CHAPTER 12CHAPTER 12

EDUCATION AND RELIGIONEDUCATION AND RELIGION

Education is concerned with the formal transmission of knowledge.

1. Parental Demand

2. Labor Demand

3. Social Control Demands

The dramatic expansion of the U.S. education institution in the 19th century was fueled by three forces.

Parents demanded more for their children as literacy was seen as necessary for good citizenship and mobility.

Organized labor demanded education as a means of social mobility.

Reformers demanded education to control urban children and Americanize immigrants.

Six manifest functions of education(1) cultural reproduction

(2) social control

(3) assimilation

(4) training and development

(5) selection and allocation

(6) promotion of change

Five latent functions of compulsory education

(1) creation of a generation gap

(2) custodial care

(3) youth culture

(4) rationalization of inequality

(5) perpetuation of inequality

““The The hidden curriculumhidden curriculum of of schools socializes young schools socializes young

people into obedience and people into obedience and conformity” (Brinkerhoff, p. conformity” (Brinkerhoff, p.

273).273).

““Cultural capitalCultural capital refers to refers to social assets, such as familiarity social assets, such as familiarity

and identification with elite and identification with elite culture” (Brinkerhoff, 6culture” (Brinkerhoff, 6thth

Edition, p. 316).Edition, p. 316).

“Tracking occurs when evaluations made relatively early in a child’s career determine the educational programs the child will be

encouraged to follow” (Brinkerhoff, p. 276).

RELIGIONRELIGION

““ReligionReligion is a system of beliefs and practices related is a system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things that unites believers into a moral to sacred things that unites believers into a moral community” (Brinkerhoff, p. 282).community” (Brinkerhoff, p. 282).

For sociologists, religion (as with For sociologists, religion (as with everything else) is a social construction.everything else) is a social construction.

Marx, as a conflict theorist, felt religion maintained Marx, as a conflict theorist, felt religion maintained basic inequalities between owners and workers.basic inequalities between owners and workers.

For Marx, religion maintained inequality in two ways:

• As an opiate of the masses

• justifying injustices

Durkheim focused on those aspects of religion Durkheim focused on those aspects of religion that helped maintain healthy communities.that helped maintain healthy communities.

Three universal aspects of religion (Durkheim)

• Distinction between sacred and profane

• set of beliefs about the supernatural

• set of rituals

Max WeberMax Weber

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of CapitalismThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Low Tension

High Tension

Tension between Sacred and Secular

Churches Sects

“Churches are religious organizations that have become institutionalized” (Brinkerhoff, p. 289).

“Sects are religious organizations that reject the social environment in which they exist” (Brinkerhoff, p. 290).

“A cult is a sect that is independent of and often in conflict with the religious traditions of society”

(Brinkerhoff, p. 291).

“Civil religion is the set of institutionalized rituals, beliefs, and symbols sacred to the U.S. nation”

(Brinkerhoff, p. 294).