EDM 601: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
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SIERTE, ERLINDA C.
EDM I
Discussant
 is the scientific study of society,
including patterns of social relationships, social
interaction, and culture.  The term sociology was
first used by Frenchman Auguste Compte in the
1830s when he proposed a synthetic science uniting
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all knowledge about human activity.

The basic insight of sociology is that human

behavior is shaped by the groups to which people
belong and by the social interaction that takes place
within those groups.
 FIRST WISDOM OF SOCIOLOGY:

Things
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are NOT what THEY seem.
(Peter Berger)
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Motive Question:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
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 Explain sociological theories;

 Differentiate between theoretical perspectives in
the study of a particular social issue;
 List the major functions of education;
 Explain the problems that conflict theory sees in
education;
 Describe how symbolic interactionism
understands education.
The Main
z Sociological Theories

Sociologists study social events, interactions, and

patterns, and they develop a theory in an attempt to
explain why things work as they do. A
sociological theory seeks to explain social phenomena.
Theories can be used to create a testable proposition,
called a hypothesis, about society (Allan 2006).
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Theories vary in scope depending on the scale of the issues

that they are meant to explain. 
1. Macro-level theories relate to large-scale issues and large
groups of people, while 
2. Micro-level theories look at very specific relationships
between individuals or small groups. 
3. Grand theories attempt to explain large-scale relationships
and answer fundamental questions such as why societies
form and why they change.
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Sociological theory is constantly evolving and should

never be considered complete. Classic sociological theories
are still considered important and current, but new
sociological theories build upon the work of their
predecessors and add to them (Calhoun 2002).
Paradigms are philosophical and theoretical
frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories,
generalizations, and the experiments performed in support
of them.
MAJOR
z PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION
This fall nicely into the functional, conflict, and
symbolic interactionist approaches (Ballantine &
Hammack, 2012). Ballantine, J. H., & Hammack, F. M.
(2012). 
The sociology of education: A systematic
analysis (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall. Table 11.1 "Theory Snapshot" summarizes what
these approaches say.
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Theoretical
Major Assumptions
perspective
 Education serves several functions for society: (a)
Functionalism socialization, (b) social integration, (c) social placement,
and (d) social and cultural innovation.
 Education promotes social inequality through the use of
Conflict
tracking and standardized testing and the impact of its
theory
“hidden curriculum.”

Symbolic  This perspective focuses on social interaction in the

Interactionism classroom, on the playground, and in other school venues.
FUNCTIONS
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1. Functional Theory- stresses functions that education

serves in fulfilling a society’s various needs.
2. Social Integration- people must subscribe to a
common set of beliefs and values.
3. Social Placement- students are identified by
teachers and other school officials as bright and
motivated/ less bright and even educationally
challenged.
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4. Social and Cultural Innovation- our scientists

cannot make important scientific discoveries and
thinkers cannot come up with great works… unless
they have first been educated in the many subjects they
need to know for their chosen path.
FUNCTIONS
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Schools ideally
perform many
important
functions in
modern society.
These include
socialization,
social integration,
social placement,
and social and
cultural
innovation.
EDUCATION
z and INEQUALITY
Conflict theory does not dispute the functions just described.
However, it does give some of them a different slant by emphasizing how
education also perpetuates social inequality (Ballantine & Hammack,
2012). Ballantine, J. H., & Hammack, F. M. (2012). The sociology of
education: A systematic analysis (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall. 
EXAMPLE: The function of social placement. When most schools begin
tracking their students in grade school, the students thought by their
teachers to be bright are placed in the faster tracks, while the slower
students are placed in the slower tracks; in high school, three common
tracks are the college track, vocational track, and general track.
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 Such tracking does have its advantages, but conflict theorists say

that tracking also helps perpetuate social inequality
by locking students into faster and lower tracks.
 Conflict theorists add that standardized tests are culturally biased
and thus also help perpetuate social inequality (Grodsky, Warren,
& Felts, 2008).Grodsky, E., Warren, J. R., & Felts, E. (2008).
 Conflict theorists add that standardized tests are culturally biased
and thus also help perpetuate social inequality (Grodsky, Warren,
& Felts, 2008).Grodsky, E., Warren, J. R., & Felts, E. (2008).
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 In a fourth critique, conflict theorists say that schooling teaches

