Lesson 1: THE SOCIAL SCIENCE THEORIES

Functionalists believe that education equips people to perform different functional roles in
society.

Conflict theorists view education as a means of widening the gap in social inequality.

Feminist theorists point to evidence that sexism in education continues to prevent women
from achieving a full measure of social equality.
Symbolic interactionists study the dynamics of the classroom, the interactions between
students and teachers, and how those affect everyday life.

Functionalism

 Functionalists view education as one of the more important social institutions in a

society.
 They contend that education contributes two kinds of functions: manifest (or primary)
functions, which are the intended and visible functions of education; and latent (or
secondary) functions, which are the hidden and unintended functions.

Two Kinds of Functions: Manifest Function and Latent Function

Manifest Functions

There are several major manifest functions associated with education. The first is socialization.
Beginning in preschool and kindergarten, students are taught to practice various societal roles.

Emile Durkheim - Established the academic discipline of sociology. She is a French Sociologist.

 characterized schools as “socialization agencies that teach children how to get along
with others and prepare them for adult economic roles” (Durkheim, 1898).
 This socialization also involves learning the rules and norms of the society as a whole.
In the early days of compulsory education, students learned the dominant culture.
School systems also transmit the core values of the nation through manifest functions
like social control. One of the roles of schools is to teach students conformity to law
and respect for authority.
 This function also prepares students to enter the workplace and the world at large,
where they will continue to be subject to people who have authority over them.
 Education also provides one of the major methods used by people for upward social
mobility. This function is referred to as social placement.

Latent Functions
  Education also fulfills latent functions. As you well know, much goes on in a school that
has little to do with formal education. For example, you might notice an attractive fellow
student when he gives a particularly interesting answer in class—catching up with him
and making a date speaks to the latent function of courtship fulfilled by exposure to a
peer group in the educational setting.
Another latent function is the ability to work with others in small groups, a skill that is
transferable to a workplace and that might not be learned in a homeschool setting.
 The educational system, especially as experienced on university campuses, has
traditionally provided a place for students to learn about various social issues. There is
ample opportunity for social and political advocacy, as well as the ability to develop
tolerance to the many views represented on campus. Functionalists recognize other
ways that schools educate and enculturate students.

Individualism - One of the most important values students should learn.

 The valuing of the individual over the value of groups or society as a whole. In countries
such as Japan and China, where the good of the group is valued over the rights of the
individual, students do not learn as they do in the United States that the highest
rewards go to the “best” individual in academics as well as athletics.
 One of the roles of schools is fostering self-esteem.
Schools also fill the role of preparing students for competition in life. Obviously, athletics
foster a competitive nature, but even in the classroom students compete against one
another academically. Schools also fill the role of teaching patriotism. Students recite
the “Panunumpa sa Watawat” each morning and take history classes where they learn
about national heroes and the nation’s past
 Another role of schools, according to functionalist theory, is that of sorting, or
classifying students based on academic merit or potential. The most capable students
are identified early in schools through testing and classroom achievements. Such
students are placed in accelerated programs in anticipation of successful college
attendance.
Education also involves several latent functions, functions that are by-products of
going to school and receiving an education rather than a direct effect of the education
itself. Some of these are child care, the establishment of peer relationships and a final
latent function of education is that it keeps millions of high school students out of the
full-time labor force.

Conflict Theory
  Conflict theorists do not believe that public schools reduce social inequality. Rather,
they believe that the educational system reinforces and perpetuates social inequalities
that arise from differences in class, gender, race, and ethnicity.
 Where functionalists see education as serving a beneficial role, conflict theorists view
it more negatively. To them, educational systems preserve the status quo and push
people of lower status into obedience.

Conflict is a clash between ideas, principles, and people.

