Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life is a 1976 book by the economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, widely regarded as a groundbreaking work in the sociology of education. It argues for a correspondence principle holding that the internal organization of schools mirrors the organization of the capitalist workplace, so that a school's hierarchy running from head teacher down to pupils resembles a firm's hierarchy from managing director down to entry-level workers, and practices such as uniforms and discipline prepare working-class students for the norms of a capitalist workplace. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Core ClaimThe correspondence principle: the internal organization of schools corresponds to the internal organization of the capitalist workforce in its structures, norms and values. 1 FAQs
What criticisms have been made of Bowles and Gintis and their correspondence principle?
Critics say the correspondence principle oversimplifies the link between schooling and the labour market and rests on little research inside schools.
Philip Brown and Hugh Lauder argued in 1991 that Bowles and Gintis simplified the correspondence between education and the labour market, noting that bureaucratic control in work organisations has reduced while team working has grown. Willis, in 1977, argued that they did not carry out detailed research into life in schools and assumed that the hidden curriculum was actually influencing pupils, when many working class pupils showed disrespect for school rules and for teachers.
Sources
1. Schooling in Capitalist America (Wikipedia)
Infobox, pub_date
1976
Lead, sentence 1
the internal organization of schools corresponds to the internal organisation of the capitalist workforce in its structures, norms, and values
Lead paragraph
Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life is a 1976 book by economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis.
In Group: Hidden Curriculum and Social Reproduction Critiques, Lead
Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life is a 1976 book by economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis.
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