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Sociology of Education Flashcards
Free A Level Sociology Revision Cards on Flashcard Maker
From functionalist and Marxist views on education to the factors affecting educational achievement and the hidden curriculum, these free Sociology flashcards cover the key theories and evidence.
Question
What is the functionalist view of education?
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Answer
Durkheim: education transmits shared values and social solidarity. Parsons: a meritocratic bridge between family and adult society, teaching universal values. Davis and Moore: allocates people to roles based on talent.
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Question
What is the Marxist view of education?
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Answer
Bowles and Gintis (correspondence principle): education reproduces class inequality by socialising students to accept hierarchy and accept their "place." School mirrors the passive, disciplined worker required by capitalism.
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Question
What is the "hidden curriculum"?
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Answer
The unofficial lessons schools teach alongside the formal curriculum — punctuality, obedience, conformity, competition, and acceptance of hierarchy. Marxists argue it prepares working-class students for subordinate roles.
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Question
What is meritocracy and how do functionalists use this idea?
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Answer
The idea that positions and rewards are allocated based on individual talent and effort. Functionalists argue education is a meritocratic system where the most able rise — producing an efficient, fair society.
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Question
What is labelling theory and how does it apply to education?
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Answer
Becker: teachers label students based on perceived characteristics (class, ethnicity, gender). These labels become self-fulfilling prophecies — students internalise the label and act accordingly, affecting attainment.
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Question
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
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Answer
A prediction that causes itself to come true. In education: if teachers label a student as "low ability," they give them less attention and lower-level work; the student underachieves, confirming the label.
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Question
What is streaming/setting and what is its effect?
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Answer
Grouping students by ability. Ball: upper streams receive higher-quality teaching and a more academic curriculum; lower streams are labelled negatively. Perpetuates class inequalities because working-class students are disproportionately placed in lower sets.
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Question
What did Rosenthal and Jacobson find in the "Pygmalion in the Classroom" study?
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Answer
Teachers were told certain pupils had "unusual potential" (randomly selected). At year-end, those students had made greater IQ gains — showing that teacher expectations (labels) influence student outcomes.
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Question
What are subcultures in education?
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Answer
Groups within schools that develop their own values in relation to schooling. Pro-school subcultures value academic success (typically top sets). Anti-school subcultures (Willis's "lads") reject school values, finding status elsewhere.
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Question
What did Paul Willis find in "Learning to Labour" (1977)?
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Answer
Working-class boys ("the lads") actively rejected school culture, embracing a counter-school culture — seeing academic work as feminine and "mental." Paradoxically, this led them straight into the working-class manual labour they sought to mock.
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