Functionalists believe that education is a value consensus, which means that the majority of a society agree with this statement. For example, inadvertently, people in the UK agree that wearing clothes is a norm as is education. Education has many purposes such as secondary socialisation of children and allocation of roles, because of the meritocracy which education is also seen as.…
The functionalist views on the education/school is that it prepares us for the future e.g. jobs. Talcott Parsons says that school is the bridge to the real world, in the time we are in school it conditions us to behave the way we are expected to behave in life. School teaches us the norms and values that we need for the future, Emile Durkheim believes that by teaching children history we a creating them so see the bigger picture, making people work as a team a giving a sense of commitment. He also argues that education teaches children the skills they need to know to do their part in society. The weakness in his theory is that he never tested it out, he just said what he believed was right. All functionalist believe that we are in a meritocratic society and that children are rewarded on their skills and ability, not there social class.…
Functionalists suggest there are three main objectives of the education system. One function is to provide secondary socialisation in addition to the family’s role of primary socialisation. Through a formal and hidden curriculum pupils are taught societies norms and values. A second objective of the education system is to teach skills which are necessary for success in the workplace in modern society. These skills range from basic requirements such as reading and writing to skills which are needed to be able to perform specific jobs. The third role is to offer qualifications through assessments and examinations which enable a student to get a job in line with their individual talents.…
Marxists take a critical view of the role of education. Capitalist society is essentially a two-class system, with a ruling class exploiting the working class. Marxist see education as being run in the interests if the ruling class. For example, Althusser argues that education is an important ideological state apparatus that helps to control people’s ideas and beliefs. He suggests education has to purposes. It reproduces class inequalities through the generations by ensuring that most working-class pupils experience education failure. Education also legitimates this inequality, persuading the working class to accept educational and social inequalities. Other Marxists have also pointed to the existence of a hidden curriculum in schools.…
Education according to Emilie Durkheim (1903) consists of two main functions, creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills. Social solidarity is the sense of being part of a group or society. Functionalists believe this is key to making education run accordingly as without social solidarity people would only self indulge in their own desires. Education helps to create social solidarity as it helps transmit societies culture, beliefs and values from ‘generation to generation‘keeping society running correspondingly. Schools also act in preparing children for society in real life by teaching the concepts of working together with people you do not always no. this links with working as in work you have to work coherently with people who you will not know.…
All sociologists accept that education is important in society as people receive 15000 hours of compulsory education. However, they have different opinions about the role of education in society. The originator of the functionalist ideology, Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) argued that education is an agent of secondary socialisation which transmits norms, values and roles (value consensus) and acts as a bridge between family and the whole social system. He claims pupils should see themselves as part of a nation by learning of certain subjects which can establish a common political identity for social solidarity, i.e. history, so pupils can see similarities between themselves and the past society.…
Like the functionalists, Marxists agree that education is functional in that it maintains the dominance of certain powerful groups in society. Unlike the functionalists, however, Marxists do not believe that it works for the…
Education is defined in our textbook as the social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values. In my opinion, there couldn’t be a better way to describe education. (Macionis, John J. Sociology, 13ed, page 516) It teaches us the facts on history, math, English and other basic subjects while quietly teaching us the way we are supposed to act, what is considered right and wrong, and general values and norms the system wants us to incorporate. On the darker side, it teaches us how we are divided among our peers, how we separate and categorize each other - sometimes for the worse. Even though those things aren’t in the curriculum, we may learn them more than the lessons that are in the curriculum.…
A structural functionalism theorist would argue that, education is necessary in society as it provides us with a sense of who we are. Education functions as a method in which people are placed into society. Students are identified by teachers as intelligent and motivated or less bright. These students are taught at the level that is best for them. (Treviño 2014). Therefore, they are prepared in the most appropriate way possible for their life after education. Meritocracy exists in society and those that work hard are able to advance in society (Treviño 2014). Being able to advance in society requires hard work and ability, therefore, inequality in the education system is necessary for functioning of society because the more intelligent students are allowed to press forward.…
Schools have a massive affect on the pupils achievments in education meaning that the teachers have a massive impact as what they are teaching the student will benefit them when they are taking their test which will prove if the student is benefitting from what they are being taught or if they or not taking nothing in,…
For the Functionalists, education performs a positive function for all individuals in society and has a powerful influence over it. The education system serves the needs of an industrial society by providing a more advanced division of labour; socialising new generations into societies shared norms and values and, according to meritocratic criteria, allocates roles in. Education supposedly meets societies through three related economic roles; socialisation; allocation and vocational training.…
Education is a vital system in most societies, and is compulsory for all children up to the age of 16 in Britain. There are many different ideas as to why education is so important and the functions it fulfills within society, some more positive than others. Although some people say that education is only intended to teach the individual enough knowledge to pass exams and start a career, most sociologists believe it has functions which go beyond this surface view and in some way affect or serve society as a whole as well as the individual. An ideology is false view of society which is presented to the members of that society in order to maintain stability within it. Beyond the formal curriculum which students learn in education, Marxists believe an ideology is also taught, in order to maintain a class stratified society.…
Functionalist’s perspective on education is based on the consensus theory of equality. They tend to believe that education helps to maintain society by socialising young people with the value of achievement, competition and equality of opportunity. Education also teaches the skills to help the economy. For example, literacy, numeracy and IT for particular occupations. Role allocation is all part of this; education allocates people to the most appropriate jobs of their talents, using examinations and qualifications. Durkheim identified two main functions of education: creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills.…
Many sociologists have observed that there is a strong relationship between education and society. This observation is borne out of the fact that it is not possible to separate or draw any line of demarcation between the two concepts. This is because of the fact that what happens to the educational system undoubtedly affects the society, the young in its own image.…
The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. It is most concerned with the public schooling systems of modern industrial societies, including the expansion of higher, further, adult, and continuing education.…