Role of education

• Functionalist view:

  1. Social solidarity (Durkheim)
  2. Specialist skills (Durkheim)
  3. Meritocracy (Parsons)
  4. Role allocation (Davis and Moore)
• Social Solidarity

  Durkheim argues education helps maintain society by socialising young people into key cultural norms and values creating social solidarity. History gives a sense of loyalty to your own society
• Specialist Skills

  Durkheim argues education teaches specialist skills so individuals can perform their role in the workplace
• Meritocracy

  Parsons argues education is a focal socialising agency where unlike in family where children are judged by particularistic values and status is ascribed, we are judged by universalistic values and status has to be achieved
• Role Allocation

  Davis and Moore argues education helps identify the subjects we are best at to find the most appropriate job through sifting and sorting
• Chubb and Moe - New Right perspective


  compared achievement of 60,000 children from low income families in both state and private schools in America and found those in private school did 5% better
• Marxist view:

  1. Ideological State Apparatus
  2. The Correspondence Principle
  3. Learning to Labour
• Ideological State Apparatus

  Althusser argues the education system main function is to maintain, legitimate and reproduce generation by generation class inequality by training them to do jobs for capitalism
• The Correspondence Principle

  Bowles and Gintis argue education prepares us for the work place. students respect the hierarchy of teachers so we respect our managers at work (hidden curriculum)
• Learning to Labour

  Willis studied 12 working class white boys and found the lads formed a counter school culture that was opposed to school. He compared this to the shop floor culture of manual workers