Transcript Chapter 13 Education and Religion

Chapter 13
Education and Religion
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Education in the United States:
Theoretical Views
Inequality and the Schools
College: Who Goes and
What Does It Do for Them?
Chapter 13
Education and Religion
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The Sociological Study of Religion
Why Religion? Some Theoretical Answers
Tension Between Religion and Society
Religion in the United States
The Functions of Education
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Cultural reproduction.
Social control.
Assimilation.
Training and development.
Selection and allocation of statuses.
The promotion of change.
Latent Functions and Dysfunctions
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The production of a generation gap.
The custodial care of children.
The creation of a youth subculture.
The rationalization of inequality.
The perpetuation of social inequality.
Conflict Model of Education
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The hidden curriculum teaches students
obedience and conformity.
Credentialism amounts to using diplomas as
passports to higher status.
Those of higher status can pass on their
status-heritage in procuring superior education
for their children.
Social Class and Schooling
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Schools are a middle class domain dominated
by middle class teachers.
Middle class or upper middle class children
have likely been read to, and given
opportunities to understand art and music.
Excellence Campaigns and
Inequality
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Efforts to improve the achievement of
American students led to mandatory testing.
Teachers are forced to “teach to the test,” not
to the goals of learning.
Research suggests that raising teacher
expectations of students, smaller schools, and
flexibility in the curriculum would help.
Going to College
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45% of recent high school graduates are
enrolled in two or four-year colleges.
The number of minorities in college has
declined relative to Whites since 1975.
Non-Hispanic white women are most likely to
be enrolled in college and the group most likely
to graduate.
Structural-Functional
Theory of Religion
Durkheim identified the forms of religion:
1. Distinction between things sacred and things
profane.
2. A set of beliefs.
3. A body of rituals or practices.
Functions of Religion
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At the social level, religion gives the normative
order a moral imperative.
At the personal level, religion provides support,
consolation and reconciliation in times of crisis
or need.
Conflict Theory
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Marx saw religion as an “opiate of the people.”
Modern conflict theorists are more interested in
how religion may act either to express or
repress class and ideological struggles.
Weber: Religion As an Independent
Force
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Weber combined ideas from structural and
conflict perspectives.
Interested in the forms of religion and their
consequences for individuals and society.
Argued that Protestantism incubated
fundamental values, such as the work ethic
which linked work to salvation.
U.S. Civil Religion
Important source of unity for the U.S.
 Beliefs: God guides the country.
 Symbols: The flag.
 Rituals: Pledge of Allegiance.
Consequences of Religiosity
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People with higher levels of religious affiliation
tend to be friendlier, happier, cooperative, and
more satisfied with their lives than others.
Religious affiliation has also been linked to
socially conservative and authoritarian
attitudes that maintain the status quo.