Randi Brooks

Blog #2 (Chapter 2)

This chapter of “Theories in the Sociology of Education” introduced me to a lot of new terms.  I found it to be interesting and stimulating how most of these theories tend to overlap with each other and how these theories have affected education.

One theory that I particularly found interesting was the symbolic interaction theory. This theory is closely related to social psychology and the research of George Mead. Mead used the terms “I” and “Me” to refer to the process that individuals go through in understanding themselves in a social world (31).  The “I” term he is referring to is when a child is unaware of society around them unless it is fulfilling their own human needs and desires. As the child grows and enters into the school system, the “Me” begins to grow through interaction with other people and their social environment. The child learns how to behave according to other people’s behaviors. This “Me” concept is referred to as the social self, and the “I” is our immediate response to others (31). I found this theory to be interesting because I believe that a child learns how to socialize with others by watching others socialize. On one hand, I believe that it is true that children behave due to how they were raised and the beliefs and values that are instilled in them from their parents, but on the other hand I think that socialization is very important in a child’s life.

Another term that I became curious about as I was reading was the term cultural reproduction. This is a new term for me and is described as “the high status classes reward individuals who exhibit the traits and possess the knowledge of the upper class, therefore maintaining their power (35). This term talks about how some teachers tend to give special treatment to students who are classified as being in a higher class because it is said that these children have adopted a more sophisticated language and knowledge. I agree with Bourdieu’s argument stating this this is essentially how inequality persists within our schools. This is allowing favoritism among the students just because they were brought up in a certain way. I think as teachers it is important to allow all students to demonstrate their abilities despite what their cultural capital may be.

Discussion Question: How can teachers avoid this preferential treatment causing inequality within schools because of a students cultural capital?