1. Chapter 12 Education and Religion
Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials, Kendall, 10e

2. An Overview of Education and Religion
The sociology of education examines formal education and schooling in industrial societies.
The sociology of religion focuses on religious groups and organizations, on the behavior of individuals within those groups, and on ways in which religion is intertwined with other social institutions.

3. Sociological Perspectives on Education
Education is the social institution responsible for the systematic transmission of knowledge, skills, and cultural values within a formally organized structure.

4. Functionalist perspectives on education
Manifest functions: socialization, transmission of culture, social control, social placement, change innovation
Latent functions: restricting some activities, matchmaking and production of social networks, creating a generation gap
Dysfunctions

5. Figure 12.1 Manifest and Latent Functions of Education
<insert Figure 12.1>

6. Conflict perspectives on education
Cultural capital refers to the social assets that include values, beliefs, attitudes, and competencies in language and culture.
Tracking refers to the practice of assigning students to specific curriculum groups and courses on the basis of their test scores, previous grades, or other criteria.

7. Consider This…
Figure 12.2
Children who are able to visit museums, libraries, and musical events may gain cultural capital that other children do not possess. What is cultural capital? Why is it important in the process of class reproduction?

8. The hidden curriculum is the transmission of cultural values and attitudes through implied demands found in the rules, routines, and regulations of schools.
Credentialism is the process of social section in which class advantage and social status are linked to the possession of academic qualifications.

9. Symbolic interactionist perspectives on education focus on classroom communication patterns and educational practices.

10. Problems in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Unequal funding of public schools
School dropouts
Racial segregation and resegregation

11. Polling Question
Should additional funding be given to public schools to help alleviate problems?

12. Figure 12.6 Percentage Distribution of Total Public Elementary-Secondary School System Revenue,

13. Figure 12.7 Status Dropout Rates for 16-to24-Year Olds, By Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Region
<insert Table 12.7>

14. School choice and school vouchers
Charter schools
Home schooling

15. School Safety and Violence at All Levels
Violent incidents are reported each year by nearly 75% of all public schools:
Physical attack or fights
Vandalism
Theft/larceny
Possession of a weapon
Illegal drugs

16. Polling Question
What will help reduce violence in schools?

17. Consider This…
Figure 12.9
In the aftermath of the 2012 mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, many people sought more-stringent gun laws to prevent future occurrences of similar horrendous events. Do you believe that there is sufficient public concern, from this and other horrendous mass shootings, to bring about stronger gun control legislation in the United States?

18. Opportunities and Challenges in Colleges and Universities
Growing community college enrollments
Decreasing community college funding
The high cost of a college education
Racial diversity in college enrollment

19. Consider This…
Figure 12.11
Soaring costs of both public and private institutions of higher education are a pressing problem for today’s college students and their parents. What factors have contributed to the higher overall costs of obtaining a college degree?

20. Religion in Historical Perspective
Religion is a social institution composed of a unified system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals – based on some sacred or supernatural realm – that guides human behavior, gives meaning to life, and unites believers into a community.

21. Sacred refers to those aspects of life that are extraordinary or supernatural.
Profane refers to the everyday, secular, or “worldly” aspects of life.

22. Figure 12.13 Original Locations of the World’s Major Religions

23. Simple supernaturalism
Animism
Theism
Transcendent idealism

24. Secularization is the process by which religious beliefs, practices, and institutions lose their significance in sectors of society and culture.

25. Table 12.1 Major World Religions

26. Sociological Perspectives on Religion
Durkheim’s functionalist perspectives on religion focuses on three functions:
Meaning and purpose
Social cohesion and a sense of belonging
Social control and support for the government
Civil religion refers to the set of beliefs, rituals, and symbols that makes sacred the values of the society and places the nation in the context of the ultimate system of meaning.

27. Conflict perspectives on religion views religion as either an igniter or a retarder of social change.
Marx: ideologies are embodied in religious doctrines and political values
Weber: religion could be the catalyst to produce social change

28. Symbolic interactionist perspectives on religion focus on the meanings that people give to religion.

29. Rational choice perspectives on religion sees religion as a rational response to human needs

30. Polling Question
Which perspective do you agree with the most?

31. Concept Quick Review

32. Types of Religious Organizations
An ecclesia is a religious organization that is so integrated into the dominant culture that it claims as its membership all members of a society.

33. Table 12.2 Characteristics of Churches and Sects

34. A church is a large, bureaucratically organized religious organization that tends to seek accommodation with the larger society in order to maintain some degree of control over it.
A denomination is a large, organized religion characterized by accommodation to society but frequently lacking in the ability or intention to dominate society.
A sect is a relatively small religious group that has broken away from another religious organization to renew what it views as the original version of the faith.

35. A cult is a loosely organized religious group with practices and teaching outside the dominant cultural and religious traditions of a society.

36. Trends in Religion in the United States
Secularization includes:
A decline in religious values and institutions
A corresponding increase in nonreligious values or principles and greater significance given to secular institutions

37. Polling Question
Is America becoming secularized?

38. Figure 12.15 U.S. Religious Traditions’ Membership

39. Fundamentalism is a traditional religious doctrine that is conservative, is typically opposed to modernity and rejects “worldly pleasures” in favor of otherworldly spirituality.

40. Education and Religion in the Future
Role of politics in education
Funding cuts in education
Educational competition with other countries
Secularization: modernization, democratization, globalization

41. Consider This…
Figure 12.16
The term university globalization refers to the export of students from countries such as India and China to nations where they study and immerse themselves in another culture. How does this process affect higher education in the United States and other countries?

42. Quick Quiz According to the cultural capital model:
a student will be taught by teachers of one's own culture.
children with less cultural capital coming into school will have fewer opportunities for succeeding.
children with less cultural capital coming into school will catch up with the rest of the nation.
going to school provides one with the necessities of one's culture.

43. Quick Quiz
Answer: B. According to the cultural capital model children with less cultural capital coming into school will have fewer opportunities for succeeding.

44. Quick Quiz
The assignment of students to specific courses and educational programs based on their test scores, previous grades, or both is called:
positioning.
assessment.
placement.
tracking.

45. Quick Quiz
Answer: D. The assignment of students to specific courses and educational programs based on their test scores, previous grades, or both is called tracking.

46. Quick Quiz
According to Pierre Bourdieu, schools legitimate and reinforce the dominance of social elites.
True.
False.

47. Quick Quiz
Answer: A.
According to Pierre Bourdieu, schools legitimate and reinforce the dominance of social elites.

48. Quick Quiz According to sociologists, religion attempts to:
bridge the gap between the known and the unknown.
have a personal relationship with God.
save every soul.
replace the functions of other institutions.

49. Quick Quiz
Answer: A.
According to sociologists, religion attempts to bridge the gap between the known and the unknown. not gender equality in agrarian societies.

50. Quick Quiz Who said "religion is the opiate of the masses?”
Emile Durkheim
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Talcott Parsons

51. Quick Quiz Karl Marx said "religion is the opiate of the masses.”
Answer: B.
Karl Marx said "religion is the opiate of the masses.”

52. Quick Quiz
A relatively small religious group that has broken away from another religious organization to renew what it views as the original version of the faith is referred to as:
an ecclesia.
Catholicism.
a sect.
a denomination.

53. Quick Quiz
Answer: C.
A relatively small religious group that has broken away from another religious organization to renew what it views as the original version of the faith is referred to as a sect.