GEOG20011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Bijnor District, Amartya Sen, Pierre Bourdieu
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
LECTURE 4: EDUCATION & INEQUALITY (Craig Jeffrey)
Purposes of Education
• Self-enlightenment
• Institutionalisation
• Skills, employment
• Cultural capital
• Networking resources – mobility
• Alleviation of poverty
• Different for the individual and society – can be good or bad for both
EDUCATION & INEQUALITY
• Major area of debate
• Main inequalities: class, gender, race
• Education optimists v education pessimists – types of commentators
• Range of methods used by commentators: big data, qualitative studies,
ethnography
• Education is a necessary, but not a sufficient basis for social mobility
o Other things are required to ensure education achieves what it sets out to
Amartya Sen
Pierre Bourdieu
Theory
• Education is an intrinsic good
• Education is an instrumental good: basis
for social mobility & political
participation – provides other goods
• Education will lead to development, but
only when conditions are right – circular
argument
• Sen: Important in terms of thinking
around public policy in India
• Education is a double problem: (1)
denies access to poor or relegates them
within the system and (2) instils a
dominant ideology
• Education introduces & reinforces
inequality within society – esp. on class
inequalities
• Developed a critical stance on
education
Lecture Conclusions
• Sen may work, but only where societies
are already equal
• Education may be necessary, but not a
sufficient basis for mobility
• Still argued that an individual must go
and get as much education as possible
• Just be weary of the consequences
UTTAR PRADESH: INDIAN STATE
• Both Sen & Bourdieu are important in understanding different aspects of this case
• Pop: 200 million, most populous state in India
• Very poor development, aligned with sub-Saharan India
• Low investment in education
• Inequalities: class, caste and gender inequalities
Research 2000-2002
2 main research questions
• Why are people investing in education?
• Has education reduced inequalities?
Results
• Interviewed young people & parents in villages
• Education is seen locally as empowering (supports Sen)
• Impact of education is limited because of depth of inequalities
Dalit (religion – caste inequality) disadvantage: less able to enrol & remain in school
• Of 100 children starting primary, only 3 make it to secondary school
• Cost – could not access private, access
• Discrimination in school, weren’t allowed to use resources/toilets
• Hard to get jobs after school
• Drawn into dominant culture – tried to change their beliefs and values
• Yet, educated could get good jobs & became role models, strong focus on politics
Inequalities within Education
• Access
• What is taught within education
• Ways of merit marking/achieving –
based on inequality
Lecture Aims
• Theorising education &
inequality
• Jeffrey’s research: Uttar
Pradesh, India
Bijnor District
• Agricultural economy
o Sugar cane, wheat & rice
o Desire for off-farm work – trying to
move away from agriculture, esp. for
children
• Rapid privatisation of education
o Two-tier system – serious difference
between private and public education
Document Summary
Purposes of education: networking resources mobility, alleviation of poverty, different for the individual and society can be good or bad for both. Education & inequality: major area of debate, main inequalities: class, gender, race, range of methods used by commentators: big data, qualitative studies, Education optimists v education pessimists types of commentators ethnography. Education is a necessary, but not a sufficient basis for social mobility. Inequalities within education: access, what is taught within education, ways of merit marking/achieving based on inequality, other things are required to ensure education achieves what it sets out to. Education is an instrumental good: basis for social mobility & political participation provides other goods. Education will lead to development, but only when conditions are right circular argument. Sen: important in terms of thinking around public policy in india. Sen may work, but only where societies are already equal. Education may be necessary, but not a sufficient basis for mobility.