 Conflict Theory focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain dominance and
power in social systems.
 Emphasize the dominance of some social groups by others.
 See social order as based on manipulation and control by dominant groups , and view
social change as occurring rapidly and in a disorderly fashion as subordinate groups
overthrow dominant groups (Ritzer, 2000).
It focuses on the heterogenous nature of society and the differential distribution of
political and social power.
 There is a struggle between social classes and class conflicts between the powerful and
less powerful groups. (Horton & Hunt, 1984)
 Assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tensions
between competing groups.
 It grew out of the work of Karl Marx and focuses on struggle of social classes to
maintain dominance and power social system
 Conflict Theorists are interested in how society’s institutions- the family, government,
religion, education, and media – may help to maintain the privileges of some groups
and keep others in a subservient position. Their emphasis on social change and
redistribution of resources makes conflict theorists more radical and activist than
functionalists (Scaefer, 2003).
 The consensus and conflict sociological theories are reflected in the works of certain
dominant and other prominent social theorists such as;

Karl Marx Talcott Parsons Ralph Dahrendorf

Emile Durkheim Robert Merton Herbert Mead

Max Weber Louis Althusser Herbert Blumer

 They argued that Marx’s theory was a theory characterized by class conflicts or the
conflict between the bourgeoisie (rich owners) and the (poor workers).
  Max Weber argues that schools teach and maintain particular (status culture) that is,
groups in society with similar interests and positions in the status of hierarchy.
 Education systems may train individuals in specialties to fill needed positions or prepare
“cultivated individuals” those who stand above others because of their superior
knowledge and reasoning abilities.
 Conflict theorists point to tracking, a formalized sorting system that places students on
“tracks” (advanced versus low achievers) that perpetuate inequalities. While educators
may believe that students do better in tracked classes because they are with students of
similar ability and may have access to more individual attention from teachers.
 To conflict theorists, schools play the role of training working-class students to accept
and retain their position as lower members of society. They argue that this role is
fulfilled through the disparity of resources available to students in richer and poorer
neighborhoods as well as through testing (Lauen and Tyson, 2008).

Consensus Theory

 Shared norms and values are fundamental to society, focus on social order based on
tacit agreements, and view social change as occurring in a slow and orderly fashion.
 It emphasizes social order, stability, and social regulation.
 It examines value integration in society.

Consensus -is a general agreement among all members of a particular society.

Structural Functionalism

 A dominant sociological theory for many years according to Talcott Parsons and Robert
Merton. However in the last three decades it has declineddeclin.

Parsons’ structural functionalism has four functional imperatives embodied in his 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
(AGL).
4. Latency (pattern maintenance) – a system must furnish, maintain, and renew both the
motivation of individuals & the cultural patterns.

Parsons designed the AGIL scheme to be used at all levels in this theoretical system;
 1. Action system - handles the adaptation function by adjusting to and transforming the
external world.
2. Personality system - performs the goal attainment function by defining system goals
and mobilizing resources to attain them.
3. Social system - copes with the integration function by controlling its component parts.
4. Cultural system - performs the latency function by providing actors with the norms
and values that motivate them for action.

Structure of the General Action System

Parsons sets of assumptions re-problem of order

 Systems have the property of order and interdependence of parts.

 System tends toward self-maintaining order, or equilibrium
 The system may be static or involved in an ordered process of change
 The nature of one part of the system has an impact on the form that the order parts
can take
 Systems maintain boundaries with their environments
 Allocation and integration are two fundamental processes necessary for a given state
of equilibrium.
 Systems tend toward self-maintenance of the relationships of parts to the whole,
control of environmental variations, & control of tendencies to change the system from
within.
 Social system begins at the micro level with interaction between ego and alter ego,
defined as the most elementary form of the social system.
  He described a social system as something which consists of a plurality of individual
actors interacting with each other in a situation which has at least a physical or
environmental aspect.

Functional Requisites of a Social System

1. Social system must be structured so that they operate compatibly with other systems.

2. To survive, the social system must have the requisite from other systems

3. The system must meet a significant proportion of the needs of its actors.

4. The system must elicit adequate participation from its members.

5. It must have at least a minimum of control over potentially disruptive behavior.

6. If conflict becomes sufficiently disruptive, it must be controlled.

7. Finally, a social system requires a language in order to survive.

Functionalist Theory

Interdependency - one of the most important principles of functionalist theory is that society
is made up of interdependent parts.

