SA 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Jeremy Bentham, Grade Inflation, Egerton Ryerson

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Sociology and Anthropology
• Course: SA 150
• Professor: Lindsey Freeman

Document Summary

Education is one of the most important institutions in society due to its influence on such factors as socialization, status, social order, and economic productivity. Education is an important means for promoting ideas among impressionable youth. Our youth are taught by strangers, and in some ways, become strangers to their parents through the process of formal education. In relationships with any institutions, education included, there can be a disconnect. One way to think about this disconnect is with durkheim"s theory of anomie: a state of confusion caused when the bond between individuals and social institutions break down. For durkheim anomie was a prevalent modern state. Before the industrial revolution, there was no education for the masses. It was in the interest of the ruling elite to keep the population illiterate so its authority could not be challenged. The industrial revolution demanded a more disciplined and literate workforce; consequently, industrialization and public education became interdependent.