Did you know?

• Ethiopia is the ONLY African country with its own time system and unique calendar.
• Ethiopia is one of a few African countries to have its own alphabet.
• Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation in Africa.
• Ethiopia is one of the OLDEST sites of human existence known to scientists.
• Ethiopia is one of only two countries that were NEVER colonized (in fact, when other African nations received their independence, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag: green, yellow, red).
• Ethiopia has THE largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.
• The LARGEST cave in Africa is located in Ethiopia.
• There are altogether around 80 different ethnic groups (and languages) in Ethiopia.
• Ethiopia has one of the BEST records in the world in long-distance running.

Some of the best Ethiopian long-ditance runners
Source: http://columbusmmug.com/an-african-country-prepares-a-dream-team-at-olympics/

• Ethiopia is the TOP coffee and honey-producing country in Africa. It is also home to the largest livestock population in Africa.

African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Source: http://dreamethiopia.org/content/headquarters-african-union-addis-ababa-ethiopia

• Ethiopia is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Today, Addis Ababa is still the headquarter of the African Union and the UNECA.

• Ethiopia is one of the FIRST Christian countries in the world and the OLDEST Muslim settlement in Africa; And, the spiritual homeland of the RASTAFARI religious movement.

• Ethiopia, which has Africa's second BIGGEST hydro-power potential, is the source of over 85% of the total Nile water flow.

Source: http://www.africa.com/blog/

Let's do this !: Relationship between Sociological Theoretical Pers...

Let's do this !: Relationship between Sociological Theoretical Pers...: Introduction Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” But how are we su...

Relationship between Sociological Theoretical Perspectives and Schooling (part 4 of 4)

References

The following are the references I used for the previous articles of this series (part 1, 2, and 3)

Barakett, J. & Cleghorn A. (2008). Sociology of education : An introductory view from Canada, 

2^nd Edition. Toronto: Pearson.

Bowles S. & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in Capitalist America: Education Reform and theContradictions of Economic Life. New York: Basic Books Inc. pp. 131–132, 147.  Retrieved onOctober 18, 2012 from http://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-5-learning-personalities/bowles-and-gintis-on-schooling-in-capitalist-united-states/

Bellamy, L. (1994). Capital, habitus, field, and practice: An introduction to the work of Pierre 

Bourdieu. In L. Erwin & D. MacLennan (Eds.). pp. 120-134. Sociology of Education Canada, 

Toronto: Copp, Clark, Longman.

Bernstein, B. (1973). Social Class: language and reproduction. Current Trends in Linguistics, Vol 

12, 473-485

Bourdieu, P. (1973). The forms of capital. In J.G. Richardson, (Ed.). Handbook of Theory and 

Research for the Sociology of Education.  Pp. 241-258. New York: Greenwood Press.

Collins, R. (1977). Functional and conflict theories of educational stratification. In J. Karabel & A. 

H. Halsey (Eds.). pp. 118-136. Power of Ideology in Education. N.Y: Oxford University Press.

Collins, R. (1993). WHAT DOES CONFLICT THEORY PREDICT ABOUT AMERICA'S 

FUTURE? Sociological Perspectives, 36(4), 289-313.

Collins, R. (2004). Conflict theory of educational stratification. In J. Ballantine & Spade (Eds.). 

Schools and Society. Pp. 41-48. Tomson-Wadsworth. 136. New York: Greenwood Press

Davis, K., & Moore, W. E. (1945). SOME PRINCIPLES OF STRATIFICATION. American 

Sociological Review, 10(2), 242-249.

Gintis, H. & Bowles, S. (1981). Contradiction and reproduction in educational theory. In R. Dale et 

al. Schooling and the National Interest. Pp. 45-59. England: The Falmer Press.

Strawn, A. M. (2009). Social Theory in the Function of Education. Petroleum - Gas University Of 

Ploiesti Bulletin, Educational Sciences Series, 61(1), 35-40.

Relationship between Sociological Theoretical Perspectives and Schooling (part 3 of 4)

         Now that I have described the key messages of each theorist and have illustrated some of their limitations, let us look at something that none of the theories above explain in detail, but mention nonetheless: The self. Status groups, cultural capital, correspondence theory or language codes mean little if we do not first focus on the self. Mead’s socialization theory deals with the development of the self—the me and the I—which represent societal attitudes and individuality of the person (Barakett & Cleghorn, 2008). This development is done through language and social interaction. Our environment shapes our self, and in this environment, the first individual a baby encounters and has frequent interaction with is the significant other. This is how the child gets his/her first conversations, and thus social experience (Barakett & Cleghorn, 2008). Hence, the child starts to communicate and starts to see the world through certain images that are called symbolic representation. Needless to say, our primary socialization occurs in the family (the first people we interact with). Then, comes school which is our secondary socialization process, followed by our peers and finally the media. All these are part of our socialization process; they shape our values and belief systems.

Conclusion

The objective of this article was to illustrate the link between prominent sociological theories and the school system. In order to do that, I started with a short historical background of 1940’s 1950’s and then introduced the functionalist theory. Second, I presented the works of Collins, Bourdieu, Bowles and Gintis, and finally Bernstein. In this section, I discussed their key messages, talked about the limitation of the theories and illustrated how each theory differed or related to each other. Based on these theories, I finished by explaining how schooling was linked to the socialization process and how it affected individuals and schooling. For that, I focused on Mead’s Socialization Theory.

I mentioned Nelson Mandela’s quote in the beginning of this paper: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Despite the fact that our school system may not allow us to do that yet, it is important that we remember that socialization starts with the self, at home, and that we can base the core of our identity there so that future students are capable of becoming agents of social change.

This is the end of part 3. Please read part 4 to find all the references used in these series (part 1, 2 and 3).