Sociology paper 1

• Functionalist View

  They see family as a positive thing for society. The say that a nuclear family is the most beneficial to society- the look at the look at the functions it provides for society, they say it provides: 

  Reproduction- has means to keep the human race going

  Primary Socialisation- the family teaches the norms, values needed in society.

  Economic and Emotional Support- the family gives financial support and emotional wellbeing.

  Sexual stabilisation - ensures that adults sexual relationships are controlled and stable
• Delphy and Leonard


  Feminist perspective

  Men benefit the most from women’s labour in the home

  The family plays a central role in maintaining patriarchy

  Women are oppressed due to family responsibilities.
• Oakley 


  Feminist perspective

  Addresses the idea of a conventional cereal packet family

  Many didn’t conform to this as stereotypes of male and female roles were seen to be archaic and out of date

  She disagreed with Wilmott and Young that families were becoming symmetrical
• Parsons 


  Nuclear family provides two functions for society :

  • Primary socialisation
  • Stabilisation of adult personalities - The family acts as a warm bath to soothe people from the stresses of modern living, family stabilises personality by providing emotional support
• Murdock 


  Said that the nuclear family is universal as elements of it was found in every known society

  The nuclear family carries out 4 main functions

  • sexual stabilisation
  • Reproduction
  • Economic
  • Primary socialisation
• Elizabeth Bott


  Feminist perspective

  Identified 2 types of conjugal roles:

  • segregated
  • integrated

  In all families there was a basic division of labour regardless of social class
• Rapports

  Identified 5 types of family diversity to explain the changes in types of families towards the end of the 20th century :

  1. Cultural
  2. Life course
  3. Organisational
  4. Generational
  5. Social class
• Willmott and Young

  Used the symmetrical family to describe the differences in roles played by men and women in family life

  Symmetry referred to the similar contributions made by each spouse to the running of the household
• Zaretsky 


  Marxist perspective

  Believes that the family provides a cushioning effect that blinds them from the exploitation they face

  The family helps support capitalism by providing free labour of women who keep workers fed and reproducing the next generation of exploited workers
• Ball


  Interactionist perspective

  Focused on setting in secondary schools

  Students conformed to the expectations of their sets

  Link between behaviour and set

  Even when mixed ability teaching was introduced labelling still occurred
• Ball Bowe and Gerwitz


  Interactionists

  They used a range of methods to look at the effect of marketisation and parental choice. They found that increased parental choice and league tables led to pressure for schools to introduce setting and streaming and to focus on higher ability students to improve their exam results. Middle class parents were better able to use their choices to get their children into higher achieving schools
• Bowles and Gintis


  Marxist perspective

  Correspondence principle

  Focuses on the idea that schools and the education system mirrors the workplace in uniforms and routines

  Education prepares working class children for exploitation in the workplace
• Durkheim 


  Functionalist perspective

  Education transmits the value consensus

  Rules should be strictly enforced to learn self discipline and benefit society

  One key aspect is social cohesion where education brings society together.
• Halsey, Heath and Ridge 


  Examined social class inequality

  Using a sample of 8529 males born between 1913 and 1952 and educated in England and Wales.

  Divided into 3 main groups of classes based on their fathers occupation.

  Found evidence of inequalities in the levels of education achievement

  Lower class children left the education system sooner than higher class children
• Parsons 


  Functionalist perspective

  Education is a bridge between family and society

  Schools are meritocratic and helps select individuals for their future role in society.

  Schools promote 2 key values :

  Importance of achievement

  Equality of opportunity

  Particularistic and universalistic standards seen in school
• Comprehensive school 


  A type of school introduced in 1965 where all students are educated together regardless of ability
• Deschooling 


  An alternative form of education where formal schools are replaced by other methods of education such as homeschooling. This because the education system ignores individuality
• Ethnocentric curriculum

  A curriculum that focuses on a particular ethnicity or cultural group. It is characterised by focus on the history, culture and achievements of the dominant group, often to the exclusion of other groups
• Meritocracy

  The functionalist view that all students have an equal chance in education and success is based on ability and effort
• Willis - Marxist view 


  Conducted a participant observation of boys in a Midlands secondary school. Working class boys joined a counter school subculture where they avoided attending lessons and resisted any attempt to control their behaviour. Willis concluded that this prepared for jobs that would be unskilled or semi skilled
• Functionalists view of education 


  Education is positive as it prepares individuals for work and creates a stable society, all pupils have an equal chance to succeed as education is based on meritocracy. Durkheim believes that education transmits shared norms and values, promoting social cohesion, acting as a mini society. Parsons believed education acts as a bridge between society and the family. Children are judged by universalistic standards and have an equal chance to succeed
• Marxists perspective to education 


  Education is negative as it helps maintain the class divide and benefits the middle class who have a better chance of succeeding, education prepares working class pupils for low paid jobs and to accept capitalism. For example Bowles and Gintis correspondence principle.

  Criticism - could be outdated as pupils are prepared for a range of jobs today
• Feminist view of education 


  Education is negative as it helps maintain the gender divide and transmits patriarchal values and ideas. Females learn to adopt the stereotypical expressive housewife role in society through gender stereotypes shown in text books and being encouraged to take softer subjects which could lead to lower paid jobs than males.

  Criticism - could be outdated a girls are encouraged to take STEM subjects and more females are becoming headteachers
• Formal curriculum 


  Things that are directly taught in schools and this is mainly through the national curriculum
• Hidden curriculum

  Things that are indirectly taught in education such as rules, routines, hierarchy and gender roles
• Functions of education

  1. Serving the economy - education provides qualifications and skills which prepares pupils for jobs, helps with role allocation
  2. Social mobility - Education helps move up the social ladder through gaining qualifications and skills
  3. Social cohesion - Education teaches shared norms and values which unites society
  4. Secondary socialisation - Education is an agency of secondary socialisation teaching norms, values, beliefs through the formal and hidden curriculum
• State school


  Funded by the government

  Free to attend

  Teaches national curriculum
• Private school


  Not funded by the government

  Parents usually pay for their child to attend

  Don‘t have to teach national curriculum

  Usually smaller class sizes and improved opportunities
• Grammar school


  Select pupils based on academic ability

  Pupils must pass the 11+ to attend

  High ability pupils can be challenged
• Faith school


  Select pupils if they are of a certain faith, religious beliefs are promoted in school life and focused on in RE
• Academies


  These receive funding directly from the government and have more control over how to spend it. Do not have to follow national curriculum
• Free School


  These can be set up by charities, universities, communities and have control over how to spend funding. Do not have to follow the national curriculum and are all ability schools
• In school factors affecting achievement

  Setting- pupils are in different sets for different subjects, Streaming - in the same ability set for all subjects. This can improve achievement as pupils in higher sets could be challenged but it could decrease achievement in lower sets

  Teacher expectations/ Labelling - Teachers could label pupils because of stereotypes which could lead to self fulfilling prophecy

  Anti-school subcultures - decrease achievement

  Pro- school subculture - increase achievement
• External factors affecting achievement

  Parental values - parents who value education and see its importance will encourage their child to work hard whereas parents who don’t value it wont encourage their children

  Cultural Deprivation - Children may not learn the correct norms and values to succeed in education.

  Material deprivation - parents may lack money and therefore cannot afford resources for their child to succeed.