Functions of structure and control

• Closely related to interdependency is the idea that each part of social system exists because
it serves some function. This principle is the applied by functionalists to both social structure
and culture.

 Social structure - refers to the organization of society including its institution, its social
positions, and its distribution of resources.
 Culture - refers to a set of beliefs, language, rules, values, and knowledge held in
common by members of a society

• Consensus and Cooperation

• Its key principle is that "societies have a tendency toward consensus"; that is a certain
basic values that nearly everyone in the society agrees upon.

Equilibrium
 This view holds that once a society has achieved the form that is best adapted to its
institution, it has reach a state of balance, and it will remain in that condition until it is force
to change by some new condition.

Structural Functionalism

 Puts emphasis on social order and social stability not on conflict.

 It claims that society is made up of different institutions or organizations that work
together in cooperation to achieve their orderly relationship and to maintain social
order and social stability.
 Parsons believed that education is a vital part of a modern society, a society that differs
considerably from all previous societies. From this perspective, Schooling performs an
important function in the development and maintenance of modern democratic
society, especially with regard to equality of opportunity for all citizens. Thus, in
modern societies, education becomes the key institution in a meritocratic selection
process.

Interactionist Theory

Are critiques and extensions of the functionalist and conflict perspectives.

Two Basic forms of Social Interaction

1. Symbolic interactionism - views the self as socially constructed in relation to social

forces and social structures and the product of ongoing negotiations of meanings. Thus,
the social self is an active product of human agency rather than a deterministic product of
social structure. It requires mental processes.

2. Non-Symbolic Interactionism - it does not involve thinking. The basic is a result of

interaction between individuals mediated by symbols in particular, language.

Principles of Symbolic Interactionism

 Human beings unlike lower animals are endowed with a capacity for thought.
 The capacity for thought is shaped by social interaction.
 In social interaction, people learn the meanings and the symbols that allow them to
exercise their distinctively human capacity for thought.
 Meanings and symbols allow people to carry on distinctively human action &
interaction
 People are able to modify or alter meanings and symbols that they use in action and
interaction on the basis of their interpretation of the situation.
 People are able to make this modifications and alterations because in part of their
ability to interact with themselves, which allow them to examine possible courses of
action, assess their relative advantages and disadvantages, and then choose one. The
intertwined patterns of action and interaction make up groups and societies.

Mead's approach to symbolic interaction rested on three basic premises

1. People act toward the things they encounter on the basis of what those things mean to
them.

2. We learn what things are by observing how other people respond to them that is through
social interaction.

3. As a result of ongoing interaction, the sounds (or words), gestures, facial expressions, &
body postures we use in dealing with others acquire symbolic meanings that are shared by
people who belong to the same culture.

4. The importance of thinking to symbolic interactionists is reflected in their views on objects.

5. Objects are seen simply as things "out there" in the real world. What is significant is, the
way they are defined by actors.
 6. Three types of objects: (Blumer)

1. Physical objects (chair, tree)

2. Social objects (mother, child)

3. Abstract objects (ideas, moral principles)

Looking-glass Self - means we see ourselves as others see us.

• This concept was developed by the early symbolic interactionist theorist: Charles Horton
Cooley.

KEY IDEAS

 For education to serve its many functions, various kinds of reforms are needed to make
our schools and the process of education as effective as possible
 According to the functional perspective, education helps socialize children and prepare
them for their eventual entrance into the larger society as adults.
 The conflict perspective emphasizes that education reinforces inequality in the larger
society.
 The symbolic interactionist perspective focuses on social interaction in the classroom,
on school playgrounds, and at other school-related venues. Social interaction
contributes to gender-role socialization, and teachers' expectations may affect their
students' performance.

