Sorokin's article on Social and Cultural Mobility
People want to reach the upper strata
There is a mechanism in society, that controls the process of "vertical circulation"
It is a 3 step process of control:
1) Individuals are tested to find their suitableness for a specific social function
2) The selection of individuals for a definite social function
3) Then individuals are distributed amongst different social strata
a)Tested
b)Selected
c)distributed
*this process reminds me of industrialization and how factories work. First you make a product then you test it and make sure it works then you sell it to other people.
The purpose of this control is to distribute people according to their talents so they perform successfully in their social function.
- People who are placed incorrectly disintegrate society.
How are people tested?
All social institutions perform the "test"
Families, armies, churches, schools
Family test: general qualities, intelligence, health, and moral character
Occupations test: specific applicable ideas
ex: singers must be able to hold notes, heavyweight champions must be able to lift a lot of weight
Schools (test, select, distribute)
Family tests determines life careers as well as social positions, but schools retest and reevaluate the individual
Schools were seen as institutions to pour knowledge into children, and to slightly shape behavior
The overlooked portion of schools "informal" education is its testing, selective, and distributive functions
School's essential purpose is not only to test the student's knowledge ability but to find their talents (if they have any)
Those without talents are eliminated and promotion is not seen as ideal for them
Those with talents are put into social functions in which their talents are suited for.
This separates the "able" from the "dull"
Schools function as machinery for the aristocratization and stratification of society, not so much as a tool for the leveling and democratization of society
Some stats to think about
10 % out of every 1000 first graders will graduate high school.
Developing Nations
In order to be successful in creating mass schooling, a nation must pour a sufficient amount of resources into the "program" or construction of a school and must stick with it.
High Fertility rates = bad (according to Seth's lecture)
-BUT! If lots of girls are in school fertility rates go down
Also Seth mentioned that it makes it easier on a developing country if they have a labor force from another country that they can easily exploit. Geography can have an effect on building mass schools.
Pros and Cons of the Transfer of Knowledge
pros
Functionalist think transfer of knowledge is important
Learning about facts, theories, ideologies, can affect your decision making.
Gives subjects an aura of importance
Adults value past academics
cons
Conflict theorist don't find the transfer of knowledge important
Most of the transmission is informal socialization, so schools do poorly in pure knowledge transfer
*Notes from Seth indicated that there is a "Myriad of knowledge sources"
I ascertained that this meant that there is too much knowledge, so developing a stable curriculum is very difficult (CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG PLEASE!) AND PLEASE NOTE THIS IS MY TAKE ON THE NOTES WHICH DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS CORRECT
Status Seminaries
Institutions for the future elite to socialize them into reproducing and protecting the elite
Enclosure Movement
Closed system (remember the descriptions of the private schools) High walls, old architecture.
Protects the elite's old ideals so they are not influence by the outside sources.
Sets them apart from the masses
The Upper classes attempt to insulate themselves from the rest of society, to create an effective power by creative a collective power
Group loyalty maximizes long term support
How do interactions shape prep school student's perspectives?
Closed system: feelings of responsibility to the group to protect the elite. School founders wanted kids to be socially and culturally homogenous
No one talks about money, so they feel they will always have it
generalist ideology associated originally with aristocrats and gentry encourages broad academic training and the idea of education as preparation for leadership.
In contrast the specialist ideology carried by the merchant and professional classes encouraged training for desired occupational and professional positions.
The democratic ideology of radical reformers (historically led by patrician elites and nonbusiness professionals) is expansionist and argues that the highest quality education should be available to all.
three ways in which schools socialize
behavior
moral
and acculturation
p133 and 134 of brint
DURKEIM (VERY brief summary)
If we eliminate every religious from the traditional system without providing any substitute, we run the risk of also eliminating essential moral ideas and sentiments.
Morality brought up by an authoritative figure has a greater effect than individualist morality.
*from what I understand (ONCE AGAIN THIS MAY NOT BE CORRECT) is that individual morality might not be understood in certain social functions, thus your morality may be immoral to others.
All behavior conforms to preestablished rules.
To conduct one's self morally is a matter of abiding by a norm
determining what conduct should obtain in a given instance even before one is required to act.
"Domain of duty" duty is prescribed behavior
It is not that the moral conscience is free of uncertainties. We know indeed that it is often perplexed hesitating between alternatives.
Each rule is a general prescription and does not work mechanically for each particular circumstance
Morality consists of a system of rules of action that predetermine conduct. They state how one must act in given situations and to obey conscientiously
Morality presupposes a certain capacity for behaving similarly under like circumstances and consequently it implies a certain ability to develop habits (needs regularity) Therefore many customs are built upon the grounds of morality
Rules are outside of a person and outside of the realm of regularity
Rules can be based on the idea of authority
Authority can influence and impose "morality" that we acknowledge as superior to us
Morality constitutes a category of rules where the idea of authority plays a preponderant role (think doctors, we obey them because we acknowledge their authority, and their intelligence)
Discipline regularizes conduct, and discipline does not emerge without authority, the spirit of discipline is the fundamental element of morality.
Meyer was looking at the structure of schooling, and he found that there were a lot of external pressures. The surroundings help make up the norms, values, and practices at that school schooling curriculum be the dependent and societal influences the independent
Meyer believes school is an open system
