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Functionalist Theory of Education

We will be looking at the Functionalist theory of education in some detail here.

According to functionalists, society is like a biological organism with interconnected parts held together by a 'value consensus'. The individual is not more important than the society or the organism; each part performs a vital role, a function, in maintaining balance and social equilibrium for the continuity of society.

Functionalist theory of education

Functionalists argue that education is an important social institution that helps meet the needs of society and maintain stability. We are all part of the same organism, and education helps create a sense of identity by teaching core values and allocating roles.

Education and value consensus

Functionalists believe that every prosperous and advanced society is based on a value consensus, a shared set of norms and values everyone agrees on, and is expected to commit to and enforce. For functionalists, society is more important than the individual. Consensus values help establish a common identity and build unity, cooperation, and goals through moral education.

Functionalists examine social institutions in terms of the positive role they play in society as a whole. They believe education serves two main functions, which they call 'manifest' and 'latent'.

Manifest functions

Manifest functions are intended functions of policies, processes, social patterns, and actions. They are deliberately designed and stated. Manifest functions are what institutions are expected to provide and fulfil.

• Change and innovation: Schools are sources of change and innovation; they adapt to meet societal needs, provide knowledge, and act as keepers of knowledge.
• Socialisation: Education is the main agent of secondary socialisation. It teaches pupils how to behave, function, and navigate society. Pupils are taught age-appropriate topics and build their knowledge as they go through education. They learn and develop an understanding of their own identities and opinions and society's rules and norms, which is influenced by a value consensus.
• Social control: Education is an agent of social control in which socialisation occurs. Schools and other educational institutions are responsible for teaching pupils things that society values, such as obedience, perseverance, punctuality, and discipline, so they become compliant members of society.
• Role allocation: Schools and other educational institutions are responsible for preparing people and sorting them for their future roles in society. Education allocates people to appropriate jobs based on how well they do academically, and their talents. They are responsible for identifying the most qualified people for the top positions in society. This is also referred to as 'social placement'.
• Transmission of culture: Education transmits the norms and values of the dominant culture to pupils to mould them and help them assimilate into society and accept their roles.

Latent functions

Latent functions are policies, processes, social patterns, and actions that schools and educational institutions put in place that are not always obvious. Because of this, they might result in unintended but not always unanticipated consequences.

• Social networks: Secondary schools and further education institutions gather together under one roof people of a similar age, social background, and sometimes race and ethnicity, depending on where they're located. Pupils are taught to form relationships and build social contacts. This helps them network for future roles. Forming peer groups also teaches them about courtship.
• Group work: When pupils collaborate on tasks and assignments, they learn skills that are valued by the job market. When pupils are made to compete with each other, they learn another skill valued by the job market.
• Creating a generational gap: Pupils and students may be taught things that go against their families' beliefs, creating a generational gap. Some families believe only two heterosexual married people should have sex, but pupils are taught about LGBT relationships in some schools.
• Restricting activities: By law, children must be enrolled in education. They are required to stay in education until a specific age. Because of this, children cannot fully participate in the job market. In addition, they are required to pursue hobbies their parents and carers might want them to, which may at the same time distract them from engaging in crime and deviant behavior. Paul Willis (1997) argues that this is a form of working-class rebellion or anti-school subculture.

Key functionalist theorists

Let us look at a few names you will encounter in this field.

Émile Durkheim

For French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) school was 'society in miniature', and education provided secondary socialisation. Education serves the needs of society by helping pupils develop specialist skills and creating 'social solidarity'. Society is a source of morality, and so is education. Durkheim described morality as consisting of three elements: discipline, attachment, and autonomy. Education aids in fostering these elements.

Social solidarity

Durkheim argues that society can only function and survive 'if there exists amongst its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity', meaning cohesion, uniformity, and agreement between individuals in society to ensure order and stability. Individuals must feel themselves to be part of a single organism; without this, society would collapse.

Durkheim believed that preindustrial societies had mechanical solidarity. Cohesion and integration came from people feeling and being connected through cultural ties, religion, work, educational achievements, and lifestyles. Industrial societies progress towards organic solidarity, which is cohesion based on people being dependent on each other and having similar values.

• Teaching children helps them see themselves as part of a bigger picture. They learn how to be part of society, cooperate to achieve common goals, and let go of selfish or individualistic desires.
• Education transmits shared moral and cultural values from one generation to the next, to help promote commitment between individuals.
• History instils a sense of shared heritage and pride.
• Education prepares people for the world of work.

