Introduction To Social Dimensions Of Education 1z2g1j

Social Dimensions of Education

What is the role of the SCHOOLS in our SOCIETY?

The Role of Schools According to Dr. Adelaida Bago, in her book Social Dimensions in Philippine Education, stresses that there are two possible purposes or roles of schools:

1. The role of the school is to educate citizens to fit into society; 2. The role of the school is to educate citizens to change the society.

The specific purposes of the school are the following: a. Cognitive Purposes – teaching the basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and speaking. b. Political Purposes – inculcation of patriotism or loyalty to the existing political order. c. Social Purposes – concerns with the socialization of citizens into their various roles in society. d. Economic Purposes – involves training and preparation of citizens for the world of work.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Sociologists see Education as one of the major institutions that constitutes society. While theories guide research and policy formulation in the sociology of education, they also provide logical explanations for why things happen the way they do in group situations, sociologists make use of theoretical perspectives. These theories also become the basis for analyzing curriculum, instruction and structure in the school organization.

The diverse sociological explanations enable educators to understand how the school, as a social institution of society, interact with the social environment as they perform their important role in their unique way either as agents of cultural and social transmission or as agents of social transformation.

Consensus and Conflict Theory

Consensus – a general or widespread agreement among all of a particular society Conflict – clash between ideas, principles and people

Are you a Consensus or a Conflict thinker?  RH Bill  Legalization of Divorce in the Philippines  To change the name of our country from ―Pilipinas ― to ―Filipinas‖  No Plastic Days (in Roxas City)  The implementation of K to 12 Program

Consensus Theories • See shared norms and values as fundamental to society • Focus on social order based on tacit agreements • View social change as occurring in a slow and orderly fashion

Conflict Theories • Emphasize the dominance of some social groups by others • See social order as based on manipulation and control by dominant groups • View social change as occurring rapidly and in disorderly fashion as subordinate groups overthrow dominant groups

Consensus vs Conflict Consensus

Conflict

-Examines value integration in society

-Examines conflicts of interest and coercion that holds society together

-emphasizes on social order, stability and social regulation

- focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain dominance and power in social systems

Conflict Theory example in Education McLeod’s “Ain’t No Makin’ It” is a good example of conflict theory as applied to education: 1.

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Teachers treat lower-class kids like less competent students, placing them in lower ―tracks‖ because they have generally had fewer opportunities to develop language, critical thinking, and social skills prior to entering school than middle and upper class kids. When placed in lower tracks, lower-class kids are trained for blue-collar jobs by an emphasis on obedience and following rules rather than autonomy, higher-order thinking, and self-expression. He points out that while private schools are expensive and generally reserved for the upper classes, public schools, especially those that serve the poor, are underfunded, understaffed, and growing worse. Schools are also powerful agents of socialization that can be used as tools for one group to exert power over others – for example, by demanding that all students learn English, schools are ensuring that English-speakers dominate students from non-English speaking backgrounds.

The consensus and conflict sociological theories are reflected in the works of certain dominant theorists such as: • Karl Marx • Emile Durkheim • Max Weber • Talcott Parsons & Robert Merton • Louise Althusser & Ralph Dahrendorf • Herbert Mead & Herbert Blumer

Structural Functionalism

Structural Functionalism states that society is made up of various institutions that work together in cooperation to promote solidarity and stability

Four Functional Imperatives that are necessary for all systems (AGIL Scheme): 1. Adaptation: A system must cope with external situational exigencies. It must adapt to its environment and adapt environment to its needs. 2. Goal attainment: A system must define and achieve its primary goals 3. Integration: A system must regulate the interrelationship of its component parts. It must also manage the relationship among the other three functional imperatives 4. Latency: (pattern maintenance) A system must furnish , maintain, and renew both the motivation of individuals and the cultural patterns that create and sustain motivation

Structure of the General Action System CULTURAL SYSTEM (performs the latency function by providing actors with the norms and values that lotivate them for action) ACTION SYSTEM (handles the adaptation function by adjusting to and transforming the external world)

SOCIAL SYSTEM (copes with the integration function by controlling its component parts) PERSONALITY SYSTEM (performs the goalattainment function by defining system goals and mobilizing resources to attain them

7 Main Assumptions of Structural Functionalism: 1. Systems have a property of order and an interdependence of parts. 2. Systems tend toward self-maintaining order, or equilibrium. 3. The system may be involved in an ordered process of change. 4. The nature of one part of the system has an impact on the form that the other parts can take. 5. Systems maintain boundaries within their environments. 6. Allocation and integration are two fundamental processes necessary for a given state of equilibrium within a system. 7. Systems tend to rely towards self-maintenance to change the system as a whole.

Key Principles of the Functionalist Theory: 1. Interdependency – every part of society is dependent to some extent on other parts of society, so that what happens at one place has important effects, elsewhere 2. Functions of Social Structure and Culture – each part of the social system exists because it serves some function 3. Consensus and Cooperation – to have a certain basic values that nearly everyone in the society agrees upon 4. Equilibrium – a characteristic of a society when it has achieved the form that is best adapted to its situation

INTERACTIONIST THEORIES

What do students and teachers actually do in school? Interactionist theory focuses on the concrete details of what goes on among individuals in everyday life. Interactionists study how we use and interpret symbols not only to communicate with each other, but also to create and maintain impressions of ourselves, to create a sense of self, and to create and sustain what we experience as the reality of a particular social situation.

Symbolic Interactionismis the way we learn to interpret and give meaning to the world though our interactions with others. the focus of the interaction theory is the communication and the relationship that exists among and between groups in education – peers, teachers-students, teacher-principal, and teacher – parents

Principles of Symbolic Interactionism (1) human beings possess the capacity for thought, which is shaped by social interaction; (2) people learn meanings and symbols through social interaction; and (3) people are able to modify or alter the meanings and symbols they use in interactions by interpreting the situations they are engaged in.

Major Premises of Symbolic Interaction Theory 1. Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meaning they have • These things do not have an inherent or unvarying meaning • Rather, their meanings differ depending on how we define and respond to them • how we define, or give meaning to the things we encounter will shape our actions toward them • Therefore, if we wish to understand human behavior we must know how people define the things— objects, events, individuals, groups, structures—they encounter in their environment 2. The meaning attributed to those things arises out of social interaction with others • We are not born knowing the meanings of things • We don’t learn these meanings simply through individual experiences, but rather through the interactions with others 3. These meanings are modified through an interpretive process • the meanings of the things we encounter, though formed by social interaction, are altered through our understandings • An individual’s interpretation of the meaning will guide and determine action

The Looking-Glass Self

“We see ourselves as others see us” -Charles Cooley Looking-glass self – we come to develop a self-image on the basis of the messages we get from others, as we understand them. -In Cooley’s , you use other people as a mirror into which you look to see what you are like

Assignment:

What is the influence of the conflict and consensus theory on your work (as a teacher, government employee, etc.)