Essay On Sociological Perspective On Education

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Comparative Theoretical Perspectives on Education Sociological theories are based on how individuals perceive, understand and explain the acts and behaviors in societies. Throughout history, many individuals have developed their own assumptions on how social life is explained. In order to explain how theorists assumptions apply to society, specifically education, an analysis of functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interaction issues can be viewed. Education in the United States plays a key role in how individuals adapt to society and can be explained through various points of view. Functionalists believe that through education, individuals will learn the skills and lessons needed in order to perform various functional roles within a society. Theorists who believe in the conflict theory, see education as an avenue to further separate social inequality and symbolic interactionists focus on classroom interactions, such as the behaviors between students and teachers and the effects it has on everyday life. Functionalists views of education indicate that it is one of the most important social institutions in a society. Emile Durkheim was a functionalist and most of his research focused on the role that various social institutions played in society and how they contributed to the maintenance of social order. Most of Durkheim’s research involved specifically how education related to the role of social order. In one of his works, Evolution of Education Thought, he focuses on the conflicts that occur between the church and state in France over the control of eduction. The belief that the conflict between the two is more of a conflict between the sacred and the secular, in which he regarded as “the germ of that great... ... middle of paper ... ...he stress of the students and educators. Individuals who receive a low test score often labels and individual as a low achiever. For some, once they are labeled this way it is difficult for them to loose that “low achiever” label through their academic career, which can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. This meaning that this “label” can cause one to think that they are not good enough and always see themselves as a low achiever. In conclusion, we can see that education is viewed in many different facets. Functionalists see that educations provides students the abilities to learn roles and functions for success in society where as conflict theorists see schools as a way of distinguishing different classes and makes the inequities more apparent. Lastly, Meads’ idea of symbolic interactionism can be viewed in education as a means of labeling individuals.

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