SOCI 3630 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Talcott Parsons, Meritocracy, George Herbert Mead
13 Jul 2019
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Document Summary
Education seen as playing a role within the system. : is there a functional relationship between the education system and other systems, such as the legal system, economic system, labour market, etc. The notion of meritocracy: ability + effort = merit. Schools ensure that the best people will fill the most important jobs in society. Schools ensure that the best people will perform the most important jobs. Schools therefore instill: the value of achievement, the value of equality of opportunity. Schools also perform the function of role allocation: specialization in different fields. A function is a complex of activities directed towards meeting a need or needs of the system. Phenomenological because they focus on symbolic aspects of life; sign, symbols, interpretation, etc. Also called interpretive and hermeneutics: school of thought in philosophy that focuses on issues around language and interpretation. It is important how we interpret that social reality.
