* Social Control- Teaching acceptance of rules and values. * The political role- Teaching people to be effective citizens. 2) How would functionalists explain the purpose of education? Functionalist such as Parson believes that the purpose of education is to perform a beneficial role in the society. One way to perform a beneficial role in the society is to learn the skills and knowledge from school that is necessary to work in a modern, technical, industrial society e.g.
Functionalists see society as a group of institutions. A social institution being a place where there is a set of rules for behaviour. For example, schools, churches and families. To Functionalists, each institution has its own place in sustaining society and maintaining order. The functionalist perspective recognises that families perform vital functions for their members and for their society, to ensure stability and harmony in order to achieve social order (Giddens, 2009).
In order to gain a better understanding of how an individual can attain educational success, one has to examine other social constructs such as class, race and gender. This essay aims to discuss the theory of cultural capital in determining an individual’s chances of obtaining education success by reference to the notions of race, class and gender. Education is a type of socialisation, and institutions such as schools and universities play a key role in the socialisation process. Through socialisation, individuals learn and internalise knowledge, values, norms and other aspects of culture, which would prepare them for their roles in the society (Thirumaran, 2014). However, many individuals possess cultural capital before they even begin their educational journey.
Durkheim argued that society has to feel a sense of social solidarity , he believes that without this form of social cohesion , society would be impossible because each person would pursue their own ‘ selfish’ desires. Durkheim transmits the thoughts that education transmits social solidarity by enforcing ones country heritage and history. This shared heritage acts as start of social solidarity for later life. He also believes school acts as a microcosm of society , expressing co-operation and interactions with colleagues. Talcott Parsons believes that school is a focal socialising agency, acting as a bridge between family and wider society, this is enforced because families and society act on different levels.
In the position as a student of sociology, I believe the Functionalist theory best describes society. The functionalist theory is viewed to sociologist as society to a living organism. Each part serves an important role in keeping society together. Many sociologist classify this theory as macro-level; large in scale. Including social institutions, a system of behavioral and relationship patterns, having specific roles to perform to make society.
Education according to Althusser reproduces inequality by preparing pupils for work in the wider society. School contribute to training pupils so they learn the rules and procedures of the workplace, and it helps to prepare us to accept the bourgeoisie’s ideologies. The process in which we learn to accept inequality is made up of two elements: the repressive state apparatuses which maintain the rules of the bourgeoisie through fear and force. The police, courts and the army are good examples of services within society that help keep them in power and separate them from the proletariats. Another service is called the ideological state apparatuses which maintain the same role, only they are responsible for controlling individual’s ideologies which include religion, media and the education system.
Culture is defined as the learned, shared behaviour of the members of a society including values, norms and meanings. It’s a focal point of our being and has the ability to unite or damage a society and furthermore a nation. There are many theories surrounding the importance and functionality of culture and in this essay, I will be assessing the Functionalists’ theories and contrasting it with alternative sociological points of view. Similar to their theory of socialization, Item A reveals the functionalist theory of everything in society performing a function in order to create a value consensus. Durkheim is a firm supporter of this theory and believes that social order is held together by attitudes of solidarity which play the role of ensuring the survival of a well integrated society in which everything and everybody is a piece of a jigsaw that fits together to create a bigger picture.
Outline the functionalist perspective on the role of education Sociological functionalist have identified education as a crucial part of the socialisation process as it transmits and reinforces society’s norms and values, prepares children for adult roles and selects young people in terms of their abilities for crucial roles. This essay outlines Durkheim’s, Parsons and Davis and Moore’s perspective on how education creates an impact on the structure of society. Durkheim’s perspective on the role that education had on society was that it shapes an individual and prepares them for the ‘real world’; beyond their comfort zone. He argued that, in complex industrial societies, schools serve a function which cannot be provided by the individuals’ family nor their peer group. For us, school is a miniature version of society as it provides us with skills that we need once we enter work or when starting a family also, the experience prepares us for interacting with members of society and the rules that society has.
Conclusion 13 References 16 1. Introduction Almost organizations have been recently concentrating on people to achieve the organizational objective; moreover, the organization cannot reach their goals without their employees. Therefore it would be very important to have quality human resource with good skills and knowledge. In order to creating good working environment for employees, the organization must have managerial and leadership strategies and the ways which may positively impact on the employees' behavior towards achieving their organizational objectives. Chemers M (1997) showed that leadership has been described as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of common tasks".
He believed that schools acted as a mini-society, people need to cooperate with other people who are neither family nor friends - teachers and pupils at school, colleagues and customers at work. In today's society, industrial economies have a complex division of labour, where production usually involves the cooperation of many different specialists. This cooperation promotes social solidarity but for it to be successful, each person must perform their role. Durkheim argued that education teaches individuals the specialist knowledge and skills that they need to play their part in the social division of labour. In the USA, Talcott Parsons (1902 - 1979) developed Durkheim's ideas.