Conflict Theory Of The Relationship Between Education And Inequality

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Sociologist in modern society examined the important themes of how children are socialized in school and the effect of schooling on student’s life chances. Beginning in the 1960’s sociologist began to doubt that school could solve social problem and inequality. With rapid evolution in our education system, the term ‘Equality of Opportunity’ appeared. This theory signifies that everyone should be treated similarly without any form of prejudices or discrimination. However, some pertinent questions that arise are: how far the education system promotes the concept of Equality of opportunity? Can education truly solve the problem of inequality? And if it can, why is it that some lower middle class pupils, in spite of having equal access to education, are still lagging behind in terms of success. Albeit the world is becoming more advanced in terms of technologies and activities, we are still unable to provide an education accessible to all range of our society due to their unequal aptitude and interest. This has resulted as a response with certain social …show more content…

For instance Durkheim argues that school socializes students into the appropriate values and sort and select students according to their abilities and for the interest of majority of the citizens. In contrast to this, conflict theory argues that school function for the interest of the dominant groups. The theory also points out that the role of school in providing equality of opportunity is far more problematic than functionalists suggest. In relation to those theories, it is therefore inevitable to argue that although the objectives are to provide equal education to all pupils, it is not attaining to its objectives. The lower class pupils are not exposed to such encouragement thus make them unable to adapt to the progress and provision of the educational