Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF EDUCATION
Unit 1: THEORETICAL APPROACHES IN SOCIOLOGY
1.
C ONSENSUS T HEORY
 This is a theory of right and wrong which means literally “An action is right if everyone agrees that it is.”
 which means essentially trying to get agreement from all the people who are involved in a particular situation. It would be an ideal way to make decisions if you could poll everyone in a given community, and they all agreed, and they all were good and wise persons.
Strengths of Consensus Theory:
1.
This theory’s excellence lies in the fact that debate, dialogue, discussion, and perspectivetaking would continue until every qualified member of the community came to see the same truth.
2.
It is all-inclusive. In theory, every person involved in the decision-making-process would be consulted and all opinions would be measured as equally important.
Weaknesses of Consensus Theory:
1.
Communities these days are too big to get everyone’s vote on every issue; decisions on the right course of action would never get decided successfully since the process to reach consensus would be very difficult.
2.
Some people are wiser, better listeners, more agreeable, and have a better understanding of right and wrong than others do. So, it is not advisable to attempt to get everyone to agree all the time to know what is right.
3.
Finally, morality is about right decisions, and just because a group of people gets together and decides to do a certain thing does not necessarily mean it is actually right. For example, can you imagine how you would feel if your neighboring community decided that it is right to build a big wall between you and them? You’d be thinking, “Hey, this isn’t how my community would have voted, and I think they’re right!”
Structural functionalism is a range of theoretical perspectives within anthropology and sociology that addresses the relationship of social activity to an overall social system. Structural functionalism emphasizes the aspects of social institutions and behavior that are conducive to stability and order within society.
Social Control, Social Order and Social Stability
Social Control is the means by which people are led to do their expected roles. If society is to function effectively and efficiently, its members must act the way they should be as members of society.
Social Order takes place if people will do their tasks and follow what is expected of them.
Examples, obeying traffic rules

Social order can be achieved through Social control. Rules and regulations lead to social order. Rules and regulations will lead to social order.
Social Stability is the state at which the society is in equilibrium. This can be established only if there is social control and social order.
Implications to education:
Schools must establish rules and regulations, otherwise learning can not take place effectively. The successful management of the classroom may be attributed to the teacher’s ability to maintain order and discipline.
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
2.
Conflict theory
Conflict is a disagreement or clash between opposing ideas, principles, or people. This can be a covert or overt conflict.
3.
Interactionist theory

Interactionist perspectives tend to concentrate upon relatively small-scale levels of social interaction (e.g. between, individuals, small social groups)

It is a product of social-interaction. In this respect, culture develops out of the way people act towards one another in a way that involves both purpose and meaning.
The Four Pillars of Learning:
1.
Learning to Know
This type of learning is concerned less with the acquisition of structured knowledge than with the mastery of learning tools. It may be regarded as both a means and an end of human existence. Looking at it as a means, people have to learn to understand the world around them, at least as much as is necessary for them to lead their lives with some dignity, develop their occupational skills and communicate with other people. Regarded as an end, it is underpinned by the pleasure that can be derived from understanding, knowledge and discovery. Learning to know implies learning how to learn by developing one's concentration, memory skills and ability to think.
2.
Learning to Do
Education should equip people to do the types of work needed in the future? "Learning to do" can no longer mean what it did when people were trained to perform a very specific physical task in a manufacturing process. Skill training therefore has to evolve and become more than just a means of imparting the knowledge needed to do a more or less routine job.
3.
Learning to Be
The aim of development is the complete fulfillment of man, in all the richness of his personality, the complexity of his forms of expression and his various commitments - as individual, member of a family and of a community, citizen and producer, inventor of techniques and creative dreamer. This human development, which begins at birth and continues all through a person's life, is a dialectic process which is based both on selfknowledge and on relationships with other people. It also presupposes successful personal experience. As a means of personality training, education should be a highly individualized process and at the same time an interactive social experience.
4.
Learning to Live Together
One of education's tasks is both to teach pupils and students about human diversity and to instill in them an awareness of the similarities and interdependence of all people. From early childhood, the school should seize every opportunity to pursue this two-pronged approach.
UNIT 2- INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural Communication
 is the systematic study of exactly what happens in intercultural contacts and interactions when the communication process involves culturally diverse people
 occurs whenever a message produced in one culture must proceed in another culture
Events Involving Intercultural Communication
1.
concept of cultural history
2.
advances in technology such as improved transportation and communication systems
3.
superiority in culture
4.
globalization of the economy
5.
changes in imagination patterns
Communication and Language
Communication
 is the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, by speech, signals, writing or behavior.

