Education and Functionalism Flashcards
What is the role of education according to functionalists?
Education is seen as completing 4 main functional prerequisites (things that must be in place for society to function correctly)
1. Social solidarity
2. Specialized division of labour / skills
3. Socialisation
4. Role allocation
Education promotes homogeneity through the hidden and visible curriculum, such as uniforms, exams, assemblies, subjects etc
Hidden curriculum
Informal teaching that takes place within the education system to prepare children for wider society.
What idea did Blau and Duncan add to the 4 main functions of education?
Human capital, or the skills of the worker.
Our modern economy and life depends on this human capital for prosperity.
In a meritocratic system, national prosperity can only be achieved when people’s talents are used effectively.
People are sifted and sorted according to real skills, and then either vocational or academic careers are awarded; this is enabled by education, benefiting the economy and individual.
This idea is very deterministic and structural.
What idea involved with role allocation did Davis and Moore come up with?
Social stratification - they saw education as a means of role allocation through meritocracy.
What is social solidarity?
Durkheim - This concept sees education as a major transmission tool for society’s norms and values. Without ‘essential similarities’ co-operation and social unity, social life would be impossible.
Education helps to make individuals feel part of the wider society providing the glue of value consensus to stick us together.
Schools teach this through the curriculum, which gives people common and shared interest.
What is specialized division of labour (skills)?
Durkheim - Education teaches us the skills needed for future occupations
In industrial society, specialized division of labour exists where people have specific jobs that require specific skills and knowledge.
In pre-industrial society, occupational skills were passed through families, and so there wasn’t a need for this labour division
What is socialization?
Parsons - Education acts as a ‘society in miniature’; it is an agent of secondary socialisation and it helps to pass on universalistic values; by reflecting the operation of society as a whole, the school prepares young people for their adult roles.
Students cross the bridge from particularistic values and ascribed status to gain an understanding of meritocracy, universalistic values and achieved status of schools and therefore wider society.
Schools do this through the informal or hidden curriculum such as assemblies and school rules, teaching the norms and values of wider society such as respect, hierarchy and responsibility.
What is role allocation?
Parsons - the role of education is to sift and sort people according to their talent, with the most talented people securing the best jobs
Education is based off equality of opportunity and if you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame
Schools teach this through sifting and sorting processes such as exams, setting and streaming, with the most talented and skilled students getting the best results and therefore being allocated the jobs must suited to them.
This is meritocracy in action.
Evaluation of Durkheim
- Durkheim assumes that society has a shared culture to be transmitted by the education system. Britain is viewed by some sociologists as being multicultural, and as a result society does not have a single culture for schools to pass on; however, it can be argued that in a multicultural society some shared norms and values are essential to hold society together e.g. belief in tolerance
- Marxists argue the education system serves the interests of the ruling class rather than the whole society
- Some researchers argue that schools emphasize individual competition through exams rather than encouraging working together, cooperation and social solidarity
- He ignores the wants and needs of the individual, and only on producing workers to uphold a functionalist society (structural and deterministic)
Despite these criticisms, Durkheim has laid the foundations for functionalist theories of education.
Evaluation of Parsons
Like Durkheim, Parsons fails to give adequate consideration to the possibility that the values transmitted by the education system may be those who benefit a ruling minority rather than society as a whole.
His view that schools operate on meritocratic principles is open to question as well.
Evaluation of Davis and Moore
- The relationship between academic credentials and occupational reward is not particularly close e.g. income is only weakly linked to educational attainment
- There is considerable doubt about the claim that the education system grades people in terms of ability; it has been argued that intelligence has little effect upon educational attainment
- There is evidence to suggest that social stratification largely prevents the education system from efficiently grading students in terms of ability.
Criticisms of the functionalist view of education - Durkheim
- We don’t all share the same culture and history; we live in a multicultural society due to globalisation and we still use a somewhat applicable ethnocentric curriculum
- Marxists would argue that schools just teach the ruling class rules which serve capitalism rather than the individual or society as a whole
- Schools only encourage competition and individualism through sports days and other activities, rather than encouraging social solidarity, togetherness and co-operation
- Arguably, schools do not teach skills for the workplace - it does teach some behaviours and understanding of society, but not always specific vocational skills and not all curriculum sourced skills are applicable to future careers (however, communication and work ethic are)
Criticisms of the functionalist view of education - Parsons
- We do not all innately have the same views - other people have different opinions and we are all socialised into the same values and norms, regardless of whether or not we agree and they therefore may not always benefit everyone
- The ‘myth of meritocracy’ - evidence suggests intelligence has little to do with attainment; deciding who deserves reward is also unethical (labelling theory)
- Not all students start at the same point and have the same opportunity to achieve, as people from disadvantaged backgrounds have a significant gap in their support system whilst going through education
- Sifting and sorting is an ideology - the proletariat are persuaded to think the rich and powerful have worked harder and have more ability. This leads to acceptance that inequality is just and fair - e.g. having bad GCSE results means you are doomed to fail
