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Using Material from Item a and Elsewhere Assess the Contribution of Functionalism to Our Understanding of the Role of Education.

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Using material from item A and elsewhere assess the contribution of functionalism to our understanding of the role of education.

Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus (agreement) amongst individuals as to what values or norms are important in society. Therefore they take a positive view of the education system. As item A suggests they see it as a form of secondary socialism essential to maintaining society i.e. the values and norms transmitted by social institutions and groups which build upon those learnt in the family (primary socialism).

The French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1903) identifies the two main features of education as the creation of social solidarity and the teaching of specialist skills which are both essential for life in society and work.

The American functionalist Talcott Parsons (1961) sees society as one based on the principle of meritocracy unintentionally highlighting the inequality of how those they see as ‘the naturally more talented’ get the best jobs over others.

In addition to this Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore (1945) also see education as the means for selection and role allocation but focus on the relationship between education and inequality amongst individuals.

Similarly to the point, Peter Blau and Otis Duncan argue that a modern economy depends on the prosperity constant growth of using its ‘human capital’ and its workers skills.

However the functionalist view does receive criticisms from Marxists, Interactionalists, New Right and Feminists on various aspects of its view of education.

Durkheim (founder of functionalist society) was the first to give his view on the education system and argued that it had two very important functions, to instil a sense of social solidarity in individuals and how it taught

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