control
 Functionalists see the purpose of social
control in education to create citizens
who share a common set of values.
 Conflict theorists believe that social
control is to produce unquestioning
citizens who accept the basic inequalities
of the social system.
Social Control
 Hidden curriculum- term used by
sociologists to describe schools’
transmission of cultural goals that are not
openly acknowledged.
 Involves teaching obedience to authority.
 Serves dominant group by helping maintain
position of power in society.
 Produces cooperative adults who willingly
accept the demands of those in power.
Tracking
 Tracking-involves the assignment of
students to different types of educational
programs, such as general studies,
vocational training, and college
preparatory classes.
 Functionalists view tracking as a way of
fulfilling the occupational placement of
education.
 Conflict theorists view tracking as a means
by which the wealthy and powerful maintain
position in society.
Tracking continued
 Conflict sociologists point out that
members of the lower classes and
minority groups are typically assigned to
the lower, or less demanding and less
advantageous tracks (geared towards
blue-collar of vocational jobs in which
salary and prestige are low).
Tracking cont.
 It has been found that teachers
working with the higher tracks have
higher expectations, encourage and
develop students, while teachers
teaching the lower tracks tend to focus
on classroom drills, conforming
behavior, cooperation, memorization
(in addition to lower expectations of
those students in lower tracks)
What impact does this have and does it still exist today?
Conflict theory:
Outcome of tracking
 Students in higher tracks learn creativity,
independence, and self motivation
(qualities desirable in management and
professional jobs)
 Students in lower tracks learn to work
under supervision, follow routine, obey
instructions-typically traits of lower
paying, or vocational jobs.
Education and
Socioeconomic Status
 Strong relationship between education
and income.
 Higher status students are generally
more likely to attend college and
graduate from college.
EDUC and SES
 Samuel Bowles study found:
 Among highest-achieving HS students from
wealthy families, 90% attended college.
 College attendance among high achieving,
lower-income families: 50%.
Ways socioeconomic status affects
educational achievement:
1. Family expectations (higher vs. lower
classes)
2. Higher status families are better able than
lower status to provide home environment to
enrich learning (books, toys that stimulate
thought and creativity).
3. Higher-status families are better able to pay
the expenses to put their children through
college.
Conflict theorists hold that these factors
perpetuates the access of higher-status
people to well-paying and prestigious jobs.
Interactionist Perspective
 (Explains social phenomenon by
examining individuals involved – students
and teachers.
Ray Rist’s study: student teacher
interaction in grade school:
 Teachers assigned 3 groups: fast average
and slow learners.
 Assignment was NOT based on tests, but by
social class (middle-upper were in fast group)
 “Slow learner” group received little attention (they
were also the group placed furthest from her
desk!)
 Higher learning group performed much
better than the slow learner group.
IS THIS AN ISSUE TODAY?
Pedersen and Faucher: the power of
teacher expectations.
 Found that teachers who stressed the value
of education, and had high expectations for
all resulted in higher learning outcomes for
students.
Rosenthal and Jacobsen also
studied expectations:
 Administered a test to students and told
some students they were expected to
succeed, and those student did.
ALL three studies provide examples of selffulfilling prophecy-prediction that leads to
behaviors that come true.
Educational attainment: Percentage of
population with bachelor’s degree, 2000
Issues in Education
 Reforms
 2001 No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB)
Educational Alternatives
 Charter schools-funded with public
money, but privately operated.
 Popular alternative to public school
 More freedom with curriculum, educational
plans, philosophy, staffing, student goals.
 School choice-parents receive voucher
equal to the amount their state spends on
their child. (Parents are then free to send
student to private, public, charter,
religious school of their choice)
 Homeschooling-child’s main education is
undertaken by the parents at home.
 Alternative to public education
 Pros and cons
Violence in schools
 1999 Columbine
 Zero tolerance-set of punishments-often
expulsion-for serious offenses such as
carrying a weapon.
ESL or ELL
 Bilingual Education-system by which
non-English speaking students are taught
in their native language until proficient
enough in English to attend regular
classes.
Sociology of Religion

Human quest for the answers to two
questions:
1. Why do we live?
2. Why do we die?
All societies struggle with the need to give
meaning to our existence and to provide
with motivation for survival.
Durkheim:
Sacred vs. Profane
All societies make a distinction between
what is sacred and profane.
 Sacred-anything that is a part of the
supernatural world and that inspires awe,
respect and reverence.
 Profane-anything considered to be part of
the ordinary world – commonplace and
familiar.
Religion
 A system of roles and norms that is
organized around the sacred realm and
that binds people together in social
groups.
Sociological Definition of
Religion
 Religion is a social creation.
 Sacred is “socially defined” by a group of
believers.
 Things that are sacred in one society may be
profane in another.
 EXAMPLE-Hinduism sacred cow
 Religion id based on belief and faith rather than
science.
 Sociologists are not concerned with truth or
falseness of religion, but rather the
consequences that religion has for a society.
FUNCTIONS of Religion
 Social Cohesion-strengthens the bonds
between people. Ceremonies and sharing
beliefs creates a sense of belonging, which
makes people feel less alone in the world.
 (Conflict theorists note that social cohesion
based on religion can create problems in
societies where more than one religion is
practiced)
FUNCTIONS of Religion
 Social Control- encourages
conformity to the norms of society. In
some societies, norms and values are
formalized into laws.
 (Conflict theorists would argue that
religion’s emphasis on conformity inhibit
innovation, freedom of thought, etc.)
Emotional Support
 Religion provides emotional support for
people during difficult times.
 Motivates people to survive when
happiness appears to be out of reach.
 Comfort in harsh circumstances.
 Answers to ultimate questions about life
and death.
 (Conflict theorists would argue that
religion allows people to accept their
conditions and prohibits social change.)
Ritual
 An established pattern of behavior
through which believers experience the
sacred.
 EX-Birth, Marriage, Death
 Also unite members to reinforce faith.
 Rituals often include sacred symbols of
the specific religion (clothing, herbs,
chalices, crosses, books, etc).
Belief systems
 Animism- belief that spirits influence
human life (animals, rivers, mountains,
wind, etc. contain spirits).
 Shamanism- belief that spirits only
communicate with one member of the
group (the shaman).
 Totemism-involves the belief in kinship
between humans and animals or natural
objects. The animal or object is called a
totem, and is considered sacred and is
thought to represent the family or clan.
 Theism-the belief in a god or gods
(believed to be a divine power worthy of
worship).
 Monotheism-belief in one god. (Judaism,
Christianity, Islam)
 Polytheism-belief in a number of gods.
(Hinduism)
 Ethicalism-based on the idea that moral
principals have a sacred quality (truth,
honor, tolerance=righteous life) EXBuddhism, Confucianism