FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE ON EDUCATION

[DURKHEIM] SOLITARITY & SKILLS

  • Identited 2 main functions of education:

SOCIAL SOLIDARITY:

  • He argues that society needs a sense of solidarity, its members must feel themselves as being part of a single 'body' (community}
  • without solidarity, social life and cooperation would be impossible because each individual would pursue their own selfish desires

SPECIALIST SKILLS

  • The education system helps create solidarity by transmitting society culture (shared beliefs and values), from one generation to the next
    • E.G he argues the teaching of a country history instils in children a sense of shared heritage and commitment to a wider social group
  • School also acts as a 'society in miniature' preparing us for life in wider society
    • e.g both in school and at work we have to cooperate with non-family or friends- teachers and pupils at school, and colleagues and customers at work
  • similarly in both school and ar work we interact with others according to a set of impersonal rules that apply to everyone
  • Modern industrial companies have a complex division of labour where the production of a single item involves the cooperation of many different specialists
  • this cooperation promotes solidarity but for it to be successful each person must have the necessary specialist knowledge and skills to perform their role
  • Education teaches individuals specialist knowledge and skills they need to play heir part in the social division of labour

[PARSONS] MERITOCRACY

  • Parsons sees schools as the 'focal socialising agency' in modern society acting as a bridge between the family and wider society
  • this bridge is needed as families and society operate on different principles so children need to learn a new way of living in order to cope in the wider world
  • Within the family the child is judged by particularistic standards - they only apply to that particular child
  • similarly in the family the Childs status is fixed from birth
    • e.g the younger daughter and elder son have different duties to due different age & sex
  • By contrast schools and wider society judge is by the same universal and impersonal standards
    e.g the same laws in society apply to everyone
  • in schools, each pupil is also judged against the same standards e.g same exams, same pass mark
  • likewise in both school and wider society a persons status is largely achieved, not ascribed
    • e.g at work we gain promotions or get fired depending on how good we are at our jobs, while at school we pass or fail through our won individual efforts
  • Parsons sees school as preparing us to move from the family to wider society because school and society are both based on meritocratic principles
  • in a meritocracy, everyone is given equal opportunity and individuals achieve rewards through their own effort and ability

[DAVIS & MOORE] ROLE ALLECATION

  • Functionalists argue that schools also perform the functions of sleeting and allocating pupils to their future work roles
  • By assessing pupils aptitudes and abilities schools help to match them to the job they are best suited to
  • DAVIS & MOORE see education as a device for selection and role allecation
  • they focus on the relationship between education and social inequality
  • They argue that inequality is necessary to ensure that the most important roles in society are filled bythemost talented people
  • not everyone is equal talented, so society has to offer higher rewards for these jobs
  • this will encourage everyone to compete for them and society can select the most talented individuals to fill these positions
  • Education plays a key part in this process since it acts as a proving ground for ability
  • education is where individuals can show what they do
  • it sifts and sorts us according t our ability
  • the most able gain the highest qualifications, which gives them entry into the most important, highly rewarded positions
  • HUMAN CAPITAL: BLAU & DUNCAN argue that a model company depends for its prosperity on using 'human capital'- its workers' skills
    • they argue a meritocratic education system does this best since it enables people to be allocated to the job best suited to their abilities
  • this will make most effective use of their talents and maximise their productivity

EVALUATION

  • Education doesnt teach specialised skills adequately as durkheim claims
    • e.g high quality apprentaships are rare and up to 1/3 of 16-19 year olds are on courses that dont lead to higher education of good jobs
  • There is ample evidence that equal opportunity in education doesnt exists
  • e.g class background is a big influence
  • Functionalists see education as a process that instils the shared norms and values of society but Marxists argue that education om capitalist society only transmits the ideology of the minority- the ruling class
  • WONG, an interactionlist argues that functionalists have an over-socialised view of peoples as mere puppets of society
  • functionalists wrongly imply pupils passively accept all they're taught and never reject school values
  • Neo liberals and new right argue that the state education system fails to prepare young people adequately for work