1. David Tushin SOCI – 101 Williams-Paez
Sociology of
How Educational Institutions Divide us into Hierarchies & Classes
David Tushin
SOCI – 101
Williams-Paez

2. A Sociological Perspective
History of Education
Sociological Perspectives
Functionalist
Conflict Theory
Social Reproduction
Meritocracy
Pierre Bourdieu Capital
Modern Cases of Social Mobility & Education

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. Social Structures (Institutions)
Functionalism
Social Structures (Institutions)
Functions or Purposes
Family
Government
Religion
Economic Systems
Education
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.

7. Functionalism & Education
Intellectual Purposes
Political Purposes
Acquisition of cognitive skills
Acquisition of knowledge
Acquisition of inquiry skills
Educate future citizens
Promote patriotism
Promote assimilation of immigrants
Insure law and order
Economic Purposes
Social Purposes
Prepare students for later work roles
Select and train the labor force needed by society
Promote a sense of social and moral responsibility
Serve as a site for the solution or resolution of social problems

8. 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

9. 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

10. Meritocracy
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
~1Min

11. Pierre Bourdieu Habitus Cultural Capital
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

12. Academic Success Privileged Families Have more Economic Capital $$$$
Leads to..
Social Capital
Cultural Capital
Academic Success

13. Privilege

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

16. Countries with high income inequality have low social mobility

17. Upward social mobility is limited in the United States

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

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

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

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

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

23. A college degree can be a ticket out of poverty

24. 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

25. Few investments yield as high a return as a college degree