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Morrow-Reproduction Theory-2014-Art
Morrow-Reproduction Theory-2014-Art
...0 what differentiates them as members of different Levinson, M. (1999). The demands of liberal education.
sociocultural communities. Yet there are grounds for Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
rejecting this assertion. Prohibition will be viewed
(perhaps justifiably) as discriminatory and oppres-
sive by many and will contribute to their sense of REPRODUCTION THEORIES
alienation from and resentment toward the state. It
may lead many religious parents to withdraw their In his masterpiece Democracy and Education
children from the public schools, which is liable (1916), John Dewey pointed out that due to the
to be detrimental to the prospective autonomy of ineluctable facts of the death of its members and the
those students who have been withdrawn as well birth of their replacements, all societies face the need
as those students who remain in the suddenly less to reproduce their cultures, structures, and institu-
diverse public school setting. Furthermore, ban- tions, and education is the main process by which
ning religious dress in the public school would seem this is accomplished. More recent scholars across
to deprive the entire school community of some many of the modern social sciences have been inter-
very concrete examples of cultural and religious ested in the processes and forces by which socie-
diversity-an understanding and appreciation of ties reproduce what can be regarded as their
which is essential for the exercise of empathic and positive features, but they have displayed special
responsible citizenship in a liberal pluralist society. interest in the ways in which their economic inequal-
Perhaps the conclusion to be drawn here is that ities and differences in political power and status
the adoption of a blanket policy on the wearing of are preserved and reproduced over the generations.
religious clothing and symbols in public schools is It has appeared obvious to many-following in
unwise. Across-the-board toleration may not be sensi- Dewey's footsteps-that education plays an impor-
tive enough to the pressure and coercion that some tant role in the generational persistence of inequality.
children endure from those who insist they should This entry first looks at functionalist explanations
wear such clothing. Blanket prohibition, on the other of how the educational system serves as a mechanism
hand, seems likely to impose unequal burdens on of social reproduction and at the critique expressed
already marginalized groups. Both policies, when in conflict theories such as that of Karl Marx, who
implemented indiscriminately, run the additional risks saw class conflict as the basic root of inequities in
of contravening the autonomy-related interests of many social institutions including education. Turning
children as well as the civic interests of the democratic to the evolution of reproduction theories in the 20th
state. Perhaps, then, addressing this issue on a case- century, the entry examines their shared concern with
by-case basis, after taking proper account of local cir- the generational persistence of unequal educational
cumstances and contingencies, is the better approach. opportunities, a concern that is discussed in terms of
Josh Corngold the characteristics of economic structures; the rela-
tions of domination based on class, race, and gender;
See also Autonomy; Citizenship and Civic Education; and symbolic struggles related to culture, power, and
Diversity; Identity and Identity Politics; Liberalism; ideology, especially in capitalistic societies.
Multicultural Citizenship; Multiculturalism; Religious The entry also focuses on the following themes:
Education and Spirituality; Rights: Children, Parents, (a) the proliferation of competing forms of educa-
u
....." and Community; Toleration tional reproduction theory in the 1970s and 1980s,
(b) the subsequent rethinking of reproduction theo-
""' ries in response to cultural and political shifts, and
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Further Readings
Galeotti, A. E. (2002). Toleration as recognition .
(c) the more recent revival of Pierre Bourdieu's non-
Marxist, reflexive sociology and theory of cultural
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Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. and educational reproduction.
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+"' Gereluk, D. (2008). Symbolic clothing in schools: What
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Functionalist Theory
Continuum.
