Dominant Approaches

In Filipino Perspectives

Lesson 5
• This lesson presents the dominant approaches of
Westerners and Filipino Perspectives particularly
the significance of Pantayong Pananaw theorized
by a historian and anthropologist, Dr. Zeus Salazar.
From his theory, we can ascertain that the
concept of Pantayong Pananaw begins with
society itself, including the society’s aspirations
and hopes. Pantayong Pananaw is a voice of
Filipino Society. The only way to contributes to a
common social discussion is to use a common
language that can understand by everyone.
 Why do you think
there’s a need to
critique the dominant
approaches based on
Filipino perspective?
•The needs for critiquing the
dominant approaches based on
Filipino perspectives for the
students to realize that the society
should be analyzed from the eyes of
Filipino perspectives, or any
dominant approaches related to
Filipino perspectives.
CRITIQUE OF DOMINANT APPROACHES
IN SOCIAL SCIENCE
The dominant approaches were
originated from the West. The
individual and social behaviors of
Filipinos are different from the
Westerners.
Structural Functionalism:
 Individual play little role, based on the
ideas of Emile Durkiem. It is a broad
perspective in sociology and anthropology,
which interpret society as a whole in terms
of functions of its constituent elements
such as norms, customs, traditions, and
institutions.
Society is a system of interconnected parts that work
together in harmony to maintain a state of balance and social
equilibrium for the whole. For example: each social
institution contributes important functions for a society;
 Family provides a context for reproducing, nurturing and
socializing children;
 Educations offers a way to transmit a society’s skills,
knowledge and culture to its youth;
 Politics provides a means of governing members of
society;
 Economics provides for the production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services; and
 Religion provides moral guidance and an outlet for
worship of a higher power. (Mooney, Knox and Schact,
2007).
Critique of Structural Functionalism:
• During the 1970’s, the image of society as a
complex system made up of interdependent parts
was rejected by sociologists, who emphasized
that society was based on conflict among various
social groups. Critiques of this theory point to the
way that the perspective sees society as an old
fashion traditional system with the conservative
bias. Such can amplify social problems rather than
solve them. According to Emile Durkiem argued
that a major principle of sociology is to study
social facts as things which means that social life
can be studied and understood as events and
objects in nature.
Conflict Perspective (Marxism)
Conflict theory seeks to scientifically
explain the general contours of conflict
in society: how conflict starts and
varies and the effects it brings. The
central concerns of this theory are the
unequal distribution of scarce
resources and powers. This works in
Weber’s 3 classification system, class,
status, and power.
 Critique of Marxism:
 Marx generally gave a vision of society; he knew what the
problems were and could see where society was headed
but had not concrete measures on how equality was to be
achieved. His work was therefore left open to the
interpretation other socialists who imposed their own
methods of achieving equality, methods that were often
dictatorial and oppressive. Some critique say that Marx
tended toward economic determinism in which the
economic base was solely responsible for political and
social ideologies including religion and culture. He ignored
the competition, on the prices and value of commodities
and on the laborers wages.
 Symbolic Interactionism
 It reflects the micro-sociological perspective and
was largely influenced by the work of early
sociologist and philosophers such as Simmel,
Cooley, Mead and Geoffman. According to W.I
Thomas, emphasizes that human behavior is
influenced by definitions and meanings that are
created and maintained through symbolic
interactionism. This also suggest (human
respond to their definition of a situation rather
than to the objective itself) that our identity or
sense of self is shaped by social interaction.
Critique of the Symbolic Interactionism Approach:
• The approach is credited for providing rich
insight on the ways that individuals interact
in small scale everyday situations. It
provides a deep understanding of the social
bonds that form in society. However,
symbolic interactionism fails to consider the
influence of large social factors and
institutions on individual behavior. It this
counts the systematic impact of these
forces in creating a peculiar context where
the interactions, self, and symbols
interface.
 Psychoanalysis Perspective
• It is a framework for understanding the impact of
the unconscious on thoughts, feelings and
behavior.
Critique of the Psychodynamic Perspective:
• One major criticism of Freud’s theory is that he
based much of his interpretation on the results of
his patients free associations, as they talk about
anything without fair of negative feedback. He did
no experiments to arrive at conclusions about
personality. Thus, his sources of information are
often criticized as too ambiguous and his
conclusion without enough scientific evidence.
 Rational Choice
Refers to the ideas that social interaction can be
considered as social exchange which is patterned on
economic action that people are motivated by the
rewards and cost of actions and by the profits that
they can make at the lowest possible cost. The
beginning of rational choice can be traced back to
the age of reason.
•Key concepts of rational choice theory:
 Utility Maximization
 Structure of Preference
 Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.
 Centrality of individuals in the explanation of
collective outcomes
 Critique of the Rational Choice Theory:
•Provides an insight into the decision-
making process of individuals, by
highlighting how individuals are guided
by the ways they assess costs and
benefits, which can predict their
satisfaction or happiness in relation to
their choice. Business and consumption
related industries find rational choice
theory useful in terms of designing their
products and services.
 Institutionalism
It is the study of how institutions emerge,
endure, change, and shape the social,
economic, and political decisions and
behavior of a state or a society.
 
