Role of Education: Functionalism Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 5 roles functionalists believe education performs?
A
Social Solidarity
Specialist Skills
Focal socialising agency (inc meritocracy)
Role Allocation
2
Q
Who came up with these roles?
A
Durkheim: specialist skills and social solidarity
Parsons: focal socialising agency (inc meritocracy)
David and Moore: role allocation
3
Q
What is Social Solidarity?
A
- DURKHEIM
- members feeling part of a community
- shares values and beliefs with others
- teaching of shared heritage
- a society in miniature
PREVENTS ANOMIE
4
Q
What is Specialist Skills?
A
- DURKEHIM
- modern economy has a complex division of labour
- each person needs the speacilist skills and knowledge for their role
- education teaches these skills meaning they can play their part in division of labour
5
Q
What is focal socialising agency
A
- PARSONS
- bridge between family and wider society
- particularistic to universalistic standards
- achieved rather than ascribed status
6
Q
What is meritocracy?
A
PARSONS believes this is a part of focal socialising agency as this is present in both home and school
7
Q
What is Role Allocation?
A
- DAVIS AND MOORE
- selecting and allocating pupils for future work roles
- inequality is needed to make sure the most talented jobs go to the most talented people
- education sifts and sorts due to ability
8
Q
What is Human Capital?
A
- BLAU AND DUNCAN
- modern economy relys on using human capital
- workers skills
- argues this will improve productivity by allocating the best job for someone
9
Q
What are evaluations of the functionalist theory?
A
- doesn’t teach specialist skills adequately
- not ample opportunity
- how do we know a job should be rewarded higher
- marxists
- interactionists
- the new right
10
Q
Marxist evaluation?
A
- would argue it transmits capitalist values rather than values of society as a whole
11
Q
Interactionists evaluation?
A
- argues functionalists have an over socialised view of people
- functionalists wrongly assume pupils accept all they are taught and never reject school values
12
Q
New Rights evaluation?
A
argue the education system is not working as not state run
