Outline for Today’s Lecture: Sociology of Education

• Introduction: What is the purpose of education?

• Theories of Sociology of Education– Functionalist– Conflict

• Bowles & Gintis• Randall Collins• Pierre Bourdieu

– Interpretive/Symbolic Interactionist

• Inequality and Schooling

Thought Question

• What is the purpose of education?

• Why do we send kids to school? What do we expect and want them to learn?

• Why would someone decide NOT to send their kid to school?

Bowles and Gintis: Correspondence Principle

“…by structuring social interactions and individual rewards to replicate the environment of the workplace”, schools are able to accomplish the goal of preparing “people for adult work rules by socializing people to function well and without complaint in the hierarchical structure of the modern corporation” (Bowles and Gintis 2002, see also 1976).

Bowles and Gintis: How Schools Reproduce Inequality

• Channel students into different levels in the capitalist work hierarchy in a way that corresponds with their family background

• Socialize students to have the skills and attitudes appropriate to those different levels

• Legitimate or justify these processes of allocation and socialization as in the interest of all

Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp

“One teacher remarked that she hated September, because during the first month, ‘everything has to be done rigidly, and repeatedly, until they know exactly what they’re supposed to do.’ However ‘by January’, she said, ‘they know exactly what to do [during the day] and I don’t have to be after them all the time.’”

Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp

Gracey concludes: “Once out of the school system, young adults will more than likely find themselves working in large-scale bureaucratic organizations, perhaps on the assembly line in the factory, perhaps in the paper routines of the white collar occupations, where they will be required to submit to rigid routines imposed by “the company” which may make little sense to them…

Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp

“…Those who can operate well in this situation will be successful bureaucratic functionaries. Kindergarten, therefore, can be seen as preparing children not only for the participation in the bureaucratic organization of large school systems, but also for the large-scale occupational bureaucracies of modern societies.”

What is Cultural Capital?

Cultural capital is commonly defined as high-status cultural signals, such as attitudes, behaviours, preferences and credentials that are useful for distinguishing higher status from lower status individuals (Bourdieu 1977, DiMaggio 1982, Lamont and Lareau 1099, Eitle and Eitle 2002).

Effect of “cultural capital”

Kids in the U.S. that took classes in music, art, performance (dance), art history & appreciation, and music history & appreciation were:

3.2 times more likely to finish high school;1.8 times more likely to begin university; and1.4 times more likely to finish university

compared to kids that did not take these classes (Aschaffenburg and Maas 1997).

Illiteracy in Global Perspective

Educational Attainment in Canada: Population 15 and over

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

1971

1981

1991

2001

HighschoolSomePostUniversity

Population 15 years and Older with University Degree, 1996

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Any Post University College

Lowest

Second

Third

Highest

Postsecondary participation rates for Canadians aged 18-21 and no longer in high

school by household income,1998

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Postsecon University College

H.S.

College

University

Postsecondary participation rates for Canadians aged 18-21 and no longer in high

school by parents’ education 1998

Postsecondary participation rates for Canadians aged 18-21 and no longer in high school, by

household income and parents’ education, 1998

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Poorest Second Third Richest

None

Postsecondary

Predicted Probability of University Participation by Distance to University,

Canada1999

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0-40 km

40-80 km

80+ km

Predicted Probability of University Participation by Income Tier and Distance to School, Canada1999

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

Top Middle Bottom

0-40 km

40-80 km

80 km +

Canadian Parents’ Postsecondary Aspirations for Children and Saving

Behaviour by Household Income, 1999

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

<30K 30-49K 50-59K 60-79K 80K+

Aspiration

Saving

Increase in university undergraduates, aged 25 to 64, by top ten fields of study,

1991-2001Field of study PercentBusiness and commerce 12.4Engineering 10.7Elem, second, pre-primary teaching 9.9Financial management 5.8Computer science/applied math 5.2Psychology 3.8Economics 2.9Nursing 2.8Medical related subjects 2.6Sociology 2.6

Unemployment Rate by Education Level, 2001

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

< H.S. H.S. Some Post Post Degree

Canada

Ontario

NFL