The Functionalist Explanation of the Role of Education in Modern Society

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The Functionalist Explanation of the Role of Education in Modern Society I will discuss the functionalist's theories in comparison to those of the Marxist and Interactionists. Functionalists believe that all in society serves a purpose and it's a positive function. They also believe that education is a way of achieving in society; it develops people so that it gives them the opportunities in society (workplace). Durkheim believed that in order for children to feel as though they belong in society and for society to work, the education system will enable people to belong to society for example the teaching of certain subjects (transmission of cultural capital) i.e. history, will allow children to make a link or see similarities between themselves and the past society. Functionalist Tallcott Parsons argued that there are four main functions in education * Social control - school teaches us about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour (insure continuity of norms and values) * Economic training - education provides labour free force to meet needs of the economy * Social selection - schools help to select young people and allocate them to their abilities as adults Along with these Functionalists views there are criticisms on education. * There are not equal chances for all students as there are underachievers * As there are different classes and ethnicities, there would be many different values ruling values are chosen as its thought to be the right way and fair to all. * Also schools stream pupils into the class they are already in The Marxist theory on education contras... ... middle of paper ... ...ls with experiences of ethnic minority students at the hand of teacher. It proves R&J's theory of stereotypes, some teachers blame African Caribbean students more than white students for unacceptable behaviour even when it is identical - myth of the black challenge. There are criticisms made on the Interactionists view. Their research can ignore larger Marco dimensions to the classroom such as government policy. Also the work of Paul Willis on the working class boys shows that some students don't accept the labels that other have on them. So after studying the Functionalists, Marxists and Interactionists theories it would appear that the Functionalists views on education is useful in modern society as schools build a bridge between ascribed status and your achieved status even if it may be influenced by capitalism.

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