1. What is the key difference between the terms sex and gender?

a. Gender is innate, while sex is dynamic

b. Gender is a biologic concept, and sex has sociologic connotations.

c. Sex is a biologic classification based on reproductive organs, and

d. All of the above

2. Which of the following cognitive structures are influenced by gender?

a. Attributions

b. Expectancies

c. Perceptions about men and women

 d. All of the above

3. Which of the following classifies women as a vulnerable population?

a. Marginalization and oppression

b. The notion that biology is destiny

c. Gender stereotypes and prejudice

d. Increased risk for physical, psychologic, and/or social harm and the lack of resources for
protection from these harms

4. What is intersectionality in the context of feminism?

a. Neocolonialism

b. Emphasis on exclusivity

c. The importance of all feminists to work collaboratively to find where oppression

intersect

d. Multiple factors such as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and religion exist
alongside with gender to create multiple oppressions

5. Marxist feminism focuses on

a. the oppression of neocolonialism

b. the role of capitalism in the oppression of women

c. the role of race and ethnicity on the oppression of women

d. fighting for equal opportunities and access for men and wwomen

4 Pillars of Education

1. Learning to know

 This pillar refers to the acquisition of knowledge and I understanding

 It is the foundation upon which all other pillars are built. It is to engage in critical
thinking or develop their own opinions on various issues.

2. Learning to do
  This pillar focuses on developing skills and abilities. It is important for individuals to be
able to put what they have learned into practice. This can also be done if they have
developed the necessary skillset.

3. Learning to be

 This final pillar encourages individuals to reflect on their own values, beliefs, and
identity.

4. Learning to live together

 This pillar promotes social cohesion and harmony within a society.

 It emphasizes the importance of tolerance, respect, and understanding towards others.
Only by working together can we hope to achieve common goals.

Lesson 3: THE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Social Institutions - are group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a
social role. Any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups of people in it. In
Sociology, "institutions" refer to a realm of public action with its own sets of organized rules
and beliefs that direct how a society will carry out its basic needs.

Characteristics of an Institution

1. Institutions are purposive 4. Institutions are a unified structure

2. Institutions are permanent in their 5. Institutions are necessarily value-

content laden

3. Institutions are structured

5 MAJOR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

1. FAMILY

 It is the smallest social institution with the unique function of producing and rearing
the young.
 It is also the basic unit of Philippine society and the educational system where the child
begins to learn the ABC.
 It is also the basic agent of socialization because it is here where the individual
develops values, behaviors, and ways of life through interaction with members of the
family (Vega,2004)

Characteristics of the Filipino Family

 1. The family is closely knit and has strong family ties.

2. The family is usually an extended one and therefore big.

Kinship ties are extended to include the "compadre" or sponsors. They are regarded as
relatives and closer ties are formed.

3. A much higher regard is attributed to the Filipino woman especially with the changing
roles and functions of the family.

Functions of the Family

1. Reproduction of the race and rearing of the young.

2. Cultural transmission or Enculturation

3. Socialization of the child

4. Providing affection and a sense of security

5. Providing the environment of personality development & growth of self- concept in

relation to others

6. Providing social status

According to Membership

 Conjugal/nuclear family- consisting of husband, wife, and children.

 Consanguine/extended family-consist of married couple, their parents, siblings,
grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

According to Marriage

Monogamy - single marriage

Polygamy-plural marriage
 1. Polyandry-one woman is married to two or more men at the same time.
2. Polygamy - one man is married to two or more women at the same time.
3. Cenogamy-two or more men mate with two or more women in group marriage

According to Residence

 Patrilocal - a newly married couple lives with the parents of the husband.
 Matrilocal - a newly married couple lives with the parents of wife.
 Neolocal- a newly married couple maintains a separate household and live by
themselves

According to Authority

 Patriarchal - the father is considered as head and plays a dominant role.

 Matriarchal - the mother is the head and makes the major decisions
 Equalitarian- both the father ad mother share in making decisions and are equal in
authority

According to Descent

 Patrilineal - the descent is recognized through the father's line.

 Matrilineal - the descent is recognized through the mother's line.
 Bilineal - the descent is recognized through both the father's and mother's line.
 Technical/Economic-contributions of schools to the technical or economic development
and needs of the individual, the institution, the local community, the society, and the
international community. Human/Social-contribution of schools to human development
and social relationships at different levels of the society.
 Political-contribution of schools to the political development at different levels of
society.
 Cultural-contribution of schools to the cultural transmission and development at
different levels of society.
 Education-contribution of schools to the development and maintenance of education
at the different levels of society.

