Education and functionalism1

Fuctionalism

By the end of the lesson you should be able to:

• State Durkheim’s 2 main functions of education • Describe what a meritocracy is• State the meaning of the key terms ‘achieved status’ and

‘particularistic standards’• Explain why Parsons sees education as a bridge between

the family and wider society

Draw a picture on your whiteboard of what society looks like.

Functionalists look at each institution of society in terms of how that institution makes wider society as a whole work.

• Just like the parts of the human body

• All working together to produce a harmonic being in equilibrium

• Just like us when we feel fit and well!

Emile Durkheim (1903): argued that the there were TWO main functions of education:

1 CREATING SOCIAL SOLIDARITY

2 TEACHING SPECIALIST SKILLS

Durkheim• Education creates SOCIAL SOLIDARITY

• History: promotes integration and solidarity by teaching about our shared heritage.

• Citizenship: Takes this even further.

• Norms and values of society.• School = society in miniature.

Durkheim• Education creates SPECIALIST SKILLS

Specialist Skills We all need skills to bring to the workplace…

Different groups provide different functions for the smooth running of society as a whole…

KEY TERMS

Social division of labour = the breaking down of large tasks into smaller specialised jobs.

Social solidarity = Creating a feeling of shared experience and the idea of ‘community’.

Specialist skills = The skills needed to carry out a role within society.

Home

Work

“Education acts as a bridge between home and work..”

Talcott Parsons: Meritocracy

Talcott Parsons: Meritocracy

Ascribed status Achieved status

Particularistic

standards

Universalistic standards

Talcott Parsons: Meritocracy

Education is the ‘focal socialising agency in modern society. (secondary socialisation)

Within the family status is ascribed- fixed by birth

Within schools it is earned or achieved.

School rules are universalistic (the same for everyone) rather than the particularistic standards of the family.

Schools are therefore Meritocratic everyone has the same chance of doing well and is awarded for their effort and ability.

KEY TERMSMeritocracy = where all are given an equal opportunity and individuals achieve reward through their own effort and ability

‘Focal socialising agency’ = an agent of secondary socialisation which acclimatises children to the norms and values of the adult world

Particularistic standards = rules that apply only to a particular situation

Universalistic standards = rules that apply to all

Ascribed status = status fixed by birth

Achieved status = status won through our own individual efforts