EDUCATION - THE FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION

Question 1

the functionalist perspective

Answer 1

DURKHEIM (1903):
->Functionalists like Durkheim (later 19th-20th C.) and Parsons (1951) believe that a value consensus exists amongst most social groups
->this means that most of us share the same culture, we share our norms and values
->education is a key institution that helps to produce these shared norms and values (secondary socialisation)
–>the process of secondary socialisation in education helps maintain social solidarity
–>this means that the masses are generally a united whole, that there is a sense of belonging and that people act in a way to support the greater good
->Durkheim believed that schools acted like a society in miniature. In schools there are fixed rules and discipline instilled in the children. This helps prepare them for adult life.
->Durkheim argued that modern societies had an increasingly specialised division of labour, where people have increasingly diverse jobs requiring specialist skills and knowledge -> it is up to the education system to teach these skills

PARSONS(1961):
->according to Parsons, schools in America instil 2 major values:
->1. the value of equal opportunity
->2. the value of achievement
->this is evident as America became a meritocracy: a system based on individual ability and motivation
->similarly to Durkheim, Parsons suggested that educational institutions act as a “bridge” between home and work
->Parsons argues that at home a child is treated in accordance with the family’s particular norms and values, eg. they are treated like a daughter or a sister
–>but, in society you are treated and judged in terms of universalistic standards that apply to all, regardless of your family ties
–>schools provide this transition - the sae=me standards apply to all students, operating on meritocratic principles

DAVID AND MOORE (1945):
->Davis and Moore, like Parsons, believed the education system was meritocratic
->it “sifts, sorts and selects” individuals based on their ability, motivation and talent, and allocates them to their most appropriate roles in adult life
->by testing and evaluating students, schools help to ensure that the right people do the jobs suited to them, this is called “role allocation”, and is viewed as an essential function if society is to be efficient and fair
->social class inequalities in capitalist society arise from fair competition in education and everyone has an equal chance to succeed - this view is supported by the New Right perspective (Saunders)

Question 2

the New Right

Answer 2

->the New Right argues that a functional society needs:
–>legal equality
–>equality of opportunity
–>but NOT equality of outcome (to motivate people to work harder in a meritocratic society)

->they support the Functionalist view that education can help socialise children through religious assemblies, the National Curriculum, and citizenship lessons

->British sociologist Peter Saunders supports the idea that inequality is necessary to motivate people to do well at school and work hard to get good jobs, insisting that British society is “UNEQUAL BUT FAIR”, and therefore meritocratic
->Saunders also believed that the education system gives pupils more or less equal opportunities to succeed

HOWEVER, there is lots of evidence against society being meritocratic:
->only 7% of people go to private school
->3/4 of judges are privately educated
->1/3 politicians are privately educated
->2/3 members of the House of Lords are privately educated
->these statistics dispel the notion that society is meritocratic, as the majority of students who attend private school are (upper) middle class, influencing those who are employed in the top/most influential jobs
->FURTHERMORE, the very existence of private schools defies the notion of a purely meritocratic society as people’s (wealthy) parents can pay to gain their child’s place

Question 3

Marxist view on the functions of education

Answer 3

->unlike how functionalists view society as being based on value consensus, Marxists see society as being based on class division and exploitation
->Marxists challenge the Functionalist perspective that the education system is meritocratic - often referring to the “myth of meritocracy”
->Marxists claim that middle class children have many advantages in the education system, and argue that education perpetuates class inequality and also legitimises this inequality

->they argue that education primarily serves the needs of a capitalist society
–>it does this ideologically, through controlling people’s beliefs about society
–>this way, the proletariat are kept in a state of false class consciousness so they fail to realise that they are exploited or feel that there’s nothing they can do about it
–>educational institutions are important institutions of social control

->LEGITIMATING INEQUALITY:
->the education system legitimates inequality, promoting the pretence that it offers equlality of opportunity and creates the myth of meritocracy
–>meritocracy s a powerful myth, yet it is essential that members of society believe it
–>capitalist societies are inherently unequal (some more than others)
–>for Marxists, if people didn’t accept the myth of meritocracy it is likely that this would pose a serious risk to the ruling class, threatening their wealth, power, and privilege

ALTHUSSER (1971):
->he suggested that education, along with religion and the media, carried and transmitted the ideas of the powerful in society, thus controlling workers (and pupils)
->his belief was that the two main FUNCTIONS of education are based on maintaining and legitimising class inequality
->the ideological state apparatus: spreading bourgiousie ideology through the curriculum and ensuring that the proletariat remain in a state of false class consciousness
->this leads to the reproduction of class inequality

BOWLES AND GINTIS (1976):
->they argue that capitalism requires a particular type of workforce that is docile and obedient
->they claim that it is the function of the education system to ensure that these workers are properly prepared for their place in the system
->in a study conducted ine New York, Bowles and Gintis claimed that the school rewarded stundents with particular personality traits, whilst those who showed independence and creatvity gained lower grades. This lead to them concluding that schools actually reproduce a similar environment to the workplace by using reward/punishment to encourage a particular set of attitudes
THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM:
->in a similar way to Althusser, for B&G, the main role of the education system is to reproduce labour power, to create a passive, unquestioning, disciplined workforce
->CORRESPONDENCE PRINCIPLE is the theory that there is a very close similarity between the social relationships at school and at work
->this prepares young people for work in capitalist society, teaching the majority to be passive and unquestioning workers of the future
->it does this through what Marxists call the “hidden curriculum” - school prepares people for work

NEO-MARXIST VIEWS:

PAUL WILLIS (1977):
->”Learning to Labour”, carried out in the West Midlands with a group of working class boys (“lads”)
->he found that, instead of being passive, they challenged and rebelled in class, and were scornful of those that conformed, always finding ways to resist the authority. Their attitudes were similar to what you find on the “factor floor”, which they had accepted would be their future occupation
->even in this unconventional way (with the boys resisting authority), school still managed to prepare the “lads” for the sort of mundane, low paid, low skilled jobs they ended up in