Functionalism key words Flashcards
Social solidarity
Togetherness
Secondary socialisation
The idea that education passes key norms and values of society to students
Socialisation
The process of learning new norms and values
Specialist skills
Education teaches students skills that are needed and desirable in the workplace, like communication and critical thinking
Sifting and sorting
Education puts students on the career path best suited to them based on their efforts and abilities (role allocation)
The bridge
School acts as a bridge between home and the workplace
Myth of meritocracy
The idea that success isn’t just based on ability and effort, but takes gender, ethnicity and class into account too.
Meritocracy
everyone can achieve and succeed based on their efforts and abilities
Rose tinted
Extremely optimistic, ignoring all of the bad aspects of society
Who was the founding father of functionalism?
Durkheim
Who came up with the idea of social solidarity?
Durkheim
Who came up with the idea of secondary socialisation?
Parsons
Who came up with the idea of sifting and sorting?
Davis and Moore
Who came up with the idea of specialist skills?
Durkheim
In what way may functionalism be rose tinted?
Functionalists are excessively optimistic and ignore all bad aspects of society and education like ethnocentrism
