Functionalist view of EDUCATION Flashcards
What is Durkheim’s two main function of education?
1) To create social solidarity
2) To teach specialist skills
What is Achieved status ?
A status that is achieved through hard work.
What is Ascribed status?
A status that is fixed by birth.
What is meritocracy?
An education system in which everyone has the equal opportunity to succeed.
What is collective conscience?
Individual feel like part of a community or single body.
What is social solidarity?
A shared belief, we all think in the same way.
What is particularistic standards?
Rules that only apply to one child.
What is universalistic standards?
Rules that apply to all children in the school.
What is role allocation?
Selecting students for future work roles by assessing their skills.
What is the bridge between the family and society?
Education is the link between the family and society.
What does education prepare you for?
Prepares you for the wider society, as you learn norms and values and skills for a work space, E.g. T-levels teaches you practical work whilst also teaching theory.
Two criticism of Durkheim?
1)Marxist would criticise as they believe education is there to uphold capitalism by allowing the bourgeoisie to succeed and keeping workers poorly educated and in low paid jobs.
2)Durkheim’s theory is no longer relevant to our multi-cultural society as his theory of promoting social solidarity doesn’t highlight how faith schools teach the values of a specific religion rather than the values of a whole society.
How does school identify your skills?
Through exams because some people are set to fail and many are set to pass.
What is parsons theory?
He believes that school acts as a bridge between the family and wider society.
He believes that we need this bridge as families and society operate in different sets of principles and to cope in wider society children need to learn how to manage in the wider society.
Criticisms of parson
1) There is some evidence that social background results in students being treated differently. Social class and ethnicity may result in poorer results due to lower expectations rather than lower ability.
2) Some schools only teach values of their faith which may not be universalistic.
3) School rules may not always apply in wider society, some sociologists (Marxist) do not believe in meritocracy.
