What is the role of education in society, according to functionalists, Marxists and others?
Component 1 Section C (Education): perspectives on the role and purpose of education, including functionalist views (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore), Marxist views (Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, Willis) and the New Right, with their criticisms.
An Eduqas A-Level Sociology Education guide to the role of education. Covers functionalist views (Durkheim on solidarity, Parsons on meritocracy, Davis and Moore on role allocation), Marxist views (Althusser's ideological state apparatus, Bowles and Gintis's correspondence principle, Willis's lads), and the New Right, with criticisms.
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What this dot point is asking
This statement covers the perspectives on the role and purpose of education: the functionalist view (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore), the Marxist view (Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, Willis) and the New Right, plus the criticisms of each. It is the theoretical foundation of the Education option, against which the later topics (class, gender and ethnic differences, policy) are judged.
The answer
The functionalist view
The key functionalist claims are:
- Durkheim: education creates social solidarity, transmitting the shared norms and history that bind individuals into a society, and teaches the specialist skills a complex division of labour requires.
- Parsons: the school is a bridge between the family (where status is ascribed and treatment particularistic) and wider society (where status is achieved and standards universalistic). Education is meritocratic, judging everyone by the same standards of achievement.
- Davis and Moore: education performs role allocation, acting as a device that sifts and sorts pupils by ability, so the most able are matched to the most important and highly rewarded jobs.
The Marxist view
Marxists reject the consensus picture, arguing education serves capitalism and the ruling class:
- Althusser: education is an ideological state apparatus (ISA) that reproduces a compliant, well-disciplined workforce and transmits ruling-class ideology, making inequality seem natural.
- Bowles and Gintis: there is a correspondence principle between school and work. School mirrors the workplace (hierarchy, obedience, fragmented tasks, external rewards), preparing pupils to accept their place. The meritocracy is a myth that disguises the reproduction of class inequality, justifying inequality as if it were earned.
- Willis: in a famous study of twelve working-class "lads", he showed pupils are not passive. Their counter-school culture of resistance ironically led them into the manual jobs capitalism needed, so reproduction happens partly through the pupils' own agency, not just top-down conditioning.
The New Right and criticisms
The New Right broadly accepts that education should serve society and the economy but argues the state-run system has failed to produce the skills and standards needed. It favours competition, marketisation and parental choice to raise standards (linking to the policy topic).
The perspectives are criticised:
- Functionalism is accused of overstating consensus and meritocracy: achievement is heavily shaped by class, so the system is not truly meritocratic, and it ignores conflict and the hidden curriculum.
- Marxism (especially Bowles and Gintis) is criticised as too deterministic, ignoring pupil agency (a gap Willis fills) and the genuine skills and opportunities education provides.
Examples in context
A strong answer attributes claims to the right theorists (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore, Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, Willis), uses Marxism to evaluate functionalism, and notes Willis as a criticism of crude Marxism too.
Try this
Q1. Explain what Bowles and Gintis meant by the 'correspondence principle'. [6 marks]
- What the marker wants. A definition (AO1): the correspondence principle is the close match between the social relationships of school and those of the workplace (hierarchy, obedience, fragmented tasks, external rewards), with the point that school prepares pupils to accept their place under capitalism.
Q2. Analyse two functions that functionalists believe education performs. [12 marks]
- Cue. Two developed points chosen from social solidarity (Durkheim), teaching specialist skills, the meritocratic bridge between family and society (Parsons), and role allocation (Davis and Moore), each explained and linked to the benefit education brings to society.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Eduqas A200 20186 marksExplain the functionalist view of the role of education. [6]Show worked answer →
A short Section C knowledge question (AO1 with application). Make the point and develop it.
Point. Functionalists see education as performing positive functions for society: Durkheim argued it creates social solidarity and teaches specialist skills, and Parsons saw the school as a bridge between the family and wider society.
Development. Parsons and Davis and Moore add that education is meritocratic, sifting and sorting pupils by ability and allocating them to suitable roles. Naming a theorist and a function secures the marks.
Eduqas A200 202020 marksEvaluate functionalist views of the role of education. [20]Show worked answer →
A Section C essay (AO1, AO2 and AO3), shown at the 20-mark cap (worth more in the full paper), marked by levels of response.
For. Durkheim's solidarity and skills, Parsons's meritocratic bridge, and Davis and Moore's role allocation show education benefits society and the individual.
Against. Marxists argue education reproduces class inequality and ideology (Bowles and Gintis); the meritocracy is a myth because achievement is shaped by class; functionalism ignores conflict and the hidden curriculum.
Judgement. Education does perform functions, but functionalism overstates meritocracy and consensus and ignores how education reproduces inequality. A balanced judgement reaches the top band.
Related dot points
- Component 1 Section C (Education): social class differences in educational achievement, including external factors (material deprivation, cultural deprivation, cultural capital) and internal factors (labelling, the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and pupil subcultures).
An Eduqas A-Level Sociology Education guide to social class and achievement. Covers external factors (material deprivation, cultural deprivation, Bourdieu's cultural capital, language codes) and internal factors (labelling, the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and the A-to-C economy), with the debate over whether the cause lies inside or outside school.
- Component 1 Section C (Education): gender differences in achievement (the changing position of girls and boys, and subject choice) and ethnic differences in achievement, including external and internal explanations and the experience of different ethnic groups in school.
An Eduqas A-Level Sociology Education guide to gender and ethnicity. Covers the reasons girls now outperform boys (feminism, changing ambitions, the decline of male jobs, laddish subcultures) and gendered subject choice, plus external and internal explanations of ethnic differences in achievement and the experience of ethnic groups in school.
- Component 1 Section C (Education): processes within school, including the hidden curriculum, teacher labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and setting, and pupil identities and subcultures (pro-school and anti-school responses).
An Eduqas A-Level Sociology Education guide to in-school processes. Covers the hidden curriculum, teacher labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and setting, differentiation and polarisation, and pro-school and anti-school pupil subcultures (Willis, Lacey, Ball), with the interactionist view of school the paper rewards.
- Component 1 Section C (Education): educational policy, including the tripartite system, comprehensivisation, marketisation and parental choice (the 1988 Education Reform Act), selection and the impact of policy on equality of opportunity and on different social groups.
An Eduqas A-Level Sociology Education guide to policy. Covers the tripartite system, comprehensivisation, marketisation and parental choice (the 1988 Education Reform Act, league tables, formula funding), selection (cream-skimming, the A-to-C economy), and the impact of policy on equality of opportunity for different social groups.
- Component 1 Section A: the process of socialisation, including primary and secondary socialisation; the agencies of socialisation (family, education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace); and functionalist, Marxist and interactionist views of how socialisation transmits culture.
An Eduqas A-Level Sociology Component 1 Section A guide to socialisation. Covers primary and secondary socialisation, the agencies (family, education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace), the processes (imitation, role models, sanctions), and functionalist, Marxist and feminist views of how culture is transmitted.
Sources & how we know this
- Eduqas A Level Sociology Specification (A200) — Eduqas (2015)