Jungu LiEDS 126Professor Jones 1272018Education and Econ.docx

Jungu Li
EDS 126
Professor Jones
1/27/2018
Education and Economic Success
First of all, I interviewed my roommate about his opinion
of success and the role of education played in it. In his opinion,
education is the most important factors that influence
someone’s economic success. Compared to the people with low
educational background, those who are highly educated are
more likely to get a better job and earn more money. So far as
he is concerned, family provide opportunities for us to gain
more knowledge through economic support in the first step,
which laid an important cornerstone for our future success.
Without families’ support , it is so difficult for children to go to
school and acquire knowledge when they are young. What he
said remind me of the lecture, “There is a correlation between
the economic background of the family and the ability of the
child. It follows that children from high income families will
have high ability and vice versa for low-income children”
(lecture notes). Compared to the children from low income
families, the children from high income families are more likely
have enough money to guarantee them to get more knowledge.
Secondly, the person who I interviewed is my friend who is also
studying in UCSD. He believes that education is the most
important factor that influence someone’s economic success.
The most important thing in today's society is talent because it
is the motive force to promote social development. Only by
mastering enough knowledge can we become a talented person
and becoming a useful person to the society. And the
acquisition of knowledge are most through education.
Knowledge can enlighten your wisdom, open your mind, and
broaden your vision. Knowledge is the wealth of mankind. An
individual who has high degree of education will be easier to

get a better job. Furthermore, an individual who is rich in
knowledge will be able to seek opportunities when they are
coming. Only by learning can we have the power to get closer to
the economic success. After hearing what he said, I just
remembered what I saw on the lecture notes, “A human being is
not attaining his full heights until he is educated” (Horace
Mann, lecture). When a person is educated, he is more likely to
be well prepared when opportunities come, which make him
more likely to be successful.
Lastly, I asked my father the questions about success, and the
relationship between family and economic success. He
considered that hard working, the ability to rebound after
failure and setback, and self-control are the most important
factors that influence someone’s economic success. Almost
everyone wants to get more money, but there are a lot of people
who just want to get it without any cost. The ability of hard
working is the most important ability to move towards the goal.
In fact, achieving success is the process of constantly
accumulating small achievements by hard working, then finally
the ultimate achievement can be achieved. Once we have a goal,
we need to put it into action. The great reason why the student
of famous universities in the world cannot all become
outstanding talents is that they are lack of perseverance.
Instead, they are more likely to produce depression, depression
and other symptoms. For those who pursue success, it is
particularly important to persist in the struggle to achieve the
goal. My father thought that family play an important role in
influencing someone’s economic success because parents are
the first teachers we meet in our lives. Parents’ behavior will
directly exert a far-reaching influence on children in terms of
character, or deal with problems even if the children grow up,
which will affect whether they can achieve economic success or
not in the future.
As for me, in the early stage, the difference of education
directly determines a person’s own personality, character, the
degree of potential development. Early education also may set

the tone of the person’s life. The education of individual in
middle and late stage is a means of enriching knowledge,
accumulating experience and deepening the cognition of the
world. I was born in a low income family and grew up in China,
and both of my parents were graduated from elementary school.
My parents did not know how to educate me when I was little
because of the shortage of knowledge. But one of my father’s
words deeply impressed me and made me remember it all the
time, “No matter what you do, you cannot do the illegal things
for the sake of earning money”. Even though my parents did not
provide me a good living and learning condition in the early
stage because of the shortage of knowledge and money, all of
their words and deeds gave me a direction to deal with problems
whatever I met and to be a good man, which correctly helps me
to approach success.
To be honest, inequality exists in society. Those who with high
education or have proficiency in a particular line will be easier
to get a job or start a business. The benefits of education we get
no matter in the early stage, middle stage or late stage will
enable us to gain more options and opportunities to achieve
economic success. In a word, education plays a vital role in the
individual’s personal growth and plays an important and
positive role in influencing an individual’s economic success.
However, many examples prove that the few who are well
educated are not likely to be able to achieve more success. On
the contrary, education can also prevent success if you just
memorize knowledge in order to get a good score or go to a
good university, or you can do nothing but study. When I was
in China, I often heard some news that some geniuses were
admitted to good universities in their teens. But when they went
to universities, their parents rented an apartment near to the
universities so as to take care of their children. Those geniuses
were completely unable to take care of themselves in life, which
makes me feel that even though they study very well, when they
come out to work in society, they cannot deal well with the
relationship between people and the problem they will meet in