The process of transferring and sharing information and experiences. It may take the form of interpersonal communications (body language, nonverbal communication, rumors) and mass media (TV, film, radio, newspapers, and computers).
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
Language

A way of speaking, distinct in every culture.
 serves as an mechanism for communication and as a guide to social reality

Language is purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and drives by means of a system of voluntary produced symbols .
Symbols include words even abstract ideas; they express the differences and nuances of numerous actions and behavior patterns of numerous actions and behavior patterns of men in their everyday lives.

Language is not only a collection of sounds and utterances: it involves as set of rules regarding pronunciation, grammar and semantics used in speech. Speech or talk is essential to language; otherwise there is no oral expression.
Relationship between Language and Culture
Language is an integral part of culture and human culture cannot exist without it. All human societies have languages. In some simple societies where people cannot read or write, they have a spoken language.
In the transmission of culture, language is of utmost importance. Without language, the ability to convey ideas, attitudes, customs and traditions is impossible; with language, persons can pass on knowledge from one generation to another.
Through the use of language, wide vistas of reality have been opened. What we have observed and experienced, as well as our norms, values, and ideas exist because we have learned to identify or experience these things though language. These things are shared and transmitted from one generation to another through the process of socialization.
Language enables people to transcend time and space. Through the use of language, we can talk about what happened in the past and what are possibly forthcoming. Language enables us to communicate with others, design complicated plans and projects, and develop abstract ideas.
The language of a group of people reflects the stage of development of their culture; the richness of terms in any language reflects the present pre-occupation of the particular society.
Languages in industrialized societies constantly change and are enriched by new words as the people adapt to their advancing technology and other changes in their way of life.
The nature and Meaning of Culture
The concept of culture
According to Edward B. Taylor, “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, customs and capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society”
Modern culture is not the result of a few years, nor the labor of a few people. Culture is the accumulated ways of doing things which is the product of human experience; it is the totality of what individuals have learned about living together.
Characteristics of Culture
1.
Culture is learned
Man is not born with culture, but he is born with the ability to acquire culture, developing it through experience.
Man acquires culture through learning via language and writing, enabling them to pass this to succeeding generations.
2.
Culture is diverse and all people have varied culture
Each culture is different. Individuals must be cautious to avoid assuming that their way of doing things is the only right or practical way.
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
All people, no matter how simple or advanced in their ways of living, have a culture unique to them. Therefore one can not criticize or look down on the ways of other people but accept the fact that they do what is the best way for them. The ways of people are the results of their relationship with their environment.
3.
Culture is a group product
Culture is the results of a group’s habits and experiences, passed on to succeeding generations for posterity.
Culture results from spontaneous accumulation of man’s experience in living with others.
The formation of culture is automatic. Man did not plan to build up a culture by inviting others to join him in conceiving a pattern to be followed. Human beings just associated themselves and adapted whatever seemed most useful to them at the time and improved upon it as time went on and further need arose.
4.
Culture is transmitted from one generation to generation
Man improves on what his preceding generation has accomplished. Culture can be transmitted by suggestion, by formal communication, by mass communication, suggestion and by a system of reward and punishment. Culture is cumulative and it enables man to improve what other generations have accomplished; thus from simple things, today we have advance technology.
5.
Culture is adaptive and maladaptive.
Culture is adaptive when used by man to make the environment viable for a stable economy. In contrast, culture is maladaptive when scarce resources are destroyed or depleted.
Culture is continually changing. The development of culture traits is due to discovery and invention. Discovery is usually accidental, it has an element of chance; while invention, denotes planning.
6.
Culture is shared.
Social interaction is made meaningful by shared beliefs, values and expectations of people. Philippine culture encourages love for God and country, respect for law and authority and family solidarity.
7.
Culture is patterned and integrated.
A unified or integrated culture is one where there is conformity between ideal norms and actual behavior. The members’ biological, psychological and social needs are met.
8. Culture is compulsory
Culture restrains man from violating existing rules and regulations of society. Members of a group have to follow the group’s culture if they wish to be in harmony with another.
9.
Culture is cumulative
Each culture stores pertinent knowledge and passes new knowledge to the succeeding generations while information which is no longer useful is slowly cast off.
10. Culture is dynamic
Culture is continually changing (Salcedo, et. Al., 2001) A group’s culture is never in a permanent state. Today’s practices may no longer be applicable in the future.
Forms of culture
1.
Material - consists of tangible things like houses, clothing, tools, utensils, automobiles, TV, technology etc.
2.
Non-material – refers to what is symbolic or intangible such as sentiments, social norms, values, folkways, mores, systems of beliefs or knowledge
Components of culture
Culture is the totality of social organizations, symbols, language, customs and traditions
(values, beliefs, norms, folkways, sanctions and mores), technology (material culture, the arts, religion and governance present in a given community or society
Social organization – is the way a culture groups its members in order for the members to work together to meet their basic needs.
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
Symbols – are anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture. Manipulating symbols allows us to engage with others within our own cultural system.
Language – is a system of symbols that allows members of a society to communicate with one another.
Technology (Material Culture) – are tangible human creations, knowledge that a society applies to its environment that affect the way members of a culture live.
The Arts – are products of the human imagination, which entertain and reinforce culture’s values, or reveal things about a culture.
Religion – is a system of beliefs that is created to offer explanations for life’s challenges, based on the supernatural.
Forms of government – refers to the society’s laws and political institutions.
Customs and traditions – are rules of behavior. The following are the subcategories of customs and traditions:

