Functions of education
- Socialisation: passing on shared norms and values (secondary socialisation).
- Economic: teaching the skills and knowledge needed for work.
- Selection and allocation: sorting people into suitable jobs through exams and qualifications.
- Social control: teaching students to follow rules and respect authority.
The functionalist view
- Parsons saw school as a bridge between the family and wider society. In the family, children are judged by particularistic values (as individuals); at school and in society they are judged by universalistic values (the same rules for everyone).
- Functionalists see education as meritocratic: people succeed through ability and effort.
The Marxist view
- Bowles and Gintis (1976) argued education serves capitalism through the correspondence principle: school mirrors the workplace (such as obeying authority, and working for rewards like grades, as workers work for wages).
- The hidden curriculum (the unwritten lessons of school, such as punctuality and obedience) produces a docile, obedient workforce.
- They argued meritocracy is a myth: success depends largely on social class, but education makes inequality seem fair.
Key terms
- Meritocracy
- A system where people succeed through ability and effort.
- Hidden curriculum
- The unwritten lessons taught by school, such as obedience.
- Correspondence principle
- The idea that school mirrors the workplace.
- Universalistic values
- Values that judge everyone by the same standards.
- Particularistic values
- Values that judge people as individuals, as in the family.
- Selection and allocation
- Sorting people into suitable jobs.