the future. As far as I am concerned, there is a chance that it is
difficult for them to achieve economic success in the future.
The purpose of education is to open up our mind and let us learn
how to master the method of learning and apply it to other
places instead of remembering the knowledge. Education can
lead you to success but can also destroy you, depending on
whether you can get a good and correct education. Education is
one of the factor that influence someone’s economic success,
but it is not a sufficient condition for a person to succeed.
There is a relationship between education and economic
success, but it is not a direct relationship. With high level of
education, you may get more opportunity to achieve economic
success than those who do not. Education can provide you more
opportunity to success and it will make you go further on the
road to success, but it does not the only factor to achieve
economic success.
Jungu Li
EDS 126
Professor Jones
2/5/2018
Education and Culture
One of the most important features of culture is that we can
only get it through learning but not inheriting. This determines
that culture has an inseparable relationship with education since
the day it was born.
First of all, I talked with my friend who is Chinese and
studying in UCD. She said that the when I asked her the
meaning of culture, first thing came up in her mind was
traditional festivities, such as the spring festival (Chinese new
year). For her, culture means a symbol that reminds her who she
is and where she comes from. Especially when she is studying
in America which is a multicultural country, she learned more
different culture between the different races or countries. Then
she considered that there is not a connection between culture
and educational success because she thought the culture is more

connected with the original family backgrounds (education)
rather than the college success, or either economic success. And
then she thought there is a culture in schools. She mentioned
that whatever her elementary school or high school, they all had
their own culture. For example, school badge, school mottos,
school established commemoration and as so on. She believed
all of that are the culture because they had a profound influence
on her behavior. These school culture are partial of her
background and they made a part of her. Lastly, she thought
school culture may or may not influence whether or not students
are successful in school. It depends. As she mentioned before,
school culture does strongly influence students. However she
thought school culture has more effect to the sprint and the
mode of thinking of students. Under the different culture,
Students grow up to be different kind of people. Theses nothing
about the success.
Secondly, I interviewed my roommate about her
perspective on education and culture. She said that culture is a
group of people doing the same thing in the same way, and the
other group doing this thing in a different way is called cultural
difference. As far as her concerned, education itself is a special
kind of cultural phenomenon. Education has dual cultural
properties: on the one hand, it is the means to convey and
deepen the culture, which makes it and culture constitute the
relationship between the form and content of culture. On the
other hand, education itself embodies the characteristics of
culture, such as ideas, values and behaviors, which makes it a
cultural ontology. Culture is conveyed and deepened through
education activities; Meanwhile, culture has been enriched
through education.
Lastly, I interviewed my friend about his perspective on
education and culture. He said it is hard to describe what
culture it is. It is something that manifests itself in ways of
behavior and thinking. He believed that there is a connection
between culture and educational success. Each school has its
own culture, which influences the degree of students’ effort. In

a good school, under a better condition of study, students will
work harder because their classmates are studying hard. In a bad
school, students may hard to achieve educational success
because their classmates do not want to study, which makes
them lose the incentive to compete.
The first time I heard the word culture was from my father’s
conversation with his friend who also was a father when I was
in kindergarden. They were talking about children’s education.
Culture mean nothing but just a single word to me at that time.
Then I learned the word culture when I was in elementary
school. Aftering learning the word culture, it mean a kind of
knowledge for me at that time. Nowadays, although culture is
still a very elusive thing to me, I consider that culture is the
sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human
beings in the process of social and historical development after
years of study. As far as I am concerned, there are many kind of
cultures, such as, school culture, family culture, nation culture
and so on. As long as there are people, the culture will always
exist no matter what kind of cultures. Therefore, I would say I
have a culture and more than one. For example, I have family
culture. In the process of my growth, I was educated by my
parents. They were never forced me to go to any after-school
programs like other parents did. However, they would support
me if I want to join some extracurricular activities.
Additionally, they got rules for me. For example, I was told by
my father no matter what I do, I cannot do the illegal things for
the sake of earning money. All of that makes up my family
culture.
As for me, there is a connection between culture and
educational success. In my country, some people think that
higher academic qualification is the only way they can get a
better job and achieve their goal. Therefore, it leads them to
study hard at school and eager to get a good grades in school so
as to get into a good university. On the contrary, in some other
countries, some people think that high degree of education is
not the only way to achieve success. They will go to work even

if they just graduate from college. Different culture leads
people consider how important the education it is. Besides,
there is a connection between culture and economic success.
Culture shapes your world outlook, and it will also affect the
way you deal with the problem, which is directly influence
whether you are more likely to achieve economic success or not.
Moreover, growing up in the culture that high degree of
education is most important, people are more likely to graduate
from a great university so as to get a better job, which more
possibly makes them approach to economic success.
In my opinion, education and culture are interacted with each
other. On the one hand, culture can influence education. As the
content of education, culture can not only influence education’s
model, the method and means of education, but also influence
the design and implementation of the curriculum. In
particularly, under different cultural background, there are great
differences in the education content, the curriculum, teaching
model and the method of education. When I came to the United
States to study, I found that there was a great difference
between the United States’ education and China’s education. In
China, teachers focus on spoon-feeding education, which makes
the foundation of Chinese students is very solid. This is an
advantage, but there are also disadvantages. Compared with
American students, many Chinese students are always afraid of
new things, and their innovative consciousness is poor. Whether
it is a course study report, a design report or a final exam,
Chinese universities pay more attention to whether students'
answers meet the "criteria". However, American universities
value creative thinking in practice.
On the other hand, education also has a great influence on
culture. It can promote the development of culture through the
transmission, development, communication and integration of
culture. In addition, it can also cause cultural distortion, loss,
and even interruption due to the improper educational activities.

