Education - Functions

Question 1

What 4 roles of education do Functionalists believe in?

Answer 1

Social solidarity (Durkheim)
Teaching specialist skills (Durkheim)
Role allocation (Davis & Moore)
Meritocracy (Parsons)

Question 2

What is social solidarity?

Answer 2

Education teaches society’s culture, norms and values (value consensus). Works like society in mini.

Question 3

What is teaching specialist skills?

Answer 3

Being taught basic numeracy/literacy to function in society.

Question 4

What is meritocracy?

Answer 4

Success = talent + effort.
Judged on universalistic standards.
Status is achieved, not ascribed.

Question 5

What is role allocation?

Answer 5

Pushing students into work depending on their skill set, by sift and sort.

Question 6

What is the formal curriculum?

Answer 6

Lessons schools explicitly teach, in classrooms etc.

Question 7

What is the hidden curriculum?

Answer 7

What school teaches indirectly, manners and social norms.

Question 8

Pros of social solidarity.

Answer 8

Assemblies, large class sizes, sports team etc contribute to community feel.

Question 9

Cons of social solidarity.

Answer 9

Ignores negative experiences (bullying) that alienate students.

Question 10

Pros of specialist skills.

Answer 10

National curriculum men’s everybody gets the same basic skills.
Higher education offer more specialist training.

Question 11

Cons of specialist skills.

Answer 11

Compulsory education does not teach specialist skills (carpentry etc) enough.

Question 12

Pros of meritocracy.

Answer 12

Universal standards of judgement with same value in any institution.
Education is offered to everyone for free.

Question 13

Cons of meritocracy.

Answer 13

Ignores some skills/subjects and prefers others.

There are some schools which only benefit the wealthy.

Question 14

Pros of role allocation.

Answer 14

Large range of choice after GCSEs to help choose the right path.

Question 15

Cons of role allocation.

Answer 15

Students are told to do what they’re good at, not what they enjoy.
Most subjects and jobs arent included in subject choice.

Question 16

What 4 functions of education to Marxists believe in?

Answer 16

Ideological state apparatus (Althusser)
Reproduction of class inequalities (Bourdieu)
Long shadow or work (Bowles & Gintis)
Repression and hegemonic control (Illich & Freire)

Question 17

What is ideological state apparatus?

Answer 17

State using education system to convince working class the system is fair.

Question 18

What is the reproduction of class inequalities?

Answer 18

The working class have the wrong habitus/cultural capital to understand the ruling class school system - inequality gets enforced.

Question 19

What is the long shadow of work?

Answer 19

School mirrors the workforce (correspondence principle).

Question 20

Give 3 examples of the correspondence principle.

Answer 20

1. Students work for grades not learning, adults work for money not experience.
2. Students do repetitive tasks at schools, adults do repetitive tasks at work.
3. Students are powerless in their school day decisions, adults are powerless in their job decisions.
4. Students are taught different subjects and told to specialise, adults are specialised.

Question 21

What is repression and hegemonic control?

Answer 21

Schools promote conformity and acceptance of how life is, people who don’t conform get higher education.

Question 22

Pros of Marxist theory

Answer 22

Education system is controlled by those with upper class habitus.

Question 23

Cons of Marxist functions

Answer 23

Social mobility - you don’t have to stay in a poor family just because you were born into it.