THE ROLE OF EDUCATION Flashcards
What is Functionalism?
Education plays a part in secondary socialisation
teaches the skills needed in work and by the economy
ALLOCATION function - education sifts and sorts for people for the jobs
Durkheim
TWO BASIC FUNCTIONS
Binds people together - social solidarity
Teaches children to follow the same universalistic rules
Prepares students for work
PARSONS
School is a bridge between family and adult roles in society, schools pass on universal values and values of achievement . The BEST STUDENTS rise to the TOP - meritocratic society
Individual achievement - everyone achieves their status through their own efforts and abilities
equal opportunity - every individual can reach their full potential
DAVIS AND MOORE
Principles of stratification - there has to be a system of unequal rewards to motivate people to train the top positions - complex jobs = higher rewards
FUNCTIONALISTS
Talent + motivation + equal opportunity = higher position in society
Meritocracy is when social rewards are given to talent and effort not the position you were born with
MARXISM
Prepares children for the world of work - treating them like employers
Education legitimizes inequality through ideology
working class are blamed for their poor results
BOWLES AND GINITIS
Students are taught to accept the hierarchy
motivated by grades - motivated by money
Hidden curriculum - passes on a set of normals and values to students which are not directly taught
The myth of meritocracy - success is not on hard work it’s based on class background
WILLIS
Working-class students don’t passively accept the4 system but know that they are set up to fail
ANTI SCHOOL - manual jobs
ALTHUSSER
IDEOLOGICAL STATES APPARATUS - brainwashing parts of society that help you believe in capitalist society
REPRESSIVE STATE APPARATUS - state uses force to stop the rebellion
obedient workforce - legitimation - lies such as meritocracy truth and blame failure on individual not society
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN F AND M
S - Hige impact on the individual which is linked to the economy and work
school = work
D - M EDUCATION helps tp reproduce and legitimise inequality
F VALUES of meritocracy = better lives
CRITICISM OF FUNCTIONALISTS
WHO YOU KNOW is more important than what you know
doesn’t explain conflict - education might serve the interest of groups in values and ideology
differential achievement in terms of class, gender and ethnicity proves that education is not meritocratic
CRITICISM OF MARXISM
Assume people are passive victims - exaggerates how much working-class students are socialised into obedience
don’t look at interaction and social porcess within school
THE NEW RIGHT
Education should provide individual choice
role of business - compete with one another and compete with other schools
state schools = poor standards
Individuals and communities have a variety of different needs
Oppose multiculturalism within education - promote Britishness
CHUBB AND MOORE
State-run education systems are the same for everyone - lower standards, less qualified workforce
Believe that private schools - voucher per student for families = marketization