EDS/SOC 126
Week 4, Wednesday
1
Reminders/Announcements
Investigative Assignment #2 due next Wednesday. Bring a copy
to class (electronic or hard copy)
I’ll post and discuss instructions for the midterm next week;
you’ll have to compare functionalist theory and conflict theory.
2
Economic Approach to Explain Inequality
FUNCTIONALIST THEORISTS
Necessary for society to fill economic positions with qualified
individuals.
Serves the “greater good;” natural part of the world.
Schools socialize students to aspire to unequal positions
through a selective reward system (moral & cognitive
achievement).
Unequal reward system is justified because ability is innate, so
schools must gear children toward economic positions that “fit”
their ability.
Schools help reproduce economic and class inequality across

generations.
CONFLICT THEORISTS
Serves the interests of those who benefit the most (those w/
status and power)
Reward system in schools is justified by the façade of the
meritocratic ideology
Non-cognitive aspect of achievement and rewards are often
more important than the cognitive.
Intelligence, knowledge, and skills alone don’t determine how
teachers reward students; beliefs about students’ futures based
on their economic background.
Schools socialize students by mirroring hierarchical workplace
relationships.
generations.
3
Wilcox reading, Differential Socialization in the Classroom:
Implications for Equal Opportunity
Wilcox, like Lareau, is a researcher who acknowledges
inequality exists in society and that education plays an
important role
Detailed research on what classroom socialization looks like
using two elementary school classrooms – upper-middle class
and lower-middle class neighborhoods
Challenges the idea of teacher neutrality in the functionalists’

arguments – that teachers objectively and fairly assess students’
capabilities and learning; teachers are cultural beings shaped by
their social context (their upbringing, education, and the school,
school district, state contexts)
4
Tests out some of Bowles and Gintis’s ideas that schools
socialize children from different class groups to be prepared to
take jobs similar to their parents.
Focuses on classroom socialization in terms of the cognitive
skills students are exposed to and skills in self-presentation.
Classroom observations looked at: 1) the discipline and values
taught in the way the teacher controlled the classroom (external
vs. internal motivation), 2) the role of the student in the
classroom in terms of participation and self-presentation, and
3) how the teacher presented academic material.
5
Smith Elementary (lower-middle class) and Huntington
Elementary (upper-middle class)

Smith: the classroom was largely “freeform” – children moving
all over the room, doing different activities fun and academic.
There was a high level of noise. Class time varied between
group work and individual work at tables. Children had lots of
free time to play in class.
Huntington: the classroom was quiet and orderly with
traditional rows of individual desks. Students mostly worked
individually on academic work. Student-to-student interaction
was rare. The teacher stated interaction prevents students from
producing high-quality work.
6
Smith: external mode of control was most dominant. The
teacher is the sole authority. Students follow rules on what to
do and how to behave set by the teacher.
One common teacher strategy was using commands: “I want that
done now” or “You have an assignment; sit down and get busy.”
Second common strategy was using statements of praise or
blame: “That’s good” or “No, that’s not right.”
The teacher only used internal control to encourage students to
work out conflicts among peers: “You two will have to decide
that by yourselves.”
7

Huntington: internal mode of control was most dominant. The
teacher emphasizes students’ responsibility for their academic
work and learning.
One common teacher strategy was to point out the academic
implications of behavior. The teacher offered reasons for why
their behavior was inappropriate or appropriate leading children
to reflect on what they were doing:
“If you’re talking to your neighbor, you’re probably not
looking at the clues and remembering what the answers are.”
Other internal control commands: “use your time wisely,” “use
good judgment”
Rules for external control were academically oriented (e.g.,
think for yourself, listen to directions) and the teacher gave
reasons why the rules were important to their education
8
What’s significant about the differences in the control schemes
of Smith and Huntington?
teacher is the sole authority
teacher emphasizes students’ responsibility for themselves

