Structure and Agency
Agency
A person’s free will
Not influenced by society
Structure
Influences a person’s decisions
o Resulting in a lack of agency/free will
Recurring pattern of social behaviour
The ordered interrelationships between the different elements of a social
system or society
o Norms
o Values
o Social roles
Institutions can influence these elements
o Kinship
o Religion
o Economic institutions
o Political institutions
Structures affecting schooling outcomes
Economic resources
• How expensive a school can the family afford?
• Can the family afford enough food to send the pupil to school well-fed?
• Can the family afford electricity and is the house large enough for the
pupil to homework in the evenings?
Political resources
• Do people with few economic resources have the political power to
challenge this?
• Who, for example, makes decisions about the schooling system?
Other resources
Nutritional choice
o What kinds of food?
Parental encouragement and guidance
Assistance with homework?
Parental school involvement
Do parents understand/can they teach their children how the education
system works
o How to do well in school
o Or how to get access to a better school?
,Structure affecting SA youth’s aspirations
Perception of opportunity structure?
o Do young people believe that they can create a better life, climb the
socio-economic ladder?
Economic conditions in the future
o higher education = better income
o does the prospect of a lower income, or unemployment influence
aspirations?
Family
o To what extent does the family influence youth’s aspirations?
Attitudes and behaviour in the community
o Does everyone support education?
o Do people support youth, or rather hold them back?
,Theories of inequality in education
Basil Bernstein: significance of language
Different classes have different language use patterns
o Upper class patterns were more valued and more effective in
school
o Influences the ability of these groups to succeed in schools
Therefore upper class advantaged and lower-class disadvantaged
o Reproduces class structure in society
Through education
Because of language
Pierre Bourdieu: cultural capital and ‘habitus’
Cultural capital
Passed on from one generation to another
Results in social and cultural reproduction
Examples
o Cultural background
o Knowledge
o Thoughts
o Behaviour/style
o Tastes
o Skills
2 dimensions of cultural capital
Directly instrumenal dimensions
o Knowledge of how systems work
Education system
Labour market
o Results
People with high cultural capital at an advantage because of
this knowledge
Indirectly instrumental/general dimensions
o Basis for classification
o Peoples’ tastes relating to high culture
Types of music
Forms of art
Styles of clothing
Speech
Preferences of sports
o Results
Classifies people
Exclude and include
Defines what class one belongs to
Therfore also how others see you
,Social and cultural reproduction in and through education
In education
Children from upper class background acquire knowledge enabling them
to succeed in school
Schools are foreign cultural environments for lower class children
o Schools= upper class values and outlooks
o Lower class children= lower class values and outlooks
o Causes a clash
Results
o Lower class disadvantaged in education
Through education
Academic achievement= economic achievement traffic
Because lower class disadvantaged in education, they disadvantaged in
economic achievement
, Education inequality in SA education
Racial inequality
Higher levels of repetition among previously disadvantaged youth
Generally previously disadvantaged graduates leave with lower levels of
education than their white peers
Reasons for inequality
All reasons notably influenced by one’s wealth/class
Quality of schools
Shown to negatively impacts educational outcomes
What determines school quality
o teacher qualifications
o teacher motivation
o teacher-pupil ratio
Levels of schools
o Public schools
Subsidised by government
Learners pay little or no school fees
Schools therefore poor
o Semi-private schools
Subsidised by government
Learners pay school fees to supplement subsidy
School got more money to improve
Middle level schools
o Private schools
No subsidy
Learners pay large school fees
Exremely well funded because of the school fees
Top level schools
Class/wealth determines which level of school you can afford
Parental level of education
Positive relations between parental level of education and education
outcomes
Better educated parents
o place higher value on schooling
willing to spend more on education
o more able to help children with school work
Less educated parents
o Pass on unmotivating messages around education
unknowingly or knowingly
Because well educated people are more wealthy, wealth is a determinant
of your parents’ level of education
Agency
A person’s free will
Not influenced by society
Structure
Influences a person’s decisions
o Resulting in a lack of agency/free will
Recurring pattern of social behaviour
The ordered interrelationships between the different elements of a social
system or society
o Norms
o Values
o Social roles
Institutions can influence these elements
o Kinship
o Religion
o Economic institutions
o Political institutions
Structures affecting schooling outcomes
Economic resources
• How expensive a school can the family afford?
