This paper discusses in depth about education as one of the social issues we face today. It talks about the disparities in income and the cause behind it by analyzing two important theories - structural theory and conflict theory. It also aims to explain the known and unknown issues and the need for sociological inquiry into this subject.
Education
Description of education
Education is the learning and experience that impacts every individual in one way or the other. In fact, better education paves the way for better economic opportunities and this is one of the key areas that results in economic disparities in the society.
Education as a field of sociology is about understanding how different aspects such as public institutions, parental role, society and environment affect the learning abilities of individuals. It concentrates heavily on the role of schools and universities in the modern society (Ballantine & Hammack, 2011).
Education in the field of sociology
In sociology, education is viewed as a means towards better social equality and to overcome many social evils such as poverty. In that context, education is the path for acquiring social status and money. It is also seen as an area where the individual differences in terms of learning abilities is evident. The sociological aspect of education looks into the role played by parents, peers and the society at large on an individual and it analyzes the number of opportunities they get to reach their true learning potential. To better understand these sociological aspects of education, there are two main theories and they are the functionalist theory and the conflict theory.
Functionalist theory
Functionalist theory, also known as structural functionalism, believes that the society is in a natural equilibrium and every member of the society accepts the social norms that are established in it. It is based on Darwin's theory of evolution that is based on individual differences as well as the need to adapt to existing rules to survive.
The crux of this theory is to educate children to the existing and established rules of the society so that they grow up to be part of it and it places this responsibility on the public education system to achieve this objective. Also, this theory encourages the society to identify talent and prepare them for the higher end jobs while the ones with lesser talents end up with the least paying jobs. This is a process of the continuity and through this process, the social order and the norms are maintained (Bessant & Watts, 2002).
Conflict theory
The conflict theory opposes the functionalist theory because it promotes inequality in society by giving opportunity to the talented ones to dominate those that remain at the bottom. The education system is believed to promote this social inequality and provide different classes of workers who are at different economic levels, thereby allowing the society to adhere to its fundamental ideology of inequality (Andersen & Taylor, 2007).
Known and unknown aspects of education
There are many known and unknown aspects of education. Based on the American society, it is easy to understand the so-called "Americanization" of immigrants to create a society that falls the established rules and behavior. Moreover, the talented individuals are identified and given special opportunities by the education system as opposed to countries like Japan where all students work towards the benefit if the group rather than themselves.
There are other unknown aspects of education that require more research. One such aspect is the impact of the environment at home and the influence of stronger and weaker siblings. A more relevant area that needs more research is the impact of divorce on the abilities of individuals to perform better. In other words, do children belonging to single parents have the same mindset as those coming from a home with two parents in terms of their aspirations and their eagerness to prove their abilities and to stand out in a crowd.
Value and implications of sociological research
There are only a few institutions that are protected against sociological inquiry and one such institution is education. This has been the blind norm followed through all these years because it was implied that schools identify the right objectives and take the necessary steps to impart learning to students that conform with these objectives (Wells, 1999). However, the changing demographics coupled with the vast amount of changes that are taking place in our society make it relevant to have sociological inquiry into the education system as well.
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