Values – are culturally defined standards by which people assess desirability, goodness and beauty which serves as guidelines for social living.

Beliefs – are specific statements that are held to be true and are based on values. For example: If you work hard and make lots of money you will be happy.

Norms - are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. Norms reflects values.

Folkways – are traditional ways of doing things in a certain culture. (Ex. Pamanhikan).
These are customs for routine casual interaction (the difference between polite and rude behavior). Individuals have more personal discretion with folkways.

Mores – are society’s standard of proper moral conduct. Mores are heavily sanctioned folkways for group survival and are accepted without question as they embody moral views of the group.
Example:
An Igorot folkway is for a boy to sleep in the ulog with the girl he is courting. If she becomes pregnant and he does not marry her, he is ostracized by the whole group, according to the mores of the tribe.

Sanction – refers to receiving an approval or disapproval of the community on the action performed by an individual member or group. It is either formal or informal.
Written sanctions in a form of social policy or laws are referred as formal sanction.
Gossiping, appreciating a good work, or achievements are examples of informal sanctions.
Sanctions can either be positive or negative. Positive sanctions are applied when socially accepted actions or deeds are performed. Informal positive sanctions are done in the form of social respect or group recognition.
Assimilation – is the process of adopting a different often a dominant culture by an individual
Transculturation - is a phenomenon of merging and converging cultures.
Acculturation – refers to replacement of the traits of one culture with those of another
Dominant culture – customs and traditions practiced mostly by people
Subculture - represents the variations as practiced by smaller groups
Counter- culture - is the rejection of existing social norms
Cultural Integration – refers to the process of combining various elements of culture
TRANSFER OF CULTURE
1.
Unidirectional
•
Desired Goal : To have exact copy-like nature of transmission of the given message.
•
This transfer is given directly. And viewed as something given.
Ex.: Knowledge
2.
Bi- Directional Transfer Model
•
The participants of this culture transfer of knowledge are actively transforming the cultural message.
•
They change or reconstruct the message unlike unidirectional in which there are no changes made
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
•
Develops Quality of Life
• Boost of Local and National Economy
•
Provides links between the PAST,PRESENT and FUTURE to develop a sense of
“commonness”
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
•
Culture shapes behavior.
• Culture provides a standard by which we evaluate other’s behavior.
• Culture provides boundary maintenance.
CULTURAL ISSUES
1.
Cultural Relativism
• The principle that an individual human’s belief activities make sense in terms of his or her own culture.
•
Culture is responsible or related to how people behave or think.
2.
The growth of Feminism
Feminism – is a movement organized around the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, largely motivated by experiences of women
3.
Multiculturalism – is a public policy approach for managing cultural diversity in a multiethnic society, officially stressing mutual respect and tolerance for cultural differences within a country’s borders.
Emphasis: Unique characteristics of different cultures.
THE GROWTH OF SUBCULTRE
Subcultures - is a set of people with distinct sets of behavior and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part.
Youth subculture – refer to the ways young people (adolescents and teenagers) differentiates themselves from the mainstream culture
React to the economic, political, and educational changes.
Easily adopt changes
CULTURAL CHANGE
Can come about due to:

