UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MINDANAO

CHAPTER 3:
Social Science Theories
and Their Implications to
Education
Prof Ed 312
Intended Learning Outcome:
At the end of the chapter, the students must
be able to explain three social science theories
and their implications to education.

Teaching Arts in Elementary Grades 2

 Introduction
Sociologists today employ three primary theoretical
perspectives:
The functionalist perspective, the conflict
perspective and the symbolic interactionist
perspective. These perspectives offer sociologists
theoretical paradigms for explaining how society
influences people, and how people influence society.
Each perspective uniquely conceptualizes society,
social forces, and human behavior .
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SING THIS SONG: DEM BONES!
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

The toe bone’s connected to the foot bone,

The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone,
The ankle bone’s connected to the leg bone,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!
4
Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades
The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone
The thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,
Now shake dem skeleto bones!

Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades 5

The hip bone’s connected to the back bone
The back bone’s connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone’s connected to the head bone,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

The finger bone’s connected to the hand bone,

The hand bone’s connected to the arm bone,
The arm bone’s connected to the shoulder bone,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades 6

Dem bones, dm bones, gonna walk around
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk around
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades 7

 Three Social Theories
1) Structural-functional theory- Herbert Spencer,
the proponent of structural-functional views
society as “ a system of interconnected parts
each with a unique function. The parts have to
work together for stability and balance of
society”. Society is compare to the human
body with different but interrelated parts
performing different function.
Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades 8
• The functionalist theory of education focus
on how education serves the need of
society through the development of skills
encouraging social cohesion.
• The functionalist theory focused on social
stability and solidarity.
• Functionalists view education as a
beneficial contribution to an ordered
society.
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• Functionalism does not encourage people
to take an active role in changing their
social environment even when such
change may benefit them. Instead,
functionalism sees active social change as
undesirable because the various parts of
society will compensate naturally for any
problems that may arise.
Teaching Arts in Elementary Grades 10
 Purposes of schooling according to functionalists

1. Intellectual purposes- acquisition of

cognitive skills, inquiry skills.
2. Political purposes- educate future
citizen; promote patriotism; promote
assimilation of immigrants; ensure order,
public civility and conformity to law.
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3. Economic purposes- prepare students
for later work roles; select the train the
labor force needed by society.
4. Social purposes- promote a sense of
social and moral responsibility; serve as a
site for the solution or resolution of
social problems; supplement the efforts
of other institutions of socialization such
as the family and the church.
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 Three Social Theories

2. Conflict Theory- According to this theory, there

are always two opposing sides in a conflict
situation. People take sides between maintaining
the status quo and introducing change then arrive
at an agreement. Conflict theory welcomes conflict
for that way to the establishment of a new society.

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 Conflict theories find potential conflict
between any groups where inequality exists;
racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and
so on.
Conflict theories note that unequal groups
usually have conflicting values and agendas,
causing them to compete against one another.
This constant competition between group forms
the basis for the ever-changing nature of society.
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 How Proponents of Conflict Theory Regard Education

According to the conflict theory,

education is not truly a social benefit or
opportunity as seen by the functionalists.
Rather, education is a powerful means of
maintaining power structures and creating
docile work force for capitalism.
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 The purpose of education is to maintain
social inequality and to preserve the power of
those who dominate society and teach those in
the working class to accept their position as a
lower class worker of society. Conflict theorists
call this the “hidden curriculum”. The hidden
curriculum socializes young people into
obedience and conformity for them to be
developed as docile workers.
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 Functionalist disagree strongly. They
assert that if schools teach adherence to
policies, obedience to rules, respect for
persons including authorities, punctuality and
honesty, civil right it is because they are the
very principles dear to a democratic way of
life. It is not because they want to make the
workers remain docile, unquestioning and
subservient forever while those in power
remain in power.
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 3 . The symbolic interactionist theory perspective

Three tenets of symbolic interactionist theory

1.) An individual’s action depends on meaning.
We act based on the meaning we give to
symbols. Symbols can be actions, objects, or
words. If a student understands that teacher
believes in his/her ability he/she tries his/her best
prove that indeed he/she is able. If a teacher does
otherwise, a student ends to behave in
accordance with teacher’s poor perception.
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2.) Different people may give different meanings to
the same thing.
When teachers are strict, some students see it
as an expression of care. Others may rebel because
they perceive teacher’s behavior as limiting their
moves and desires. A businessman may look at a
tree and starts estimating how much money he can
get if he has the tree cut down for a lumber.
Blindness”.
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3.) Meaning change as individuals interact with
one another.
A negative meaning that you used to
associate with hospital when you went to a
hospital which looked more as a hotel than the
usual hospital you know is changed. After you
have taught well, your first impression of teaching
as boring is changed to teaching is exciting.