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AN: 800416 ; Phillips, 0. C.. ; Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy
Account: s5940188
Reproduction Theories 707
'-
0 imperative of social order and, in general, the inter- Gramsci rejected the economic determinism of
ests of society as a whole. According to functional- orthodox Marxism, arguing that even though class
ism, societies are like living organisms that need to was a major factor in socialization, individuals had
sustain and reproduce themselves, and their struc- some choice in how they interacted with the edu-
tures and systems that fulfill vital functions are inter- cational system. He emphasized the role of human
related, like the organs in a living animal. As alluded agency and creative human action in historical
to earlier, the educational system had the function of development and viewed culture as the mediator
ensuring that members of a society had the knowl- between structural inequality and individual agency.
edge and skills necessary to maintain and reproduce Gramsci believed that for the working class to chal-
its social and economic institutions. lenge the hegemony of the capitalists, they would
From this liberal perspective, educational expan- need to organize ideological alliances with other
sion was part of a process of democratization that societal groups supportive of the interests of the
resulted in social mobility. In contrast, conflict theo- working class-a counter-hegemony.
ries that emerged as part of the revival of Marxist
and neo-Weberian conflict sociologies in the late The Frankfurt School
1960s sought to reveal the broken promises of lib- Orthodox Marxist determinism was also rejected
eral reform. by the Frankfurt school, a group of "critical theo-
rists" who initially worked within the framework of
Social Reproduction and Marxist Thought the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research after Max
Marx introduced the topic of social reproduction Horkheimer became its director in 1930. More pes-
in passing to refer to the noneconomic precondi- simistic than Grarnsci, early Frankfurt school criti-
tions of economic reproduction, starting with the cal theorists proposed a theory of culture industries
social reproduction of labor power itself in institu- whereby capitalism produced forms of popular cul-
tions such as the family and education in a society's ture that functioned to pacify the masses and encour-
superstructure. The term reproduction theory is aged them to adjust to the "humiliating conditions"
most closely associated with approaches-initially of their lives. Led by Theodor Adorno and Herbert
of neo-Marxist inspiration-that viewed education Marcuse, they argued that in the 20th century the
as part of a cultural superstructure that functioned mass media had become a new source of ideological
to reproduce and maintain social structures and pat- reproduction that was reinforced by a positivist edu-
terns of relations between classes in the interest of cational culture that reduced all research and knowl-
the dominant capitalist class. edge to the model of the quantitative methodology
The full implications of the neo-Marxist approach of the natural sciences. As Marcuse famously sug-
were not explored in depth until two independent gested, the result was a "one-dimensional" society in
theoretical innovations in the 1930s, though their which critique was no longer possible.
reception was delayed until the late 1960s, largely
because of World War IT and its aftermath. Theories of Reproduction in Education,
1970s to 1980s
Antonio Gramsci
The canonical texts that founded reproduction
The Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci theory in education appeared in rapid succession
(1891-1937) developed a theory of cultural repro- from 1970 to 1977, a confusing process that was
duction based on the concepts of hegemony and influentially clarified by a critical differentiation of
counter-hegemonic resistance. He viewed hegemony three types by Henry Giroux in a journal article in
as a form of control in which intellectual and moral 1983: (1) economic reproduction theories, (2) cul-
leadership made domination seem "natural" to the tural reproduction theories, and (3) emergent state-
dominated. Cultural hegemony refers to an entire hegemonic theories of resistance.
system of beliefs and values that was accepted, or
consented to, by the working class even though it Economic Reproduction Theories
was an ideology that did not serve their interests
Louis Althusser
but rather supported the power of the ruling class.
Thus, capitalist social reproduction in civil society The French neo-Marxist philosopher Louis
was based not only on coercion but also on consent. Althusser (1918-1990) proposed the first version
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AN: 800416 ; Phillips, D. C.. ; Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy
Account : s5940188
708 Reproduction Theories
'-
0 of economic reproductive theory that claimed to Cultural Reproduction Theories
overcome economic determinism by recognizing Pierre Bourdieu
the relative autonomy of the ideological superstruc-
tures, contrasting the "repressive state apparatus" The origin of cultural reproduction theories
that exerts physical control over individuals with the is associated primarily with the French sociolo-
-~ "ideological state apparatus" composed of institu- gist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), especially his
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a. tions such as religion, education, and law. Since the Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture
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economic sphere was still determinant "in the last (1970/1977) coauthored with Jean-Claude Passeron.
