There are three main theoretical perspectives (or theories) that represent the views of sociologists and educators, these views are the conflict perspective, symbolic interactions and functionalism. Although all of these theories are important to education and society, I have chosen to focus my research or theoretical perspective on functionalism, also including the effects of functionalism and education. The functionalist perspective is one of the most dominant fundamental perspectives in sociology and constitutes an analysis of social and cultural phenomena in terms of the functions they serve in a social system. In functionalism, societies are conceived as a system of interdependent parts in which no part can be understood independently of the whole. A change in any part of the system is seen as leading to some degree of imbalance, which in turn leads to changes in other parts of the system and, to some extent, reorganization of the system. The development of functionalism is based on the organic system model found in the biological sciences. (Anisef 2000) The functionalist perspective views education as a sort of sorting station in which students undergo extensive training and testing in order to give them their right place in society, all of which depends on their exam scores . Functionalists also take into account that many societies come from diverse national and cultural backgrounds. Their views also suggest that schools in Western society award awards based on individual abilities, talent efforts, and so on. The function of education in a functionalist world would be selection. The education system selects people and assigns them certain jobs based on their abilities. The educational system......middle of article......in the functionalist perspective, one way in which society perpetuates itself is through its educational system.References "Sociology: Theories of Education - CliffsNotes ." Get homework help with CliffsNotes study guides - CliffsNotes. Internet. March 4, 2011. .Hoenisch, by Steve. “Durkheim and educational systems”. Criticism.Com: Home. Internet. March 4, 2010. .Anisef, Paul. “Overview of theories related to comparative education: structural functionalism, conflicts and selected micro-perspectives.” Internet. March 4, 2011Van Krieken, R., Smith, P., Habibis, D., McDonald, K., Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. 2000, Sociology: themes and perspectives, (2nd ed.), Longman Pearson Education, Sydney.