Author's Name:	Dr. Wellington Samkange
Subject Area:	Social Science and Humanities
Subject	Other
Section	Research Paper

Functionalist, Marxist perspective, Feminist, Education, Curriculum

Different perspectives have been used to explain the role of education in society. Some of these perspectives include the functionalist perspective, the feminist perspective encompassing the different forms of feminism which include radical feminism, liberal feminism, social feminism, integrationist perspective, and the Marxist perspective. These perspectives explain the role of education in society guided by different social theories. To put the paper into context, the paper briefly examines how these different theoretical perspectives view the role of education in society. The paper focuses on the Marxist perspective and how it explains the role of education. The Marxist view on education, explains the role in terms of how education maintains the capitalist system and the class struggle. The Marxist perspective views the education curriculum as unfair, oppressive, lacking relevance, and promoting social inequalities. This is seen as an extreme view, as education has in most cases created economic opportunities and social opportunities. The Marxist perspective, despite its radical approach to explaining the role of education, remains relevant in education as it helps us identify areas of conflict that need redress.