Education as a Social Institution

However functionalists believe that the education institution is there and built for a reason, that it affects and benefits both the

Structural functionalism is a macro analysis view defined as “The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole.” In education, it focuses on how it serves the needs of society. Functionalists view education as a way to pass on knowledge and skills. While functionalists believe that schools sort students based upon their academic knowledge, Conflict theorists believe that students are sorted based on their social/financial class. Conflict theory is “The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetual differences in power.” Conflict theorists believe that students of lower status won’t have the same opportunities in school as students of a higher class. A student of a family with a

From the perspective of students, positive student/teacher relationships are important in their schooling (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 29). These relationships are important because it gives students more motivation to come to school and to try harder in class (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 33). Some example of positive student/teacher relationship includes extra help, encouragement, motivation, learning their identity, how to form and maintain professional relationships, and develop socio-emotional skills (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 2013). Not only do students do well when they have positive relationships, teachers also benefit from them as they are satisfied when students put effort into their work (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 35). It is cited that a lack of connection to caring adults in school is a variable of alienation, failure, and dropout (Bernstein-Yamashiro and Noam, 17).

The education system has faults and many inequalities throughout it. The inequalities can be seen in many different areas including, meritocracy, different social classes, gender and ethnic inequalities, racism, cultural capital, and repressive state apparatuses etc. Various sociologists have different views about the education system and what the inequalities consist of.

The most effective sociological perspective is seen to be the functionalist perspective. This is because it explains that education serves different functions in the society like socialization, social integration, social and cultural innovation and also social placement. Whereas the conflict theory states that education is meant as a way of promoting social inequality by differing in the funding and learning conditions in the various schools plus the impact of hidden curriculum. On the other hand the symbolic interactionalist perspective state that education tends to affect the gender roles and also the interaction between a teacher and a student affects how they learn due to some set expectations by teachers (Barkan 2012).

parts. It looks at society more as system not as an individual. Symbolic interactionism focuses on

The relation between the study of how people act towards each other and education is a subject of debate. One idea says education is meant to overcome where two things are not the same. Whereas other says the most important function of education is helping to increase balance status of good people in the world and to maintain inequality whatever state it comes in. I will focus on three areas that affects the educations of Socialogy. The first area is Structural Functionalism.

However, from a different perspective Social Conflict Approach, Karl Max defined the Social Conflict Approach as a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and changes. Conflict theory usually emphasizes on negative, conflicted and ever-changing nature of society. Unlike functionalists who defended the status quo, avoid social change and believe people works together to effect social order, conflict theories challenge the status quo, encourage social change and believe rich and powerful people force social order on the weak and poor. Now the problem is how far do social conflict theories relate to the educational system? As illustrated by Marxist theorists Althusser, education socially

Sociology studies the various relationships and functioning in the human society using different perspectives. One of them is the functionalism perspective. This viewpoint argues that all social institutions in the society are

. According to John Dewey education plays a large role in the development of an individual and it is an element that separates humans from other animals. It is important to try to comprehend what Dewey means by this and in order to do so the following must be done. First, one must understand the role education plays in an individual and Dewey’s notions of education in the areas of growth, direction and social function. Second, after comprehending Dewey’s notions of education in the areas of growth, direction, and social function, one must be able to grasp the distinction between education as a social function and the simple notion of training and what sets these two apart. Third, after being able to comprehend the notions of education and the distinction between education as a social function and training, the idea of why education is distinctive of human life will be further developed.

Functionalist one of the “theories” of sociology are mainly concerned with the function of education to society and to seek solution to the following questions, “what is the relevance of education to the social system and “what are the relationship between education and economic system”.

The main point the functionalist perspective on education is that society comprised of parts which encourage the framework in general and that adjustment in one a player in the public As a result, Functionalist theory on education shows that it assumes an indispensable part of people 's lives and society. For examples, when the society has a lot of educated people it will became more prosperous. On the other hand the society that has less educated people it will became illiterate.

The structural-functional theory also known as functionalism is sociological theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Functionalists view education as a contribution to the smooth inner working of society. Education is a lifelong process, we are constantly learning new things and deepening our knowledge of things we already know. The education system works to prepare individuals to become fully functioning members of society. It works to teach people certain skills that will help them to be successful in life. However, education not only teaches people the skills they will need to be successful in life, but it also teaches them how to be decent citizens and to work well with others. Many people view education are a service to the overall function of society.

Understanding the concepts of these theories that occur through interaction, functionality and conflicts requires a comprehensive view of the primary theoretical models. Symbolic interaction for instance is a prominent theoretical perspective that highlights the understanding of social life. The emergence of symbolic perspective emerged from the sociological analysis and the approach of ideas that ascertain the use of symbols. The interactions are based on the systems and structures of human action. Functionalism theory is the most dominant theoretical aspect in sociology as well as other social sciences. This theory emphasizes on the application and the scientific method that is based on the explanation of the research conducted. The capacity of the functionalism theory dominates the present research as the most famous contemporary theory of the

Success, achievement and participation at school are not simply a matter of intelligence or ability. Discuss this statement with reference to the concepts of cultural capital, hidden curriculum, class and socioeconomic status.