9
Self-presentation skills through the “show and tell” activity
Smith: Teacher decided when to have the activity. She saw the
activity as fun for the kids, not academic. She rarely made
comments or gave instructions on how to present. The activity
did not help develop students’ verbal skills.
Huntington: Every day began with the activity. The teacher saw
the activity as purely academic and an opportunity to review
academic material in the follow up questions she asked
students. She also provided feedback about how to give a
presentation.
10
Future vs. present orientation –
Smith: Children were socialized to focus on the present. The
teacher had a “let kids be kids” attitude and focused on letting
them be first graders. References to second grade were
negative: “We’re not getting ready for second grade. This was
homework.” “In second grade they don’t teach you printing.
That’s why you have to know it now.”
Huntington: Children were socialized to look to the future in
positive and hopeful ways.: “You’re thinking like a
mathematician. You’ll be a good scientist.” “By Friday you’ll

get it without looking.” “Say to yourself, ‘I’m a good reader,
because this is a second-grade book.’” The teacher often made
references to what will be expected of them the following year
in second grade. Students learned to think about future
consequences of present actions, and they learned to think of
themselves as professional adults.
11
What messages are students learning in Smith and Huntington
about their self-image?
12
Lareau, Unequal ChildhoodsConcerted
CultivationAccomplishment of Natural GrowthKey
ElementsParent actively fosters and assesses child’s talents,
opinions, and skillsParent cares for child and allows child to
growOrganization of Daily LifeMultiple child leisure activities
orchestrated by adultsFree time, “hanging out,” particularly
with family and extended familyLanguage
UseReasoning/directives
Child contestations of adult statements
Extended negotiations between parents and childDirectives
Rare questioning or challenging of adults by child
General acceptance by child of adult directivesInterventions in
InstitutionsCriticisms and interventions on behalf of child
Training of child to take on this roleDependence on institutions
Sense of powerlessness and frustration
Conflict between child-rearing practices at home and at school

13
Organization of Daily Life
Middle class kids (Garrett, Alexander)
Mentally tough
Self-confidence
Team player
Comfortable interacting with different adults
Maturity, poise
Discipline
Performing in public
How to win and lose
Working class & poor kids (Tyrec, Harold)
Negotiating relationships with other peers, younger and older
Conflict mediation among peers
Personal responsibility
Independence
Freedom to be creative
Resourcefulness
14
Language Use
Middle class kids (Alexander)
Mom’s everyday conversations develop Alexander’s verbal
skills – summarizing, highlight important details, clarify
information

Using reasoning to negotiate parents’ rules or requests
Working class & poor kids (Harold)
Conversations among the family are not as frequent and are
typically shorter than in middle class homes
No “word play” with parents or negotiating
Language is free-flowing with peers
15
EDS/SOC 126
Week 5, Monday
1
Announcements/Reminders
Grading takes about 7-10 days
Investigative Assignment #2 due this Wednesday. Upload the
assignment to TritonEd by 4pm and bring a copy to class
(electronic or hard copy)
Midterm instructions Wednesday

2
Longstanding Conversation in Social Science:
What Determines Our Life Pathway?
Institutions in society
Life
Family
Self
Neighborhood
Friends
School
Peers
Church
Etc.
Individual choice, free will, human agency
Economic
Health
Education
Social
Legal
Political
Religious
Etc.

3
Functionalist Theorists
individuals.
achievement).
their ability.
generations.
Conflict Theorists
status and power)
relationships.

generations.
4
5
The economic structure of society
Individual free will, human agency
Weaknesses in both functionalist theory and conflict theory
Overly deterministic about the influence of economic structures
on peoples’ lives and on the causes of inequality. What about
gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity, culture, language, immigration
status?
Both theories portray individuals as passive in shaping their
lives. Only dominant groups or high status groups have power
to influence their lives? Not true.

Free will or human agency seems impossible under the weight
of societal structures (e.g., generational transmission of
inequality in schools and in society)
6
A Cultural Approach to Explaining Inequality in Schools and in
Society
An economic approach narrowly looks at the ways inequality in
the economy is mirrored in schools (social reproduction)
A cultural approach looks more broadly at the way schools
mirror the culture of dominant class groups (cultural
reproduction ).
7
Structure – Culture - Agency

8
Societal Structures
Culture
Agency
Pierre Bourdieu
Cultural Reproduction Theory
Bourdieu is also concerned about economic inequality in society
The concept of culture, and not social class, is more
comprehensive in helping us understand the relationship
between inequality in schools and inequality in society.
Social class groups have distinct cultures that are passed down

through generations.
9
Pierre Bourdieu
How do schools exercise power? By promoting the values,
beliefs, attitudes and preferences of the dominant (i.e., high
status) groups in society.
The culture of middle class and upper class families is mirrored
in the culture of schools. Schools reinforce values, attitudes,
preferences, and beliefs that are dominant in middle and upper
classes. (Lareau and Wilcox readings)
Similar to conflict theorists, American ideas about individual
merit mask the power that schools exercise (individuals are
blamed for failure and not schools)
10
Pierre Bourdieu
“Capital” metaphor illustrates how schools privilege
middle/upper class culture and devalue the cultures of working
class and poor groups.

