Theories of How
Social Reproduction Happens
(to the extent that it does)
• Economic determinism (Marxist
approaches)
• Cultural and linguistic capital
• Resistance
Economic Determinism
• the economy requires people to take on
different work roles (and thus sets of skills,
knowledge, and dispositions)
• Bowles and Gintis (1976) say that schools
are training young people for their future
economic and occupational position
according to their current social class
position
• Wilcox, page 301
In order for this theory to work,
we need to see….
1) the separation of students by social class
background for instruction
2) an evaluation by school personnel of
students’ social class background
3) different occupations which require
different kinds of orientations and skills
•
Do we see these characteristics in Smith
and Huntington schools?
1) selfpresentation skills
2) external vs.
internal modes of
discipline
3) future
orientation and
sense of selfefficacy
The Hidden Curriculum
• Schools are teaching more than the explicit
curriculum (social studies, math, English, etc) and
academic knowledge
• In Rogoff’s terms, they are also a kind of
sociocultural activity in which students learn
particular kinds of behavior, attitudes, and roles
• The “hidden curriculum” teaches students various
kinds of attitudes, roles, and behaviors that
correspond to various class positions, according to
their social class background
Thinking through economic
determinism
• What do you like about this theory? What
about this theory helps explains what is
going on in our society?
• What don’t you like about this theory?
What does this theory leave out as an
explanation for what is happening in our
society?