Sociology of

David TushinSOCI – 101

Williams-Paez

How Educational Institutions Divide us into Hierarchies & Classes

A Sociological Perspective

• History of Education• Sociological Perspectives– Functionalist– Conflict Theory– Social Reproduction

• Meritocracy• Pierre Bourdieu Capital• Modern Cases of Social Mobility & Education

Hx of Education• Relationship between education and

social mobility• How schools influence social inequalities• Studies concentrated on the relationship

between class and educational opportunity. There was great optimism concerning the power of education to transform society. What needed transforming was the wastefulness of the existing school system. The search was on for ways in which schools could maximize their pupils' talents.

• Deprivation was traced to the failure of the working class family, faulty socialization, restricted language and low expectations

Émile Durkheim

• Functionalism is a theory of social transmission

• Functionalists draw on Evolution in the natural sciences– Societies fulfill basic functions

to survive– They develop specialized

structures to carry out those functions

– The overall health of the society depends upon the health of each structure

Émile Durkheim on Education

“Education is the influence exercised by adult generations on those that are not yet ready for social life. Its object is to arouse and to develop

in the child a certain number of physical, intellectual, and moral states which are

demanded by him by both the political society as a whole and special milieu for which he is

specifacaly destines…” (Ballantine)

Functionalism

Social Structures (Institutions)

• Family• Government• Religion• Economic Systems• Education

Functions or Purposes• Reproduction• Distribute goods or services• Allocate Power• Transmit Rules, Customs,

and Appropriate Behaviors

Functionalist claim that if one socializing institution is not full filling its function another will take over that role to

retain equilibrium.

Functionalism & Education

Intellectual Purposes• Acquisition of cognitive

skills• Acquisition of knowledge• Acquisition of inquiry skills

Political Purposes• Educate future citizens• Promote patriotism• Promote assimilation of

immigrants• Insure law and order

Economic Purposes• Prepare students for later

work roles• Select and train the labor

force needed by society

Social Purposes• Promote a sense of social

and moral responsibility• Serve as a site for the

solution or resolution of social problems

Karl Marx• Conflict Theory accepts

inequalities (social / economic / political) as normal

• Social systems are dynamic – NOT equilibrium

• There are tensions between interest groups

• Four concepts: competition, structural inequality, revolution, and war

• Powerful groups who control economic and political systems

Conflict View- Social Reproduction

• Powerful elites manipulate public opinion to preserve their entrenched position

• Elites have superior resources they can control the means of communication, they can maintain social inequalities

• Rather than promoting democracy, social mobility and equality, schools reproduce the ideology of the dominant groups in society

• Schools are structured like factories and are organized like bureaucracies

• Through tracking and testing, students are sorted into class / gender / based work roles

Meritocracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-KvkngqTYc ~1Min

• The idea of ‘meritocracy’ originates in sociological fantasy: that is, in Michael Young’s remarkable piece of social science fiction, The Rise of the Meritocracy

• Promotes social efficiency, social mobility and social justice

• Merit = IQ + Effort

Pierre Bourdieu

• Habitus– Each individual occupies a

position in a social space or “Habitus” characterized by habits, beliefs, mannerisms, linguistic styles

• Cultural Capital– These habits, beliefs,

mannerisms, languages have value know as “cultural capital” in some cultural settings

Privileged Families

Have more Economic Capital $$$$

Leads to.. Social Capital

Cultural Capital

Academic Success

Privilege

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdfVAPvv9A

Family incomes have declined for a third of American children over the past few decades.

Countries with high income inequality have low social mobility

Upward social mobility is limited in the United States

The children of high- and low-income families are born with similar abilities but different opportunities

There is a widening gap between the investments that high- and low-income families make in their children

The achievement gap between high- and low-income students has increased

College graduation rates have increased sharply for wealthy students but stagnated for low-income students

High-income families dominate enrollment at America’s selective colleges

A college degree can be a ticket out of poverty

The sticker price of college has increased significantly in the past decade, but the actual price for many lower- and

middle-income students has not

Few investments yield as high a return as a college degree