Education and Modern Society

1. Education and Modern Society Society: a group of people who share a culture in a particular territory. Societies have evolved with different levels of technology

2. Education and Modern Society Hunting and Gathering � survival, minimal or little inequality Horticultural � domestication of animals, inequalities increased e.g. slaves 3. Agrarian � large scale farming, use of plows etc., greater social inequality e.g. serfs and lords.

3. Societies have evolved with different levels of technology 4. Industrial societies � factories, people moved from the farms to cities, inequality formed between capitalists and labourers. 5. Post-industrial � computers � global society

4. Major Social Theorists Auguste Comte (1798 -1857) Karl Marx (1818 -1883) Emile Durkheim (1858 -1917) Max Weber (1864 -1920) George Herbert Mead (1863- 1931)

5. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) Positivism � applying the scientific method to the social world Experience of the French Revolution inspired his thinking on �the twin problems of social order and social change�

6. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) �What holds society together?� �Why is there social order instead of anarchy or chaos?� �Once society becomes set on a particular course, what causes it to change?�

7. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) Concluded that the answer was in applying the scientific method. This would uncover the laws that underlie society. It would not only discover social principles but it would also apply them to social reform.

8. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) He called this new science: �SOCIOLOGY� The study of society Credited with being the �founder of sociology�

9. Karl Marx (1818-1883) Influenced sociology but also left his mark on world history. Ranked by the Wall Street Journal as �one of the three greatest modern thinkers: (along with Freud & Einstein)

10. Karl Marx (1818-1883) Believed people should take active steps to change society. Exiled to England from Germany for proposing revolution Believed that the engine of human history is �class conflict�.

11. Karl Marx (1818-1883) Said that the �bourgeoisie� are locked in inevitable conflict with the �proletariat�. Purported that this struggle can only be resolved by the members of working class uniting in revolution and breaking the chains of bondage from the �Capitalist� class.

12. Karl Marx and Early Conflict theory Everything that happens in society is caused by economic relationships. Modern industrial society is divided into: Those who own wealth �capitalists or bourgeoisie Those who produce wealth �labourers or proletariat (2 classes)

13. Karl Marx and Early Conflict theory The result of revolution would be a �classless society� Free of exploitation Where all individuals, will work according to their abilities and receive according to their needs.

14. Karl Marx and Early Conflict theory Marx did not consider himself a sociologist. However, his ideas have profoundly influenced the discipline � particularly �conflict theorists�

15. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Contributed many important concepts to sociology First to study suicide Concluded: �People are likely to commit suicide if their ties to others in their communities are weak�.

16. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Sought for the recognition of sociology as an academic discipline Sociology was seen as an offshoot history and economics Durkheim's received the first academic appointment in sociology in France in 1887 at the University of Bordeaux

17. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) Studied how individual behaviour is shaped by social forces. Identified social integration � the degree to which people are tied to their social group Conclude that people with weaker social ties are more likely to commit suicide.

18. Early Functionalist theory:  Emile Durkheim Social Fact: something that is external to and constraining upon the individual Mechanical Solidarity: primitive societies get along because they are unspecialized and familiar with the same tasks. (religious and premodern)

19. Early Functionalist theory:  Emile Durkheim Organic Solidarity: division of labour and specialties produce different experiences and interests. Anomie: feeling rootless and normless, lacking a sense of belonging- the opposite to what sociologists mean by community. Durkheim felt that modern society tended to produce feelings of isolation � resulting from the division of labour.

20. Early Functionalist theory:  Emile Durkheim Education: Schools are key institutions in providing moral unity through forging a sense of nationhood and a commitment to common values and beliefs. Creating cohesion or social integration. Reducing the sense of anomie

21. Durkheim and Moral Education Education: Provides us with the DISCIPLINE to restrain our individual passions and drives. As we learn right and wrong we normally develop self discipline. Provides us with a sense of AUTONOMY � the social rules become our own rules. Aims to develop our sense of appreciation FOR SOCIETY and to its common morality.

22. Max Weber (1864-1920) (pronounced �Veber�) A contemporary of Durkheim Considered, along with Durkheim and Marx, one of the most influential sociologists

23. Max Weber (1864-1920) Studied the rise of �Capitalism� How did it come about? Why did some countries adopt it enthusiastically while others lagged behind? Suspected that religion might be the key.

24. Max Weber (1864-1920) The typical approach to life, during this time of history, was not to strive �to get ahead,� but to work only enough to maintain one�s usual way of life. Weber � Roman Catholic belief encourage this traditional way of life

25. Max Weber (1864-1920) The Protestant belief system (especially Calvinism) encouraged people to embrace change. Catholic belief � accumulation of material objects was a sign of greed and discontent Protestants � denounced greed but encouraged hard work, saving money and investing money.

26. Max Weber (1864-1920) Protestantism over took Catholicism after the Reformation of the 1500�s Led to the development of Capitalism. Ideas and religion have created capitalism

27. Max Weber and Interpretive theory The underlying foundation of modern society is rationalization and has created: bureaucracy � large scale enterprises in the political, educational and economic realm alienation � dehumanizing us from each other.

28. George Herbert Mead (1863- 1931) Mead stated that self-development and self-awareness require the capability to use language and interact symbolically Symbolic interaction: a perspective focusing on how the self and social relationships develop through social experience and communication

29. Symbolic Interaction - G.H. Mead It involves individuals responding to objects, situations, and events according to the meanings that these have for them. Argued that to interact with others the individual must take on the role of the other - to imagine how this other views him/her and to know what this other expects. Individuals act and react to one another according to these mental interpretations

30. Symbolic Interaction - G.H. Mead The concept of self includes the me Self: An individual�s notion of who he or she is. Me: The part of the self which represents inte4rnalized social attitudes and expectations. The self also includes the I. I: The individual�s reaction to situations from his/ her standpoint - produces spontaneity & individuality.

31. Symbolic Interaction - G.H. Mead Mead suggested that these societal and individual aspects of the self collaborate to form an interactive quality he called interactionist.

32. Symbolic Interactionist & Interpretive Theories (Mead & Cooley) Symbolic-Interactionist Model: Introduced by the Chicago School of Sociology Links social structural realities such as wealth, power, and status position with patterns of interaction education is related to social inequality.

33. Symbolic Interactionist and Interpretive Theories Attempt to understand how structural variables become incorporated into the individual�s perceptions and interpretations and how the individual acts on the basis of these interpretations Interpretive procedures: Basic rules and procedures drawn upon by teachers when interacting with students and with each other in an educational setting. Results in social differentiation in educational settings through teacher�s categorizing and classifying various student behaviours

34. Symbolic Interactionist and Interpretive Theories Structures of dominance: - the institutions and ideologies used by the dominant class to perpetuate and increase their advantaged position The schooling process - achievement testing, ability grouping, and tracking - reflects the structural needs of society.

35. Symbolic Interactionist Theory:- George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley Generalized other � over time the combination of many significant others grows into a concept of the �generalized other� so children can imagine what other people or society expects of them.

36. Symbolic Interactionist Theory:- George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley Looking-Glass Self: A child�s self image or identity develops out of the interactions with parents, peers and teachers. Eventually they come to see themselves as others see them.