Sociology of the Institution: Education and Family

1. Discuss an aspect of the institution of education in which power differences in the larger society impacted the delivery of education?

In education, the lack of power and resources among different parts of society impairs the delivery of quality education to all sections of society. This is most apparent in a white-dominate society and a white-dominated school system. The focus of education has always been on imbuing western values and morality on the next generation of students. White students generally accept this because they grow up in mainly middle-class affluent households that have more influence and power over the school board and the policies enforced. Schools in affluent suburban areas generally have a larger tax base and more resources than schools in the inner city or in small towns. These students, therefore, have an advantage in getting middle-class competitive jobs and leadership positions in the local and state arena. In general, these schools have more community involvement and investment. Parents from middle-class backgrounds also have more power than parents from working-class backgrounds because they are more comfortable making demands on teachers, administrators, and their own students to achieve. Schools in the inner city have a higher proportion of minority students who are disconnected from the school because they are more likely to feel powerless over their situation. This results from growing up in poverty and seeing things happen without being able to affect change. Schools in the inner cities and in rural areas tend to get more of their funding from the federal and state governments, taking much of the decision making in the schools away from the surrounding communities. These schools are more highly bureaucratic; more administrators make the teachers in these situations unable to affect change. These teachers are not able to help their students and their students move onward in life with no passion for learning. These students end up in the same powerless positions as their parents. Thus the different power structures in different areas affect the delivery of quality education in different geographic areas.

2. Discuss how changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization have had a significant impact on the function of the family as a social unit

During the Industrial age, social change regarding family control over children changes as a result of society’s need for educated citizens and a competent workforce. In the United States, the establishment of schools allowed specialization of roles. At first, children were the property of their parents and were needed as labor on the farm, and schools were organized around the community’s need for children during the growing season. Furthermore, parents and church provided the main forms of instruction for children whereas school was mainly to teach reading, writing, and math. Also important was the idea that the father maintained primary control over his children and wife and could punish them physically if necessary.

During the Industrial Revolution, the population shifted from an agriculturally based society to an urban-based society where different groups of people had to commingle with one another. The school was important for fostering patriotic ties (especially among immigrant children) as well as teaching basic skills necessary for factory work. The school becomes a more important social institution than the family because families are no longer self-sufficient. Families must depend upon an impersonal market for their livelihood; schools help children learn how to cope with this impersonal market.

This increased dependence of society on a trained workforce allows a shift in perspective on how children should be treated. The turn of the 19th century saw an increase in child labor restrictions, the child saver movement, and the expansion of public education for all. Throughout this time period, society took greater responsibility for its youth because it saw that helping the youth is an investment in their own future. It became the responsibility of society to help socialize and protect children, especially in cases where children suffer abuse from their own parents. This greater responsibility translated into more laws and government oversight into the treatment and education of children.

3. Discuss how cultural changes of the past several centuries have impacted social institutions that control members of society.

During the medieval period, male-dominant, hierarchical, Judeo-Christian teachings replaced female-centered religious institutions as the authority for defining normalcy. The local community including the church leaders were enforcers against social deviance. Industrialization increased population movement, and other forces have changed the local community’s ability to control individuals. This is because of increased anonymity in the population and loosening of informal control as well as a lack of common beliefs and values to unite a community. This coupled with a shift towards rationalism leads to more centralized and bureaucratic forms of control, such as penal codes and state prisons. Specifically, a shift in ideas from spiritual causes of deviance to classical rationalism led to these wide-reaching changes. Classical theorists such as Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham viewed humans as rational calculators who chose a course of action based on maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. This viewpoint underscored the importance of individual responsibility and free choice.

These sentiments influenced the transformation of societal control over individuals. First communities had the authority to deter deviant behavior and punish individuals for that behavior. This authority was transferred to the state where legislatures defined the crimes and meted out proportional punishments and judges decided innocence or guilt. Crimes were defined based on their severity and punishments were calculated in order to outweigh any benefit from doing the crime. A punishment had to be slightly more painful than the pleasure gained from doing the deviant behavior. Examples of these codes include the French Penal Code of 1791 which exacted punishment in accordance with the severity of transgressions. Modern prisons go further than the penal codes of the 18th and 19th centuries. Today prisons focus as much on the cause of deviant behavior and thus try to rehabilitate offenders. This turns away from blame on individual faults and tries to account for societal factors that might trigger normal individuals to deviant behavior (such as drugs, alcohol, domestic abuse). Furthermore, the modern penal code takes into account individual circumstances, such as mental retardation or insanity, which lift responsibility from these individuals.