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Role and Functions of Education: Functionalism and Marxism - Coggle Diagram
Role and Functions of Education: Functionalism and Marxism
Functionalism
Human Capital means the stock of knowledge, skills, values, habits and creativity that makes someone an economic asset to society
Hidden Curriculum means the informal learning processes that happen in school. It is a side effect of education that teaches students the norms and values of society
Particularistic Values means values and rules which only apply to that particular person in a given situation e.g. home
Universalistic Values means values and rules which apply to all members of society equally
The four functions of education
Socialisation and Social Solidarity
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Durkheim
- the education system meets a functional prerequisite of society by passing on the cultural values of society. This is achieved through hidden curriculum and PSHE lessons. This helps to build social solidarity as it teaches students the core values of society.
Bridge Between Family and Society
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Parsons
- Parsons believed that schools provide a link between the family and wider society which allows students to move from the ascribed status and particularistic values of the home to the meritocratic and universalistic values of wider society
Developing Human Capital
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Schultz
- this suggests that investment in education benefits the wider economy. Education can provide a properly trained, qualified and flexible workforce. They argue that education makes sure that the best and most qualified people end up in jobs that require the most skill
Role Allocation
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Davis and Moore
- the education system provides a means of selecting and sifting people into the social hierarchy. In a meritocratic society, access to jobs and power, wealth and status are directly linked to educational achievement
Evaluation:
ignores aspects of education which are dysfunctional, such as negative conflict
myth of meritocracy - private education
Marxists - hidden curriculum reinforces social inequality and maintains ruling class ideology
Feminists - hidden curriculum maintains and reinforces patriarchy not meritocracy
Wong - functionalists see children as passive puppets of socialisation when the processes is much more complex and involves teacher - pupil relationships
there is a weak link between educational achievement and economic success
New Right View of Education
Role of Education:
similar beliefs to the functionalists but believe that the state takes too much of a role and the fee market policies (Marketisation) would raise standards
schools should compete with one another and parents and pupils should be seen as consumers
Chubb and Moe - Education Vouchers and Parentocracy
Influence of Education Policy:
1980's Vocational Act
1988 Education Reform Act:
1) funding formula
2) league tables
New Labour - Academies
Coalition Government
1) free schools
2) Privatisation of Education
Marxism
Ideological State Apparatus means a social institution whose main role is to pass on the dominant ideology of the Ruling Class
Repressive State Apparatus means a social institution whose role it is to enforce the dominant ideology by force or threat of force e.g. police
Correspondence Principle means the ways in which the education system Mirrors the world of work e.g. hierarchy and punctuality
Hidden Curriculum means the informal learning processes that happen in school it is a side effect of education that teaches students the norms and values of society
The main role of education is to maintain capitalism and reproduce social inequality
Althusser
Reproduction of social inequality:
education deliberate engineers W/C failure in order to create an unqualified factory workforce
private education prepares children of the elite for positions of power
hidden curriculum is shaped to assist M/C achievement and deter W/C achievement
Legitimisation of social inequality:
M/C has access to more cultural and economic capital which puts them at an advantage
education encourages students to blindly accept capitalist values, through the hidden curriculum
Bowles and Gintis
Correspondence Principle:
School processes mirror the world of work in order to prepare them for manual labour:
wages not satisfaction
lack of control
obedience
achieved status
discipline and consequences
boredom
Myth of Meritocracy
:
education claims to be meritocratic but schools discriminate in favour of the middle class e.g. language
hidden curriculum lowers working class ambitions
Evaluation:
Giroux - Neo Marxism = rejects the view that W/C passively accepts their position to become compliant workers. The existence of anti-school subcultures, truancy and exclusion suggest both the hidden curriculum and correspondence principle have failed. M