criticisms of the functionalist perspective

Question 1

multicultural Britain
(durkheim)

Answer 1

-Durkheim assumes society has a single and dominant shared culture that can be passed on by the education system
-countries such as Britain =multicultural so not a single culture for schools to pass on

Question 2

class inequality
(marxists)

Answer 2

-Marxists argue education system serves interest of ruling class than society as a whole

Question 3

competition vs solidarity
(Hargreaves)

Answer 3

-Hargreaves(1982) argues that schools emphasise individual competiiton through the exam system rather than working together

Question 4

achieved or ascribed?

Answer 4

-can be argued intelligence has little effect upon educational achievement it can be argued people not graded by ability but class
=private schools achieve better than state schools
-content creators go against role allocation

Question 5

ignoring counter/anti-school subculture
(interactionalists Wrong(1961)

Answer 5

argues that functionalists have an ‘over-socialised view’ of people as mere puppets of society
-functionalists wrongfully imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never reject school’s values- disproved through antischool subculture examined by paul willis