Education, capitalism and the correspondence principle

Overview

Bowles and Gintis's correspondence principle, the hidden curriculum, meritocracy as a myth, Althusser, vocationalism, and functionalist, feminist and interactionist criticisms.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Who were Bowles and Gintis, and what did they argue about education?

   Model answer

   Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis were American Marxist economists who published Schooling in Capitalist America in 1976. Bowles and Gintis argued that education mainly exists to supply capitalism with a suitable workforce.

2. 2

   What evidence did Bowles and Gintis use?

   Model answer

   Bowles and Gintis studied 237 students at a New York high school, comparing grades with personality traits. High grades went to obedient, punctual and conforming students rather than creative ones.

3. 3

   What is the correspondence principle?

   Model answer

   The correspondence principle is the idea that relationships in school mirror relationships at work. School shapes pupils into the kind of workers capitalism needs.

4. 4

   How does the hierarchy of school correspond to the hierarchy of work?

   Model answer

   Pupils obey teachers and head teachers just as workers obey supervisors and managers. Grades motivate pupils in the same way that wages motivate workers.

5. 5

   How does the organisation of learning correspond to the organisation of work?

   Model answer

   School knowledge is split into separate subjects, just as work is broken into small, narrow tasks. Pupils have little say over what they learn, as workers have little control over their jobs.

6. 6

   What is the hidden curriculum?

   Model answer

   The hidden curriculum is what pupils learn from the way school is organised, not from the subjects taught. Punctuality, obedience and acceptance of authority are all part of the hidden curriculum.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.