Chapter 13: Education and
Religion
Section 1: The Sociolo of
Education
“Education is the most
powerful weapon which you
can use to change the world.”
(Nelson Mandela)
Write down 2-3 reasons
school is important in
society.”
How Sociology sees education
with reference to the 3
sociological perspective.
Let’s remember the 3 sociological
perspectives that we studied in
trimester1.
Objectives
Explain how education functions as a social
institution.
Discuss how schools contribute to socialization
and cultural transmission.
Analyze the role of education in social integration
and social placement.
Defining Education
• Functionalist view: Studies the ways in which
education
aids society
• Conflict view: Studies the ways in which
education maintains the imbalance of
power in society
• Interactionist view: Studies the face-to-face
interaction of
the classroom.
Defining Education
• Functionalist view: Studies the ways in which
education
aids society
• Conflict view: Studies the ways in which
education maintains the imbalance of
power in society
• Interactionist view: Studies the face-to-face
interaction of
the classroom.
The Functionalist Perspective on
Education
Teaching Knowledge and Transmission of Culture
Skills • For societies to survive, they
• Children must learn the must pass on core values of their
culture.
knowledge and skills
they will need as adults. • Societies use education to
• Education generates new support their communities’
knowledge, which is useful social and political system.
in adapting to changing
conditions.
Occupational Placement
Social Integration
• Education screens and
• Education serves to produce selects the members of
a society of individuals who society for the work they will
share a common national do as adults.
identity.
• Schools in industrialized
• Schools foster social countries identify students
integration and who show special talents and
national unity by teaching a abilities at an early age.
The Conflict Perspective on Education
• Education serves to sort Social Control
students into social ranks • SChools produce
and to limit the potential of unquestioning citizens who
certain individuals and accept the basic
groups to gain power and inequalities of the social
sociai rewards. system.
• Students' achievement or • Hidden curriculum:
failure Schools' transmission of
Tracking
tend to reflect existing cultural
Education and oals
that are not openly
inequalities.
• Tracking: Involves the acknowledqed.
S o c i o e c o n o m i c Status
assiqnment of students to
different types of • Opportunities for
educational programs educational
• Classroom instructions used success are distributed
the status
in the different tracks serve unequally.
V
quo.
to reproduce • Higher-status college
students outnumber
lower-status college
The Interactionist Perspective on Education
Student-Teacher Interactions among
Interaction Students
• Students labeled fast • The Coleman Report found
learners or slow that the socioeconomic
learners without any data status of fellow
eventually took on the students was the most
characteristics of the significant factor in
label. explaining student
SUCCESS
• A self-fulfilling prophecy is
a prediction that leads to • Peer pressure may be a
behavior that makes the factor in this dynamic.
prediction come true.
• When teachers treat
students as if they are bright
and capable, the students
begin to think of themselves
in this way, and vice versa.
Functionalist Perspective
Education main- tains social stability
by transmitting culture, teaching
knowledge and skills, and preparing
individuals for the world of work.
Conflict Perspective EdUCation
perpetuates a social system that limits
the potential of certain individuals and
groups to gain social rewards and
Interactionist Perspective
Face-to-face interactions between
students and teachers pro- foundly
affect student educational
achievement.
Exit Ticket:
write a short paragraph reflecting on
what they learned about the sociology
of education and how it might apply
to their personal experiences.