Role of School in Social Reproduction

Role of School in Social Reproduction

  • Submitted By: duba
  • Date Submitted: 07/20/2010 3:08 PM
  • Category: Social Issues
  • Words: 790
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 1273

The Role Of Schools in Social and Cultural ReproductionIntroduction:In most organized society, the school system is one of the means of transferring knowledge, skills and training of individual members of the society. It represents an institution responsible for the reproduction of cultural norms and values within a society, making it distinct from other societies.Over the years, the school system in most modern society has evolved into a more structured institution with a set of curricula and instructional modules, this usually exist side by side with other forms of informal schools system in the society e.g. the family unit, peer group, community or religious organization etc. The main focus of this paper however is to examine the role of the formal school system in social and cultural reproduction.Definition of Terms:School- An institution or center for instruction, learning or skill impartationCulture: The behavior patterns, arts, belief, institution, and all other products of human work and thought as expressed in a particular community. They could be overt or covert.Cultural Reproduction: Cultural reproduction refers to the mechanism by which a society preserves its culture across a period of time, from one generation to another generation. It is basically a way of preserving the status quo.Body:There are various agents of change in most society but the role of the school system as a major agent of change can not be over emphasized. Sociologist like Pierre Bourdieu known as the author of reproduction theory, in the early 1970 argued that the education as provided by the school system in most society is responsible for reproduction of the dominant class norms, values and ideologies in the society. It represent a means of allowing the dominant class to perpetuate itself in the society. The question to be answered at this point is how do schools as social institution play a role in the social and cultural reproduction of norms and values in society. Schools do...

Similar Essays