AQA Sociology A Level: The Role of Education in Society

Functionalism - Durkheim -What is the function of education?

To create social solidarity and specialist skills.

How does education create social solidarity?

By transmitting society's shared beliefs and values from one generation to the next.

Schools are a society in miniature, preparing us for life in wider society.

Cooperating with people who are neither family of friends

Interacting with each other according to a set of impersonal and universal rules

What is the importance of specialist skills in education?

Education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skills that they need to play a part in the social division of labour. It is a functional prerequisite - Education is needed to enable people to work.

Parsons - What is the function of education?

Education functions to transfer meritocratic principals

Why is Meritocracy in education important to society?

Education acts as a bridge between the family and wider society

School prepares us to move form the family to wider society, because both school and wider society have meritocratic principals

Davis and Moore - What is the function of education?

Education functions as a device for Selection and role allocation

Why is role allocation in education important for society?

Schools select and allocate pupils to their future work roles.

This encourages everyone to compete for them and society can then select the most talented individuals to fill these positions.

What are the Criticisms of Functionalism?

- The education system doesn't teach specialist skills adequatley failing young people for the world of work

-Meritocracy is a myth and equal opportunities doesn't exist.

-Marxists argue that education in a capitalist society only transmits the ideology of the minority

-Feminists argue that education in a Patriarchal society only transmits male values.

The New Right - What do the New Right believe is the problem with the state education system?

- Teach a one size fits all approach - imposing uniformity and disregarding local needs.

- The consumers of the school: pupils, parents, employers, have no say.

- Schools are therefore unresponsive and inefficient in serving and meeting the needs of its unique community.

- Waste money and get poor results as they cannot answer to their consumers.

- Creates lower standards of achievement for pupils, a less qualified workforce and a less prosperous economy.

Chubb and Moe - Why do the NR beleive Consumer Choice will improve education?

They call for the introduction of a market system in state education this would allow consumers to shape schools to meet their own needs and would improve quality and efficiency.

Chubb and Moe - How would the NR market system work?

1. Families would be given a voucher to spend on buying education from a school of their choice.

2. Schools would become responsive to parent's wishes as the vouchers would be the schools main source of income

3. Schools would have to compete to attract 'consumers' by improving their 'product'

What are the 2 roles that the NR believe the state should play? (even though they believe it should be a market)

The state should impose a framework on schools within which they have to compete. E.g., OFSTED reports

The state should ensure that schools transmit a shared culture. For example, by imposing a single national curriculum

What are the Criticisms of the New Right?

Reinforces and increases class inequalities

Social inequality and inadequate funding of state schools is the reason for low standards

Causes class inequalities and devalues ethnic cultures and promotes patriarchy.

Marxism - Althusser - Why does education act as an Ideological State Apparatus? (ISA)

Because it performs 2 functions:

1. Reproducing class inequality - transmitting inequality to each successive generation, ensuring the failure of all working-class pupils.

2. Legitimising class inequality - produces and instils ideologies which disguises the true cause of class inequality.

Bowels and Gintis - In Marxism how does the education system act as a tool to reproduce and obedient workforce?

Both schools and work places are hierarchies

Schools have the •hidden curriculum - all 'lessons' that are learnt in school without direct teaching but simply through the everyday working of a school:

- Accepting hierarchy

- Competition

Working for rewards

These ensure the working-class are prepared for their role as the exploited workers of the future, reproducing the workforce needed for capitalism and perpetuating class inequality

In Marxism, how did Willis find that working class pupils attempted to resist indoctrincation to labour?

Using qualitative research methods, including participant observation and unstructured interviews he studies the counter-culture of 'the lads' - a group of 12 working class boys as they make the transition from school to work:

This counter-culture:

- Opposed school

- Are scornful of conformist boys calling them the 'ear oles'

- Have their own brand of intimidatory behaviours targeted at the ear 'oles and the girls.

- Break rules

Call meritocracy a 'con'

However, the counter-culture perform a useful role in ensuring its members slot into the jobs capitalism wants them to perform.

For example:

- Having been accustomed to boredom in school, they have developed strategies to occupy and entertain themselves. As they expect work to be just as tedious and are therefore well practiced at finding distractions to help cope with the monotony of unskilled labour.

- Their acts of rebellion in school ensure that they are guaranteed to fail, not achieving any qualifications and consequently resulting in them working in unskilled jobs.

What are the Criticisms of the Marxist Perspective?

- Education now reproduces diversity, not inequality

- Willis' study is limited: Small sample, romanticises counter culture

- Only cares about class and ignores all other inequalities

What is the feminist outlook on education?

Although girls now outperform boys at all levels of the education system, feminists still argue that it perpetuates a patriarchal ideology, leading to girls moving into lower-paid jobs and weaker economic positions in society.

What are the postmodern theories of education?

They claim that education reflects the increasing individualism in society, and this is reflected in education policy.

To cater for an increase in individual learning needs, it leads to a breakdown of a one-size fits all style education