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AN: 800416 ; Phillips, 0. C.. ; Encyclopedia of Educational Theo ry and Philosophy
Account: s5940188
Reproduction Theories 709
.._
0 (1979) a powerful analysis of educational expansion More Recent Debates: Post-1980s
as part of a process of credential inflation that had
Several historical developments contributed to the
more to do with status group competition for jobs
subsequent partial waning and rethinking of repro-
than with technical skill. The reception of Bourdieu's
duction theories in education: the further discredit-
approach in education from the 1970s into the
ing of Marxism following the collapse of the Soviet
1990s, however, was limited, focusing on cultural
bloc; postmodernist critiques of the metanarratives
capital as a predictor of educational outcomes and
of universalizing theory; the rise of neoliberal ide-
largely without reference to his subsequent publica-
ologies, which became the new polemical target
tions. Furthermore, Bourdieu's cultural reproduction
of educational reproduction theories; and the suc-
theory also became the target of emerging theories
cess of neoliberal policies in generally stalemating
of resistance that criticized the structuralism of both
the advance of the radical democratic and populist
economic and cultural reproduction theories and
visions of transformative resistance. Nevertheless,
their failure to provide an adequate understanding ·
all of the earlier approaches continued to have
of agency and resistance.
adherents and, though originating in research pub-
lished in French and English, have now influenced
State-Hegemonic Reproduction Theories educational research traditions worldwide. In the
State-hegemonic reproductive theories strongly English-speaking world, however, state-hegemonic
influenced by Gramsci emerged in the wake of the resistance theories based on the relative equivalence
publication in England of Paul Willis's ethnographic of class, race, and gender (now often interpreted
study, Learning to Labor: How Working Class as relations of "intersectionality") have remained
Kids Get Working Class jobs (1977). The book the most influential, as evident in the writings of
became widely acknowledged as a turning point Apple and his diverse collaborators. The continuing
in reproduction theory-and an implicit refutation development of resistance theories arose from con-
of Bourdieu- because of its ethnographic integra- structively responding to the challenges of postmod-
tion of a structural theory of reproduction with a ernism, as well as incorporating critiques of class
more phenomenological, agent-oriented study of reductionism developed in feminist and race theories
resistance on the part of English working-class male influenced by critical social theory and poststruc-
adolescents. Such resistance primarily took the form turalist theories of identity and difference, including
of negative reactions to schools and the learning thP. nsP. of Mic.hP.l Fonc.:::~nlt'.c; thP.01:y of power and
of intellectual skills, a self-destructive process that knowledge to understand aspects of reproductive
contributed to both the lowering of expectations processes, especially the marginalization of the per-
in working-class schools and a fatalistic sense of spectives and knowledge of subordinated groups.
being destined for manual working-class jobs. Ev~n State-hegemonic theories have also responded to
though the resistance characteristic of the adoles- globalization by addressing transnational social
cent males studied by Willis largely served to ensure reproduction in comparative analysis of the varie-
poor academic performance that led to working- ties of capitalism not only within but also outside the
class jobs, his analysis opened the door to more West. Nevertheless, some have continued to defend
political interpretations. Henry Giroux's Theory and Marxist economic reproductive approaches and the
Resistance in Education (1983) provided an influen- primacy of the capital relation, rejecting theories
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"'c: tique of class reductionism that envisioned a critical ing too much to postmodernism, multiculturalism,
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theory of schooling in the United States based on a
utopian "language of possibility" inspired by Paulo
and identity politics. Another significant develop-
ment has been a remarkable revival of interest in the
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~ Freire's critical pedagogy. Michael Apple, as part of work of Bourdieu.
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rethinking his earlier economic Marxist, class-based
«....,
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perspective, also converged on a similar position
.., >-
. . . g. grounded in a theory of counter-hegemonic popu- A new interdisciplinary reception of Bourdieu emerged
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lar movements and democratic struggles. Critics in the late 1990s and accelerated in the decade after
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questioned, however, the hope placed by resistance his death. By 2007, he had become the second most
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c. c. theories on the potential of education to transform cited academic author in the world, just behind
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u"' society. Foucault and somewhat ahead of Jacques Derrida
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AN: 800416 ; Phillips, D. C.. ; Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy
Account: s5940188
710 Reproduction Theories
.... (Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge). A central though earlier efforts to apply the concept of cul-
0
concern has been locating the development of his tural capital drew rather literally on his French
work in relation to his own sociologically interpreted high-culture examples from the 1960s (e.g., museum
autobiographical reflections: early years in provincial attendance), more recent work has focused on the
southwestern France; elite training in philosophy in culturally specific expectations of different educa-
Paris, followed by a turn to structuralist anthropology tional systems, drawing on both qualitative and
and fieldwork in Algeria (recently recognized as the quantitative comparative methods. As well, aware-
source of a "postcolonial Bourdieu"); a break with ness of his later work has opened up a wide range of
structuralism in the late 1960s-evident in a turn to new educational topics.
