Marxist and Functionalist chapter The argument as to whether education is holistic to society is a thesis developed by both Marxist and Functionalist thinkers; as to what extent education is patriarchal and class free is an open- ended debate, however. A consensus of education for Functionalist ideologies is to allow the educate to develop the necessary skills to allow themselves to become an independent, someone conformist member of society (Strawn, 2009), thus fostering the independence knowledge and adopt the thesis of accolade systems in contemporary society; in an area where the parent may not be sufficient enough education. (De Marrais; Le Compte, 1999) It can be firmly associated that the affiliation between educational attainment …show more content…
This will, in turn, correspond with a higher demand for the expansion of the education system; one which can be argued to of been occurring in recent decades. The purpose of this rise can be characterised to create greater educational opportunity, (Goldthorpe, 2014) where social origin no longer dictates education attainment; the theory has the prospect of diminishing the association between social origin and the structure of the workplace, along with the relationship between social origin and conditioning of education to a society rife of progressive performance through educational achievement, allowing society to become increasingly meritocratic, thus increasing social mobility. (Goldthorpe, 2014) However this Functionalist ideology does have its flaws, in that, ‘it is couched entirely at a macro- social level, indicated by societal exigencies and requirements and what is taken to follow from them.’ (Goldthorpe, 2014, pp. 267), where empirical data fails, it is difficult to …show more content…
(Breen, 2004; Breen and Luijkx, 2004, pp. 393) The theory was no longer necessarily applicable, particularly to the areas of Europe where the studies were carried; what it meant to be middle- class wasn’t as tightly bound to educational attainment as thought. (Goldthorpe, 2014) Furthermore, the relationship between social origin and workplace destination can also be seen to of weakened, through the ideology of the expansion of higher education, where individuals’ educational attainment somewhat surpasses their social origin in Post- Industrial societies. (Goldthorpe, 2014) Therefore, it would seem, that ‘an alternative interpretation of the interaction effect, less congenial to the Functionalist theory, would seem more relevant’ (Goldthorpe, 2015, pp. 268) towards Post- Industrial societies. The theories of Functionalists fail to recognize that the weakening relationship from educational attainment in regards to workplace destination occurs due to the nature of Post- Industrial societies where there are now more affluent and professional families where social origin is not necessarily the major determent in regards to educational attainment and workplace destination, as it was without doubt more so in
Functionalism argues that inequality is important and necessary because it “motivates people to fill different position in society that are needed for the survival of the whole of society.” [8] The rewards, i.e. wealth, prestige, and power and the resulting wealth gap ar...
Juveniles are being taught that in order to have a nice car, branded cloths and the house of their dreams, by getting into an expensive mortgage, they have to be an employee of a huge corporation. In addition, they have to undergo to a prestigious school, study hard, have excellent grades in order to become popular and respectable in the world. However, many people would not become those super leaders, but these majority of people have a great role in the capitalism society of the US. As Gatto says, “We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair” (38). Such results are in part of a wrong education that teenagers have received trough many decades. In addition, Gatto highlights that modern educational system has been working in a six basic functions methods that makes the system strong and unbreakable: The adjustable function, indulge students to respect authorities. The integrating function, which builds the personality of the students as similar to each other as possible. The diagnostic and directive function, which allows a school to set permanent scholar grades in order to determinate his or her future role in society. The differentiating function, which gives to the student a good education and after his or her role is diagnosed, they prevent any educational progress. The selective function, function that the system has used to prevent academic growth for the non-selected students. The propaedeutic function, which works in the selection of specific groups of intellectual adults to keep perpetuating the system all over again making it a continuous sequence. (Gatto 34). Gatto’s facts revealed the survival of the educational system for decades,
Education is a topic that can be explored in many ways. Education is looked at in depth by both Richard Rodriguez in his essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, and by Paulo Freire in his essay, “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education.” After reading both essays, one can make some assumptions about different methods of education and exactly by which method Rodriguez was taught. The types of relationships Rodriguez had with his teachers, family and in life were affected by specific styles of education.
Functionalist argue that stratification is "necessary and beneficial" to a society to ensure the highest qualified individuals will fill the best societal positions. Inequality in the distribution of desirables exist as a device for ensuring that the most important positions are filled by the most qualified people. Certain jobs are more important than others, and those jobs require special skill and talent. The cycle of unequal opportunity is intensifying, and the United States beneficiaries often slander those who are the most systemati...
Class is something that is often defined by ones income, job, and family background, the area in which they live or indeed the schools or universities they have chosen to attended. This criteria is used to label people as a certain class and is something that can be seen in education through the likes of theories such as cultural capital. In this essay I am going to compare and contrast differences between middle and working class experiences of education focusing on two main theories; Cultural capital and social reproduction. I am going to concentrate upon the primary sector in oppose to secondary or higher education due to the fact I believe that primary school is where most children develop their personalities which they carry with them in further life and it is their first academic experience; therefore it is where social class first becomes clearly noticeable. In relation to these theories I am going to research into the argument that parents have a strong influence on their child’s education from this young age.
