- •Introduction
- •Unit 1. Family: Father, Mother and Me?
- •Learning outcomes:
- •Interracial and interethnic families
- •Interethnic family futures
- •Of the interviewee's point of view
- •Unit 2. Sociology of Religion: Spirited Away?
- •Learning outcomes:
- •God and shopping by Steve Bruce
- •The New Age religion
- •The global cafeteria
- •How New Age beliefs fit the wider society
- •Increasing rationalisation
- •Your successful survey report includes:
- •Learning outcomes:
- •The functionalist perspective on education
- •Changing education, changing times by christopher pole
- • Task 4. While reading part “Inside the school: The curriculum” put the following points of the plan in the correct order:
- •Inside the school (I) The curriculum
- •Comparing coeducation and single-sex schooling by Richard q'Leary
- •Conclusion
- •Prefixes
- •Suffixes
- •Faith schools by Joan Garrod
- •Criticisms of the expansion of faith schools
- •A shining example
- •Your successful “for and against” essay includes:
- •Learning outcomes:
- • Task 8. Replace the words in italics with words from the box above:
- •Nobody loves the middle class
- •The cultural characteristics of the middle class
- •Middle-class suburban culture
- •Socialisation and the middle class
- •Your successful opinion essay includes:
- •Useful language: Giving Your Opinion
- •The link between employment and social class
- •The upper class
- •Concentration of wealth
- •The upper-class family
- •Upper-class education
- •The influence of the upper-class peer group
- •Conclusion
- •Explaining why you are including things:
- •Imagining how they will react:
- •Learning outcomes:
- •Title b:________________________________
- •Title c:________________________________
- •Title f:________________________________
- •Your successful essay suggesting solutions to problems includes:
- •Family life and poverty by John Williams
- •Unit 6. Have the right to be healthy?
- •Learning outcomes:
After
working effectively at this unit you will be able to:
outline
and comment on the functions of education;
trace
the interdependence between the
system of education and historical context of a particular country; write
“for and against” essays dealing with sociological and
psychological
aspects of coeducation and single-sex schooling; introduce
points in an argument reflecting a paradox between an increasingly
secular society and a growing demand for children to be educated in
a “religious” environment;Learning outcomes:
SUB-UNIT 3.1. The Functionalist and the Conflict Perspectives on Education
WARMING-UP:
Task 1. Before starting to get acquainted with two approaches to the sociological interpretation of the issue of “education”, try to define the central terms:
How can you define the term “education”?
What functions of education can you enumerate? (write them down in your note-books).
Work in pairs and compare your functions with those of your group-mates. Which of them are the same/different? Later, after having read the following article you will be able to compare your ideas with those of American sociologists.
Task 2. While reading the article where the functions of education as they are understood in terms of sociological science are presented. The boldfaced words will help you understand the text. Try to determine their meaning with the help of the definitions given at the end of the article.
Task 3. Now read the first part of the article and find information that would back this statement:
“Learning is a fundamental process in our lives.”
Controversy also envelops the educational institution. This fact is hardly surprising, since in modern societies few individuals and groups do not have a substantial stake in (1) the educational enterprise. The reason is not difficult to discern (2): Learning is a fundamental process in our lives. It allows us to adapt to our environment by building on previous experience. Through our successes and failures in coping with our life circumstances, we derive an accumulating body of information that serves as a guide to decisions and actions. Social scientists view learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior or capability that results from experience. Since learning is so vital to social life, societies do not usually leave it to chance. Societies may undertake to transmit particular attitudes, knowledge, and skills to their members through formal, systematic training—what sociologists call education. Education is one aspect of the many-sided process of socialization by which people acquire behaviors essential for effective participation in society. It entails (3) an explicit process in which some individuals assume the status of teacher and others the status of student and carry out their associated roles.
Task 4. In your opinion, what is meant in the paragraph by saying that “we derive an accumulating body of information that serves as a guide to decisions and actions”? Share some examples from your life that would back this statement.
Task 5. Read part “The Functionalist Perspective on Education. Completing Socialization”. How has the role of education changed in the course of time? Where can you find proofs to it?