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Topic 5 of 6 · Form 6

Education

Functionalist (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore – meritocracy, role allocation), Marxist (Bowles and Gintis – correspondence principle; Willis – the lads), interactionist (labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy) and feminist views; education and the economy (human capital theory, credentialism).

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Role of education

Functionalist (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore – meritocracy, role allocation), Marxist (Bowles and Gintis – correspondence principle; Willis – the lads), interactionist (labelling, self-fulfilling prophecy) and feminist views; education and the economy (human capital theory, credentialism).

Differential achievement

Class (material deprivation, cultural capital – Bourdieu, speech codes – Bernstein), gender (changing achievement patterns, subject choice), ethnicity (racism, language, cultural factors); in-school processes (streaming, setting, labelling, pupil subcultures).

Educational policy

Marketisation, vocational education, compensatory education, inclusive education, globalisation of education, and the hidden curriculum.

Exam tip: Separate home factors from school factors, and evaluate their relative importance.

Check yourself

  1. What is the correspondence principle?
  2. Explain cultural capital.
  3. What did Willis's study show?
Show answers
  1. The organisation of schools mirrors the workplace, preparing workers for capitalism.
  2. The knowledge, values and tastes of the middle class that give their children an advantage in education.
  3. Working-class boys formed an anti-school subculture that prepared them for manual jobs.
Next topicReligion, crime, media and globalisation

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