EDUC 302

THE TEACHER AND THE

COMMUNITY SCHOOL CULTURE AND
ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
 CHAPTER 3

SOCIAL SCIENCE THEORIES AND

THEIR IMPLICATIONS TO
EDUCATION
 Learning Outcome

At the end of the lesson, the students should

be able to:
- explain three social science theories and
their implications to education.
Structural- Functional Theory
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer, the proponent
of structural-functional views
society as “a system of
interconnected parts each with
a unique function.
The parts have to work together for stability
and balance of society. “Society is compared
to the human body with different but
interrelated parts performing different
functions.
Just as the human body has many parts,
society has different but interrelated
components such as the family, the state, the
school, the Church, mass media, economics.
These must coordinate and collaborate for
society to function well. If one part of the
human body does not function well, the
whole body is affected.
In the same way, when one component of
society does not do its part, society will not
function well. The overall health of the
organism (society) depends upon the health
of each structure.
There is peace, stability, equilibrium and
harmony in society if families do their part in
bringing forth children, nurturing and
socializing them, if education or schools
effectively transmit knowledge, skills and
values, if politics governs citizens well:
If economic takes care of food productive,
distribution of goods and services and if
religion strengthens the moral fiber of the
members of society.
Failure of one social institution to do its part
means disruption of stability in society. .
Ex: The rise of single parents and dual earner
families means families have less time or
sometimes no more time left for the supervision
of children in their homework which may result
to an increase of non-performing students in
school.
In a high-tech world, educational institution
must teach adults the new skills to relate to
the tech-savy young and the world and to the
more effective in the workplace.
With more women in the workplace, policies
against sexual harassment and discrimination
were formulated.
The Cybercrime Act of 2012 came about to
address legal issues concerning online
interaction and the internet in the Philippines.
The functionalist theory of education focuses
on how education serves the need of society
through the development of skills
encouraging social cohesion.
The role of schools is to prepare students for
participation in the institutions of society.
Education is concerned with transmission of
core values for social control.
Education is concerned with socializing
people by bringing together people from
different backgrounds.
The functionalist theory is focused on social
stability and solidarity.
Functionalist see education as a beneficial
contribution to an ordered society.
Functionalist does not encourage people to take an
active role in changing their social environment,
even when such change may benefit them.
Instead, functionalist sees actual social change as
undesirable because the various parts of society
will compensate naturally for any problems that
may arise.
For example: Schools can compensate for the
lack of time and the lack of parental advice
from home.
 Purpose of School According To
Functionalists
1.Intellectual purposes- acquisition of cognitive
skills. Inquiry skills.
2. Political purposes- educate future citizens,
promote patriotism, promote assimilation of
immigrants, ensure order, public civility and
conformity to laws;
3. Economic purposes- prepare students for later
work rules; select and train the labor force needed
by society.
4. Social purposes- promote a sense of social and
moral responsibility, serve as a site for the solution
or resolution of social problems; supplement the
efforts of other institutions of socialization such as
the family and the church
 CONFLICT THEORY
According to this theory, there are always two
opposing sides in a conflict situation. People take
sides between maintaining the status quo and
introducing change then arrive at an agreement.
Conflict theory welcomes conflict for that is the way
to the establishment of a new society.
Conflict theorist find potential conflict
between any group were inequality exists,
racial, gender, religious, political, economic
and so on.
Conflict theory note that unequal groups
usually have conflicting values and agenda
causing them to compete against one another.
This constant competition between group
forms the basis for the ever-changing nature
of society.
Ex: The factory workers want change- better working
conditions, higher salaries. The factory owners
naturally are opposed to such. The resolution of the
conflict, however, leads to a compromised, a change
in the way the factory is managed where both
workers and owners are happy.
 How Proponents of Conflict Theory
Regard Education
According to the conflict theory, education is
not truly a social benefit or opportunity as seen
by the functionalists. Rather, education is a
powerful means of maintaining power
structures creating a docile work force for
capitalism.
According to the conflict theory, education is
not truly a social benefit or opportunity as
seen by the functionalists.
Rather, education is a powerful means of
maintaining power structures creating a docile
work force for capitalism.
The purpose of education is to maintain
social inequality and to preserve the power
of those who dominate society and teach
those in the working class to accept their
position as a lower class worker of society.
Conflict theorists call this the “hidden
curriculum” - socializes young people into
obedience and conformity for them to be
developed as docile workers.
Functionalists disagree strongly, they
assert that - schools teach adherence to
policies to rules, respect for persons
including authorities, punctuality, and
honesty, civil right it is because they are
the very principles dear to democratic
way of life.
Functionalists disagree strongly.
They assert that if schools teach adherence to
policies, obedience to rules, respect for persons
including authorities, punctuality and honesty,
civil right- it is because they are the very
principles dear to democratic way of life.
It is not because they want to make the
workers remain docile, unquestioning and
subservient forever while those in power
remain in power.
 Symbolic Interactionist Theory
Tenets of Symbolic Interactionist Theory:
1. An individual’s action depends on
meaning.
We act based on the meaning we give to
symbols.
Symbols can be actions, objects or words.
If a student understands that teacher believes
in his/her ability he/she best prove that indeed
he/she is able.
If a teacher does otherwise, a student tends to
behave in accordance with teacher’s poor
perception.
2. Different people give different meanings to
the same thing. When teachers are strict, some
students see it as an expression of care, others may
rebel because they perceive teacher’s behavior as
limiting their moves and desires.
A businessman may look at a tree and start
estimating how much money he can get if he
has the tree cut down for lumber.
A philosopher or a poet may look at it with
the thoughts, “ they also serve who only stand
and wait” like John Milton’s from his poem “
On his Blindness”
3. Meaning change as an individual’s interaction
with one another. A negative meaning that you
used to associate with hospital when you went to a
hospital which looked more as a hotel than the usual
hospital you know is changed.
 Implications to Teaching
The symbolic- interactionist perspective- also
known as symbolic - interactionist- direct s
sociologists to consider the symbols and detail
of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and
how people interact with each other.
As the term implies, symbolic interactionist
theory states that people interact with one
another through symbols.
Language is a predominant symbol among
people. According to the symbolic, and then
they act according to their subjective
interpretation of these symbols.
Verbal conversations, in which spoken words
serve as the predominant symbols, make this
subjective interpretation especially evident.
The words have a certain meaning from the “
sender” and during effect give communication,
they hopefully have the same meaning for the
“ receiver”
In other terms, words are not static “ things”
they require intention and interpretation.
Conversation is an interaction of symbols
between individuals who constantly interpret
the world around them.
To ensure mutual understanding, the sender of
the symbol and the receiver of the symbol
must give the same meaning to the symbol or
run the risk of misunderstanding.
It is important that our symbols are understood
by others in the way they were intended to be.
Sometimes it happen in the language (which is
a symbol) we speak. Often we are
misunderstand others. So let’s keep on
communicating.
Weaknesses of Symbolic Interaction Theory

Critics claim that symbolic interactionism

neglects the macro level of social
interpretation- the “ big picture” .
In other words , symbolic interactionists may
miss the larger issues of society by focusing
too closely on the “ trees” or by restricting
themselves to small or individual interactions.
Symbolic interaction traces its origins to Max
Weber’s assertion that individuals act according
to their interpretation of the meaning of their
word.
However, it was the American philosopher
George H. Mead (1863-1931) who introduced
this perspective to American sociology in the
1920’s
END