Notes on and Reaction to Paul Willis (Sociologist)

Paul Willis - Education, Cultural Production and Social Reproduction
Article by Liz Gordon (British Journal of Sociology of Education Vol. 5, No.2 1984

Learned a new word today: Intersubjective.
I love the way that these new words pop up and when you type them into a dictionary there are no entries....except on Wikipedia. This is where I got mine from via The Free Dictionary
Basically meaning shared or common meanings. See link for further information.

I learned about some interesting sociological theories focusing on the nature of the reproduction of class through the education system.

In Learning to Labor (Willis) the boys see external restrictions on their freedom but fail to recognize their own internal ‘codes of behaviour’ which are also rules. P. 108

Bordieu (1977) – ‘schools legitmate the dominant culture by presenting as ‘natural’ a form of pedagogy which belongs only to the dominant groups in society’ p. 107

Gramsci (1977) Hegemony is the spontaneous consent given by the great mases of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant group. p.109

Hall, in Apple, (1982) Superstructures (like schools) perform as necessary because on its own the economic system (e.g. capitalism) cannot ensure all the conditions necessary for its own expanded reproduction. p. 109

See further notes in My Work section.

Cultural Politics of Education

As part of this subject we have to keep a Personal Learning Journal for the purpose of:

• looking back at our own learning
• review notes and record later interpretations or reflections

This is the aim of my blog - to record notes from articles, propose questions, challenge ideas and to collate website and articles.

Notes from: Education.com.au? by Holmes, Hughes & Julian in Australian Sociology - A Changing Society (2003)

Hidden Curriculum - social learning - learning social conventions and about one's role in the social hierachy. p.223.

Functionalism - 'society as an organic entity made from interacting parts that seeks balance and coherence. Social change to these parts occurs in these parts in order to achieve balance. The ultimate aim is social cohesion'. p.223

Meritocracy - social structures such as class, race, sex and ethnicity are not seen as disadvantaging people. Individuals are equally able to achieve in a meritocracy (a system where particular attributes are highly valued e.g. intelligence). p.224

Education (according to functionalism)- functions as a sorting house whose role is to develop a country's human resources for economic purposes (as well as social ones) p. 224

Education (according to functionalism) - functions to develop a shared culture or set of common values in children - social expectations outside the family micro world. Adolescence are exposed to a much more complex range of social expectations - i.e the level of education needed to achieve certain outcomes, how their shared culture looks at their particular class, ethnic group or gender and how gender is developed. p. 224

Schooling in Captalist American buy Bowles & Gintis (1976) & Reproduction Theory
Children learn about the social hierachy in schools, the structure of power and authority. Schools are places where the status quo is reproduced, persuading children to fulfill the social expectations set for them so they do not aspire to economic positions above their social position. p. 225. (see Schooling in Capitalist America revisited post for more information on this)

Further notes available from My Work link on main page.