a hidden curriculum, by which they mean a set of values and beliefs
that support the status quo, including the existing social hierarchy
(Booher-Jennings, 2008).Booher-Jennings, J. (2008).
 A final critique is historical and concerns the rise of free, compulsory
education during the nineteenth century (Cole, 2008).Cole, M. (2008).
Marxism and educational theory: Origins and issues.
Symbolic
z Interactionism and School Behavior
 Symbolic interactionist -studies of education examine social
interaction in the classroom, on the playground, and in other school
venues. These studies help us understand what happens in the schools
themselves, but they also help us understand how what occurs in school
is relevant for the larger society. Some studies.
Example: show how children’s playground activities reinforce gender-role
socialization.

 Applying impact of social research

-Assessing the Impact of Small Class Size

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The study, named Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement

Ratio), began in Tennessee in 1985 and involved 79 public schools and
11,600 students and 1,330 teachers who were all randomly assigned to
either a smaller class (13–17 students) or a larger class (22–25 students).
The random assignment began when the students entered kindergarten
and lasted through third grade; in fourth grade, the experiment ended, and
all the students were placed into the larger class size. The students are
now in their early thirties, and many aspects of their educational and
personal lives have been followed since the study began.
Some of the
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more notable findings of this multiyear study
include the following:

 While in grades K–3, students in the smaller classes had higher average
scores on standardized tests.

 Students who had been in the smaller classes continued to have higher
average test scores in grades 4–7.

 Students who had been in the smaller classes were more likely to
complete high school and also to attend college.
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 Students who had been in the smaller classes were less likely to be
arrested during adolescence.

 Students who had been in the smaller classes were more likely in their
twenties to be married and to live in wealthier neighborhoods.

 White girls who had been in the smaller classes were less likely to have
a teenage birth than white girls who had been in the larger classes.
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Why did small class size have these benefits?

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KEY TAKEAWAYS
 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.
SUMMARY
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1. Although Americans enjoy much freedom of thought and action, society

constrains their views and behaviors.

2. The sociological perspective emphasizes that our social backgrounds

influence our attitudes, behaviors, and life chances.

3. Because sociology deals in generalizations and not laws, people don’t always
behave and think in the patterns sociologists predict. Personal experience,
common sense, and the media are all valuable sources of knowledge about
various aspects of society, but they often present a limited or distorted view
of these aspects.
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4. A theme of sociology is the debunking motif. This means that

sociological knowledge aims to look beyond on-the-surface
understandings of social reality.
5. Theoretical perspectives in sociology generally divide into macro and
micro views. Functionalism emphasizes the functions that social
institutions serve to ensure the ongoing stability of society.
Conflict theory focuses on the conflict among different racial, ethnic,
social class, and other groups and emphasizes how social institutions help
ensure inequality. Two micro perspectives, symbolic interactionism and
utilitarianism, focus on interaction among individuals.
FOR YOUR REVIEW
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Review how the functionalist,

conflict, and symbolic interactionist
perspectives understand and explain
education. Which of these three
approaches do you most prefer? Why?
 REFERENCES:
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 Craig Calhoun (Editor).  2002.  Dictionary of the Social Sciences. New York: Oxford
University Press.

 Giddens, Anthony. 1987.  Sociology: A Brief but Critical Introduction. Stanford, CA:

Stanford University Press. Retrieved 9 October 2020.

 Persell, Caroline Hodges. 1990. Understanding Society: An Introduction to

Sociology. Third Edition. New York: Harper & Row. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
 The Sociological Perspective (Adapted from I. Robertson, Sociology, NY: Worth Pub.
1981) Retrieved 9 October 2020 @ The Sociological Perspective
 (Adapted from I. Robertson, Sociology, NY: Worth Pub. 1981)
Sociological Perspective in Education. Retrieved 8 October 2020 @ c
https://www.google.com/search?q=sociological+prespective+implication+to+educat
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“The sociological imagination involves the

ability to realize that personal troubles are
rooted in problems in the larger social
structure. The sociological imagination thus
supports a blaming-the-system view over a
blaming-the-victim view.”

- C. Wright Mills
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