... of commitment and identity. Durkheim also looked at how schools teach social rules and how the school is a 'society in miniature'. School allows these social rules to be learnt in an appropriate context, teaching pupils that individuals need to cooperate with all acquaintances not just friends and family. These rules and pupils interactions with teachers and other students prepare them for their adult life in society. Schools also teach the specific occupational skills needed in modern industrial society, where the division of labour has become more complex and specialised. In pre-industrial society the family provided these work skills but in modern times schools play a vital role in ensuring the provision of a specifically skilled and educated workforce. From Durkheim's point of view the education system benefits society by passing on its culture, norms and values through generations and ensuring value consensus and thus social order. Another functionalist view is ...

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