WESTERN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ON EDUCATION

Fatin Munirah Abd Latif Nurul Jannah Abd Razak

Rabeatuladelah Mohd RidzuanSiti Halimatun Saadiah Adnan

The Marxist, Neo-Marxist and Conflict Theorist view of society

• Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification

The Interactionist and postmodernist view of society

THE CONFLICT PARADIGM

Focus on the elites demand

Stress the connection between schooling and learning of docility and

compliance

Serving the interest of

elites

Conflict Theorist Argument

Group compete to control education system

Struggle between group is unequal

Employers are more concern with the attitudes and value of their future

employees.

Marxism

• The core concept of Marxism is materialism and social class.

• Marxism emphasizes the idea that social life is based upon "conflicts of interest“

• The basis of this conflict lies in the fact that although wealth is created by the Proletariat (the working class), it is taken away privately -by the Bourgeoisie - in the form of profits.

NEO-MARXIST Theories of Bowles and Gintis

• Marxist interpretation of schooling in modern society

• Schools serve the interests of the capitalist order in modern society

• Schools reproduce the values and personality characteristics necessary in a capitalist society

–Values and qualities required by :efficient manual worker vs. executive

of a large corporation

– The social organization of schools reflects the demands of the particular occupations

Schools(for low status occupations)• Minimal choice of tasks• Teach obedience toward authority• To follow instructions

Schools and universities (for elite positions)• Encourage independent work• To make intelligent choices• To internalize norms rather than to

follow external behavior

Bowles and

Gintis’s Major

argument

Reinforcing

inequalities

Reinterpreting

Educational History

The limit of school reform

Reinforcing Inequality

• Different social classes attend different neighborhood school

• school serving:

working class students vs. higher-status students

Reinterpreting Educational History

• The direction of educational change is predominantly shaped by the changing demands of capitalist elites for new values and skills

• Compulsory schooling was an agency of control

– The spread of factory system created demand for a loyal, obedient, and docile labor force

– Schools encouraged habits of punctuality, hard work, and respect for authority

Reject Meritocratic Idea

• According to meritocratic idea:– ability and effort count for more than social status – schools are efficient ways to select talented

people

• BUT, proposed that:– Success in later life is strongly related to social

class

The Limits of School Reform

• Schools are repressive because it must serve the interest of corporate capitalism

• A systematic reflections of economic reality

• The transformation of schooling must await a transformation in the nature of work in capitalist society

Stratification in Education

Functional theory VS Conflict theory

•Concerning in technical skills requirement in industrial society.•Education is necessary for the survival of the society.•Interdependent

•Theory derived from approach of Max Weber, stating of various outcomes in the struggles among status group.•Power is important to control over education ( eg; who is smarter can easily get job)

Technical-Function Theory of Education

• The skill requirements of jobs in industrial society constantly increase because of technological change.

•The proportion of jobs requiring low skill decrease and high skill increase. •Therefore, educational requirements for employment constantly rise and increasingly larger proportion of the population are required to spend longer and longer time in school.

Cont.• This will lead to two major questions :a) Are better educated employees more

productive ? -relationship between aggregate levels of education in a society and its overall economic productivity.

b) Are vocational skills learned in school or elsewhere ?

-most skilled manual workers acquire their skills on the job or casually.

Functional and Conflict Perspective• Functional : - demand for skills of various types, at any given

time, is basic determinant of who will be selected for the position.

-It is the need of the society that seen as determining the behavior and the rewards of

each individuals within it. • Conflict : - individuals want jobs primarily for the reward to

themselves in material goods, power, and prestige to maintain the position of power between workers and employers.

-On all levels, wherever informal organization exists, it appears that standards of reflect the power of the groups involved.

Conflict Theory of Stratification~Weber (1968)

Status group

Education as status

culture

Struggle for advantage

Status Group

• Share a sense of status equality based on participation in a common cultures

• Derived from 3 sources:i. Different lifestyle based on economic situationii. Differences in life situation based on power

positioniii. Differences in life situation deriving directlyfrom

cultural conditions or insitutions.

Struggle for Advantage• Continual struggle in society various “goods”-

wealth, power or prestige.• Carried out through organizations

Education as Status Culture

• Main activity in school is to teach particular status culture.

Education as Mechanism of Occupational Placement

a) Schools provide either training for elite culture or respect for it.

b) Employers use education as a mean of selection for cultural attributes.

Variations in the Linkage between Education and Occupation

1. The type of education most closely reflects membership in a particular status group

2. That group controls employment in particular organizational contexts

Historical Change

1. Education , high economic, status position from the colonial period on through the twentieth century.

2. Political decentralization

3. Technical changes:a) mass literacyb) reduction of unskill jobc) skill requirement

~ Education has become a legitimate standard.