a reflexive sociology based on synthesizing the work Finally, despite earlier criticism that he neglected
of Marx, Weber, and Durkheirn-and the formation resistance, Bourdieu's project was based on the
of a sociological research group in Paris; election to a assumption that critical sociology contributed to
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chair in sociology at the College de France in 1981; liberation by revealing misrecognition, suggesting
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and a turn to political activism as a public intellectual
in the 1990s until his death in 2002 .
greater affinities with state-hegemonic resistance the-
ories than previously realized. Moreover, his turn to
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From this revised perspective, it is now clear a critique of neoliberalism as a public intellectual in
that the earlier reliance of educational researchers the 1990s implied recognition of a changed histori-
on the 1970 book on reproduction, Reproduction cal context, even though a posthumous compilation
in Education, Society and Culture, contributed to of texts relating to his activist interventions reveals
unfortunate misreadings. As Bourdieu himself noted, the continuity of his concerns. Nevertheless, more
it was a "work of youth" that still had vestiges of recent discussions have raised questions about the
structuralism, limitations that were reinforced by consistency of his conception of practice, especially
being read independently of the empirical research the tension between the relativism of the cultural
on which it was based, as well as both his reflexive arbitrary and his defense of scientific universaliza-
sociology and the theory of cultural and educational tion and the autonomous "collective intellectual" in
reproduction, the foundations of which appeared research. The claim that the curriculum-especially
in his Outline of a Theory of Practice (1972/1977) in the humanities-is arbitrary and ideological
and his later work, which included two books on rather than having a universal meaning or economic
French elite higher education: Homo Academicus function has the paradoxical effect of potentially
(1984/1988) and The State Nobility (1989/1996). legitimating neoliberal efforts to undermine uni-
Beyond his book on Distinction (1979/1984 ), a versity autonomy by reorienting higher education
widely discussed sociology of artistic taste, later and research to focus primarily on the supposed
publications also included topics such as the logic needs of the economy. Particular attention has also
of practice, cultural production (especially art and been given to extending and revising his approach
literature), masculine domination, social structures by clarifying the conditions under which habituses
of the economy, the state and power, television, and change-as in the case of Bourdieu's own tormented
a sociological autobiography. "cleft habitus" as an ambivalent provincial outsider
Several issues can be singled out in relation to in Paris-and the implications for theories of social
educational reproduction theory. As against his movements and the public sphere.
alleged structuralism, Bourdieu's mature sociologi-
Raymond A. Morrow
cal position is now often characterized as a form
of poststructuralism, or what he called "genetic See also Apple, Michael; Capital: Cultural, Symbolic, and
structuralism" or "constructivist structuralism," Social; Code Theory: Basil Bernstein; Critical Theory;
that gives primacy to "strategies" over structuralist Equality of Educational Opportunity; Freire, Paulo:
"rules." Furthermore, the resulting reflexive sociol- Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Critical Pedagogy;
ogy is grounded in a radical historicist reflexivity Hidden Curriculum; Marx, Karl; Social Class
and comparative methodology.
With respect to the frequent charge that he over-
generalized the case of French education, many now Further Readings
argue that he provided the reflexive tools necessary Atkinson, W. (2012). Reproduction revisited:
for the historicist translation and respecification Comprehending complex educational trajectories.
necessary for comparative research. For example, Sociological Review, 60(4), 735-753.
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AN: 800416 ; Phillips, D. C.. ; Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy
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Rhetorical Canons 711