1. Role of education: Functionalism
Value consensus: value a general agreement
Social integration: the ways that different groups come together to form a whole in society. It
might refer to cases when minority groups become part of mainstream society or when
groups of individuals come together to make a cohesive whole.
Independent parts: societies institutions
Specialist work skills: Industrial societies are based mainly on the interdependence of
specialised skills and need workers who are able to carry out their roles. Schools help pupils
develop specialised skills and knowledge, so they can play their part in the division of labour.
Role allocation: sifting and sorting people into the roles that they will go on to perform in life.
Functionalists see this as meritocratic (see meritocracy) while Marxists believe the education
system reproduces class inequalities.
Meritocracy: the idea that you can reach social mobility via achieving merit
Particularistic values: rules and values that give priority to personal relationships.
Universal values: rules and values that apply equally to all members of society, regardless of
who they are.
Judge talent fairly: Schools have standards that apply to everyone (it is not unfair, everyone
is compared to the same standards and examples)
Durkheim: education provided children with necessary secondary socialisation. Education
serves the needs of society by helping pupils develop specialist skills and creating 'social
solidarity'.
Parsons: education is meritocratic
Davis and Moore: education and wider society were both meritocratic.
,2. Role of education: Marxism
Legitimation of hierarchy: education allows for hierarchy to be a thing e..g headteacher
above pupils, pupils are the workers
Reproduction of social inequality: schools copy the foundation of society in the form of social
inequality/hierarchy
Ideological conditioning: schools conditions children to accept their own exploitation
Correspondence principle: the suggestion that education mirrors the workplace in its
organisation, rewards systems and a range of other factors.
Social control: the use of social pressure by parents, police, and other authority figures in
society to influence the actions, beliefs, and movements of individuals. It is the process by
which a group regulates itself according to the beliefs and values which most of its
individuals hold.
Hidden curriculum: the unwritten rules, norms and values to which students are expected to
conform while in school.
Docile/obedient workforce: Where workers comply with the orders of the bourgeoisie (the
bosses)
Myth of meritocracy: The idea that meritocracy and social mobility are fake and not
achievable in society/schools for everyone (its only available if you are a middle class or
upper class citizen)
Deterministic: relating to the philosophical doctrine that all events, including human action,
are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will.
Shop floor culture: where you learn from you working class father and brother hat work is
irrelevant and effeminate
Counter school culture: anti school subculture, your norms and values are against the rules
of the school
Bowles and Gintis: education casts a long shadow over work. The capitalist ruling class
created education as an institution to serve their own interests. Education prepares children,
especially working-class children, to serve the ruling capitalist class.
Althusser: education is a powerful Ideological State Apparatus. This functions to socialise
children into two ideas: success and failure is a fair reflection of talent and it's important to
set rules set by a superior.
Willis: 'the lads' had formed an anti-school subculture. They rejected school and all its values
and instead focussed on the day they would eventually be allowed to leave. They formed
their own set of values opposed to those of the school.
Bourdieu: the education systems within capitalist societies function to legitimate class
inequalities. Success in the education system is then facilitated (or not) by a person's
possession (or lack) of cultural capital and habitus that aligns well with that system
, 3. Education and the economy
Specialist work skills: Industrial societies are based mainly on the interdependence of
specialised skills and need workers who are able to carry out their roles. Schools help pupils
develop specialised skills and knowledge, so they can play their part in the division of labour.
Role allocation: sifting and sorting people into the roles that they will go on to perform in life.
Functionalists see this as meritocratic (see meritocracy) while Marxists believe the education
system reproduces class inequalities.
Shared values: The theorist Talcott Parsons, whose concept of shared values refers to a
consensus of morals, principles and standards of behaviour. Examples might include: love,
health, material comfort and life success. These would certainly vary from one person to
another, following the diversity between the cultures.
Competition: Competition is a contest between people or groups of people for control over
resources. In this definition, resources can have both literal and symbolic meaning. People
can compete over tangible resources like land, food, and mates, but also over intangible
resources, such as social capital
Self-reliance: a person's ability to take care of himself/herself.
Hidden curriculum: the unwritten rules, norms and values to which students are expected to
conform while in school.
