sociology AS education - the role of the education system

- education plays a part in secondary socalisation passing on core values

- education shifts and sorts people for the approprate jobs -- this is the allocation function

- education teaches the skills needed in work by the economy

- durkheim said that education passes on norms and values o order to integrate individuals into society

- education helps to create socal order based on cohesion and value consensus and to strength socal solidarity

- parsons describes school as a bridge between the family and adult roles of society

- schools pass on a univeral value of achevement

- parsons says that education selects children into appropreate roles becuse it is meritocratic

- he agrees with durkheim that education helps to make people agree about norms and values

- davis and moore say that every society sorts its members into different positions

- they think that there are rules for how education does this these are called the principles of statification

- they believe that there has to be a system od uneqial rewards to motivate people to train for top possitios

- evidence of differental achievement in terms of class, gender and ethnicity suggests that education is not meritocratic

- it is more a case of who you know rather than what you know in some parts of soceity. so the allocation function isn't working properly

- it can be argued that the education system does not prepare people adquately for work. for example the lack of enginering graduates indicates people education is failing to produce employers and teh economy needs

- functionalsim doesn't look at how education may serve the interests of particular groups in terms of ideology and values. it doesn't explain conflcit

- education legitimises inequlity through ideology 

- education prepares children for the world of work by giving them skills and values employers need

- passes on ruling class ideology that supports capitalism

- bowles and gintis- there is a correspondence between pupils expoeriences in school and adult work. for example pupils are taught to accept higherachy. work also has higherachy. pupils are motivated by grades to do boring work. workers are rewarded by doing boring work. school day is broken down into small uhits so it a working day. school and work is suborditive and is rewarded

- bowles and gintis say that the hidden curriculum also prepares pupils for work

- althusser - sees education as pasrt of the ideological state appararus a tool of capitalism to pass on the belief that society is fair eventhough it isn't. it legitimises inequality - thinks education produces a docile and obedient workforce who will not challenge authority

- willis- says that education doesn't turn out an obedient workforce. some kids form an anto-school subculture and cope with school and then adult work by mucking about

- bourdieu- cultural capital to expalin how middle class children genreallly go on to fill the top jobs in society

- marxists say that education ligitimises inequality through meritocracy. meritocracy is a myth so working class blamed for poor results

- marxism assumes that people are passive victims. it exagerates how much working class student are socialised into obedience

- willis showed hwo students actually resist authority

- most people are aware of the inequality in education and don't think that this inequality is legitimate

- both functionalist and marxism look at the big picture - institutions and the whole structure of society. they tend to ignore social interaction ( wtith the exception of willis) both say that education has a huge impact on teh individual and it is closely linked with the economy and work

- the biggests difference is how they see inequality. marxists say education helps to reproduce and legitimise inequality. functionalists say education passes on the value of meritocracy and lets people bettwe themselves

-say that the education system is patriachical

- some feminists ague that the hidden curriculum unoffically reinforces gender differences

- there are still gender differences in subject choice in schools. gender seryotypinf still exists

- girls are now out performing boys in school - but boys still demand more attention from the teacher

- men seem to dominate the top positions in school and even more in universities

-say that the education system is patriachical

- some feminists ague that the hidden curriculum unoffically reinforces gender differences

- there are still gender differences in subject choice in schools. gender seryotypinf still exists

- girls are now out performing boys in school - but boys still demand more attention from the teacher

- men seem to dominate the top positions in school and even more in universities

- liberal femiists - want equal access to education for both sexes

- radical feminists- believe men are a bad influece and want female centered education for girls

- marxist feminists- want to consider gender inequalities combined with inequalities of class and ethnicity

- new right theorists believe in the power of individual choice and prefer this to the state intervening in peoples lives

they claim that the role of school should be more like the role of a bussiness. bussunesses have to complete with one another to attract consumers and provide those comsuners with the products they want and need

new right theoriests claim that this forces all bussinesses to continuously improve there standards

state schools sre run by the state so they don't have to compete for there consumers

new right theorists say that this has caused poor standards

they want to accelerate the creation of an education market where a schools role is to provide what the comunity wants and needs