DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

WEEK 7-8

LEARNING COMPETENCY
Analyze the basic concepts and principles of the major social sciences ideas: a) Psychoanalysis; (b) Rational Choice; (c)
Institutionalism; (d) feminist theory; (e) hermeneutical phenomenology, (f) human-environment systems
BASIC CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IDEAS
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud. Freud argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three
component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory places great emphasis on the role of unconscious
psychological conflicts in shaping behavior and personality.
Three Parts of the Mind:
Id: The id operates at an unconscious level and focuses solely on instinctual drives and desires. Two biological
instincts make up the id, according to Freud: eros, or the instinct to survive that drives us to engage in life-
sustaining activities, and thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior.
Ego: The ego acts as both a conduit for and a check on the id, working to meet the id’s needs in a socially
appropriate way. It is the most tied to reality and begins to develop in infancy;
Superego: The superego is the portion of the mind in which morality and higher principles reside, encouraging
us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways.
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
Rational Choice Theory states that individuals use rational calculations to make rational choices
and achieve outcomes that are aligned with their own personal objectives. These results are
also associated with an individual’s best, or self-interests. Using rational choice theory is
expected to result in outcomes that provide people with the greatest benefit and satisfaction given the
choices available.
Rational Choice Theory assumes that individuals are rational actors using rational information to try to actively maximize their
advantage in any situation and therefore consistently trying to minimize their losses.
Assumptions of Rational Choice Theory
Individualism – It is individuals who ultimately take actions. Individuals, as actors in the society and everywhere, behave and act
always as rational beings, self-calculating, self-interested and self- maximizing.
Optimality – Individual choose their actions optimally, given their individual preferences as well as the opportunities or
constraints with which the individual faced.
Structures - Structures and norms that dictate a single course of action are merely special cases of rational choice theory. In other
words, the range of choices in other circumstances differs from choices in a strong structural circumstance, where there may be
only one choice.
Self-Regarding Interest – It states that the actions of the individual are concerned entirely with his or her own welfare.
Rationality –All individuals act in ways that would benefifit them more; every individual is most like to undertake courses of
actions that they perceive to be the best possible
INSTITUTIONALISM
Institutionalism, in the social sciences, an approach that emphasizes the role of institutions. William
Richard Scott defines institutions as social structure that have attained a high degree of resilience. It is
composed of three institutional pillars: cultural cognitive, normative and regulative elements that together
with associated activities and resources provide stability and meaning to social life.
Three Institutional Pillars :
Cultural Cognitive Institutions –It guides behavior through deeply entrenched assumptions and
conceptions of the “way the world is”.
Normative Institutions –It guides behavior through social norms of acceptability and morality.
Regulative Institutions –It is understood to guide behavior through the force of formal rules and sanctions.
Institutions are both formal and informal.
Formal institutions include the written constitution, laws, policies, rights and regulations enforced by
official authorities.
Informal institutions are (the usually unwritten) social norms,

customs or traditions that shape thought and behavior.

In practice, formal and informal rules and norms can be complementary, competing or overlapping. Whether
they are relatively more strong/weak or inclusive/discriminatory is likely to depend on context. In some cases,
informal institutions undermine formal ones; in others they substitute for them. Informal social norms often
shape the design and implementation of formal state institutions. (Leftwich & Sen, 2010; Berman, 2013).
Key Features of Institutionalism