environmental change

inventions

Contact with other people
 Diffusion – something moves from culture to another
Stimulus diffusion – refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention in another

Innovation – is an idea perceived as new by an individual
Diffusion of Innovation Theory
ROGERS’ 5 CHARACTERISTICS OF INNOVATIONS
1. Relative Advantage
2. Compatibility
3. Complexity
4. Trialability
5. Observability
FIVE CATEGORIES OF ADOPTERS:
1.
Innovators – 2.5%
2.
Early adopters – 13.5 %
3.
Early majority – 34%
4.
Late Majority – 34%
5.
Laggards – 16%
Unit 3: SCHOOL AS AN AGENT OF CHANGE
Functions of Schooling
1.
Encourages enculturation
2.
Socialization Process
3.
A means to cultural and social change.
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
Factors affecting School’s Conceptualization and Studies:
1.
Historical factors
2.
Economic factors
3.
Socio-cultural factors
4.
Geographical factors
5.
Environmental factors
6.
Political factors
Student subculture
• subculture — a social group within a national culture that has distinctive patterns of behavior and beliefs
• youth subculture — a minority youth culture whose distinctiveness depended largely on the social class and ethnic background of its members; often characterized by its adoption of a particular music genre
Ideal types of subculture:
1.
Collegiate subculture- Focuses on having fun and socializing.
2.
Academic subculture - Identified with the intellectual concerns of the faculty and values knowledge for his own sake.
3.
Vocational subculture -Primarily interested in career prospect and views college as a means of obtaining degrees which are essential for advancement.
4.
Mono conformist subculture - is hostile to the college environment and seeks out ideas that may or may not relate to studies
5.
High school subcultures - is a group of students in a secondary education setting which acts as a subculture. Group members share a distinct set of behaviors, beliefs or interests which differentiate themselves from the dominant culture.
6.
Music and Youth Subcultures - identified with a specific music genre and in some instances music was the defining characteristic around which the group was formed.
7.
Family and Youth Subcultures - those tend to have closer interaction and youth do not seem so intent on being different to their parents.
8.
Fashion and Youth Subcultures - fashion plays a role and they are more strongly identified by their fashion.
Unit 4: GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
Gender (Maciones 2002)
– refers to the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being male and female.
- dimension of social organization, shaping how we interact and how we think about ourselves.
Sexuality
– the state of being either male or female.
Influences on Gender
1.
Biological Influences a.
Pubertal Change and sexuality
- Pubertal change influences behavior. Behavior is related to hormonal changes in puberty.
2.
Social Influences a.
Parental influences
- Parents influence their children’s gender development by their examples. Boys are given more independence while girls’ sexual vulnerability causes parents to monitor them closely. Severe restrictions on adolescent boys disrupt their development. b.
Peers
- Play a vital role in modeling and responding to gender behavior. Inadolscence4, peer approval or disapproval is a powerful influence on gender attitudes and behavior. c.
Schools
- The pressure to achieve and to excel in academics is more likely to be helped on boys than on girls because they will grow up to be the breadwinners d.
The media
- Social researchers assumed that mass media carry sexist messages. Exposure to mass media by the sexes would inculcate stereotyped messages in them.
3.
Cognitive Influences
- Cognitive influences on gender stress that children organize their world on the basis of gender after identifying themselves as either male or female.
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
Gender Issues:
1. Women’s issues a. Sexism –characterized by endorsement of traditional roles, differential treatment for men and women, especially the stereotype that females are less competent than males.
2. Sexual Harassment – occurs when an individual is unable to perform a task due to unwelcome and unwanted sexual advances by either the same or opposite sex.
Forms of sexual harassment: a.
sexist remarks b.
vulgar sexual language c.
covert physical contact – deliberate and proper touching of private and sensitive body parts, patting especially in the workplace or in the public.
3 Low Wages
Gender discrimination remains responsible fro sizeable differences in pay among sexes, reasons include unsubstantial scientific claims like women are weak, women are emotionally unstable, women give birth frequently and go on leave which adversely affect their productivity.
4 Equal Work Opportunities and promotions
5 . Sexist Advertising and music
6. Domestic violence
Forms of domestic violence: a. battering b. child abuse c. verbal abuse of the elderly
7. Working Mother
8. Adolescent Pregnancy
9. Men’s Issues a. Adolescent Fathers b. Sexual harassment c. Discrimination against Gays and Lesbians d. Age discrimination
Manifestations of Gender Bias:
1.
Marginalization – refers to condition where women are considered to be a non-essential force in the economy despite their crucial role in production. Society does not give much recognition and value to women’s contribution to the economy and pays scant attention to their need for loans, as consumers and as workers. When a woman is marginalized her self-confidence and self-esteem collapses, and begin to give up her capacity to make decisions for herself.
Examples:
Lower wages, last hired, first hired policy:; little or no access loans
2.
Subordination- refers to the secondary position of women compared to men on society.
Women have less access to and control over resources and less say in the making of policies.
Examples:
Less women in elective or appointive govt. office, women concentrated in low positions in bureaucracy; few women in policy making level
3.
Double/ Multiple Burden- the division of the production/ reproduction spheres has doubled the burden of women participating in productive activities. Aside from full-time productive work, housework and childcare remain women’s responsibility. Women therefore, experience the double day, double burden or double shift. In this condition, woman is paid worker in the company or any establishment (as a part of the labor force) and unpaid worker (at home).
Examples:
Childcare and household responsibilities shouldered mainly by women on top of regular working hours outside the home.
4.
Gender Stereotyping- the tendency of a given culture to ascribe particular traits, characteristics and roles, distinctly to men and women.
Examples:
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Social Dimensions of Education (Hand Out)
Women portrayed as either homemakers/virgins or temptress of=r sinners in most advertisements and TV movies, and radio programs and newspaper stories.
5.
Violence- is any carried out with the intention or perceived intention of physically hurting another person. It includes sexual assault, rape, incest, pornography, femicide and wife battering.
Examples:
Wife-beating cuts across classes; still not considered a crime and considered as a family matter; cases of rape, incest, sexual harassment increasing.
Unit 5: GLOBALIZATION AND EDUCATION
Globalization- refers to an increasing interconnectedness and convergence of activities and forms of life among diverse cultures throughout the world.

