Key sociologists Functionalists, Marxists and Femininsts

Talcott Parsons Functionalist

Talcott Parsons

• 1902-1979

• He was a key functionalist thinker

• He argued that socialisation is the key to understanding human

behaviour patterns

• He proposed the role of social institutions, such as the family,

media, education and others.

• Parsons also proposed the bridge theory. Which is what parsons

explai was the bridge between family life and society.

Emile DurkheimFunctionalist

Emile Durkheim

• 1858-1917

• Founder of functionalism

• Believes that society and culture were more important than the

individual.

• Argued that societies members were united by value consensus.

• Concerned that education should emphasise the moral

responsibilities that members of society had towards each other.

George Murdock Functionalist

George Murdock

• 1949

• Compared over 250 societies and claimed that nuclear family was universal.

• He noticied that it is always performed in four functions essential to the

continued existence of those societies:

• Reproductive- society requires new members to survive.

• Sexual- serves both society and the individual.

• Educational- transmission of culture to the next generation

• Economic- adult members show their commitment to the care, protection and

maintenance of their dependants.

Davis and Moore Functionalists

Davis and Moore

• 1945

• They believed that stratification serves and important function in

society.

• They also said that in any society a number of tasks should be

accomplished such as cleaning streets and serving coffee.

• Agreed that those people who perform more difficult tasks

should gain more power.

• Founders of the role allocation theory.

Karl Marx Marxists

Karl Marx

• 1818-1883

• Famous German sociologist and the founder of Marxists

views.

• Thought up of the two classes: Bourgeoisie and

Proletariat.

• He believed that socialism would eventually be replaced

by a stateless, classless society called pure communism.

Louis Althusser Marxist

Louis Althusser

• 1918-1990

• argued that economic relations structure education so as

to reproduce these same economic relations.

• 'ideological state apparatus‘

• Schools work to ensure that those who are to do the work

will do so co-operatively, out of a belief that the situation

is just and reasonable.

Max Weber Marxist

Max Weber

• 1864-1920

• A famous founding figure in the Marxists views.

• He published a lot of famous articles and books which widened views amongst soldiers in WW1.

• He argues for a broader base of power i.e. as derived from both economic/political/social bases in the form of class/bureaucratic/status divides and that he's arguing that the former ideological base of religious control in feudalism is overtaken by the ideology of rationalism and thus the ways that this shift affects the relative importance of religion and ideology towards an increasingly key role for education but very much in terms of 'rationalisation' which can become restrictive in terms of what education should be about.

Pierre Bourdieu Marxist

Pierre Bourdieu

• 1930-2002

• Pierre Bourdieu developed theories of social stratification

based on aesthetic taste.

• Bourdieu hypothesizes that children internalize these

dispositions at an early age and that such dispositions

guide the young towards their appropriate social

positions, towards the behaviours that are suitable for

them, and foster an aversion towards other behaviours.