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Response and Reflection
Randall, C. (1971).
Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification,
American Sociological Review, 36 , pp. 1002-1019.
This article hit a soft spot in my value system and overarching
perspective of higher education. The article, written in 1971 and
thus outdated to some degree, addresses social stratification in
relation to education and provides to competing theories to explain the
phenomena: technical-function theory, and social conflict theory.
The technical-function theory describes the need for higher
education with respect to advances in technology and greater skills
demanded in the workforce. In contrast, the the social conflict
theory suggests education is often used as a tool for selectivity and
that the "elite" will use education to undermined the laymen.
The authors provide more evidence in support of social conflict theory,
which makes sense to me because it relates to self-interest. In
my experience, people seek more (of almost anything), and once
attained, build controls in their human systems to protect themselves
from loosing whatever they have gained. For example, the authors
discuss professions and professional organizations developing
certification or licensing as a means to protect their careers.
The authors draw tremendously from the work of Max Weber,
the researcher given credit for the modern day bureaucracy in
explaining that groups derive status from three primary areas: economic
situation, power position, and cultural conditions. These areas
are discussed with respect to the theory of social conflict.
I felt the authors state a few things as factual that may not be
factual relationships. For instance, while discussing the
technical-function theory, the authors draw from previous research that
attempts to demonstrate that higher education, essentially, has little
effect on the productivity of a workforce. My first problem with
this statement is that they provide loose definitions of productivity
when they draw from previous research. They also make the
assertion the more highly educated people are sometimes less
productive. Again, the definition of productivity again comes
into play. While I do not discount the idea that more highly
educated individuals may be less productive, I do question the context.
If productivity in this case is measured without accounting for
quality (also very difficult to measure), than these statements are, in
my opinion, useless. It is more than conceivable that more highly
educated individuals will seek a higher degree of quality and thus be
less productive if productivity is not measured accounting for quality.
With respect to the social conflict theory, I find some of their points
to be moot. For example, the authors spend a tremendous amount of
time explaining why the social conflict theory has more testable
evidence than the prior. One of their points relates to the
technical skills associated with a job position, and how technical
skills for a job position are not measurable, and how individuals at
"higher levels" will protect their positions. However, the
authors provide no discussion about the different levels of an
organization with respect to there skills. The levels of an
organization may include: operational, tactical, and strategical.
There are more technical skills required at an operational level
than at a strategical level. The authors do not clearly
acknowledge this.
Overall, I found this article to be very informing being that I have
not studied this type of material in my academic career. I also
find some of it disturbing. Obviously, the year of the
publication plays an important role. I was not even born or
conceived at the year of publication which may explain why some of the
ideas seem so foreign to me. Regardless, I think both of these
theories have validity, and would attempt to explain the phenomena
using both. Coming from a field that does require a great deal of
training, I would probably like to believe the technical-functional
theory more. Conducting a similar study in this era may provide
more meaning. |