1
1. It is brought to life by people and organizations.
2. It provides a relatively predictable structure for everyday social, economic and political life. Institutions shape people’s
incentives (or calculations of returns from their actions) and behavior.
3. It leads to enduring patterns of behavior over time but they also change. Institutions are constantly being reformed through
people’s actions. Institutional change structures the way societies evolve. However, institutionalized behaviors can be hard to
change.
4. It produces positive or negative development outcomes. This depends on the kinds of relations and behaviors that institutions
enable, and the outcomes for the enjoyment of rights and allocation of resources in society.
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the
nature of gender inequality. Itexamines women’s and men’s roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety
of fields. Feminist theory focuses on analyzing gender inequality.
Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, patriarchy
and others.
Definition of terms:
a. Feminism is a range of social movements, political movements, ideologies that aim to define, establish and achieved the
political, economical, personal and social inequality of the sexes.
b. Gender ideology is concerned with normative belief about the proper roles for and fundamental nature of women and men in
human societies. The distinction between sex and gender in central to the concept of gender ideology.
c. Gender inequality acknowledges that men and women are not equal and that gender affects an individuals’ living experience.
These differences arise from distinction in biology, psychology, and cultural norms. While many factors that explain that sex
differentials in mortality and morbidity, a key determinant in gender inequality. It manifest the different ways, such as unequal
access to resources, power, education and discrimination and discriminatory sociocultural practice.
d. Gender role is the role or behaviour learned by person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural
norms. Example: girls and women are generally expected to dress in typically feminine ways and be polite, accommodating and
nurturing. Men are generally expected to be strong,
aggressive, and bold
e. Gender is a cultural meanings attached to being masculine and feminine, which influences personal identities, examples; man,
woman, transgender, intersex, gender queer etc.
f. Sex is biological traits that society associates with being male and female.
HERMENEUTICAL PHENOMENOLOGY
Hermeneutical phenomenology is a research method use in qualitative research method in the field of education and other human
sciences, for example nursing science. Hermeneutic is oriented in history and relative meanings, and phenomenology according
to Edward Husserl sense, it is oriented to universal and
absolute essences. The basic theme of hermeneutic phenomenology are “interpretation”, “textual meaning”, “dialogue”, “pre-
understanding” and “tradition”(Hedegger, Gadamar, and Ricoeur). Etymologically the roots of the word hermeneutics lie in the
Greek verb hermeneuein, which is generally translated as 59 “interpret’ or “understand” (Crotty, 1998; Palmer, 1969). The noun
hermeneia means the utterance or explication of thought; and the name Hermes, refers to the playful, mischievous, “trickster”
Hermes (Caputo, 1987; Grondin, 1995; Moules, 2002). As a divine, wing-footed messenger of the gods. Hermes was gifted with
the ability to translate or interpret messages from the gods into a form that human could understand. This process of bringing
messages from beyond our own realm of experience into a humanly intelligible form involves language.
Definition of terms:
1. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom,
literature, and philosophical text. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles
on methods we sort to when immediate comprehension fails.
2. Phenomenology is the study of structure of consciousness as experiences from the first-person point of view. The cultural
structure of an experience, is it intentionally, its being directed toward something, as it is an experience of or about some object.
HUMAN –ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM
Human-environment system. System which combine both human and natural components to show complex interactions, and
feedback between them, are called human-environment systems. The most internationally accepted framework for studying such
systems is the DPSIR model (drivers, pressures, state, impact, response). This framework for human-environment systems
recognizes the human activities which place pressure on the environment and how these pressures modify the current state of the
atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. This leads to impacts on the environment as well as on social and economic
systems. In turn, human society attempts to problem- solve in order to remove, reduce or prevent the drivers and pressures,
restore the state of the environment and mitigate impacts.
The diagram below provides a modified version of this model which can be used to assess the causes and impacts of
environmental change and the strategies implemented to manage them.
1. Humans has the capacity to interact with its environment. Humans and the environment have that mutual interaction with each
other. Humans have the capacity to change or influence the balance of the society. Humans always have the capacity to adapt to
its environment.

2
2. Environment is a complex of many variables which surrounds man as well as the living organisms. Environment includes
water, air, and land and the interrelationship which exist among that act upon an organism or an ecological community and
ultimately determine its form and survival.
3. Systems it may be described as a complex of interacting components together with the relationships among them that permit
the identification of a boundary-maintaining entity or process.
4. Human action and its environmental effects.

LEARNING ACTIVIT 1. VOCABULARY WISE

Arrange the jumbled letters regarding Rational Choice Theory.
1. Individual choose their actions given their individual preferences as well as the opportunities or constraints with which the
individual faced.
P O T A I M I L Y T___________________________________________
2. Norms that dictate a single course of action are merely special cases of rational choice theory.
S T U T R U C E R S___________________________________________
3. It states that the actions of the individual are concerned entirely with his or her own welfare.
F E L S T E N I S T E R ___________________________________________
4. These are actors in the society and everywhere who behave and act always as rational beings.
I D I N V A M U L I S I D __________________________________________
5. Individual choose their actions given Their individual preferences as well as the opportunities or constraints with which the
individual faced.
A R N A Y T I L O T I__________________________________________

Activity 2: DO YOU KNOW ME? Identify whether the following pictures represent formal and informal institution. Explain
the role of this institution in your life.
INSTITUTION Formal/ Informal Role in your life

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Learning Activity 3: Situational Analysis

Objective: Analyze the psychodynamics of the person’s personality in terms of Id, Ego, and Superego.
Directions: 1. Analyze each situation and answer the questions that follow.

3
Situation 1
While walking towards the school canteen, you saw a student bullying another student. He took the eyeglasses of another student
and run away. The bullied student left crying in the corner. What will you do?
Situation 2
Your teacher gave the scope of topics included in the second quarterly examination to the students ahead of time but you forgot to
study the lessons the night before the exam. You are not prepared to take the test and you cannot afford to fail because you have
already failed in the first quarter. Your seatmate offered you to copy some of his/her answers for the test. What will you do?
Why?
Situation 3:
You are a new student in the campus. You like to be friends with some popular students in your class. You approached one of
them and introduced yourself. The leader of the group told you that you have to prove to them first that you truly belong to their
company. Then, he gave an initiation task for you to do. You need to hang out with them in the bar every night and drink hard
liquor. What will you do if you were in this situation? Why?

SITUATION 4:
You forgot to do your homework. You look under your desk and find someone else worksheet completed, but there is no name on
it. What will you do if you were in this situation? Why?
SITUATION 5:
A student is walking out of the computer lab. When you enter, you see that a nice pair of sunglasses were left near one of the
computers. What will you do ?Why?

LEARNING ACTIVITY 4: Heal as One

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the government mandated home quarantine protocols and social distancing to prevent the spread of
virus. Because of these, some people suffer from mental health problems like anxiety and depression. Your task is to create a
poster for them and spread love and happiness in spite of all the crises that we are facing.
Directions:
1. Make one poster for the front liners.
2. Be creative and use available colored papers and coloring materials.
3. Be guided by the rubrics below.
CRITERIA HIGHEST POSSIBLE POINTS
Creativity (artistry) 15 pts.
Organization (presentation of thoughts) 10 pts.
Grammar (correct grammar and spelling) 10 pts
Originality (uniqueness, own work) 15 pts.
TOTAL=50 POINTS