Functionalism flashcards + criticisms

Durkheim (1903) - social solidarity

• Social solidarity is feeling that individuals are part of a single body/community

• This is required for social life and cooperation

• Education creates this by transmitting society’s culture, shared beliefs and values

  • E.g. history instils sense of shared heritage and commitment to wider social group

• Modern industrial economies are a complex division of labour that require cooperation of many specialists

  • This promotes social solidarity

  • Each member needs specialist knowledge and skills to perform said role, which is fostered by the education system

Durkheim (1903) - school as society in miniature

• School is society in miniature

  • Cooperation with teachers reflects interactions in the work place

  • Both school and work are dictated by a set of blanket-applying impersonal rules

Parsons (1961) - school as a focal socialising agency

• School bridge between family and wider society

• This is necessary because family and society operate on different principles

  • Within a family, children are judged by particularistic (only apply to them) standards and their status is ascribed

  • In school and wider society, individuals are judged by universalistic impersonal standards and status is achieved, not ascribed

• School is more meritocratic than families and prepares us to move into a meritocratic wider society

Davis and Moore (1945) - role allocation

• Education acts as a proving ground for ability, ‘sifting and sorting’ us to our future work roles through assessment of our aptitudes and abilities

• Inequality is necessary to ensure the most important roles are filled by the most talented people

  • Society has to offer higher rewards for the most important jobs to encourage competition

• More academically able → more/better qualifications → entry to more important and therefore highly rewarded positions

CRITICISM of Davis and Moore (1945) - role allocation:

Tumin (1953)

• Cyclical argument

  • Jobs are important because they’re highly rewarded, jobs are highly rewarded because they’re important

Blau and Duncan (1978) - human capital and productivity

• Modern economy depends on the use of human capital (workers’ skills)

• Modern education allows for maximisation of human capital and productivity by allocating jobs by ability

CRITICISM: Wolf review of vocational education (2011)

• Education doesn’t adequately teach specialised skills

• High quality apprenticeships are rare

  • 1/3 of 16-19y/os are on courses that don’t lead to higher education and/or good jobs

• Achievement is influenced by class background, not ability and is not meritocratic

CRITICISM of Durkheim (1903) - social solidarity:

Marxist

• Education doesn’t instil the shared values of the whole society, but that of the minority ruling class

CRITICISM:

Interactionist, Wong (1961)

• Functionalist view is ‘over-socialised,’ seeing people as puppets of society

• Wrong implication that students passively accept all are taught and never reject school’s values

CRITICISM:

Neoliberalism/New Right

• State education system fails to adequately prepare young people for work

Similarities between functionalism and the New Right

• Some people are more naturally talented than others

• The education system should be run on meritocratic principles of open competition

  • Should serve needs of economy by preparing young people for work

• Education should socialise young people into shared values such as competition and a sense of national identity

Key difference between functionalism and the New Right

• Functionalists believe the current education system is achieving the goals, but the NR believe it is not because it is run by the state