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Sociology of Education


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             MacCleod's arguments and research on reproduction across generations provides evidence as to why schools are a reproduction vehicle. MacLeod's ethnography on the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers, shows how no matter the aspirations and determination of some of the members, class structure still remains. While the Hallway Hangers reject the "achievement ideology " and the Brothers accept it and have higher aspirations for their futures, both groups still end up following similar paths throughout their lives. MacLeod stated that "if the Hallway Hangers show that opting out of the contest is not a viable option, the Brothers show that dutifully playing by the rules hardly guarantees success either they show how rigid and durable the class structure is. Aspiration, application, and intelligence often fail to cut through the firm figurations of structural inequality " (MacCleod, 2008). Schools were not a catalyst of upward mobility as the Brothers thought the achievement ideology would be and instead they maintained inequalities. Based on where these boys came from, their neighborhoods and what they had learned thus far, school couldn't help change where they were going to end up in life. Schools do indeed act a primary mechanism in legitimizing class structures and reproducing class positions (MacCleod, 2008). .
             Not only is class a factor of social reproduction in itself, but there are also several social processes in school by which class patterns reproduce. According to Lareau, class affects adolescent cultures and the relationship between schools and families. Higher-class families also have better access to extracurricular luxuries and other factors that supplement school. Many children of middle or higher-class families enter school with knowledge of a hidden curriculum such as having basic reading and numeric skills. They have better classroom interaction if the degree of social capital matches up with the curriculum of the schools.


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