Sociology essay

Assess the view that the main function of the education system is to reproduce & legitimise social inequalities.

Functionalists believe that education serves a purpose and gives everyone an equal chance to achieve and succeed. They believe education has a function to create a fully operational society and allocate roles fitting the correct people. However, a conflict argument (Marxism), disagree. Marxism believe that not everyone at school gets an equal opportunity (The myth or meritocracy) and that social class, gender and ethnicity all impact on what grades you will come out with. They also believe that education system reproduces social inequalities and legitimises them.

Functionalists say the education system socialises children to adapt to a meritocratic view of achievement. At home a child is given a status (Particularistic standards) and at school universalistic standards apply, this means your status starts at a level playing field. This status will go up or down based on merit. One theorist who picked up on this was Talcott Parsons, and he suggested that education is a vital part to instil the major value of achievement. Marxist theorist Bourdieu disagrees with this view, he believe once at school not everyone starts at a level playing field and it is the lower classes who suffer most, this is evident in Item A. Item A states “School systematically fail the majority of working class pupils” this is supported by Bourdieu who adds that the lower classes are duped into accepting their failure and he believes the system is built for the middle classes who therefore succeed by default.

Functionalist Emile Durkeim states that Education is important in creating a shared value system, collective conscience, in order to create a strong community. Durkeim believes everyone in society has a clear function where people contribute their