Function/Role of Education

• Social solidarity


  Society must unite the individuals that exist within it

  e.g. Feeling part of a group, shared history

  -> done through subjects such as history, pshe
• Universalistic Standards


  Parsons

  Education and society judges everyone on the same equal standards.

  Rules that apply equally to everyone regardless of who they are.
• Particularistic Standards


  Parsons

  Within the family unit children are judged and treated as individuals
• Achieved status


  Status gained from your effort and ability
• Ascribed status


  Status you are born with, fixed status
• Meritocracy


  An educational or social system where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and where individuals are rewarded by their efforts
• Role allocation


  Education allocation people to roles that are most appropriate to their talents.

  Sifts and sorts us
• Human capital


  The success of modern economy depends on how it uses its workers skills
• Marketisation


  The exposure of an industry or service to market forces for example if a school gets bad reviews it will go out of business
• Ideological state apparatus


  Ruling by controlling people’s ideas, values and beliefs

  e.g. religion
• Correspondence principle


  the similarity between the workplace and school and the relationship between them
• Myth of meritocracy


  Marxist belief that meritocracy doesn’t exist and serves to justify the privileges of the higher classes
• New Right or Neo-Liberal view of education 


  An economic doctrine that has influenced educational policy (since 1988 Education Reform Act) - The GVT should NOT control education instead schools should be ran by PRIVATE business which will encourage competition.

  Introduced League tables so parents can make an informed choice about the best schools.

  Schools should transmit a shared culture, e.g. introduced National Curriculum in 1988
• Functionalist view


  Modern sociologists who argue that education is a main institution that transmits societies norms and values.
• Durkheim


  Specialist skills

  Social solidarity
• Parsons 


  role allocation

  meritocracy

  particularistic & universalistic standards
• Davis and Moore 


  role allocation

  sift and sort
• Chubb and Moe


  recommended market system to education

  voucher for all parents to buy education from a school of their choice

  parents are customers
• Evaluation of functionalist


  Assumes the values transmitted by school benefit society as a whole

  most schools do NOT transmit shared values

  ignores class/gender/ethnic differences

  Meritocracy is a myth
• Evaluation of the New Right/Neo-liberal

  Competition doesn't benefit all parents/students, middle class have an advantage (Gerwirtz and Ball)

  Education doesn't transmit a shared national culture instead it devalues the culture of working class/ethnic minorities.
• Fordist economy


  Production line

  simple repetitive tasks

  unskilled

  cheap

  perfect for w/c students in capitalist economy
• Post-Fordist economy


  fast pace

  always changing

  requires skilled workers

  students are required to be adaptable and ready for constant re-training to keep up with the changes

  linked to postmodernism
• Evaluation of Marxist


  not all students are passive in accepting class inequality. Some try to resist it (Willis w/c boys counter-hegemony).

  todays society is no longer a modern capitalist society which required unskilled, low paid, obedient workers (Fordist)

  -> postmodernists would argue that we are now in a post-fordist economy
• Willis


  12 w/c lads

  neo-Marxist (Marxist & interactionist)

  boys had ‘free-will’ and actively tried to resist capitalism

  messed about, challenged authority, rejected the school rules

  ended up were capitalism wanted them anyway, in low paid jobs
• Counter-school culture


  Willis’ boys held this view of school

  rejected school values

  broke school rules, e.g. truanting, not doing homework, messing about
• Hidden Curriculum


  Attitudes and behaviour that are taught via the way school is organised, e.g. be on time, meet deadlines, respect authority

  not the formal curriculum
• Althusser


  Marxist

  ISA - schools ideologically reproduce class inequality
• Bowles and Gintis


  Correspondence principle

  study was ‘schooling in capitalist America’

  schools produce ‘docile’ and passive workers best suited to capitalist work