Capital is currency; it can be exchanged or traded. Successfully
activating (or spending) one’s capital brings “social profits.”
School programs, rules, policies, curriculum, instruction,
relationships and rewards reflect dominant or high status
cultural capital.
It’s not differences in natural ability that rank individuals from
various class backgrounds, it’s cultural differences with
dominant cultural capital ranked highest.
11
Bourdieu’s concept of “capital”
Capital offers advantage; it can be used to advance in life –
financially, educationally, socially.
Economic Capital – income, property, financial assets
Social Capital – social contacts, social connections and social
networks
Cultural Capital (Lamont & Lareau reading) – institutionalized,
i.e., widely shared , high status cultural signals (attitudes,
preferences, formal knowledge, behaviors, goods, and
credentials) used for social and cultural exclusion

12
Family socialization and upbringing pass on cultural capital to
children
Cultural capital are embodied in us, imprinted on us as “ways of
being”
Knowledge – formal and informal information
beliefs, attitudes, values
credentials (symbols of knowledge)
widely valued information (e.g., opportunities)
Behavior - ways of talking, walking, eating, gesturing,
interacting, etc.
Tastes – hobbies, interests, forms of self-expression (e.g., art,
music, film, museums, books, theatre, material goods,
technology, etc.)
Cultural Capital in Dominant/High Status Groups
13
Examples of Cultural Capital - Concerted Cultivation in Middle
Class Families
Stacey Marshall
“Ms. Marshall is a conscious role model for Stacey, deliberately

teaching her daughter strategies for managing organizational
matters. Although it is hard to know how much Stacey absorbs
her mother’s lessons in how to deal effectively with people in
positions of power in organizations, or how much she might
draw on those lessons in the future, exposure to such learning as
a child has the potential to be a tremendous lifelong asset.”
14
Class Families
Learning social skills and cultural knowledge:
When Stacey’s gymnastics instructor is critical of her, Stacey’s
mom coaches her on what kind of behavior and comments are
appropriate from the instructor, and she encourages Stacey to
respond directly to the instructor.
Stacey learns that she has a right to expect certain treatment by
her coaches, even though they are authority figures. She also
learns that she has choices, and she does not have to accept
unfair treatment.
15
Class Families

Learning social skills and cultural knowledge:
Stacey accompanied her mom as she looked for the right
gymnastics program and learned the criteria to evaluate
programs and a specific vocabulary to express her opinion.
Stacey (at 10 years old) says, “It saves like six feet of where it
is now, so it’s in closer…So that way they can pull out the rest
of the floor…We’re gonna end up having a longer vaulting
runway…”
Stacey meets with the coach of the program and easily describes
her skill level. She confidently interacts with adults and expects
to have her opinion considered.
16
Successfully Activating Cultural Capital
Middle-class parents in the Lareau book “routinely scanned the
horizon for opportunities to activate their cultural and social
capital on behalf of their children.”
Access to the best teachers and best programs gave middle-class
children immediate advantages. The long-term advantages
include lifelong skills for negotiating with professionals in
institutions in self-beneficial ways.
Due to Ms. Marshall’s intervening, researching, and criticizing,
Stacey was enrolled in a gifted program, advanced beginner
gymnastics class with extra support, and the best gymnastic and
horseback riding camps.

17
Melanie Handlon - concerted cultivation gone awry
Melanie Handlon – frequently sick and misses school; ongoing
academic problems
Melanie’s mom was not as good at activating her capital to get
advantages for her daughter.
Melani’e s mom uses her social capital through parent networks
and Girl Scout networks to help her decide what demands she’s
entitled to place on the teachers.
Teachers perceived the problems to be the mom and that
Melanie needed testing for a learning disability.
18
Lacking middle-class cultural capital has educational
consequences
Wendy Driver – underdeveloped language skills could lead to
literacy challenges and learning delays.
“Wendy’s teachers uniformly praise her mother as

