Topic: social class connecting with family and educational outcomes

Presenters……
Muhammad Wasim: 08
Shoaib Liaqat: 17
 Social class

• A status hierarchy in which individuals and groups are classified on the basis of
caste, age, gender and prestige acquired mainly through economic success and
accumulation of wealth.
 Three common social classes informally recognized in many societies are:
1. Upper class
2. Middle class
3. Lower class
 Social Stratification

• The term stratification is derived from the geological concept of ‘Strata’

which means rock layers created by natural processes.
• Stratification is a hierarchy of positions with regard to economic
production which influences the social rewards to those in the positions.
• According Raymond W. Murray; “Social Stratification is horizontal
division of society into higher and lower social units.”
 Features of social stratification

 The main features of social stratification are:

1. It is a social and economic categorization of individuals within a societal
framework.
2. It is based on caste, class, status and power of a community.
3. Social Stratification exists because of natural differences in peoples abilities.
4. Due to social stratification societies tend to be stable and are held together
through consensus.
 Stratification based on

• Caste
• Socioeconomic status (income, wealth, occupation)
• Prestige
• Power and authority
• Age
• Gender
 Process of stratification

• People’s differing ranks in society are based on class and status.

• Class rankings are based on wealth, income, and life chances to acquire wealth
and income.
• Status comes from the honor and respect people receive from others.
• Class and status are sources of power, and they are the criteria used to rank
people in a system of stratification.
• Very simple societies have little division of labor and little stratification.
• Agrarian and industrial societies have more wealth, greater division of labor, and
more stratification.
 Sociological perspective

There are three sociological perspective which look society in different

point of view.
1. Structural functionalism
2. Social conflict
3. Symbolic interactionism
• To understand the role of social class in the educational achievement of an
individual two of them discussed in detail.
 1. Structural Functionalism:

Basic assumption:
• According to this paradigm society is composite of different structures
(social institutions) which are interrelated to each other and perform
functions of the stability and harmony of the society.
• Spencer refined that society like a organism and it consists of interrelated
parts that serve a function in maintaining the system as a whole.
• In the light of it social stratification is necessary for the maintenance of the
society.
 Education

• The functionalists believe that the education system is meritocratic because if you work
hard, you get rewards.
• Emile Durkheim believes that education contributes to social solidarity which is essential
for society as it binds society together.
• He also believed that education contributes to individual’s specialised skills as these are
taught with education.
• Talcott Parsons indicates that education system develops on value consensus and prepares
children for their adult roles.
• Davis and Moore's thesis highlights the importance of education to find right person for
the right place.
 Social class

• Davis-Moore thesis argued that the greater the functional importance of a social
role, the greater must be the reward.
• The theory posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value
of different work.
• Qualified people who fill those positions must be rewarded more than others.
• Wealth and status, both scarce resources, provide power, so those who serve
society by providing scarce skills became the powerful people.
• Thus, inequality is created by the needs of the society, to by the desires and needs
of the individuals.
 Social conflict

 Basic assumption:
• Social conflict theory sees social life as a competition and focuses on the
distribution of resources, power, and inequality.
• Conflict theorists view society as an arena of inequality that generates social
conflict and social change.
• Inequality of resources leads toward the two social class Bourgeoisie and
Proletariat.
• Karl Marx is considered the father of social conflict theory.
 Education

• The Marxists believe that the education system operate as an ideological

tool.
• They believe that the educational system reinforces and perpetuates social
inequalities that arise from differences in class, gender, race, and ethnicity.
• The fulfillment of one’s education is closely linked to social class.
• Students of low socioeconomic status are generally not afforded the same
opportunities as students of higher status, no matter how great their
academic ability or desire to learn.
• Educational achievements are closely related to the Cultural Capital
defined by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.
• Members of the upper and middle classes have more cultural capital than
do families of lower-class status.
• As a result, the educational system maintains a cycle in which the
dominant culture’s values are rewarded.
• To conflict theorists, schools play the role of training working-class
students to accept and retain their position as lower members of society.
 Cont….

