THE ROLE OF SOCIAL

SCIENCE IN ADDRESSING
SOCIAL ISSUES
PREPARED BY: MR. FRANCIS GIL D. MERCURIO
 GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE CONTEXT OF
FEMINIST THEORY AND STRUCTURAL
FUNCTIONALISM APPROACH
• Gender inequality- refers to the differences between men and
women that systematically favour one group, which is a result
of distinct roles and behaviors that a particular society
considers appropriate for men and women. (World Health
Organization)
• Sex is a biological basis of being male of female
• Gender is the socio-cultural basis of being a male or female.
 SEX ROLES VS. GENDER ROLES
• Much of gender ideology is a product of the social construction of
gender roles, which often mistaken for sex roles.
• For example, getting pregnant is a sex role that only women can
perform but child rearing is a gender role that can performed by
women as well as men.
• Because of gender ideology that places women in the private sphere
(home) and men in the public sphere (economy), child rearing
becomes a sex role assigned to women when in fact, it is a gender role.
• Gender ideology promotes sexism, or the belief that
there exist natural psychological, behavioural, and
intellectual differences between men and women and
that differences justify the superiority of one group
over another, and it is usually the women who are
considered the inferior group.
ANALYZING GENDER INEQUALITY IN
THE LENS OF LIBERAL FEMINISM
• Liberal feminism argues that women are oppressed in society
due to the belief that they are not rational beings.
• St. Augustine, for example, believed that the “city of God” was
only meant for men because of their rationality and morality,
and that if they wanted to remain that way, they had to avoid
women who are viewed as occasions of sins.
• For liberal feminism, women should be given the right
to education for only through education can women
prove their rationality.
• Women should also be treated equally in laws and
should be given the right to vote as well as the right to
be elected in public office.
• As for Philippine laws, there still exist gender discriminatory law such
as the need to establish concubinage against philandering husbands and
adultery against philandering wives: having sex, even just once, with a
lover is considered adultery while concubinage entails proving that
husband supports his mistress financially ad they are living under
scandalous conditions.
• Liberal feminism operates on the idea that women are rational too, hence
women should be given equal opportunities and rights with men by virtue
of rationality.
• Symbolic interactionism is an interpretative approach in the social
sciences which argues that social norms are completely constructed by the
way they interact with one another.
• In symbolic interactionism, people assign symbols to the things and
concept as they encounter and interact with them.
• Gender identity is an example of a social norm that is constructed by the
way people interact with each other, and gender identity serves as a basis
in constructing gender ideology, which leads to gender inequality.
ANALYZING GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE
LENS OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
• When we use the lens of symbolic interactionism in analysing gender
inequality, we will realize that much of what we consider as norms are just
socially constructed attributes that are considered appropriate for men and
women, and are not determined by biology.
• For example, the association of the color “blue” for men and “pink” for
women is just a social construct and does not have a biological basis, yet
we have accustomed to this color association between men and women
that when we see men wearing pink shirts, we hastily judge them as gays.
 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE CONTEXT OF
MARXISM AND STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
APPROACH

• Racial discrimination refers to the actions, behavior, or treatment based on

prejudice or hatred against persons based on their race. (Hunt and Colander,
2011)
• It involves narrow-mindedness and discrimination against people who are thought
to be inferior to other people based on the color of their skin.
• Racial discrimination may be in the form of social acts, customs, or beliefs.
• Racial discrimination happens when a person treated unfavorably compared to
another person in a parallel situation because of race, color, ancestry, national or
ethnic origin, or immigrant status.
ANALYZING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
IN THE CONTEXT OF MARXISM
• Racial discrimination can be analyzed through the lens of Marxism.
• Classical Marxism asserts that class oppression is the result of the division of
capitalist society into the bourgeoisie (middle class) and the proletariat (working
class).
• From the lens of Marxism, racial discrimination of white Americans against the
African Americans has been characteristic of American society.
• The rise of capitalism hased to the division of society between the white
Americans who control the mode of production, and the African Americans who
serve as workers.
 ANALYZING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN THE
LENS OF STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

• Structural functionalism, on the other hand, espouses different

view of race. It sees race as another fundamental element within
the larger whole of society that was integrated into its relatively
smooth functioning.
• It sees society as logical, constrained, and interconnected
constructs that function like organisms, composed of various parts,
including race, working together to achieve social equilibrium.
• Since society is compared to the human body which functions well
because of the proper functioning of its organ, racial is considered as
necessary to keep society stable and healthy.
• For structural functionalism, it must have played a significant role that
helped to create more solidarity, at least among the ruling class.
• It tends to look at the issue of racial discrimination from the perspective of
macro-level analysis, looking at the positive rather than the negative
consequence of racial discrimination.
• For structural functionalism, as long as social
harmony and social equilibrium are achieved,
then racial discrimination must be beneficial for
the smooth functioning of the society.
TERRORISM IN THE CONTEXT OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
THEORY AND RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

• Terrorism is a commonly used term but one which is hard to define.