‘supportive’ and describe her as ‘very loving,’ but they
are disappointed in Ms. Driver’s failure to take a more
active, interventionist role in Wendy’s education,
especially given the formidable nature of her daughter’s
learning problems. From Ms. Driver’s perspective,
however, being actively supportive means doing
whatever the teachers tell her to do.”
19
Wendy’s teachers blamed her mom for not being more actively
involved in monitoring her education.
“Mr. Tier, Wendy’s fourth-grade teacher, expresses
outrage that she has made it to fourth grade without
knowing how to read. He urges Ms. Driver to be more
demanding with him and other school personnel, telling Ms.
Driver in a parent-teacher conference: ‘If our roles were
reversed – I’d be beating me on the head.’”
20
Wendy’s mom is lost on what to do and feels she has no choice
but to do what the school tells her to do.
“I wouldn’t even know where to start going. On the
radio there was something for children having

problems reading and this and that, call. And I
suggested it to a couple different people, and they were
like wait a second, it’s only to get you there and you’ll end up
paying an arm and leg. So I said to my mom, ‘No, I’m going to
wait until the first report card and go up and talk to them up
there.’”
21
Billy Yanelli – Good student (“B” average) but a behavior
problem in class. He uses physical force rather than reasoning
and negotiating to solve conflicts with peers.
“Ms. Yanelli felt her lower social status, as she
expressed after a parent-teacher conference with Mr.
Tier, Billy’s fourth-grade teacher: ‘I wanted to ask why he
pulls Billy’s hair. Why does he pick up Billy’s book and throw
it across the classroom and say, ‘You’re too slow…’ I didn’t
get to talk about the things that I wanted to talk
about…I’m not very professional. I can’t use the words I
want to use. Just because they are professional doesn’t mean
that they are so smart.’”
Lacking middle-class cultural capital has educational
consequences
22

Lareau’s Implications For Families and Schools
Middle/upper class families need to slow down on the Race to
Nowhere
Students need interventions that give them an institutional
advantage
Working class and poor families need schools to offer
educational programs to teach the cultural capital valued in
education
23
Non-Dominant Groups’ Cultural Capital
Recall Functionalists’ ideas about the inner conflict youth from
working class and low-income backgrounds experience as they
climb educational and economic ladders.
Research and scholarship on using the concept of cultural
capital to challenge Functionalist views that devalue, dismiss
and overlook the positive assets of working class and low-
income groups.
There are many cases where students who are not middle/upper
class acquire cultural capital that schools value and reward.
All groups possess important cultural capital. The trick is to
get schools to use non-dominant groups’ cultural capital as
assets in the classroom.

24
The concept of cultural capital helps us understand…
Cultural capital shows how inequality can be perpetuated
through beliefs and perceptions about what counts as valid or
legitimate knowledge, whose knowledge is more valuable, and
what forms of expressing knowledge are judged as best.
25
EDS/SOC 126
Week 4, Monday
1
Reminders
Investigative Assignment #1 due this Wednesday on TritonEd
via Turnitin by 4pm.
Bring a copy to class (electronic or hard copy)

2
Review: Functionalist Theory
Functionalist theory on the role of education in society.
Also called:
Technical theory
Structural-functional theory
Technical-meritocratic theory
BOWLES AND GINTIS CALL THE THEORY TECHNICAL-
MERITOCRATIC
3
Functionalists’ Theoretical Claims
Societies with class systems have dominant cultural norms
about accepted modes of upward mobility
Primary function of schools is to perpetuate these dominant
cultural norms and prepare children for adult work roles in an
economically stratified society
U.S. dominant cultural norm? Contest mobility – an open
contest in which people compete for a few prizes (dominant
status symbols – money, fame, material objects, credentials)
The contest is fair in that personal motivation and effort are the
keys to winning and not favoritism or special treatment
Societal norms shape education; education is framed as an
opportunity equally available to all

Yet, success depends on students’ motivation and effort (goes
back to function of schools)
Schools sort students according to differences in school
performance
Differences in ability/intelligence are correlated with economic
background, which explains differences in student achievement.
Intelligence is inherited and generationally passed down
4
Functionalists’ Theoretical Claims
How do schools sort students through their performance?
Socialization in classrooms: 1) teaches children to commit to
the values of society and 2) motivates children to aspire to
certain positions in society.
Children are socialized through a system of rewards and
punishments for their academic performance and behavior (e.g.,
grades, praise, special treatment, taking away privileges, public
criticism or humiliation).
Components of achievement: 1) cognitive – skills, information,
knowledge, 2) moral – character, citizenship, deportment,
demeanor, behavior, work habits.
Teachers’ reward systems can blur the boundaries between
cognitive and moral aspects of achievement, e.g., a “good” or
“smart” student is also seen as well-behaved.

