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Sociology and Perspectives

Can aaaaanyone please help me out?
What on Earth is the Interpretivist perspective in Sociology toward education?
I know what it is as a perspective in general but Giddens andHaralambos and Holborn have been of no use to me whatsoever!

How do you apply symbolic interactionism to education when you have no reference to go off? This was the perspective I liked too :frown:

Reply 1

LPK

Original post by marieeeeeeee10

How do you apply symbolic interactionism to education when you have no reference to go off? This was the perspective I liked too :frown:

Hey,

Symbolic Interactionism can be quite a difficult framework to investigate, but I'll offer a few potential starting points for you to think about.

The most obvious starting point would be to research Rosenthal and Jacobson's 'Pygmalion (aka Rosenthal) effect', which builds upon the concept of 'self-fulfilling prophecy' that Robert Merton developed. As the very nature of Symbolic Interactionism is micro-analytical, the research on it is limited to the interactions that occur within the classroom setting between teacher and student. In the case of Rosenthal and Jacobson, they theorised that labelling within the classroom setting played a key role in how students would internalise their academic ability, and it was this which determined whether they achieved or not (depending on the label given). They also analysed whether a teacher being fed information on their students could unconsciously affect how they perceive that childs academic ability.

Another possibility, which is thinking outside the box, would be to discuss Erving Goffman's theories. For example, you could discuss his theory on Dramaturgy by mentioning how impression management of students could influence whether they are given a positive or negative label, and that this would then determine how they would be expected to progress depending on whether or not they fulfil their prophecy. Another more interesting approach would be to take theories from other perspectives on educational streaming and apply it to Goffman's theory on Asylums. Although that theory actually looked at mental health institutions, you can begin to apply it to Education because society aims to segregate people based on a variety of factors. In the context of a school they do so under categories of academic ability, and this is portrayed as being rational and productive. However, it fails to take into account that streamlining can create a hierarchy of success only for those near the top, whereas those at the bottom are labelled as under-achievers and aren't expected to achieve much at all. Again, you can link that into self-fulfilling prophecies, and also tie it in with the impressions attributed to 'under-achievers', such as them being stereotypically disruptive within high school environments. The big question you then need to answer is whether they're being disruptive because they simply don't want to learn, or whether their school environment oppresses them to the point that they're simply reinforcing the negative label because it's the only thing expected of them. See Goffman's work on Stigma if you want an Interactivist analysis on deviance.

As I said, that's a potential starting point. There's more out there if you look in the right places, but the relevancy of it will really depend on what type of angle you're aiming to introduce interactivist theory.

Martin.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

marieeeeeeee10