Functionalists view of education

Functionalists view of education

1. Functionalism: based on the view that society is a system of interpedendent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus - an agreement among society's members abou what values are important

   • each part of society e.g. the education system. performs a function that helps to maintain society as a whole
   • Dennis Wrong - functionalists have 'over socialised' view of people as mere puppets of society - wrongly imply that pupils accept all they're taught and never reject school values

2. Durkheim

   • Social Solidarity
     • society needs a sense of solidarity - members must feel themselves to be part of a community
       • without this - social life and cooperation would be impossible beacause everyone would persue their own selfish desires
         • education system creates social solidarity by transmitting society's culture - shared beliefs and values
           • it prepares us for life in wider society
   • Specialist Skills
     • education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skills they need to play their part in the social division of labour
       • skills can't be taught by parents - lack specialist knowledge

3. Parsons

   • meriotocracy
     • sees school as a bridge between the family and wider society
       • both school and society judge us all by the same standards - in school - pupil judged by same standard - same exams and same pass mark e.g.
         • in society and education - person's status is achieved - we pass or fail through own efforts
           • he sees school as preparing us for wider society as are both based on meritocratic prinicples - everyone given equal opportuinity - inidivual can achieve rewards through their own efforts

4. Davis and Moore

   • Role allocation
     • argue that inequality is necesarry to ensure more important roles in society are filled by the most talented people
       • not everyone is equally talented so society has to offer higher rewards for higher jobs
         • encourages everyone to compete for jobs and society can select the most talented to fill these positions
           • education plays a part in this process - it is where individuals show what they can do - 'sifts and sorts' us acording to our ability - most able gain the highest qualifications which then gives them entry to the most important and highly rewarded jobs
     • Tumin - circular arguement; how do we know what job is important - highly rewarded - why highly rewarded - because most important