Edukacja jako podstawa systemu stratyfikacji w społeczeństwie postindustrialnym w koncepcji Randalla Collinsa

Abstract

In this article are presented the opinions of Randall Collins on the educational system (and in this context — the development of the system of educational certificates) as a factor in the changes in the social structure. In explaining the genesis and role of educational systems Collins goes beyond the functional interpretation and also the neoMarxist point of view; making use of historical comparative analysis, the role of the educational system is demonstrated in the satisfying of three types of needs — in the range of practical skills, solidarity and status of the class group and also political control via the state bureaucratic services. R. Collins points out that these needs can be perceived in mutual reactions with the various sources of feasible offers, with whom they form a specific kind of market. Within this market there take place dynamic processes of inflation and deflation of the values of educational certificates; the cultural „goods” market behaves similary as the material goods market. Perceiving education in a wide historical perspective leads us — in the opinion of Collins — to conceptualisation of social stratification, in which the fight for domination becomes similar to the economic system not only in the sphere of the material base but also in the cultural sphere.