2. EDUCATION

 an established organization having an identifiable structure and a set of functions

meant to preserve and extend social order.
  Its basic purpose is the transmission of knowledge to move young people in the
mainstream of society.
 Teachers see to it that children are developed in all aspects physically, emotionally,
socially, and academically.

Intellectual Purpose

Teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics. To transmit specific
knowledge

•Help students acquire higher-order-thinking skills

Political Purpose

Inculcate allegiance to the existing political order

Prepare students who will participate in the political order

Teach children the basic laws of society

Helps assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order

Social Purpose

Socialize children into the various roles, behavior, and values of the society

Economic Purpose

Prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals
into the division of labor.

Multiple Functions of School

1. Technical/Economic-contributions of schools to the technical or economic development

and needs of the individual, the institution, the local community, the society, and the
international community.
2. Human/Social- contribution of schools to human development and social relationships
at different levels of the society.
3. Political-contribution of schools to the political development at different levels of
society.
4. Cultural- contribution of schools to the cultural transmission and development at
different levels of society.
5. Education-contribution of schools to the development and maintenance of education at
the different levels of society.
3. RELIGION INSTITUTION

 is a socially defined patterns of beliefs concerning the ultimate meaning of life. It

assumes the existence of the supernatural.
 A system of beliefs and rituals that serves to bind people together through shared
worship, thereby creating a social group.

Travers and Rebore (1990) defines Religion as:

• A belief about the meaning of life.

• Commitment by the individual and the group to this belief.

• A system of moral practices resulting from a commitment to this belief. A recognition by

the proponents of this belief that is supreme or absolute.

Characteristics of Religion

1. Belief in deity or in a power beyond the individual

2. A doctrine (accepted teaching) of salvation A code of conduct

3. 4- The use of sacred stories

5. Religious Rituals (acts and ceremonies)

Elements of Religion

1. Sacred and Profane-

Sacred refers to phenomena that are regarded as extraordinary, transcendent, and outside
the everyday course of events- that is supernatural.

Profane refers to all phenomena that are not sacred.

2. Legitimation of Norms

Religious sanctions and beliefs reinforce the legitimacy of many rules and norms in the
community.

3. Rituals

Formal patterns of activity that express symbolically a set of shared meanings, in the case
of rituals such as baptism or communion, the shared meanings are sacred.

4. Religious Community
 Establishes a code of behavior for the members who belong and who does not.

4. ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS

 Is centered on the task of making a living, the most absorbing interest of man.
 Microeconomics -concerned with the specific economic units of parts that makes an
economic system and the relationship between those parts.
 Macroeconomics -concerned with the economy as a whole, or large segments of it.

Economies organize how a society creates, distributes, and uses its goods and services. Today,
we live in a global economy in which the economic system of capitalism dominates. Goods and
services are created and sold, for profit, across national borders at an increasingly rapid pace.
Inequality among nations is related to what each contributes to and takes from the global
economy. "Global north" nations (most postindustrial nations like the United States, Western
European nations, and Japan) primarily contribute service work in the knowledge economy,
with high skilled workers (Garrett, 2004) whereas "global south" nations (most Latin American,
African, Middle Eastern, and Asian nations) tend to produce raw materials and/or provide
cheap labor to produce goods consumed in global north nations.

For the most part, already poor nations have become even poorer as a result of the new global
economy and the rules that give advantage to the already affluent nations. African, Latin
American, and most Asian nations have very little bargaining power in the global economy and
must find ways to compete in an economic system largely controlled by global north
corporations and institutions.

5. GOVERNMENT

 an institution which resolves conflicts that are public in nature and involve more than a
few people. It can be city, provincial, national, or even international.
 An institution by which an independent society makes and carries out those rules of
action which are necessary to enable men to live in a social state. (the Supreme Court of
the Philippines)

Three Branches of Government

1. Executive- proposes and enforces rules and laws.

2. Legislative- makes rules and laws

3. Judicial- adjudicates rules and laws

A government is aimed at maintaining good social order where the people enjoy the
political and economic blessings of life in an atmosphere of justice, freedom and equality.

