...«The role of education is to enable children to prepare for their place in society» To what extent would Marxists and Functionalists agree on this? In sociology there are two main structural approaches consensus theory (functionalism) and conflict theory (Marxism). They have different perspectives that see society differently. Education is the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university; it is one of the institutions society consists of. Accordingly functionalists’ and Marxists’ view of the role of education in society differs. Both functionalism and Marxism agree that schooling socialises students into their place in society, however they have a conflict view on whether this is a ‘good’ thing or not. Functionalists assume that educational institutions serve the needs of industrial society, by an advanced division of labour. Educational institutions are examined for the positive contribution they make towards maintaining society and it is seen as vital part of socialization. Education also serves the needs of the social system by socializing pupils to shared values, norms and beliefs. This leads to great social solidarity. Emile Durkhiem (1903) identified two main functions of education: creating social solidarity and teaching specialist skills. He argues that society needs to have sense of solidarity, where every individuals should feel themselves to be part of the community. Durkhiem stated that school serves a function in a complex...
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...Assess the Marxist contribution to an understanding of the role of education Marxism is one of a group of theories collectively called structural theories. Marxists tend to see the role of education as a process of conflict. They believe that the education system creates class inequality. Working classes accept that they will be working in the manual work force in the future, unlike the middle class students who believe they will be doing the higher and more skilled jobs, this is due to the myth of meritocracy. According to a Marxist perspective, the role of education is to create a better economy in the future. Both Bowles and Gintis identify this role as they created the correspondence theory, which means that school will always correspond to work as they both have similar features, preparing for the working world. Bowles and Gintis also believe that children mostly learn from the hidden curriculum which is based on your learning in school like obedience, manners, competition etc. This means that Marxists believe education plays a big part in society because schools are preparing students for jobs in the future. Furthermore, Willis suggests that education also promotes conflict because he recognised that schools do not produce an obedient work force just like Bowles and Gintis said as they don’t follow ruling class ideology. Willis studied a group of 12 working class boys and he said that they developed an anti-school subculture which shows a lack of authority through school...
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...To explain the role of education we need to look at education through different theories, a theory is a way of looking at the world. Within Sociology there are a number of theories, these include; Functionalism, Marxism, Interactionism, Feminism and Post-modern theory. Functionalists believe that society is made up of four parts; the Economy, the family, decision making and education. They believe that each part functions for the good of the whole. French Sociologist Emile Durkheim defined the major function of education from a Functionalist view as “the transmission of society’s norms and values”, the role of education is to socialise children into these norms and values which include behaviour, discipline, respect and manners (Haralambo and Holborn, 2008). The functionalist approach argues that education has three functions, it teaches the skills needed in work whether these are general or specific skills, it socialises young people into key cultural values needed to maintain society and it allocates people to the most appropriate jobs using examinations and qualifications. Functionalists put an emphasis on positive aspects of schools such as socialisation and the learning of skills and attitudes. Schools have rules and regulations and a system of reward and punishment such as stickers for good behaviour and detention for mis-behaviour. American sociologist Parson defines education as a system that selects children into the most appropriate roles because it is “Meritocratic”...
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...the past decades, there has been different explanation of social class. In which sociologist describes social classes as a form of social stratification. For the purpose of this assignment, I will be critically analysed the various perspectives of social class and its impacts on society. However, this essay will analyse three major perspectives of social class, which are Marxism, Functionalism and Weberian. The impacts of social stratification an individual’s life chances and finally explains and evaluate social classification and their usefulness to the society. Social Class refers to a group of people who share a similar economic status, such as an occupation. According to the Oxford dictionary, social class is a system whereby people are divided into groups based on perceived social, cultural and economic status. However, social stratification is an element of social class, which is usually defined by sociologist as an inequality of uneven distribution of power, prestige and wealth. The structure of stratification use culture, social mobility and life chances, to report the issues of social inequalities Haralambos and Holborn (2013). The Marxists perspective of social class pioneered by Karl Marx (1972), the Marxists perspective focuses on the social strata drawn from the relationship of social groups to the means of construction, rather than social inequality in general. Marx’s classical definition, opposing proletarians and bourgeois in the society on the...
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...together to keep the society running whereas Marxists believe societies are unequal and unfair. Both concepts differ in their views of how society operates for instance a Marxist would claim that there are only 2 classes and it is very hard to progress up a class whereas a functionalist would disagree and claim the harder you work, the more you achieve and the better your social position. Functionalists believe society works like a human body for instance every part of society works to keep it going just like organs in a body and that the human body grows and develops as does society. They also believe that society is more important than the individual and that social institutions exist in order to keep the social order. For example the education system socialises us into the culture of society and this provides us with our values which support the society. A Marxist would disagree with this view, they see social institutions being used by the ruling class to control the working class and that education give people their values which support the bourgeoisie exploitation. For example in a child’s learning life they are taught to strictly obey rules which follows them into working life. Functionalists also believe in meritocracy which is if you work harder, you get further. For example someone born into a poverty stricken household can grow up to become a billionaire if they work hard enough and have the talent to succeed. A Marxist strongly disagrees with this view and sees...