Punctual: Turning up at places on time
Respect hierarchy: respecting authoritative figures
Instrumental attitude: those that provide the individual with more rewards than punishments
Value consensus: value a general agreement
Social integration: the ways that different groups come together to form a whole in society. It
might refer to cases when minority groups become part of mainstream society or when
groups of individuals come together to make a cohesive whole.
Independent parts: societies institutions
Specialist work skills: Industrial societies are based mainly on the interdependence of
specialised skills and need workers who are able to carry out their roles. Schools help pupils
develop specialised skills and knowledge, so they can play their part in the division of labour.
Role allocation: sifting and sorting people into the roles that they will go on to perform in life.
Functionalists see this as meritocratic (see meritocracy) while Marxists believe the education
system reproduces class inequalities.
Meritocracy: the idea that you can reach social mobility via achieving merit
Particularistic values: rules and values that give priority to personal relationships.
Universal values: rules and values that apply equally to all members of society, regardless of
who they are.
Judge talent fairly: Schools have standards that apply to everyone (it is not unfair, everyone
is compared to the same standards and examples)
Durkheim: education provided children with necessary secondary socialisation. Education
serves the needs of society by helping pupils develop specialist skills and creating 'social
solidarity'.
Parsons: education is meritocratic
Davis and Moore: education and wider society were both meritocratic.
,2. Role of education: Marxism
Legitimation of hierarchy: education allows for hierarchy to be a thing e..g headteacher
above pupils, pupils are the workers
Reproduction of social inequality: schools copy the foundation of society in the form of social
inequality/hierarchy
Ideological conditioning: schools conditions children to accept their own exploitation
Correspondence principle: the suggestion that education mirrors the workplace in its
organisation, rewards systems and a range of other factors.
Social control: the use of social pressure by parents, police, and other authority figures in
society to influence the actions, beliefs, and movements of individuals. It is the process by
which a group regulates itself according to the beliefs and values which most of its
individuals hold.
Hidden curriculum: the unwritten rules, norms and values to which students are expected to
conform while in school.
Docile/obedient workforce: Where workers comply with the orders of the bourgeoisie (the
bosses)
Myth of meritocracy: The idea that meritocracy and social mobility are fake and not
achievable in society/schools for everyone (its only available if you are a middle class or
upper class citizen)
Deterministic: relating to the philosophical doctrine that all events, including human action,
are ultimately determined by causes regarded as external to the will.
Shop floor culture: where you learn from you working class father and brother hat work is
irrelevant and effeminate
Counter school culture: anti school subculture, your norms and values are against the rules
of the school
Bowles and Gintis: education casts a long shadow over work. The capitalist ruling class
created education as an institution to serve their own interests. Education prepares children,
especially working-class children, to serve the ruling capitalist class.
Althusser: education is a powerful Ideological State Apparatus. This functions to socialise
children into two ideas: success and failure is a fair reflection of talent and it's important to
set rules set by a superior.
Willis: 'the lads' had formed an anti-school subculture. They rejected school and all its values
and instead focussed on the day they would eventually be allowed to leave. They formed
their own set of values opposed to those of the school.
Bourdieu: the education systems within capitalist societies function to legitimate class
inequalities. Success in the education system is then facilitated (or not) by a person's
possession (or lack) of cultural capital and habitus that aligns well with that system
, 3. Education and the economy
Specialist work skills: Industrial societies are based mainly on the interdependence of
specialised skills and need workers who are able to carry out their roles. Schools help pupils
develop specialised skills and knowledge, so they can play their part in the division of labour.
Role allocation: sifting and sorting people into the roles that they will go on to perform in life.
Functionalists see this as meritocratic (see meritocracy) while Marxists believe the education
system reproduces class inequalities.
Shared values: The theorist Talcott Parsons, whose concept of shared values refers to a
consensus of morals, principles and standards of behaviour. Examples might include: love,
health, material comfort and life success. These would certainly vary from one person to
another, following the diversity between the cultures.
Competition: Competition is a contest between people or groups of people for control over
resources. In this definition, resources can have both literal and symbolic meaning. People
can compete over tangible resources like land, food, and mates, but also over intangible
resources, such as social capital
Self-reliance: a person's ability to take care of himself/herself.
Hidden curriculum: the unwritten rules, norms and values to which students are expected to
conform while in school.
Punctual: Turning up at places on time
Respect hierarchy: respecting authoritative figures
Instrumental attitude: those that provide the individual with more rewards than punishments