Functions of Government

1. The constituent functions contributes to the very bonds of society and are therefore
compulsory

 Keeping an order and providing for the protection of persons and property fro violence
and robbery
 Fixing of the legal relations between husband and wife, and between parents and
children.
 The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange of property, and the
determination of its liabilities for debt and for crime.The determination of contractual
rights between individuals. Definition and punishment of crimes
 The administration of justice and civil cases
 The administration of political duties, privileges, and relations citizens of
 The dealings of the state with foreign growers, the preservation of the state from
external danger.

2. Ministrant functions are those undertaken to advance the general interest of society, such
as public works, public charity, and regulation of trade and industry. This function is optional.

ABSTRACTION

In any human society are social structures and social mechanisms of social order and
cooperation that govern the behavior of its members. These are called social institutions &
according to functional theorists perform five essential tasks namely:

1 Replacing members or procreation

2. Teaching new members

3. Producing, distributing, and consuming goods and services

4. Preserving order

5. Providing and maintaining a sense of purpose

A sociological truth that will always remember is that society is not a static, unstoppable force,
as it is so often referred to in popular media, but it is instead a constantly emerging and shifting
combination of individuals making decisions and taking action. Thus, the world is already
changing; we need only to guide it in the right direction by taking effective social action.

Lesson 4: SCHOOL CULTURE

What is a School?

 An institution established by society for the basic enculturation of the group

 Next to the family as the most popular and effective socializing institution
 Perceived as the extension of the home
 A building having a unity of interacting personalities, a field of social forces, a system of
formal-informal control, a special cultural world, a community service agency
A special place where children of varied cultures meet and interact
 A formal agency for weaning children from home and introducing them into society

 An institution recognized by society itself, for the basic function of teaching and
learning
An institution which acts as an agent of sosocialization

Culture

 refers to the attitudes, values, customs, and behavior patterns that characterize social
group.
 It is a set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals that are
characteristics of a particular society (Ember, 1999).
 It is the learned norms, values, knowledge, artifacts, language, & symbols that are
constantly communicated among people who share a common way of life (Calhoun, et
al., 1994)
  The sum total of symbols, ideas, forms of expressions, and material products associated
with a system (Allan Johnson, 1996).
 A complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (E.B. Taylor),
 An organization of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols, phenomena which
includes acts (patterns of behavior), objects (tools and things made), ideas (beliefs and
knowledge), and sentiments (attitudes and values) Leslie A. White.

Hofstede (1997) states that culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for
behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols constituting the distinctive achievement of
human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts.

Characteristics of Culture

 Culture is learned
 Culture is shared by group of people
 Culture is cumulative
 Culture is dynamic
 Culture is symbolic
 Culture is diverse
 Culture is product of human creativity
 Culture gives us a range of permissible behavior patterns
 Culture changes

What is change?

 An enduring force in history, is inevitable as it takes place from time to time and occurs
at all places
 As a means and an end, as a process, as a social environment, as a state of affairs
 Is persuasive and is taking place in culture, so,ciety, and personality
 What are the anthropological views of education as social and cultural change?
Culture is the shared product of human learning
Involves no longer the individual but a human group which shares a common cultural

 system
 Education should prepare the individual for a progressive rebuilding of the social order
to which he belongs
 The school and its educational program should take a dynamic role for the rebuilding of
the social order
The school has to emphasize critical, social, and economic goals of education such as:
 1. Hereditary strength 6. Economic security
2. Physical security 7. Mental security
3. Participation in evolving culture 8. Equality of opportunity
4. Active flexible personality 9. Freedom
5. Suitable occupation 10. Fair play

Components of Culture

 Communication

Language- medium of communication

Symbols- the backbone of symbolic interaction.

 Cognitive Ideas- mental representations

Knowledge- storehouse where we accumulate representations, information, facts,

assumptions

Beliefs-accept a propositions, statement, and description of facts as true.