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...relationships and their different settings, be it in an office, in the family home or on a busy street. However many sociologists are interested in solving social problems through their research. They will conduct their research so it is aimed at the social problem they are most interested about. Government departments such as home office employ many sociologists. They will often have a direct input into making social policies. However sometimes sociological research does not effect social polices, and there are a number of reasons why. Electoral popularity, research findings and recommendations might point to a policy that would be unpopular with voters. Ideological and policy preferences of governments, if the researchers value stance or perspective is similar to the political beliefs of the government, they may have more of a chance in influencing polices. Interest groups, these are pressure groups that...
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...Outline and assess functionalist’s explanations of the role of the education system in society. As a theory which places heavy emphasis on the analysis of institutions and their relationship with society, especially with regards to the functions of institutions, Functionalists place a significant amount of focus on the education system. Functionalists believe that education has 3 basic roles. The first being socialistion, the second being to teach skills required by a modern industrial society and the third being to role allocate. However, this perspective is not always accepted, it’s macro theory approach is often seen as too wide bearing to be applied to the study of the education system as well as critics which dispute the functions of the education system as portrayed by functionalists. Nevertheless, its macro theory approach puts the education system in context and is therefore a theory which is notable when discussing the role of the education system. Firstly, it cannot be ignored that one of the main principles of the theory is that society is based upon consensus, - agreement between norms and values. As an institution of secondary socialisation, Functionalist theorists see the education system as one of the main institutions which help to achieve value consensus within society, allowing society to operate in a smooth manner. Durkheim suggested that the education system is an institution which helps to create a “collective consciousness”, uniting society into one body...
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...Functionalism The functionalist perspective is a very important perspective as it focuses on describing each part of society and how they all add to the overall society. The different parts all depend on one another and include the government, which provides children with the education they need, this will then lead on to them being more likely to get a higher paid job which means that there are more taxes paid which helps to keep the government running. With this system, society will be stable and promote productivity but if it does not go to plan, parts of the system will fail and have to find new order and stability. Functionalism highlights the order that exists in society and focuses on social stability and public values. Some functionalists focus on the function of human behaviours, one of these sociologists is Robert Merton who categorised human functions into two sections; ‘manifest functions’ which included the actions that were obvious and intentional such as attending a church to worship as part of a religion and ‘latent functions’ which are actions that are neither intentional or obvious such as when going to the church to worship they are unintentionally going to also separate their personal values from their uniform, work or religious values. Functionalism doesn’t encourage people to be an active role or go about changing their social environment, even if these changes could be useful and good for them. By using the basics to the functionalist perspective, Talcott Parsons( ...
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...parts of the population. Those conditions are, therefore, social problems in any social setting. Social problems are those conditions which are universally agreed upon by society to have adverse effects many people and those conditions which causes material and psychic suffering of the body or society such as HIV/AIDS, terrorism, war, poverty, conflict, corruption and crime (Eitzen and Bacca- Zinn, 2009). Thus, social problems have their roots form the social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and geographical contexts, thus they are socially constructed. This essay assesses the Marxist explanation and its applicability to the study of social problems and on the whole what solutions it suggests to address them. The conflict perspective is a structuralist theory which examines social institutions and how power and economic material are distributed in society. The Marxist perspective posits that society is divided into two major classes of those who own the means of production and those who are the subordinates. The relations between them create a good platform for the creation of social problems since these two...
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...living with their unmarried children. Today, families are vastly different including more single-parent households than ever before, stepfamilies, and adopted families, and grandparents raising their grandchildren, as well as young married couples having to move back in with their parents because they do not have the money to afford their own living arrangements yet. Whatever type of family you have there are different perspectives in which to view it. While the perspectives differ greatly from one another, the family still remains one of the most important social institutions along with health-care, religion, education, mass media, politics, and economy. Family is defined as, 'a basic social unit consisting of parent and their children, considered as a group, whether living together or not.' While every family is unique, there are similarities and differences within each family, no matter what perspective you are using. Each theory shows a different type of assumptions and defines a certain way of understanding a social institution, from all four unique perspectives. Functionalists believe that society is based on a value consensus, into which society socialise its members. They regard society as a system made up of different parts or sub-systems that depend on each other. Functionalists often compare society to a human body – without one organ, the body wouldn’t function, without basic functions of society, society wont perform. In the 1940s Murdock examined 250 societies in...
