Emily Durkheim argued that social solidarity is essential for the survival of society. Social solidarity is based on ‘essential similarities’ between members of society. According to Durkheim, one of the main functions of education is to develop these similarities and so bind members of society together.
Durkheim sees a common history as vital for uniting members of society. American school children grow up with stories about their county’s founders e.g. George Washington cutting down his father’s cheery tree. With shared history, people feel part of a wider social group, because it is their country, made up of people like themselves. In this way, education contributes to the development of social solidarity.
Industrial society has a specialised division of labour, people have specialised jobs with specific skills and knowledge requirements, for example, the skills and knowledge required by plumbers, electricians and teachers are very different. I pre-industrial societies there were fewer specialised occupations. Occupational skills were often passed from parents to children. According to Durkheim, the specialised division of labour in industrial societies relies increasingly on the educational system to provide the skills and knowledge required by the workforce.
Talcott Parsons, the American sociologist, developed Durkheim’s ideas. He saw the education system as the main agency for secondary socialisation, acting as a bridge between the family and wider society. Schools build on the primary socialisation provided by the family, developing value consensus, agreement about the values of society and preparing young people for their adult roles.
Individual achievement is a major value in modern industrial society. In schools, young people are encouraged to achieve as individuals. High achievement is rewarded with praise, high status, good grades and valuable qualifications. This prepared young people to achieve as individuals in the world of work. Alos an equal chance for everybody is another major value in modern society. Schools transmit this value by offering all their pupils an equal chance of success.
According to Parsons, schools are miniature versions of the wider society, they reflect the values of the wider society. Young people are required to act in terms of those values in the classroom. And, as a result, they are prepared for adult roles.
Parsons sees role allocation as on of the main function of the education system. This involved sifting, sorting, assessing and evaluation young people in terms of their talents and abilities, the allocation them the appropriate roles in the wider society. For example, people with an artistic talent are directed towards and trained for occupations such as photographer, graphic designer and fashion designers.
Role allocations involves testing students in order to discover their talents, developing those talents on appropriate courses, then matching those talents to the jobs they are best suited for.
Marxists believe that schools transmit ideology which states capitalism is just and reasonable. They also say, similarly to functionalists, that schools prepare pupils for their roles in the workforce. Most are trained as workers and they are taught to accept their future exploitation and are provided with and education and qualifications to match their work roles. Some, the future managers administrators and politicians are trained to control the workforce. Their educational qualifications legitimate, justify and make this right, their positions is of power. They become the ‘agents of exploitations and repression’
Althusser, a French Marxist, argues that ideology in capitalist society is fundamental to social control. He sees the main role of education as transmitting ideology.
However, criticisms of the functionalists approach on education are that rather than transmitting societies values, the education system may be transmitting the values of ruling class or ruling elite.
History teaching in schools may reflect white, middle class view. This may discourage social solidarity, many ethnic minority groups are demanding that history teaching reflect their historical experience and their view point. For example, in the USA, African-American history is now a major part of the history curriculum.
There is evidence that certain groups underachieve in schools, such as the working class and certain ethnic minority groups. This suggests that pupils do not have an equal opportunity, their talents have not been effectively developed and assessed or the system of role allocation is not very efficient.
It is difficult to see if the education system is providing the knowledge and skills required for the workplace, the subjects taught in schools do not have a direct link to the world of work.