5
Functionalists’ Logic on Inequality in Society
Natural born talent/ability or intellect is always unevenly
distributed across society
Because economic success is correlated with intellect, economic
inequality is natural in society
Society needs structures or institutions that can accommodate
all levels of ability
6
Functionalists’ Logic on Inequality in Society
The structure of education must prepare all individuals for a
position in society that fits their intellect
Sorting students into different kinds of education (academic vs
vocational) is providing equal opportunity
Given the above, it’s not surprising that low-income students
tend to perform below middle class students
7

Carol Dweck, “Fixed Mindsets vs. Growth Mindsets”
Professor of Psychology at Stanford University
She has studied why students succeed in school and how to
foster their success by focusing on the mindsets of students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU
8
Conflict Theorists on the Role of Education in Society: Bowles
& Gintis reading
Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis are economists in the
Marxist tradition; groundbreaking work in the sociology of
education
Dominant cultural norms about individual ability and success
unfairly influence education to protect the interests of the elite
or dominant groups
The primary function of education is to legitimize economic
inequality among groups (“normalize” inequality)
9
Conflict Theorists’ Critique of Functionalists’ Claims (Bowles
& Gintis)

Economic inequality is not necessary or natural; it does not
serve the greater good of society
Inequality maintains relations of power for a subgroup of
society; inequality preserves status, privilege, wealth of
dominant groups
The “egalitarian objectives” of education are in conflict with its
integrative function in society (preparing children to take on
adult roles)
10
Conflict Theorists’ Critique of Functionalists’ Claims (Bowles
& Gintis)
Schools do socialize children and achievement is a key part of
socialization as the functionalists claim
Schools prepare children for an unequal workforce by mirroring
the power relationships in the work place
“Correspondence principle” – the idea that relationships in
schools and classrooms directly correspond or mirror
relationships in the work place (boss/worker = teacher/student)
11
Conflict Theorists’ Critique of Functionalists’ Claims
Socialization in classrooms uses the meritocratic ideology to
justify differences in achievement

Ideology as values, attitudes, beliefs used to justify the current
state of things, to make the current state of affairs seem natural
Meritocratic ideology says that individuals regardless of ability
have an equal chance to compete for rewards in school and in
life. Results of competition due to innate talent and motivation.
Façade of merit – rewards in school, such as grades, teacher
praise or special treatment are not solely based on intelligence
or cognitive skills and internal motivation that functionalists
talk about as the main indicators of educational success and
economic success
12
Conflict Theorists’ Critique of Functionalists’ Views
Rewards in schools are largely based on beliefs about students’
economic futures:
Wilcox research showed the connection between teachers’
values and behaviors and the expectations of employers in
different work settings. For example:
Huntington Elementary (upper-middle class) emphasized
student reasoning, negotiation, self-reflection, self-
management, problem-solving, and independence
Smith Elementary (lower-middle class) emphasized student
obedience to authority, acceptance of directives, compliance to
commands, relying on others for decision-making

13
Bowles & Gintis are not dismissing the cognitive aspects of
preparing youth for the work world. Yes, schools are
responsible for teaching knowledge, skills and information.
The problem is that Functionalists minimize the importance of
the “moral components” of achievement. Functionalist views
on innate talent hide the fact that economic success is not solely
determined by individual ability and motivation.
14
They discuss studies (in great detail):
showing little to no significant relationship between
intelligence (IQ) and economic success
showing the benefits of education for everyone across IQ in
terms of increasing knowledge and skills
They conclude - education is a better predictor of economic
success and not IQ
15
Conflict Theorists: The Role of Schools

Economic success is also determined by “non-cognitive”
characteristics – personality traits and general attitudes such as
motivation, orientation toward authority, discipline, work ethic.
Schools have a social function for society and the economy –
producing youth with certain “non-cognitive” characteristics
that fit what employers look for in job applicants.
Socialization in schools and classrooms produces a generalized
class consciousness for each generation of working class and
poor students; this consciousness prevents any critique or
resistance to society in order to transform existing conditions.
16
Conflict Theorists: The Role of Schools
Schools:
socialize students with certain knowledge, attitudes and
behaviors to smoothly integrate into the workforce
use the façade of a meritocratic reward system to socialize
students to believe that they are solely responsible for their
successes and failures
Bowles and Gintis write, “The predatory, competitive, and
personally destructive way in which intellectual achievement is
rewarded in U.S. schools and colleges is a monument not to
creative rationality, but to the need of a privileged class to
justify an irrational, exploitive, and undemocratic system,” (pg.
108)

17
Functionalist Theorists
individuals.
achievement).
their ability.
generations.
Conflict Theorists
status and power)
relationships.