Specialist skills

School prepares pupils for life in wider society. Durkheim believed society requires a level of role differentiation because modern societies have complex divisions of labour. 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.
• Education teaches people that production requires cooperation between different specialists; everyone, no matter their level, must fulfil their roles.

Evaluating Durkheim

• David Hargreaves (1982) argues that the education system encourages individualism. Instead of seeing copying as a form of collaboration, individuals are punished and encouraged to compete with one another.
• Postmodernists argue that contemporary society is more culturally diverse, with people of many faiths and beliefs living side-by-side. Schools do not produce a shared set of norms and values for society, nor should they, because this marginalises other cultures, beliefs, and points of view.
• Postmodernists also believe the Durkheimian theory is outdated. Durkheim wrote that when there was a 'Fordist' economy, specialist skills were needed to sustain economic growth. Today's society is a lot more advanced, and the economy needs workers with flexible skills.
• Marxists argue that the Durkheimian theory ignores the inequalities of power in society. They suggest schools teach pupils and students the values of the capitalist ruling class and do not serve the interests of the working class, or 'proletariat'.
• Like Marxists, Feminists argue there is no value consensus. Schools today still teach pupils patriarchal values; schools disadvantage women and girls.

Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) was an American sociologist. Parsons built on Durkheim's ideas, arguing that schools were agents of secondary socialisation. He thought it was essential for children to learn societal norms and values so they could function. Parson's theory considers education a 'focal socialising agency', which acts as a bridge between the family and wider society, detaching children from their primary caregivers and family and training them to accept and successfully fit into their social roles.

According to Parsons, schools uphold universalistic standards, meaning schools are objective; they judge and hold all pupils to the same standards. The judgments of schools and teachers about pupils' abilities and talents are always fair, as opposed to the views of their parents and carers, which are always subjective. Parson refers to this as particularistic standards, where children are judged based on the criteria of their particular families.

Particularistic standards

Children are not judged by standards that can be applied to everyone in society. These standards are only applied within the family, where children are judged based on subjective factors, in turn based on what the family values. Here, status is ascribed. Ascribed statuses are social and cultural positions that are inherited and fixed at birth and unlikely to change. For example:

• Girls not being allowed to go to school in some families because the family saw it as a waste of time and money.
• Parents donating money to universities to guarantee their children a place.
• Hereditary titles such as Duke, Earl, Viscount give people a significant amount of cultural capital. The children of nobility are able to acquire social and cultural knowledge that helps them advance in education.

Universalistic standards

Everyone is judged by the same standards regardless of family ties, class, race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Here, status is achieved. Achieved statuses are social and cultural positions that are earned based on skills, merit and talent, for example:

• School rules apply to all pupils. No one is shown favorable treatment.
• Everyone sits the same exams and is marked using the same marking scheme.

Parsons argues that both the education system and society are based on 'meritocratic' principles. Meritocracy is a system which expresses the idea that people should be rewarded based on their efforts and abilities.

• The 'Meritocratic principle' teaches pupils the value of equality of opportunity and encourages them to be self-motivated.
• Pupils gain recognition and status through their efforts and actions. By testing pupils and evaluating their abilities and talents, schools match them to suitable jobs, while encouraging competition.
• Those who do not do well academically will understand that their failure is their own doing, because the system is fair and just.

Evaluating Parsons

• Marxists believe meritocracy plays an integral part in developing false class consciousness. They refer to it as the myth of meritocracy because it persuades the proletariat to believe that the capitalist ruling class reached their position through hard work, and not because of their family ties, exploitation, and access to top educational institutions.
• Bowles and Gintis (1976) argued that capitalist societies are not meritocratic. Meritocracy is a myth designed to make work-class pupils and other marginalised groups blame themselves for systemic failures and discrimination.
• The criteria by which people are judged serves the dominant culture and class, and does not take into account human diversity.
• Education attainment is not always an indicator of what job or role someone might take up in society. English businessman Richard Branson performed poorly at school but is now a millionaire.

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore

Davis and Moore (1945) added to both Durkheim and Parsons' work. They developed a functionalist theory of social stratification, which views social inequalities as necessary for functional modern societies because it motivates people to work harder.

Davis and Moore believe meritocracy works because of competition. The most talented and qualified pupils are selected for the best roles. This does not necessarily mean they achieved their position because of their status; it is because they were the most determined and qualified. For Davis and Moore:

• Social stratification functions as a way of allocating roles. What happens in schools reflects what happens in wider society.
• Individuals have to prove their worth and show what they can do because education sifts and sorts people according to their abilities.
• High rewards compensate people. The longer someone remains in education, the more likely they are to get a well-paid job.
• Inequality is a necessary evil. The Tripartite system, a sorting system that allocated pupils into three different secondary schools (grammar schools, technical schools, and modern schools), was implemented by the Education Act (1944). The system was criticised for restricting the social mobility of working-class pupils. Social mobility is the ability to change one's social position by being educated in a resource-rich environment, regardless of whether you come from a wealthy or deprived background. Functionalists would argue the system helped motivate working-class pupils placed in technical schools to work harder. Those who did not manage to climb the social ladder, or get better-paid jobs when they finished school, had not worked hard enough. It was as simple as that.

