Theories of Gender and Higher Education Oct 2 nd, 2006

What is Higher Education? is education provided by universities and other institutions that award academic degrees, such as university colleges, and liberal arts colleges.

Functionalism-Good points 1. Structural perspective enables analysis to move beyond the level of the classroom or individual school. 2. Links schools to systemic needs of the wider society. 3. Identifies schools as transmitters of knowledge, norms and values and as a selecting mechanism.

Functionalism –Criticisms 1. Overstates the extent to which education serves the 'common good'. Underestimates interests of dominant groups. 2. School a 'black box'. Does not investigate the 'meaning' of education for its participants. 3. Too much emphasis on power of school to shape attitudes. people seen as 'cultural dopes'.

Marxism-Good points 1. Unveils the interests of the dominant and powerful groups in shaping schooling. 2. Reveals the undeclared agenda of schooling. BUT so do functionalists. 3. Documents resistance by students to negative labeling

Marxism-Criticism 1. People treated as 'cultural dopes'. 2. Tends towards conspiracy theory 3. Very value laden (capitalism-no advantages?)

The Social Construction of Schooling Classrooms are the location within which the social structures of class, gender or race and ethnicity are produced. The causal processes involved are the meaningful interactions between people in intimate everyday activities.

Interpretative perspectives… show the complex interaction between background factors such as social class and the routine practices of school. can see how the social structural characteristics of inequality are accomplished through intimate everyday interaction in the classrooms

Higher Ed - Reacculturation the community of educated citizens, of well-rounded, productive, self-aware human beings. initiation into an academic and/or professional knowledge community that typically fulfills some useful social role in the context of the larger society.

Social Constructionist Theory focus on the intimate behaviour of individuals in classrooms can lose sight of the structural contexts in which such interactions are embedded. recognize how structures of capitalism constrain teaching and learning in critical ways. provides ways of seeing how these seemingly external structural factors work, through the activities of people at the level of everyday interaction in various social institutions.

What is Postmodernism? As a cultural phenomenon: –challenging convention –the mixing of styles –tolerance of ambiguity –emphasis on diversity –acceptance (& celebration) of innovation and change –stress on the constructed-ness of reality

Postmodernism & Education Key words: Constructivism: all knowledge is invented or "constructed" in the minds of people Knowledge: ideas and language are created by people, not because they are "true," but rather because they are useful Truth/Reality: Nobody's version of reality can claim to have more objective authority because all versions are merely human creations Power: is circulated (Foucault) through discourses

Discourse an institutionalized way of thinking a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic Power is seen as being circulated through discourse so there is always the possibility for individuals to resist institutional forces

The Postmodernism Classroom The focus is the student's construction of knowledge: shift away from a teacher-centered classroom to a more student-centered environment have minimal structure opportunities for social interaction independent investigations and study expression of creativity provisions for different learning styles students create knowledge, and are no longer forced to bow to the subjugation of traditional objective "knowledge."

Postmodern Values Striving for diversity Equality Tolerance and freedom The importance of creativity The importance of emotions The importance of intuition

Criticisms of Postmodernism Lack of adequate analysis of power (assumes power is something that can be used equally by all classes.) This is especially noted by Marxists Feminists critique it for allowing old ideas of patriarchy to exist in new forms. Offers no solution and therefore can support social and political inaction Education can neither be thought of as inherently transformative, nor inherently oppressive. Rather, it has both a transformative and an oppressive potential, and these are always in contention with each other

Feminist Theory in Education Feminist theory combines both macro and micro perspective. assert that society is based on patriarchy – a hierarchal system of power in which males posses greater economic and social privilege than females

Diversity within Feminist Theory liberal, Marxist, socialist and radical feminist perspectives approach the study of women’s subordination in different ways and are associated with different political strategies for transforming patriarchal structures.

General Points about Feminist Theory Gender is constructed - socially created not biological Sex vs gender - they are not mutually exclusive Scripts of behaviours - learning process gender as performative gender stereotypes *Why not biological? all men and women would be the same, globally and through out time

Gender: is socially created, rather than innately determined. It is generated within the context of a particular social and economic structure and is reproduced and transmitted through a process of learning. is a central organizing factor in society - The consequences of gender inequality are not identical for all groups of women and men. research must analyze the interrelationships among multiple oppressions including sexism, racism, classism, ageism, heterosexism, and ableism.

Feminist theories Let’s go over the handouts