Role of education: key terms
12 terms. Say the definition out loud, tap to check, then say whether you knew it. Back to the topic
These cards were written by the site from the specification, mark schemes and examiners' reports and are being checked by our Sociology tutor; tell us if you spot an error.
Meritocracy
A system in which rewards and positions go to people on the basis of ability and effort rather than background.
Exam tip Functionalists (Davis and Moore, Parsons) claim education is meritocratic; Marxists call this the myth of meritocracy. Say whose view you are giving.
Social solidarity
The sense of belonging and shared values that binds members of a society together.
Exam tip Durkheim's term: education passes on a shared culture, for example through history lessons. Link it to the 'specialist skills' function for a second point.
Universalistic standards
Rules and judgements applied equally to everyone, such as the same exams and school rules for all pupils.
Exam tip Parsons contrasts them with the particularistic standards of the family. A clear contrast with the family earns the application marks.
Role allocation
The sifting and sorting of people into the jobs best suited to their abilities.
Exam tip Davis and Moore's function of education. Evaluate with evidence that class, not ability, still predicts outcomes.
Human capital
The knowledge and skills of the workforce, seen by neoliberals as a source of economic growth.
Exam tip The New Right and neoliberal view of what schools are for; useful to link to marketisation and vocational policies.
Ideological state apparatus
Institutions that control people by shaping their ideas rather than by force; Althusser includes education.
Exam tip Althusser says education reproduces class inequality and legitimates it. Contrast with the repressive state apparatus (police, courts).
Correspondence principle
The idea that the relationships and rules of school mirror those of the capitalist workplace.
Exam tip Bowles and Gintis. Give an example of a parallel, such as obeying teachers and obeying managers, rather than just naming the principle.
Hidden curriculum
The lessons pupils learn from the way school is organised, such as obedience, punctuality and accepting hierarchy, without being formally taught.
Exam tip Do not confuse it with the formal curriculum. Marxists and feminists use it in different ways: say which you mean.
Myth of meritocracy
The Marxist claim that education only appears to reward merit, so that inequality looks fair.
Exam tip Bowles and Gintis. Pair it with evidence that middle-class pupils get better results at the same ability level.
Learning to labour
Willis's study of twelve working-class 'lads' whose counter-school culture led them into manual jobs.
Exam tip Shows that pupils are not passive, which challenges Bowles and Gintis's correspondence theory: good evaluation material.
Neoliberalism
The view that the state should do less and markets should do more, including in public services such as education.
Exam tip Often paired with the New Right. Link it to competition between schools and to the human capital idea.
Social reproduction
The passing on of class inequality from one generation to the next.
Exam tip The core Marxist claim about education. State who is reproduced and how, for example through cultural capital (Bourdieu).
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