I was placed into a school up to my educational standard, surrounded by students who were not better or worse than me. Yet Gatto might disagree by referring to point four of Inglis break down of the “actual purpose” of the school system: “…children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits—and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best” (3). I need to disagree with the author’s view point on this statement because, it was the perfect environment for me to rebuild my confidents in my educational abilities. Furthermore, because of exceling in my classes, my teachers saw my capabilities and moved me up into higher level of education. If I wouldn’t have been placed in this educational environment, I’m pretty sure it would not have rekindled my desire to pursue onto a track into higher education, of being my personal best, and to allow myself to dream
... people are more advantaged than others and will receive a top notch education, while others will receive a mediocre education that will prepare them less for college and more for a working class job. There most likely is a connection between social class and the educational opportunities presented to students, but it is also possible that other social forces are at play which determines the quality of a student’s education. In Gatto’s essay it was argued that are educational system is designed to perpetuate faults in order to create a manageable society. He supports his argument with various strong statements which makes his logic convincing, but he falls short when backing the credibility of his claims. The strengths of his essay prove to also be its weakness, which results in a piece of literature that only succeeds in arousing emotional reactions from readers.
A Comparison of the Functionalist View with the Marxist View Sociologists may disagree in their interpretation of how society works. Some have focused on what keeps society together; others have focused on what divides society. Over the years the two major paradigms have dominated sociology these are functionalism and the conflict theory better know as Marxism. Both the Marxism view and the functionalist view have their own totally different point of view. Haralambos points out that ‘although functionalists emphasize the importance of value in society they do recognize that conflict can occur”.
He said that school creates a miniature model of society, where the child interacts and cooperates with other pupils whilst following a set of fixed rules. In this way, the ch... ... middle of paper ... ... basic level, on some sort of conspiracy between employers and teachers. To conclude, the Functionalist perspective views education as a vital part of society, which turns pupils into model citizens and has a positive impact on the economy and society as a whole.
It says the only the most qualified and exceptional individuals should have the jobs which influence society the most. This is different from Conflict Theory because conflict theory states that stratification causes the most highly paid positions to not always be the most important positions (or jobs) in society. It causes prestige and power to be places around these highly paid position and some groups such as women and minorities are systematically disadvantaged from these prestigious positions. In contrast these two collide when your most talented individuals who have some of the most important jobs in society aren 't making what they should be. I personally like to think that the Structural Functionalist Theory is the most convincing in the United States because there are a lot of jobs and positions that are very prestigious that requires year of high education and effort. I certainly think that a large number of people who have high influencing jobs like doctors, lawyers, and politicians are the most qualified. However, there is always the small few that fly underneath the radar that maybe aren 't as qualified for the job as another
The structural-functional analysis of jobs in the U.S. is governed by the workforce stratification and technology. The more educated and diverse a society is the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class has been both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job also is an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change. This is to say that even if one’s field of expertise is needed today it may not be tomorrow. This type of ever-changing job market leads many to believe that another socio-economic change may occur at any time. This change was apparent with the transition into the industrial age and again in the information age. These concerns caused stress, various health issues, a...
In this essay I am going to examine the Marxist view that the role of
The functionalist perspective argues for education as a means of development from simple, traditional social structures to more complex, modern ones. Drawing heavily from biological theories, functionalism equates society with a living organism composed of various internal systems, asserting that an understanding of these systems, in our case social practices and institutions, requires an examination of the means by which they serve the ‘body’, society (Feinberg and Solitis, ). In assessing the relationship between education and development, it is imperative to note that functionalists associate the advent of formal, compulsory education with the requirements of modern society, with modernity seen as synonymous with industrialization. That
middle of paper ... ... When we see these statistics all around our societies, in such masses, it makes using common sense assumptions or subjective claims to give valid reasons or explanations for such large scale differences in society’s educational achievement impossible. If we instead use (Mills 1959) sociological imagination, we can construct a far better argument for explanation built on research and reliable findings to answer questions not only about our education system but ourselves in our society from our past, present and possibly to begin to predict or understand our future structure and place in society.
There is no one single definition for what education really is. Experts and scholars from the beginning have viewed and commented about education in different ways. The definition mostly agreed upon was that education is an acquisition or passing of skills, behavior or knowledge from an institution to another. This institution can either be a person, a school, a family or even the society. If we go in the ancient meaning and the ideology of education, it means to lead out of ignorance. In other words, education or knowledge in this sense was light and education brought the person out of the dark. The purpose and ideology of education is therefore to bring out the potential of a person and pass on knowledge