• Can the family afford enough food to send the pupil to school well-fed?
• Can the family afford electricity and is the house large enough for the
pupil to homework in the evenings?
Political resources
• Do people with few economic resources have the political power to
challenge this?
• Who, for example, makes decisions about the schooling system?
Other resources
Nutritional choice
o What kinds of food?
Parental encouragement and guidance
Assistance with homework?
Parental school involvement
Do parents understand/can they teach their children how the education
system works
o How to do well in school
o Or how to get access to a better school?
,Structure affecting SA youth’s aspirations
Perception of opportunity structure?
o Do young people believe that they can create a better life, climb the
socio-economic ladder?
Economic conditions in the future
o higher education = better income
o does the prospect of a lower income, or unemployment influence
aspirations?
Family
o To what extent does the family influence youth’s aspirations?
Attitudes and behaviour in the community
o Does everyone support education?
o Do people support youth, or rather hold them back?
,Theories of inequality in education
Basil Bernstein: significance of language
Different classes have different language use patterns
o Upper class patterns were more valued and more effective in
school
o Influences the ability of these groups to succeed in schools
Therefore upper class advantaged and lower-class disadvantaged
o Reproduces class structure in society
Through education
Because of language
Pierre Bourdieu: cultural capital and ‘habitus’
Cultural capital
Passed on from one generation to another
Results in social and cultural reproduction
Examples
o Cultural background
o Knowledge
o Thoughts
o Behaviour/style
o Tastes
o Skills
2 dimensions of cultural capital
Directly instrumenal dimensions
o Knowledge of how systems work
Education system
Labour market
o Results
People with high cultural capital at an advantage because of
this knowledge
Indirectly instrumental/general dimensions
o Basis for classification
o Peoples’ tastes relating to high culture
Types of music
Forms of art
Styles of clothing
Speech
Preferences of sports
o Results
Classifies people
Exclude and include
Defines what class one belongs to
Therfore also how others see you
,Social and cultural reproduction in and through education
In education
Children from upper class background acquire knowledge enabling them
to succeed in school
Schools are foreign cultural environments for lower class children
o Schools= upper class values and outlooks
o Lower class children= lower class values and outlooks
o Causes a clash
Results
o Lower class disadvantaged in education
Through education
Academic achievement= economic achievement traffic
Because lower class disadvantaged in education, they disadvantaged in
economic achievement
, Education inequality in SA education
Racial inequality
Higher levels of repetition among previously disadvantaged youth
Generally previously disadvantaged graduates leave with lower levels of
education than their white peers
Reasons for inequality
All reasons notably influenced by one’s wealth/class
Quality of schools
Shown to negatively impacts educational outcomes
What determines school quality
o teacher qualifications
o teacher motivation
o teacher-pupil ratio
Levels of schools
o Public schools
Subsidised by government
Learners pay little or no school fees
Schools therefore poor
o Semi-private schools
Subsidised by government
Learners pay school fees to supplement subsidy
School got more money to improve
Middle level schools
o Private schools
No subsidy
Learners pay large school fees
Exremely well funded because of the school fees
Top level schools
Class/wealth determines which level of school you can afford
Parental level of education
Positive relations between parental level of education and education
outcomes
Better educated parents
o place higher value on schooling
willing to spend more on education
o more able to help children with school work
Less educated parents
o Pass on unmotivating messages around education
unknowingly or knowingly
Because well educated people are more wealthy, wealth is a determinant
of your parents’ level of education