• Once the dominant group gets power, it tries to make its power appear legitimate
by using propaganda to appeal to the masses through education, the mass media,
religion, and politics.
• If the masses are influenced by the propaganda of the upper class, they are said to
have what Marx called ‘false consciousness’, a belief that the upper class is
superior and has the right to rule.
• If on the other hand, the masses reject the propaganda of the upper classes and
are aware that they are being exploited, they are said to have ‘Class
Consciousness’.
 Social stratification

• Conflict theorists are deeply critical of social stratification, asserting that it

benefits only some people, not all of society.
• Marx believed social stratification resulted from people’s relationship to
production.
• People were divided by a single line: they either owned factories or worked in
them.
• In Marx’s time, bourgeois capitalists owned high-producing businesses, factories,
and land, as they still do today. Proletariats were the workers who performed the
manual labor to produce goods
• Upper-class capitalists raked in profits and got rich, while working-class
proletariats earned skimpy wages and struggled to survive.
• With such opposing interests, the two groups were divided by differences
of wealth and power.
• Marx saw workers experience deep alienation, isolation and misery
resulting from powerless status levels.
 Ideology and practice in schooling

• Ideology is a set of beliefs, usually entertained at group levels.

• Ideology constructs the stereotypes that are legitimized and supported by
certain social institutions.
• It has the backing of powerful social institutions becomes dominant in a
society and has the potential to capture the minds of marginalized groups.
• Through socialization, educational institutions play an important part in
the construction and perpetuation of certain ideologies which generally
serve the interests of the dominant groups of society.
 Situation in Pakistan

• If we look at the history of education in Pakistan we see how education

has been used to propagate certain ideologies favored by powerful rulers.
• In Ayub Khan's era, the whole emphasis was on economic development
whereas social development was undermined.
• During Zia's regime, educational institutions were used to Islamize
society.
• Pervez Musharraf emphasizes was on an imported brand of moderate
enlightenment.
• No ruler ever asked the masses for their choice or preference.
• They could make a decision on the part of others as they enjoyed power.
• This ideology of knowledge encourages a certain pedagogy the sole objective of
which is to transmit on pre-existing knowledge from one generation to another.
• This ideology of pedagogical practices does not encourage any innovation,
creativity or reflection.
• This educational system not only supports existing power structures bust also
widens the gap between the Haves and the Have-nots.
 Solutions:

• We need to challenge ideologies associated with notions of education,

pedagogy, learning, assessment and the aim.
• Education has to move from transmission to transformation for which we
have to revisit our definitions of knowledge.
• This would lead to more vibrant and interactive classroom dynamics where
students are engaged in co-construction of knowledge.
• For this we need to challenge the ideology of an existing assessment system
which is memory-based and is unable to tap thinking skills of a higher order.
 Educational expectations

• Socialization
• Transmission of knowledge
• Maintaining social control
• Enhances social cohesion
• Helps in individual development
• Development of new knowledge
• Bestowing status
• Agent of change
• Career preparation (Placement)
• Enhances social mobility
 Social inclusion

• Social inclusion is the process of promoting the values, relations and

institutions that enables all people to participate in social, economic,
political life on the basis of equality, equity and dignity of rights.
• A socially inclusive society is a society where all people are recognized
and accepted and have a sense of belonging.
• An inclusive system benefits all learners without any discrimination
towards any individual or group.
• It is founded on values of democracy, tolerance and respect for difference.
• It is inefficient to have school systems where children are not learning because of
poor quality.
 Programs
• EFA (education for all)
• MDGs
• SDGs
• Islamabad declaration of inclusive education
 Social exclusion

• Social exclusion may take the form of discrimination along a number of

dimensions including gender, ethnicity and age which reduce the opportunity of
such group to gain access to social services and limits their participation in the
labor market.
• Social exclusion is the process of being shut out from the social, economic,
political and cultural systems which contribute to the integration of a person into
the community.
• Social exclusion happens when people or places suffer from a series of problem
such as unemployment, discrimination, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing
high crime; ill health and family breakdown.
• However, for new labor the socially excluded were regarded as the poor
but not only the poor.
• They stated that the socially excluded often lack the necessary skills and
capabilities to get and keep a job and are often cut off from the world of
work and education.