Values- a defined standards of desirability, goodness, & beauty which serve as guideline
for social being.

Accounts refers to how people use common language to explain, justify, rationalize,
excuse, or legitimize our behavior to themselves and others.

Material-this refers to physical objects of culture such

Tools Books

Medicines Transportation technologie

 Behavioral (referring to how we act)

Norms- rules & expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.

Mores- are customary behavior patterns or folkways which have taken a moralistic
value.
 Laws formalized norms enacted by people who are vested with government power &
enforced by political & legal authorities designated by the government.

Folkways- are behavior patterns of society which are organized & repetitive.

Rituals- are highly scripted ceremonies or strips of interaction that follow a specific
sequence of actions

 Assimilation the process wherein an individual entirely loses any awareness of his/her
previous group identity and takes on the culture and attitudes of another group.

Importance and Functions of Culture

 Culture helps the individual fulfil his potential as human being.

 Culture helps man overcome his physical disadvantages and allows him to provide
himself with fire, clothing, food, and shelter.
 Culture provides rules of proper conduct for living in a society.
 Culture also provides the individual his concepts of family, nation, and class

SCHOOL CULTURE

 School cultures are the shared orientations, values, norms, and practices that hold an
educational unit together, give it a distinctive identity, and vigorously resist change from
the outside.
 School culture may be understood as a historically transmitted cognitive framework of
shared but taken-for-granted assumptions, values, norms, and actions-stable, long-term
beliefs and practices about what organization members think is important. School
culture defines a school's persona. These assumptions, unwritten rules, and unspoken
beliefs shape how its members think and do their jobs. They affect relationships,
expectations, and behaviors among teachers, administrators, students, and parents.
They give meaning to what people say and mold their interpretations of even the most
minor daily events. Everything in the organization is affected by its culture and its
 particular forms and features. Generated, deeply ingrained, and strengthened over the
years, these patterns of meaning generally resist change,
 School culture re-boot is a process that makes the implicit explicit. Within a climate of
mutua respect, trust, honest self-awareness, and openness to new ideas, teachers and
administrators look closely at their own beliefs and behaviors and identify the ways they
inadvertently add to the school's and students' difficulties. Then instead of the faculty
adapting their behaviors in accord with no-longer helpful assumptions and norms, the
re- boot provides a space for teachers to rethink, revise, and refine what they value and
believe, what they want to accomplish, and how they think and act.

Schools as Complex Organizations

Schools are complicated places-multifaceted organisms as well as part of larger systems.

Some avow that, as institutions, schools are far more socially and politically complex than
businesses. To begin, students bring numerous ethnic cultures, languages, and habits of
mind to the classroom, each associated with varying child-rearing approaches,
communication styles, and cultural and educational customs.

Specifically, school culture appears in many aspects of school life:

• Social climate-including a safe and caring environment in which all students feel
welcomed and valued and have a sense of ownership of their school.

• Intellectual climate-in which every classroom supports and challenges all students to do
their very best and achieve work of quality; this includes a strong, rigorous, and engaging
curriculum and a powerful pedagogy for teaching it.

• Rules and policies-in which all school members are accountable to high standards of
learning and behavior.

• Traditions and routines-established from shared values and that honor and reinforce the
school's academic, ethical, and social standards.

•Structures for giving teachers, staff, and students a voice in, and shared responsibility for,
making decisions and solving problems that affect the school environment and their lives in
it.

• Partnerships-ways of effectively joining with parents, businesses, and community

organizations to support students' learning and character growth.

• Norms for relationships and behavior-expectations and actions that create a professional
culture of excellence and ethics.
How School Culture Shapes the Organization

School culture creates a psychosocial environment that profoundly impacts teachers,

administrators, and students. A school's culture shapes its organization. By strengthening
shared meaning among employees, culture serves a variety of functions inside the school:

• Identity-culture's clearly defined and shared perceptions and values give organization
members a sense of who they are and their distinctiveness as a group.

• Commitment-culture facilitates the growth of commitment to something larger than

individual self-interest.

