Dominant Approaches and Ideas

in the Social Sciences

Key Concepts
Rationality
Behavioral movement
Positivism
Game theory
Strategic interdependence
Bounded rationality
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

A dominant approach under

Positivism which assumes that
society is made up of individuals
who always make logical decisions
that provide them the greatest
benefit at the lowest cost.
The idea that when a person is
confronted with a set of choices, that
person will choose the option that will
serve his or her objectives.
Individuals act on the basis of the
information that they have about the
conditions they were acting. People
will perform an action depending on
their insight the likelihood of success.
 Proceed to the Job interview Not Proceed to the
interview

Rush to your sister/ brother A B

To not rush to your C D

sister/brother

Processing Questions Share your output with your classmate. Did you make the
same choice or Decision? Why or Why not?
Key Concepts
Meaning
Self
Socialization
Generalized other
Symbolic Interactionism
• How does one make sense of his her
actions, and experiences?
• How does social experience develop
one’s self?
• What is the importance of
communication in human actions
and interactions?
Symbolic Interactionism
• So every culture has its own
interpretation of an act
• For example ang yes sa atin ay
nodding ng head
• May ibang culture ang yes ay swaying
ng head
• The symbolic interaction perspective, also
called symbolic interactionism, is a major
framework of sociological theory. This
perspective relies on the symbolic meaning
that people develop and rely upon in the
process of social interaction. Although
symbolic interactionism traces its origins
to Max Weber's assertion that individuals act
according to their interpretation of the
meaning of their world, the American
philosopher George Herbert Mead introduced
this perspective to American sociology in the
1920s.
• Symbolic interaction theory analyzes society by
addressing the subjective meanings that people
impose on objects, events, and behaviors.
Subjective meanings are given primacy because it is
believed that people behave based on what they
believe and not just on what is objectively true.
Thus, society is thought to be socially constructed
through human interpretation. People interpret one
another’s behavior and it is these interpretations
that form the social bond.
• These interpretations are called the “definition of
the situation.”
• For example, why would young people smoke
cigarettes even when all objective medical
evidence points to the dangers of doing so?
The answer is in the definition of the situation
that people create. Studies find that teenagers
are well informed about the risks of tobacco,
but they also think that smoking is cool, that
they themselves will be safe from harm, and
that smoking projects a positive image to their
peers. So, the symbolic meaning of smoking
overrides that actual facts regarding smoking
and risk.
• Activity Assessment for this
Structural Functionalism
Key Concepts
 Social structure
 Manifest functions
 Adaptation
 Integration
 Social dysfunction
 Social functions
 Latent function
 Goal attainment
 Latency
• What keeps society together?
• What causes social dysfunction?
• How important are the social functions of the
social structure to the maintenance and
stability of societies?
• Structural functionalism, or
simply functionalism, is a
framework for building theory
that sees society as a complex
system whose parts work
together to promote solidarity
and stability
To maintain the equilibrium of the system,
Parsons identified four imperatives for societies
to survive, which he called AGIL model,
• Adaptation – acquiring and mobilizing sufficient
resources so that the system can survive
• Goal Attainment – setting and implementing
goals
• Integration – maintaining solidarity or
coordination among the subunits of the system
• Latency – creating, preserving, and transmitting
the system’s distinctive culture and values.
• Such parts of the whole system may vary
in terms of functions but they are all
related to each other
• Interdependent as they are, they all have
one goal and that is to maintain or keep
the whole system, at least in its present
form.
• It follows therefore that the working of
one part would have effects on the other
parts.
 As we say in Filipino,
• Ang sakit ng kalingkinan, sakit ng buong
katawan.
• Truly, in an organic analogy of society as a human
body, the whole unit will only function well if all
of their parts perform their expected tasks. If
there are maladaptive parts, eventually they will
contribute to the collapse of society unless
checked by other units or sectors in charge of
correcting or penalizing the erring units.
Institutionalism
Key Concepts
Institutions
Descriptive-inductive
Formal-legal and historical-
comparative
Old institutionalism
New institutionalism
Normative institutionalism
Rational choice institutionalism
• What is the difference between old and new
institutionalism?
• Do institutions and institutional contexts
matter in explaining human behavior?
Human Environment System
Approach
Key Concepts
Human system
Human-environment system
Coupled human and natural
system (CHANS)
Interdisciplinary approach
Human Environment System Approach
• (HES) in the social sciences is an
interdisciplinary approach in the social
sciences.
• It bridges the gap between, and integrate
knowledge from, the social and the natural
sciences within one framework in the study of
environmental and social issues.
Human Environment System Approach
• Human-environment systems which combine both
human and natural components to show complex
interactions, and feedback between them, are called
human-environment systems.
• "Coupled human and natural system"
• "acknowledges the fact that humans, as users,
actors, and managers are not external, but integral
elements of the human-environment system"
• Results in sharing the responsibility for the
sustainability of the human-environment system
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud, introduced psychoanalysis in
the late 19th century. Psychoanalysis is the
branch of psychology that focuses on treating
mental disorders by recognizing the
relationships between the conscious mind and
the unconscious mind.
 Psychoanalysis
There is also preconscious, which holds those thoughts and
emotions that are not repressed and are not currently in
the conscious, though they are readily available. Freud's
theory eventually developed into a three-part system that
holds that the human psyche is comprised of:
• Ego - lies at the visible surface of your personality - what
you show to society. It develops with life experience.
• Id - hidden in your unconscious and is driven by the
'pleasure principle' - the demand to fulfill your biological
needs immediately.
• Superego - also hidden in your unconscious, is made up of
the conscience (which helps us distinguish right from
wrong) and the ego-ideal (which contains the ideal view of
yourself).
• The id is the impulsive (and unconscious) part
of our psyche which responds directly and
immediately to basic urges, needs, and
desires.
• The personality of the newborn child is all id
and only later does it develop an ego and
super-ego.
• The id operates on the pleasure principle
(Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every
wishful impulse should be satisfied
immediately, regardless of the consequences.
• The ego is 'that part of the id which has been
modified by the direct influence of the external
world.‘
• The ego develops to mediate between the
unrealistic id and the external real world. It is the
decision-making component of personality. Ideally,
the ego works by reason, whereas the id is chaotic
and unreasonable.
• The ego considers social realities and norms,
etiquette and rules in deciding how to behave.
• The superego's function is to control the id's
impulses, especially those which society
forbids, such as sex and aggression. It also has
the function of persuading the ego to turn to
moralistic goals rather than simply realistic
ones and to strive for perfection.
Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Hermeneutic is the art of interpreting

Phenomenology is when we classify, describe,

interpret, and analyze structures of
experiences in ways that answer to our own
experience
What is hermeneutical phenomenology?

Dasein - simply, "being there," or "being-in-the world"

Heidegger - argued that "what is distinctive about human
existence is its Dasein ('givenness'): our consciousness
both projects the things of the world and at the same
time is subjected to the world by the very nature of
existence in the world" (Selden and Widdowson 52).

Intentionality – “is at the heart of knowing. We live in

meaning, and we live 'towards,' oriented to experience."
(Lye, 1996).
Feminism
Feminism
1 : the theory of the political, economic, and
social equality of the sexes.
2 : organized activity on behalf of women's
rights and interests.
Marxism
Marxism, to put it rather simply, is a type of
economic system proposed by Karl Marx in
which there are no classes. The government
would control all resources and means of
production to, in theory, ensure equality.