Click here to load reader
Upload
lucylee79
View
1.699
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
AS sociology of education. Durkheim and Talcott- Parsons
Citation preview
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