This views a society as made up of
individuals who are influenced by institutions,
which are also humanly created constraints
that shape or structures political, economic
and social interactions. The five basic Social
Institutions are the Family, Education,
 Critique of Institutionalism
• The main objective of old institutionalism is to determine
what institutional design is best to direct and regulate the
behavior of individuals, who are assumed to be
unpredictable and irrational while new institutionalism
focused on social groups and informal relationships
brought about by a more behavior-centered approach.
This incorporated how interpersonal relationships, or the
ways by which individuals interact with each other. This
approach focused on how power was distributed
informally on the impact of group pressures and on
individual political behavior. New institutionalists believe
that states no longer hold the only source of power;
rather, power is distributed to other institutions and social
groups.
 Feminism
•This promotes the belief that women and men should be treated
equally and that steps have to be taken to realize the goal of social
inequality. 
Critique of Feminism
• The feminist movement is as diverse as the feminisms it
advocates. Each of the branches of feminism- liberal, Marxist,
Radical- has emerged from the perceived inadequacies of
another. One of the major critiques that have come from
feminists of the third wave is that feminist knowledge does not
apply to all women. Many scholar says that feminist identities are
intersectional. There is a need to look at the social location of the
groups of women, of the ways that gender, ethnicity, and social
class intersect to shape the unique experiences of females.
 Hermeneutical Phenomenology
 Studies the meanings that people give everyday
experiences within their life-worlds and such,
allows us to understand what it is like to live in
particular social worlds. Its goal is to capture
Interpreting data, phenomenology invites us to
be open to the variety of experiences.
Hermeneutic phenomenology is the study of
experience together with its meanings. (Friesen,
Henrikson & Savi, 2012)
 Critique of Hermeneutic Phenomenology:
•It is impossible to investigate experience
without at the same time inquiring into its
meaning: it is likewise impossible to analyze
meaning without being grounded on
experience. As an approach hermeneutic
phenomenology represents an “attitude or
disposition as sensitivity and openness to
everyday experienced meanings as opposed
to theoretical ones” (Van Manen, 2002).
 Human Environment System
This recognizes the human activities, which place
pressure on the environment and how these pressures
modify the current state of the atmosphere, hydrosphere,
and lithosphere. This leads to impacts on the environment
as well as on social and economic systems. In turns, human
society attempts to problem-solve in order to remove,
reduce, or prevent the divers and pressures, restore the
state of the environment and mitigate impacts. A human
environment is the area that a human lives in.
They are varied from there; even more so by
humans’ ability to adapt the environment to us and us to
the environment.
 Critique of Human Environment System
 Analyzed the dynamics of human-environment
interactions and examines the ways that the
environment shapes and constrains human behavior
and the ways that human activities on the environment
construct the built landscape which also shapes and
constrains behavior. Cultures evolve out of the ways that
humans have worked with, and adapted to, the physical
environment. There is no right or wrong culture. But as
cultural groups start dominating in society and in the
world. They begin imposing their own standards and
ideologies on others. Example, what we think of as
mainstream “Filipino” culture is in fact the culture of the
dominant Tagalogs.
 Critique of Human Environment System
 Analyzed the dynamics of human-environment
interactions and examines the ways that the
environment shapes and constrains human behavior
and the ways that human activities on the environment
construct the built landscape which also shapes and
constrains behavior. Cultures evolve out of the ways that
humans have worked with, and adapted to, the physical
environment. There is no right or wrong culture. But as
cultural groups start dominating in society and in the
world. They begin imposing their own standards and
ideologies on others. Example, what we think of as
mainstream “Filipino” culture is in fact the culture of the
dominant Tagalogs.
 Filipino Perspective
 Sikolohiyang Pilipino is an experience, thought and
orientation of the Filipinos, whereby the concepts and
methodology emerge from the experiences of the
people from the indigenous culture.
 Pantayong Pananaw – “From-us-for-us perspective”: A
communication-based framework whose aim is to
produce a "national" discourse (“talastasang bayan”).
“Ang pantayong pananaw ay isang buong (ibig sabihin, di
watak-watak na) diskursong pangkalinangan o
pangkabihasnan, ang pinakakatangian ng isang
kalinangan o kabihasnang may kabuuan at kakanyahan.
Batayan siya, samakatuwid, ng pagkakaisa ng isang
grupo ng taong may sariling wika-at-kultura.
• Pilipinolohiya - It encompasses the study of
Filipino history, Filipino Culture, Philippine
Languages, Filipino Society, Filipino Life,
Filipino Psyche, or Filipino Psychology,
politics and Government and all about
awareness about the Philippines, this also
aims to make students of Philippine studies
aware of Filipino Ethnic identity by
experiencing Philippine Culture.
 INDIVIDUAL TASK
POSTER MAKING:
Materials: Oslo/Velum, coloring
materials.
Direction: Students will choose one
dominant approach and apply Filipino
perspective through drawing.