Marxist views of education

Can anyone suggest two criticisms that could be made of Marxist views of education?

Thanks, LC

Reply 1

Deterministic - sees children as passive vessels, "filled" with ruling class ideology

Ignores radical teachers, who wish to dispel false consciousness (e.g. Paulo Freire).

Reply 2

fried_brain

yeah same as above, my sociology teacher called it the 'mug and jug' analogy. marxist theorists assume that pupils are as passive as 'mugs' they just take in anything thats poured into them by the 'jug'. marxist theory is too deterministic and is a macro theory therefore reductionist so it dosent allow for free will or individual differences.

Reply 3

Chris.Livesey

I think you need to be careful about any tendency to over-simplify Marxism as a form of "left functionalism".

"Mug and jug", by the way, has its origins in Durkheim's work.

Reply 4

mittens87

Good stuff - keep the ideas flowing :smile:

Reply 5

mooncheese89

You could talk about Interactionists criticizing Marxist ideas of education because of the passive thing. I know this was already mentioned but may be nice to put a name to it.

You could also say that there are criticisms of Marxism 'blaming the victim' as they cite cultural capital disadvantages as a problem. Sociologists such as Keddy say that the school should take responsibility for this and the actual person themselves should not be seen as a reason why they're underachieving.

Also, Talcott Parsons (functionalist) believed that individual achievement is stressed, and this is contrary to Marxist ideas of conforming to a whole.

Hope that all made sense ^^ I'm tired!

Reply 6

ouijaouija

chris is correct, do not mince your deas with functionalism terminology.

In regards to education, you should look at the work of those who are influenced by marxian ideas, such as bowles and gintis.

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Articles for you

How to revise for GCSE Sociology exams: AQA explains what to do

Try out the app

Continue on web