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Paper short abstract:

The educational system functions as a cultural mediator, and unequal "effects are built within schools" via cultural reproduction. Implicit biases, cultural assumptions, and ideological elements embedded in the curriculum contribute to the reproduction of societal inequalities.

Paper long abstract:

This study examines the role of education and its mechanisms of cultural distribution within society, focusing on education as a pivotal institution. It underscores the role of educational institutions and state policy in preserving and generating knowledge, drawing on Antonio Gramsci's insights to highlight their contribution to ideological dominance. The key questions posed regarding the content taught in schools revolve around the social functions of knowledge and the role of textbooks in producing the domains of objects and rituals of truth. This study seeks to explore the intricate interplay between curricular knowledge and social relations within classrooms, emphasizing schools' involvement in social and economic reproduction and the distribution of cultural capital. Through the content analysis of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) social sciences books from classes VIII to XII, this paper explicates how ideological reproduction takes place through the curriculum. The focus is on revealing how educational institutions have evolved into sites where children from diverse backgrounds are expected to assimilate the necessary cultural norms of the educational system. By critically analyzing the NCERT social sciences curriculum, this study seeks to shed light on how the educational system functions as a cultural mediator, in how unequal "effects are built within schools" via cultural reproduction. It aims to identify the implicit biases, cultural assumptions, and ideological elements embedded in the curriculum that may contribute to the reproduction of societal inequalities.