role of education Flashcards
What do Functionalists believe about the role of education?
- Society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus.
- Seen as a structural theory as it claims that social institutions (religion, family, school) perform a number of positive ‘roles’ for society as well as individuals
Durkheim views:
1) Social solidarity
- Individuals must feel themselves to be part of a community.
- The education system creates this by transmitting society’s culture from one generation to the next
- School acts as a ‘society in miniature’ preparing individuals for wider society.
Social solidarity
Durkheim believes that social life would be impossible without social solidarity amongst people.
Durkheim
2) specialist skills
- Argues education teaches us the specialist knowledge and skills that need to play their part in the social division of labour.
- NEW VOCATIONALISM: involves work-related study, learners acquire job- specific knowledge and skills in work- like situations
Parson’s Meritocracy
Meritocracy= where everyone is given an equal opportunity and individuals achieve rewards through their own efforts and ability
- Sees education as playing the role of socialising individuals into accepting shared values of a meritocratic society.
-Therefore everyone achieves their place in society through own efforts and abilities.
- Parsons sees school/ education as a bridge between family and work.
- Bridge is needed because family and society operate on different principles.
- Both wider society and school judge us all the same (universalistic standards)
- So by testing the students and evaluating their results, the schools will be able to match their talents, skills and capacities to the jobs that they would be best suited to. So the school is therefore seen as the major mechanism for role allocation
Parsons, education teaches universalistic values