The following are the characteristics might help understand the
concept better: it is political; it is about the pursuit, acquisition,
and the use of power; it is about violence with the goal of
instilling fear beyond the immediate victims; it targets military,
government representatives, as well as civilians; it involves
calculated or planned acts by organizations with specific
structures. (Hoffman, 1998)
 ANALYZING TERRORISM IN THE
LENS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS THEORY
• Terrorism has traditionally been considered as representing a
mental disorder, thus it can be analyzed using psychoanalysis.
• Stuart Twemlow, a medical doctor and Professor of Psychiatry
and Behavioral Science, narrates how psychoanalysis can offer
so much help in understandingv terrorism by delving into the
social context and group dynamics of terrorism, and by
understanding the individual psyche of the terrorist.
• Several factors have to be considered in analyzing terrorism through
psychoanalysis. One would be the assignment of the terrorist label to the other
person; never has it beeen assigned by a person to oneself.
• Accused terrorists always portray themselves as victims of humiliation,
discrimination, or oppression by the enemy with different political, religious,
or personal ideologies. (Twemlow, 2008)
• Through psychoanalysis, the terrorist's psyche will be understood by delving
into his her unconscious so that his or her terrorist behavior can be explained.
 ANALYZING TERRORISM IN THE
LENS OF RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
• Rational Choice Theory claims that people always make logical and
practical choices that provide them with the greatest benefit or satisfaction
at the lowest possible costs.
• It is said to have emm game theory which tries to represent situations
wherein a person's choice depends on the choices of other people.
• Game theory asserts that individuals or groups can win only at the failure
of rivals.
• Since terrorism has traditionally been considered as representing a
mental disorder, terrorists are often portrayed in popular media as crazy
individuals who run amok for no reason at all.
• Rational choice theory offers an alternative to this traditional view of
terrorism for it advocates the idea that terrorist acts ususally stem from
logical, intentional, and premeditated decisions.
• Terrorism can be seen as the best strategy to fulfill personal or socio-
political goals in some cases.
 SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN THE CONTEXT OF
PANTAYONG PANANAW AND SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO

• Social Inequality refers to the existence of unequal

opportunities and rewards for different social positions within a
group or society, and contains structured and recurrent patterns
of unequal distribution of goods, wealth, opportunities,
rewards, and punishments. (Crossman, 2014)
• Social inequality means certain groups of people have access
to more resources and opportunities than others.
ANALYZING SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN
THE LENS OF PANTAYONG PANANAW
• If we use Pantayong Pananaw as an approach to analyze the
issue of social inequality in the Philippines, the concept of the
great cultural divide could be applied to explain why social
inequality exists.
• History has shown us that the great divide between the elite and
the masses at present tracesits roots to colonial times when some
wealthy Filipinos were used by Spanish colonizers to implement
colonial interests in the country.
 ANALYZING SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN
THE LENS OF SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO
• Sikolohiyang Pilipino can also be used to analyze social
inequality. In Sikolohiyang Pilipino, the core concept of
kapuwa is distinguished from its counterpart in the American
English language, which is “other”.
• Kapuwa means unity of the self and other, or extension of the
self, while “other” means a person or a thing that is different of
distinct from one already mentioned or known about.
• Social inequality will never occur if people will only value the
concept of kapuwa because if people will only treat other people as
extension of themselves, they will act based on what is best not only
for themselves but for others as well.
• If will treat others as they would want themselves to be treated,
resoures will be equally shared among everybody and everyone will
get what they need without exploiting other people for profit.
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
1.How do the approaches in Social Sciences help in analyzing social issues?
2.How do feminist theory and symbolic interactionism differ in their
approach to gender inequality?
3.How do Marxism and structural functionalism address racial
discrimination?
4.How do rational choice theory and psychoanalysis explain terrorism?
5.How is social inequality explained through the lens of Pantayong Pananaw
and Sikolohiyang Pilipino?