Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess functionalist views of the role of education in modern society (20 marks)

The consensus functionalist approach is just one of many that attempt to explain the role of education in modern society. Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus. Each part of society such as the family, economy and education system performs functions that help to maintain society. Functionalists such as Durkheim and Parsons seek to discover what functions that educations performs and what is does to meet society’s needs. Marxists such as Althusser and Bowle & Gintis disagree with functionalists and argues that education in modern society continues to uphold the capitalist system.
The French sociologist, Durkheim (1903) argued that education provided two main functions. Firstly, social solidarity; some of the subjects taught as part of the national curriculum such as History and Citizenship helps students to understand the complexity of British culture. This sense of shared culture between children creates a strong sense of unity and commitment to a wider social group. Without social solidarity, society would fall apart as there would be no cooperation as each individual would pursue their own selfish desires making education a vital role for modern society. The second function that education has is that it prepares young people for work. Industrial societies have a specialist division of labour which prepares them for specific occupations. Education equips individuals with the specialist skills needed to participate in work in a modern economy. To summarise, Durkheim saw the educational system’s main task as projecting the norms and values of society onto the younger generation, with the secondary task of developing the skills that are required,