Examination of the Marxist View that the Role of the Education System is to Reproduce and Justify the Existing Class Structure
In this essay I am going to examine the Marxist view that the role of
the education system is to reproduce and justify the existing class
structure. Marxists see the educational system as a mechanism for
maintaining class inequalities, for example the reproduction of the
capitalist system. The capitalist system is one where by which the
rich (the upper class) receive what is considered to be ‘the best’.
More often than not, this entails private education which therefore
seemingly upholds ‘higher’ classed jobs for middle/upper class
children in the foreseen future. The middle class therefore obtaining
the middle classed status jobs and working class the lowest paid/lower
status jobs. The Marxist view therefore determines that the role of
education is not the pivotal point to determine who obtains what type
of job through merit, but concludes that it is indeed their class that
determines their job.
The Marxist idea is that schools depress the talents of some students,
using their social background to determine their occupational
position. Opposing their views are the functionalists. They on the
other hand believe in the concept of meritocracy. This is based on the
idea that you get your desired occupation through your own merit and
hard work instead of your class status which is according to Marxism.
Marxist views are also based around the idea that the higher class you
are, the more options there are available and maybe offered to you.
Thus meaning, for example, if you attend a comprehensive school over a
public or private school, you are less likely to achieve good results.
This supposedly being through the lack of options available to you
opposed to that of public or private schools. The functionalist view
on this social class structure however, gives a ‘truer picture’. As
children from ‘working class’ families who attend comprehensive
schools, can achieve middle/upper class jobs, through staying on at
school or going to university or specialised colleges, just like