the role of education

Question 1

functionalist view of education - social solidarity

Answer 1

• Durkheim
• Society needs a sense of solidarity, without it social life and cooperation would be unobtainable as everyone would be pursuing their own desires
• Education systems transmits society’s culture from one gen to the next

Question 2

What is meant by ‘Meritocracy’

Answer 2

Meritocracy refers to a society where
jobs and pay are allocated on the basis of people’s individual talents, abilities, qualifications and skills

Question 3

Functionalist view of education - Meritocracy

Answer 3

Parsons
- School is an important place for secondary socialisation - acting as a bridge between the family and wider society
- Within the family, the child is judged by particularistic standards (rules that only apply to them). They also have an
ascribed status (fixed at birth)
- In school and wider society we are all judged by the same universalistic standards. For example in society the same
laws apply to everyone. In school each pupil is judged against the same standards

Question 4

Functionalist view of education - Roll Allocation

Answer 4

Davis and Moore
- education as a device for selection and role allocation
- inequality is necessary to ensure that the most important roles in society are filled by the most talented people
- inefficient and dangerous to have less able people performing roles such as surgeon or airline pilot. Not everyone
is equally talented so society has to offer a high reward for these jobs. This will encourage everyone to compete
for them and society can then select the most talented individuals for these positions.
Education plays a key part in this process as it acts as a proving ground for ability. The most able gain the highest
qualifications which gives them entry to the most important jobs in society

Question 5

evaluation of the functionalist perspective - criticism of Davis and Moore

Answer 5

Tumin (1953) criticises Davis and Moore for putting forward a circular argument. How do we know that a job is
important? Answer: because it is highly rewarded. Why some jobs are more highly rewarded? Answer: because it
is important.