The following is an accessible insight into functionalist sociological theory, while a more detailed analysis of functionalism is available.
Functionalism is a perspective created by Emile Durkheim. He believed society was made up of inter-connected institutions (for example education, family, government) which depended on each other to function.
Functionalists see society as being similar to the human body. In the same way the body relies on the heart to pump blood round to other vital organs like the lungs and brain. Functionalists see society as being constructed of different inter-dependent components like the family and education.
So in the same way the human body would fail if the heart stopped, functionalists’ argue society would stop working properly if the family stopped functioning properly.
Functionalists say this would happen because the family is an institution in which primary socialisation occurs. Primary socialisation is where younger members of a family are taught societies norms, values and beliefs.
By having the same values which we all share, a value consensus is establish. Therefore we can see the family has a function in the social system – or to refer back to the early analogy – the family has a positive function in the social body.
Talcott Parsons argued socialisation, social equilibrium, social order and functional perquisites were all vital for a society to function properly.
The image at the bottom of the page covers more of these key themes you need to grasp to fully understand. While the ideas Durkheim and Parsons are available in much greater depth in the following pages.
by Sam Cook a former student
Marxism is the philosophy derived from the work of Karl Marx. One misunderstanding people have is Marxism has no relevance to contemporary society. This following clip argues Marxism has more relevance than ever.
The basic idea of Marxism is a belief that capitalism allows the owners of capital (the 1% of ruling-class- bourgeois bosses) to exploit the workers (99% of working-class proletariat employees) and this causes conflict between the two classes (known as social-class conflict). The following Powerpoint explains the logic of Marxism at a very basic level Marxism – an introduction
Ideology is used by the ruling-class (bosses/bourgeoisie) in order to keep the working classes (proletariat) doing what they’re told. These established ideas are the ideas of the ruling classes and become seen as normal and inevitable by everyone else. The image at the bottom of the page covers most of the key themes you need to grasp to fully understand the Marx’s ideas while the following link explores each concept in more detail.
The hidden curriculum is all the things a child learns in school that isn’t part of the National Curriculum. For example being punctual, following a time table, wearing a uniform, and doing as you’re told.
Functionalists see the hidden curriculum as a positive part of school life. This is because it is a form of secondary socialisation whereby children learn universalistic values and these values prepare children to integrate into wider society especially the world of work. So children learn how to arrive at work on time, follow a timetable and take orders from the boss.
However Marxists (Bowles & Gintis) are critical of the hidden curriculum because it replicates the workplace because all school does is produce a hard-working disciplined workforce and so education is really about getting people (especially the working classes) ready for the world of work. The education which we tend to understand as learning subjects is a secondary role of schools, as social inequalities are reproduced by the hidden curriculum.
Feminists see the hidden curriculum has reinforcing patriarchy through gender stereotyping.
Key words, hidden curriculum, functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, universalistic values, social inequalities, Bowles & Ginitis
The hidden curriculum is all the things children learn in school which are not formally taught. There are three distinct views of the hidden curriculum Marxist, Feminist and Functionalist.
Watch the two clips below and use the evidence to try and identify what functionalists would say the role of the hidden curriculum is for.
Next now try and identify what Marxist would say about the film clips. How would they view the hidden curriculum given the film evidence?
Finally, what would Feminists say about the two film clips?
Key words Marxism hidden curriculum, feminism hidden curriculum, functionalism hidden curriculum, hidden curriculum
A policy is a set of ideas created and often implemented by people in authority in order to achieve a particular outcome.
For example a school might introduce uniform policy for its 6th Form. This simply means that the particular school has decided to make the wearing of uniforms compulsorily in its 6th Form.
The PowerPoint slide titled Education Policies included in this page describes to clear Education Policies created and implemented by successive governments which had a massive impact on schools in England and Wales.
The Power Point focuses on the 1944 Education Act, 1988 Education Act, 2001 New Vocationalism, Tripartite System, National Curriculum, Ofsted, policies, policy, goverment policy
After running through the slides please answer the following questions either in video, audio or through the comment box
Watch the first video clip and then write a small essay (which must includes a newspaper article – a link will do) which supports your argument about the main differences between the two educations systems.
Follow this link to read a PowerPoint presentation about feminist perspectives on education PowerPoint on feminist perspectives
The key terms used in the PowerPoint are:
gendered roles, gender inequalities, male supremacy, gender inequality, gendered subjects, gendered education, discrimination, patriarchy, patriarchal schools
Feminist Sociological Theories of Education
Feminist perspectives focus on gender inequalities in society. Feminist research has revealed the extent of male domination and the ways in which male supremacy has been maintained. From a feminist viewpoint, one of the main roles of education has been to maintain gender inequality.
Gender and education
From the 1960s onwards, feminist sociologists highlighted the following gender inequalities in education.
Gendered language – reflecting wider society, school textbooks (and teachers) tend to use gendered language – ‘he’, ‘him’, ‘his’, ‘man’ and ‘men’ when referring to a person or people. This tends to downgrade women and make them invisible.
Gendered roles – school textbooks have tended to present males and females in traditional gender roles – for example, women as mothers and housewives. This is particularly evident in reading schemes from the 1960s and 1970s.
Gender stereotypes – reading schemes have also tended to present traditional gender stereotypes. For example an analysis of six reading schemes from the 1960s and 1970s found that:
- <!–[if !supportLists]–>¨ boys are presented as more adventurous than girls
- <!–[if !supportLists]–>¨ <!–[endif]–>as physically stronger
- <!–[if !supportLists]–>¨ <!–[endif]–>as having more choices
- <!–[if !supportLists]–>¨ <!–[endif]–>girls are presented as more caring than boys
- <!–[if !supportLists]–>¨ <!–[endif]–>as more interested in domestic matters
- <!–[if !supportLists]–>¨ <!–[endif]–>as followers rather than leaders
Women in the curriculum – in terms of what’s taught in schools – the curriculum – women tend to be missing, in the background, or in second place. Feminists often argue that women have been ‘hidden from history’ – history has been the subject of men.
Subject choice – traditionally, female students have tended to avoid maths, science and technology. Certain subjects were often seen as ‘boys’ subjects’ and ‘girls’ subjects. Often girls subjects had lower status and lower market value.
Discrimination – there is evidence of discrimination against girls in education simply because of their gender. For example, when the 11-plus exam was introduced in the 1940s, the pass mark was set lower for boys than for girls to make certain there roughly equal numbers of boys and girl sin grammar schools. In other words girls were artificially ‘failed’ so boys could ‘succeed’.
Further and higher education – traditionally the number of female students going on to further and higher education has been lower than for boys. There is evidence that teachers often gave boys more encouragement than girls to go to university (Stanworth, 1983).
Feminist perspectives – an evaluation
Feminist perspectives have been valuable for exposing gender inequality in education. Partly as a result of sociological research, a lot has changed – for example, much of the sexism in reading schemes has now disappeared.
Today, women have overtaken men on most measures of educational attainment. Their grades at GCSE and A level are significantly higher than those of male students. And more women than men are going on to higher education. The concern now is the underachievement of boys rather than discrimination against girls.
Watch the clip below and then answer the following in the comment box
A) Please find aother Youtube clip which examines the issue of labelling
B) What social-class of student tends to be given dentention
C) What are Marxist and functionalist explanations of this?
Watch the clip below and then answer the questions below via the comment box:
A) Identify the family form in the clip
B) What explanation would feminists give for this trype of family
C) How would Right-Wing politicians explian this type of family
sociologytwynham.com 
