The sociology of education studies formal schooling as a social institution that does far more than transmit academic knowledge: structural functionalists, following Émile Durkheim, describe schools as socialization agencies that teach children how to get along with others and prepare them for adult economic roles, partly through an explicit curriculum and partly through a 'hidden curriculum' of norms and values. A second core function is credentialing and role placement, sorting students for the labor market. Conflict theorists, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu, argue this sorting reproduces existing social inequality, because schools treat the dominant group's 'cultural capital' as the natural and only proper kind, giving already-advantaged students a built-in edge. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Institution TypeSourced to the subject's own accountSocialization/credentialing institution (also functions as a stratification mechanism per conflict theory) 1 Emergence PeriodSourced to the subject's own accountFormal, institutionalized mass schooling is a comparatively late development tied to industrialization and the modern nation-state, though narrower formal educational institutions (such as the Chinese imperial examination system) go back centuries earlier; systematic sociological analysis of education as an institution began around the turn of the 20th century with Durkheim and Max Weber. 1 Education
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Connections
Associated With
Apprenticeship functioned as a primary vocational education pathway before the rise of formal schooling, transmitting a trade's skills and knowledge from master to apprentice.
Meyer world society theory showed how mass schooling spread globally as a taken-for-granted institutional model, not merely a response to local economic need.
Mannheim sociology of knowledge examined how formal schooling and other institutions of education transmit, and can also renew, a society dominant worldview across generations.
Source Wikipedia: Sociology of Education
The scouting movement was founded explicitly as an informal educational institution, teaching practical skills, citizenship and moral character outside the formal school system.
Informed By
Durkheim's structural-functionalist account describes schools as socialization agencies preparing children for adult social and economic roles.
Source Wikipedia: Sociology of Education
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Sociology of Education
Wikipedia- Structural functionalism and Education and social reproduction sections
- synthesized from Structural functionalism and Education and social reproduction sections
- synthesized from Structural functionalism section
Lead section, definition
The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes.
Structural Functionalism, Socialization subsection, hidden curriculum
it is mainly achieved through the hidden curriculum, a subtler, but nonetheless powerful, indoctrination of the norms and values of the wider society.
Structure and Agency, Bourdieu and cultural capital subsection
Bourdieu argues that it is the culture of the dominant groups, and therefore their cultural capital, which is embodied in schools, and that this leads to social reproduction.
Filling roles in society section, sorting for the labor market
As various jobs become vacant, they must be filled with the appropriate people. Therefore, the other purpose of education is to sort and rank individuals for placement in the labor market.
- Informed By: Structural Functionalism, Structural functionalism section
- Associated With: Meritocracy, education and social reproduction section
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