• Behavior standards-culture guides employees' words and actions, providing a behavioral

consistency by specifying appropriate norms and unwritten rules for what employees should
say and do in given situations.

• Social control-shared cultural values, beliefs, and practices direct behavior through informal
rules (institutionalized norms) that members generally follow, enhance the social system's
stability, and reinforce and shape the culture in a self-repeating cycle.

• Social control-shared cultural values, beliefs, and practices direct behavior through informal
rules (institutionalized norms) that members generally follow, enhance the social system's
stability, and reinforce and shape the culture in a self-repeating cycle,

Aspects of school culture can either benefit or harm the organization. On the positive, strong
culture can reduce ambiguity, increase faculty and staff members' commitment and
consistency, and direct all efforts toward a desired common goal. A strong and positive
culture can increase the scope, depth, complexity, and success of what teachers teach and
what students learn and achieve. In contrast, culture is a liability when the shared values are
not in agreement with those that will advance the school's goals and effectiveness.

How School Cultures Develop

A school's current customs, traditions, and general way of doing things largely reflect what has
been done before with some success. Schools develop their organizationa cultures through
three different but closely linked concepts:

• A body of solutions to external and internal problems that has worked consistently for a
group is taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think about, feel, and act in
relation to those problems.

• These eventually come to be assumptions about the nature of reality, truth, time, space,
human nature, human activity, and human relationships in that setting.
 • Over time, these assumptions, crystalized by repetition and reinforcement, come to be
presumed, unchallenged, and finally drop out of awareness. A culture's power lies in the fact
that it operates as a set of unconscious, unexamined assumptions that are taken for granted.
They are strictly enforced through social sanction.

School cultures develop in their unique ways because they once solved problems and continue
to serve a useful purpose. Because society, people, objectives, and resources change over time,
however, once useful solutions may no longer function in the organization's best interests.

Positive School Culture Characteristics

10 characteristics:

1. An inspiring vision-the extent to which a school has a clear and motivating purpose,
expressed by a charismatic leader, focused on all students meeting challenging
academic goals and backed by a well-defined, limited, and stimulating mission. The
widely shared perception of these school goals as important supports this factor.
2. Leadership the people and process that help others define and invest in the inspiring
vision and that encourage teachers, staff, students, and parents to fully endorse the
other characteristics on this list as they adapt to change.
3. Innovation and risk taking the degree to which principal, faculty, and staff are
encouraged to be innovative, experiment, and take thoughtful risks rather than work to
maintain the status quo. This includes flexibility and backing from the school district.
4. High expectations-the extent to which the school members hold a pervasive focus on
student and teacher learning along with a continual conversation about the quality of
everyone's work.
5. Trust and confidence-the extent to which those in the organization can depend on
close, supportive teacher-student, teacher-teacher, teacher-administrator, student-
student, and parent-school relationships. A sense of community aids this factor.
6. Referring to the knowledge base-the extent to which administrators and faculty use
timely and accurate quantitative and qualitative information to continuously improve
their processes, performances, and outcomes. This includes curriculum, modes of
instruction, assessment, and learning opportunities clearly linked to the vision and
mission and tailored to the students' needs and interests
7. Involvement in decision making the degree of participation granted by administrators
to teachers, staff, students, and parents to receive relevant and timely information,
 discuss its meaning in terms of school values and goals, and share inmaking decisions
that affect the school...
8. Honest, open communication-the degree to which the school provides many
opportunities and venues for sharing information in clear and unambiguous ways
among organization members. This includes creating culture, discussing fundamental
values, taking responsibility, coming together as a community, and celebrating
individual and group successes.
9. Tangible support-the degree to which faculty and staff receive sufficient
encouragement, resources (including teamwork and time), and opportunities to
effectively meet their professional responsibilities as well as contribute to their
organization's well-being.
10. Appreciation and recognition-the degree to which the school community shows its
gratitude and esteem for those members who are making meaningful contributions to
the organization or to its members. A school's customs, traditions, and general ways of
doing things illustrate the extent of this characteristic in action.

Each of these characteristics exists on a continuum from low to high. Assessing the school as an
organization on these 10 characteristics can provide.