Education systems constitute the core of the globalization process.
 Global Education extends students’ awareness of the world in which they live by opening them to the diverse heritage of human thoughts and action and creativity.
Socio-Cultural, Economic, and Political issues on Globalization:
1.
Socio-cultural issues on globalization include massive migration, managing difference and global changes in culture.

The global changes in culture deeply affect educational policies practices, and institutions.

Teachers and schools need to have the flexibility to cope with and make use of the cultural resources that are in their classrooms.
2.
Economic issues on globalization

Globalization brings about opportunities for education, particularly in the ways that new technologies can be put to work to improve both the quantity and quality of education worldwide.
3.
Political issues on globalization

There has been the constraint on national/state policy making post by external demands from transnational institutions.

There has been a growing internationalization of global conflict, crime, terrorism, and environmental issues, but in inadequate development of political institutions to address them.
Perspective of Globalization:
1.
Globalization as Universalization is the process of spreading various objects and experiences to people at all corners of the earth
2.
Globalization as Westernization or Modernization of the World – refers to the intrusion of America into the social structures of other countries and the attempt to inculcate in them the values and principles of western culture.
3.
Globalization as Deterritorialization – refers to the spread of supraterritoriality. Its entails reconfiguration of geography so that social space is no longer wholly mapped in terms of territorial places, territorial distances, and territorial borders.
4.
Internationalization
– refers to growth in the interaction and interdependence between people in different countries.
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