Functionalist theory

Two key thinkers of this theory:

• Emile Durkheim
• Talcott Parsons

This theory isn't critical of institutions such as education it focus on what they achieve in ideal circumstances,

Emile Dukheim:

• He argues that children should be socialised with the value consensus so that they'll learn to follow their own impulses, self-restraint and fit in with  others that is imposed on them by schools as they learn to accept the discipline.
• He stressed that the key role of education should be to encourage social solidarity when an individual want to be identified with a group and feels responsible towards others. This is the most impotant in modern societies where immediate change has thrust people from different backgrounds.
• He also argued that a function of education is to teack skills provision that is required by a modern industrial society. these are general skills everyone needs such as literacy and numeracy. So…