Evaluating Davis and Moore

• Differential achievement by class, race, ethnicity, and gender suggests that education is not meritocratic.
• Functionalists suggest that pupils passively accept their role; anti-school subcultures reject the values taught in schools.
• There is not a strong correlation between academic achievement, financial gain, and social mobility. Social class, disability, race, ethnicity, and gender are major factors.
• The education system is not neutral and equal opportunity does not exist. Pupils are sifted and sorted based on characteristics such as race and gender.
• The theory does not account for those with disabilities and special educational needs. For example, undiagnosed ADHD is usually labeled as bad behaviour, and pupils with ADHD do not get the support they need and are more likely to be expelled from school.
• The theory supports the reproduction of inequality and blames marginalised groups for their own subjugation.

Functionalist Theory of Education - Key takeaways

• Functionalists believe education serves manifest and latent functions, which help create social solidarity and are necessary for teaching essential workplace skills.
• Education teaches core values, which everyone in society can agree on. This is also necessary for role allocation.
• In a meritocratic society, everyone is given equal opportunity. Pupils achieve their status through their own efforts and abilities.
• In schools, a person's status is gained. In the family it is given.
• Some sociologists argue that functionalist theories are outdated and do not take into account diverse and multicultural societies.
• Some sociologists believe functionalists ignore inequalities such as misogyny, racism, and classism, because they serve the capitalist ruling class.

Frequently Asked Questions about Functionalist Theory of Education

Functionalists believe education is an important social institution that helps to keep society together by establishing shared norms and values that prioritise cooperation, social solidarity, and the acquisition of specialist workplace skills.

Durkheim claimed two main functions of education were to create social solidarity and teach specialist skills. 

School and society are based on meritocratic principles, everyone is given equal opportunity, and people achieve rewards and roles based on their own efforts.

Final Functionalist Theory of Education Quiz

Question

 What are the manifest functions of education?                

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Answer

 Change and innovation, socialisation, social control, the transmission of culture, and role allocation are all manifest functions of education. 

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Question

Define latent functions in the context of education. 

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Answer

Latent functions are policies, processes, social patterns, and actions that schools and educational institutions put in place that are not always obvious. Because of this, they might result in unintended but not always unanticipated consequences.

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Question

Which of the following is not a latent function of education?

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Question

Why is education considered an agent of social control? 

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Answer

 Schools and other educational institutions are given the responsibility of teaching obedience, perseverance, punctuality, and discipline, so pupils become compliant members of society.

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Question

What is an example of social solidarity?

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Question

What Is a postmodernist criticism of the Durkheimian theory of education?      

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Answer

Durkheimian theory is outdated. Durkheim wrote when there was a 'Fordist economy', and specialist skills were needed to sustain economic growth. Today's society is a lot more advanced, and the economy needs workers with flexible skills.

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Question

Give one example of particularistic standards.

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Answer

 Parents donating money to universities to guarantee their child’s place is an example of particularistic standards.

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Question

 Why do Davis and Moore argue that inequality is necessary? 

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Answer

Davis and Moore suggest that inequalities motivate people to work harder, and therefore to improve.

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Question

What is one criticism of meritocracy? 

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Answer

Some sociologists call meritocracy a myth because it blames marginalised people for systematic failures and discrimination.

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Answer

Value consensus is a shared set of norms and values which people agree on and commit to.

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Question

In what ways is education the main agent of secondary socialisation?

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Answer

Education teaches pupils how to behave, function, and navigate society. Pupils are taught age-appropriate topics and build their knowledge as they go through education. They learn and develop an understanding of their own identities and opinions and society's rules and norms, which is influenced by a value consensus.

Show question

Answer

Schools and other educational institutions are responsible for preparing people and sorting them for their future roles in society. Education allocates people to appropriate jobs based on how well they do academically and their talents. They are responsible for identifying the most qualified people for the top positions in society. This is also referred to as 'social placement'. 

Show question

Question

Durkheim believed that preindustrial societies had mechanical solidarity.

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Question

David Hargreaves argues that the education system encourages individualism.

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Question

According to Talcott Parsons, meritocracy in education is a myth.

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