Sociological Comparison: Amish and the Uk

Socialisation is a process of learning the culture of a society. Culture refers to values, norms, status and roles which are passed generation to generation to shape and define a society.   A comparison between the Amish and the UK societies will show how the norms, values, status and roles define each society, instilling in individuals the society’s expectations.   Looking at Functionalism and Marxism several differences and similarities can be highlighted between these two societies.
Roles are patterns of behaviour which society expects of individuals. An individual will undertake many roles concurrently i.e. a teacher can also be a parent and/or a sister.   Values and norms vary widely between societies, being seen as the rules developed by a society specifying how people should and should not behave in various situations.   They create a shared expectation defining appropriate behaviour that moulds a society, instilling ideas that people have about what is desirable and worth striving towards.
Structural theorists regard a person’s behaviour as being strongly influenced by the structure of a society.   Institutions such as family, education and state teach and reinforce the roles and expectations.   In the UK family teaches us how to behave, providing us with a foundation to progress into education and further ourselves to achieve a status among society.   Education is the norm those with little or no education would not be accepted wholly by society and would often struggle to conform. However, the purpose of Amish education is not to promote individuality, the goal is to teach children the value of hard work, ethical living, and how to be a valuable member of the Amish community. Amish view education as the responsibility of parents, the school and the entire community overseen by the influence of the church (Amish.net).
A functionalist views education as a positive emphasis on socialisation. Seeing education as helping to maintain society by socialising...