In this essay I am going to assess the Marxist explanation of the role of education in modern society.

                  Marxists such as Althuser and Bowles and Gintis refuse completely that capitalist society runs as a meritocracy, Althusers theory is hugely based around ideology which is a set of ideas and that is you win over peoples “hearts and minds” then no force is necessary meaning that some people can be lead to believe things in a different way, simplified as being “brainwashed”. According to Althuser the educational system has very much over ruled the church’s control, Society use to mainly look upon their religion and accept everything as gods will, however now this acceptance has become based around and experience of education. Schools indoctrinate there pupils to believe everybody has a equal chance however this is all in the Marxists eyes a “scam” they transmit the idea that capitalism is “just and responsible” and that school is only preparing you for their roles later on in the workforce, and taught to accept any future exploitation. Those who are smart and hardworking do well in education and gain well deserved qualifications and in turn do well in he world of work. Those who are unemployed and working in low paid jobs must not of gained these qualifications and were probably not academically gifted, this is one of the ideological beliefs that shows the higher your parents social class the higher your schooling qualifications will turn out and the duration spent in education, class still determines where you end up in a majority of cases according to Marxists.  Bowles and Gintis argue that there is a close correspondence between the social relationships within the school and workplace which become essential for the reproduction of the next generation of workers properly schooled to accept their roles and positions in society. Without this correspondence capitalism wouldn’t run so smoothly and there would be constant “rebellion” within the workplace. Education legitimates social inequalities by the scam of trying to indoctrinate people to believe we all have a fair chance followed by the belief that all who achieve high grades deserve their success and as they lead to high paid jobs they must of earned them however Marxists argues that not all rewards are based on ability but on social class. Bowles and Ginits worded “Education reproduces inequality by justifying privileged and attributing poverty to personal failure” which in many words means that if you fail it is made to make you look to blame; it was your fault you didn’t try when really, that’s just not the case. They reject the functionalist view on role allocation, those who get the highest grades and top jobs do so because of their social background and found that students with high grades tend to be hardworking, obedient, conforming and dependable, rather then creative original and independent the phrase to them is, “Its not what you know, its who your know”. Studies such as “learning to labour” by Paul Willis have shown that people may have some understanding of the true way of which they are treated and exploited in school and may try to resist in various ways to conform. This brings into a debate within Marxism about the role of cultural institutions such as education. Willis did not find one correspondence between school and work, nor were the lads shaped into the educational system; they instead rejected school and created their own “counter school culture” accepting they were going to do bad and rejected school.

                One main criticism that could be held would be how Willis theory argues that Bowles and Gintis theory about correspondence in school and work, This was not produced by the school it was the lads that were not obedient pupils of Bowles and Gintis theory, They produced the correspondence themselves by their rejection to school and doing so they prepared themselves for a place in the workforce, They learned to have a laugh and get on with their boredom, accepting drudgery to low skilled jobs.