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Essay / A study of how Marxism has influenced our understanding of the place of education
Marxism is a top-down macro approach and conflict theory that views society as based on class division and capitalist exploitation of the working class. Karl Marx founded Marxism and described capitalism as consisting of the capitalist class or bourgeoisie and the working class or proletariat. The bourgeoisie owns land, factories and businesses, and they make their money by exploiting the working class. The proletariat must sell their labor to the bourgeoisie because they do not own land or businesses, which means they make little money. Marxists argue that the role of education is to fail working-class students so that they have no choice but to work for capitalists for low wages. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay The Marxist Althusser (1971) argues that the state is composed of two apparatuses: repressive state apparatuses and state apparatuses. 'ideological state. Their goal is to keep the bourgeoisie in power and the proletariat subordinate. Repressive state apparatuses, including the police and the military, maintain the power of capitalists by force or threat of force, while ideological state apparatuses, e.g. religion, media and the education system, do this by controlling people's beliefs and values. Althusser argues that education has two functions: to reproduce and legitimize class inequality, as mentioned in point A. Education reproduces class inequality by failing each generation of the working class, and it legitimizes the class inequality by persuading the working class to believe that inequality is inevitable and that they are always inferior to the working class. capitalists. Other Marxists, Bowles and Gintis, believe that the role of education is to produce an obedient workforce that will accept the low wages of the bourgeoisie. From their studies, they conclude that in school, submissive and obedient personality traits such as punctuality will be rewarded. This means that the school produces workers who will obey the orders of the ruling class. Bowles and Gintis also argue that school is very similar to the workplace, in that it is both hierarchies with managers or bosses at the top giving orders, and students or workers at the top. low who must obey them. They call this the “correspondence principle,” which works through a hidden curriculum. This hidden curriculum, as mentioned in point A, indirectly teaches students lessons, such as punctuality, good manners, and meeting deadlines. This prepares working class students for work in the future and maintains class division. However, some sociologists criticize Bowles and Gintis' view that indoctrination in schools still works, since some students rebel and resist attempts by capitalists to teach them the hidden curriculum. Bowles and Gintis also argue that the education system legitimizes class inequality through the "myth of meritocracy". A meritocracy means that everyone has equal opportunities and that rewards are given based on ability and effort. Bowles and Gintis believe this is a myth, unlike functionalists, because most of the time rewards are given based on what their parents do. and their educational background, not their abilities. Since the bourgeoisie makes people believe that education is a.