generations.
18
Wilcox, like Lareau, is a researcher who acknowledges
inequality exists in society and that education plays an
important role
Detailed research on what classroom socialization looks like
using two elementary school classrooms – upper-middle class
and lower-middle class neighborhoods
Challenges the idea of teacher neutrality in the functionalists’
arguments – that teachers objectively and fairly assess students’
capabilities and learning; teachers are cultural beings shaped by
their social context (their upbringing, education, and the school,
school district, state contexts)
19
Tests out some of Bowles and Gintis’s ideas that schools
socialize children from different class groups to be prepared to
take jobs similar to their parents.
Focuses on classroom socialization in terms of the cognitive

skills students are exposed to and skills in self-presentation.
Classroom observations looked at: 1) the discipline and values
taught in the way the teacher controlled the classroom (external
vs. internal motivation), 2) the role of the student in the
classroom in terms of participation and self-presentation, and
3) how the teacher presented academic material.
20
Smith Elementary (lower-middle class) and Huntington
Elementary (upper-middle class)
Smith: the classroom was largely “freeform” – children moving
all over the room, doing different activities fun and academic.
There was a high level of noise. Class time varied between
group work and individual work at tables. Children had lots of
free time to play in class
Huntington: the classroom was quiet and orderly with
traditional rows of individual desks. Students mostly worked
individually on academic work. Student to student interaction
was rare. The teacher stated interaction prevents students from
producing high-quality work.
21

teacher is the sole authority. Students follow rules on what to
do and how to behave set by the teacher.
One common teacher strategy was using commands: “I want that
done now” or “You have an assignment; sit down and get busy.”
Second common strategy was using statements of praise or
blame: “That’s good” or “No, that’s not right.”
The teacher only used internal control to encourage students to
work out conflicts among peers: “You two will have to decide
that by yourselves.”
22
teacher emphasizes students’ responsibility for their academic
work and learning.
One common teacher strategy was to point out the academic
implications of behavior. The teacher offered reasons for why
their behavior was inappropriate or appropriate leading children
to reflect on what they were doing:
“If you’re talking to your neighbor, you’re probably not
looking at the clues and remembering what the answers are.”
Other internal control commands: “use your time wisely,” “use
good judgment”

Rules for external control were academically oriented (e.g.,
think for yourself, listen to directions) and the teacher gave
reasons why the rules were important to their education
23
Self-presentation skills through the “show and tell” activity
Smith: Teacher decided when to have the activity. She saw the
activity as fun for the kids, not academic. She rarely made
comments or gave instructions on how to present. The activity
did not help develop students’ verbal skills.
Huntington: Every day began with the activity. The teacher saw
the activity as purely academic and an opportunity to review
academic material in the follow up questions she asked
students. She also provided feedback about how to give a
presentation.
24
Future vs. present orientation –
Smith: Children were socialized to focus on the present. The
teacher had a “let kids be kids” attitude and focused on letting
them be first graders. References to second grade were
negative: “We’re not getting ready for second grade. This was
homework.” “In second grade they don’t teach you printing.

That’s why you have to know it now.”
Huntington: Children were socialized to look to the future in
positive and hopeful ways.: “You’re thinking like a
mathematician. You’ll be a good scientist.” “By Friday you’ll
get it without looking.” “Say to yourself, ‘I’m a good reader,
because this is a second-grade book.’” The teacher often made
references to what will be expected of them the following year
in second grade. Students learned to think about future
consequences of present actions, and they learned to think of
themselves as professional adults.
25
EDS/SOC 126 MIDTERM PAPER
JONES
Due on TritonEd via Turnitin no later than Friday, Feb. 16 by
11:59PM
Do NOT wait until the last minute to submit
Write a 4-5 page, double-spaced paper, with 1-inch margins, in
response to the following prompt. This is an essay which means
you should NOT number your responses. A bibliography is not
necessary. But make sure it’s clear which sources you are using
in your paper. Do not use material or sources outside of class.
Discuss the Functionalists’ arguments for: 1) explaining why
there is economic inequality in society, and 2) the function of
education in society.
Then, critique the Functionalists’ arguments using Conflict

Theory. Include: 1) the ways in which Conflict Theorists’
explanations for economic inequality differ from the
Functionalists, and 2) the ways in which the Conflict Theorists’
arguments about the role of education in society differ from the
Functionalists.
Be sure to use examples to help you explain both theories. Your
paper must have a total of four sources that you’re using as
examples (see below).
· You must use the Wilcox article and Lareau book as two
sources for examples. Be specific in your discussion of the
research by Wilcox and Lareau, which means both summarizing
their work and using direct quotes. For all direct quotes, you
must explain the meaning in your own words (do not assume we
know how you’re using the quotes). Proper citation rules apply
for direct quotes – in parentheses (author’s last name, page
number)
· You must also use examples from two additional sources. You
can draw from examples given in lecture, your investigative
assignments, your peers’ investigative assignments, videos
shown in class, other class readings, and your own personal
experiences.
An “A” paper is one that accurately discusses all main points by
the Functionalists and Conflict Theorists in response to the
above prompt, uses appropriate examples from four sources to
support the discussion of both theories, and that is clear and
coherent. If you are concerned about your writing, please go to
OASIS before submitting your paper.

Jungu LiEDS 126Professor Jones 1272018Education and Econ.docx

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