performed by the family for individuals and society? The family is a unit of people living together tied down by biological or legal bonds. Functionalists take the family to be an important part on the way society works and therefore emphasise the importance of the function of the family. Functions are the jobs and roles of a particular object. Functionalists and Marxists are social systems, also known as structural thinkers. Structural theories define individuals as being completely shaped by our
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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
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The role of education in society is seen by many different people in many different ways. This is due to the fact that different sociologists hold different and conflicting views. Functionalists tend to believe that society is based on a shared culture of similar values and norms; as Item A mentions ‘Schools play a vital role by socializing young people into these basic values.’ Whereas, a different approach to education is one of Marxists, who believe that education ‘transports values that benefit
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“Outline and assess the view that the role of education is to meet the needs of the economy” There are a few theories that agree with the idea that the purpose and role of education is to gain qualifications and the ideal job suited for the particular person, which aids the needs of the economy. Functionalists, new rights and social democrats support this idea of education and the economy, especially the positive side of the capitalist system. However social democrats are aware of the negative
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Jurrell D. Harrison The Impact Of Sociological Theories In Education Introduction to Sociology Professor Whited Monday February 13th 2012 Education is often considered as the most important aspect of an individual’s life. Education essentially shapes a person’s future. Without an education, moreover a good education, in today’s economy people would struggle in everyday life just to make ends meet. In fact, according to statistics published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment
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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
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a different perspective as to what the main function of education is e.g. feminists believe that to maintain value consensus, patriarchy needs to be abolished in order to do this. However, functionalists would argue that society already has a value consensus and that everyone has their roles within society, and that the role is important in maintaining the value consensus. Functionalist Durkheim identifies the two main roles of education to be to create social solidarity and to teach specialist
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Critically asses the usefulness of the functionalist perspective to our understanding of society (33 marks) The functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. Functionalists take a structural approach towards society that concentrates on the way society controls the individual. Functionalists believe there are forces that influence our behaviour as well as the way we think. These are said to be as a consequence of the society we live
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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
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the basis of their own efforts and ability. This view sees education as a system where the most talented and hard working will succeed. According to Item A, structural theorists have competing views as to whether education is meritocratic. The view held by Functionalists is that the education system performs an essential role in the selection process of people into appropriate roles in the economy. Parsons and Davis and Moore all saw education as meritocratic. They argue that individuals are
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