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...parts of the population. Those conditions are, therefore, social problems in any social setting. Social problems are those conditions which are universally agreed upon by society to have adverse effects many people and those conditions which causes material and psychic suffering of the body or society such as HIV/AIDS, terrorism, war, poverty, conflict, corruption and crime (Eitzen and Bacca-Zinn, 2009). Thus, social problems have their roots form the social, economic, political, environmental, cultural and geographical contexts, thus they are socially constructed. This essay assesses the Marxist explanation and its applicability to the study of social problems and on the whole what solutions it suggests to address them. The conflict perspective is a structuralist theory which examines social institutions and how power and economic material are distributed in society. The Marxist perspective posits that society is divided into two major classes of those who own the means of production and those who are the subordinates. The relations between them create a good platform for the creation of social problems since these two...
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...Functionalist and Marxist perspective to our understanding of society The Functionalist perspective to our society is that we are controlled by society by aspects of our society such as media, religion, education and government to name a few. Auguste Comte developed a theory known as the organic analogy which explained that each part of society played a vital role in making the body of society work coherently, for example the education system may represent the brain as it is this which teaches us not only what to think but how to think. Marxism is comparable in the way that it is also a structural theory and that society controls us all via social control and sanctions however Marxism focuses on the brainwashing of the proletariat by the media, so that we are indoctrinated into believing what society wants us think and also the control of social inequality so that society maintains itself and the relations of production continue. Louis Althusser, a Marxist developed the idea of “ideological state apparatus”, this idea that the ideological state apparatuses, such as churches, schools, family, media and such reinforce the rule of bourgeoisie over the proletariat primarily through ideology in form of norms and values. This demonstrates the view that we are controlled by society as it teaches us and forces it's norms and values on us in order for us to conform to the group, although this is a Marxist point it also is identical to the Functionalist perspective. Many Functionalists...
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...Assess Weberian explanations for social class inequalities – 40 marks In terms of social class, the lower classes face more discrimination and inequalities within every institution. Although Weber acknowledges that social class inequalities occur, but he also found that age, gender and ethnicity can be forms of discrimination as well. Not all of the working class can be homogenised for having the same experiences facing inequalities. The more power you have the less inequalities you have, this is why the working classes face more than the upper classes. Marxists would disagree with Weber as he under played the role of social class, Marx argued it was the source of inequality, they don’t place any focus on the other factors Weber identifies. Functionalists disagree with both Marx and Weber as Durkheim believed that ‘inequalities’ are just differences. They also say that those differences can be overcome because it’s down to the individuals themselves. They don’t believe that society creates the inequalities for people but that individuals create them for themselves. Weber was influenced by Karl Marx and became the third founding father of sociology, he is known has the ghost of Marx due to the high similarity between the theories. Weber’s theory is a mix of structuralism and interactionism, showing elements of both Marxism and Functionalism within it. Weber believed that society as well as the individual can influence behaviour, but also that behaviour can influence the institutions...
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...Outline and assess the Marxist view of the role of education in society. Marxists view society as based on conflict. They believe that the role of all institutions in society can be understood in terms of how they relate to the economic system. They therefore see the education system as an institution which reproduces the class system and provides the economy with a suitable workforce. The labour force needs professional and managerial workers, as well as skilled and unskilled manual workers. According to Marxists, the role of the education system is to provide workers for every part of the economy. Support for this Marxist view comes from Bowls and Gintis who highlight a strong correspondence between what is learnt in schools and what is required in workers for the Capitalist system. For example, they found that in school the pupils who succeed the most are obedient and unquestioning, rather than independent and inquisitive. Bowles and Gintis believe that these qualities are valued in workers as they will accept the authority of their employers, and not question their orders. This idea is backed up by a study they conducted ‘schooling in capitalist America’. The hidden curriculum is said to teach motivation to pupils by trying to encourage achieving good grades. This is then used when the pupils leave school as they are motivated to work hard to attain a wage. It also teaches people to accept the heirachy. It does this by teaching the pupils about authority and power...
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...P1&P2: explain the principal sociological perspectives and explain the different approaches to health and ill health. Functionalist Perspective and the approach to Health: The functionalist perspective was published in 1951 by Talcott Parsons which studied the social structure as a whole and the ways in which it functions. This view promotes the social solidarity and value consensus; this is the belief that each person should share the same basic norms and values within society. Therefore, this would make each society run smoothly. Functionalists believe strongly that each individual has an equal opportunity of success within their life, that the nuclear family is a vital concept as it provides the most suitable environment for children to be raised within and believe if an individual has ill health that it is there responsibility to work with health professionals to re-gain good health status. This perspective has been widely criticised by individuals as it is believed that they do not value the diversity within a society. The functionalist approach to health is identified through the relationship shared between an individual who is sick and the whole of society. Talcott Parsons strongly believed that for a society to run smoothly all individuals must be free of ill health and that ‘medicine serves the wellbeing of society as a whole’. Individuals in which believe the functionalist perspective believe that having a sick role in society is classed as an act of deviance...
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