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 Implications to Teaching
Let us continue to teach for meaning. Let us
promote and create opportunities for genuine
interaction among our students, teachers, between
students and teachers. Interaction does not only
mean dealing with warm bodies. Interaction includes
reading, listening, viewing. Other people’s views and
meanings are conveyed in what they have written in
speeches and lectures they have delivered.

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 Let us use positive symbols – in the
form of gestures, words, actions, and
appearances – to express our trust, belief
in our student’s abilities, an affirmation if
their being. In fact, our belief in our
students also has positive effect in us. We
find ourselves more prepared in class,
more caring, truly professional.
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 The symbolic interactionist prospective, also
known as symbolic interactionism, directs
sociologists to consider the symbols and details of
everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how
people interact with each other.
As the term implies, symbolic interactionist
theory states that people interact with one
another through symbols. Language is a
predominant symbol among people.
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 According to the symbolic interactionist
perspective, people attach meanings to
symbols, and then they act according to
their subjective interpretation of these
symbols. Verbal conversations, in which
spoken words serve as the predominant
symbols., make this subjective interpretation
especially evident. The words have a certain
meaning for the “sender” and, during
effective communication.
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 They hopefully have the same meaning for
the “receiver”. In other terms, words are not
static “things”; they require intention and
interpretation. Conversation is an interaction of
symbols between individuals who constantly
interpret the world round them. To ensure
mutual understanding, the sender of the symbol
and the receiver of the symbol must give the
same meaning to the symbol or run the risk of
misunderstanding.
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 Weakness of Symbolic Interaction Theory

Critics claim that symbolic interactionism

neglects the macro level of social
interpretation-the “big picture”. In other
words, symbolic interactionists may miss
the larger issues of society by small
individual interactions.
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 Symbolic interactionism traces its
origins to Max Weber’s assertion that
individuals act according to their
interpretation of the meaning of their
world. However, it was the American
philosopher George H. Mead (1863-1931)
who introduced this perspective to
American sociology in the 1920s.
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1. The purposes of schooling according to the
functionalist theory are:

1) Intellectual purposes- acquisition of

cognitive skills, inquiry skill.
2)Political purposes- educate future citizens;
promote patriotism; promote assimilation of
immigrants; ensure order, public civility and
conformity to laws. Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades 28
3) Economic purposes- prepare students for
later work roles; select and train the labor
force needed by society.
4) Social purposes- promote a sense of social
and moral responsibility; serve as a site for the
solution or resolution of social problems;
supplement the efforts of other institutions of
socialization such as the family and the
church. Teaching Arts in Elementary Grades 29
2. Adherents to the conflict theory claims that
schools teach loyalty so that those in power
remain in power and those below will forever be
at the bottom. Do you agree? Why or why not?
3. Individuals act based o meaning. This meaning
is based on individual’s experiences. Meanings
change. Give two implications of these symbolic
interactionist thoughts to education.

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 TAKEAWAYS
⦁ FUNCTIONALISM is a theory of society that
focuses on the structures that create the
society and on how the society is able to
remain stable.
⦁ Functionalists are for stability and a state of
equilibrium in society.
⦁ To maintain this state of stability, various
institutions are expected to do their part.
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 TAKEAWAYS
⦁ For the functionalists, change is necessary only
when things get unstable.
⦁ CONFLICT THEORY welcomes conflict for conflict
paves the way to change, to the establishment of a
new society.
⦁ SYMBOLIC-INTERACTIONIST THEORY is focused
on individuals who act based on meanings are not
permanent. They change over time as the individual
continues to interact with others and with symbols.
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 Let’s Check for Understanding
Which social science theory is referred to?
1. The overall health of society depends upon the healthy
functioning of its institutions.
2. Meanings that individuals give to symbols change over time.
3. Faulty communication can result from differences in the
perception of the same events and symbols.
4. Schools teach humanitarian attitude, altruism, democracy,
civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to preserve
society and social order.

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5. When one institution fails to function another institution ought to come in to
perform the function for the stability of society.

6. A new society comes as a result of the resolution of clash between the

powers that be and the workers.

7. Two opposing sides are welcomed. This paves the way to change.

8 when one institution fails to perform its function, the other institutions
showed come in for the preservation of society.

9. One weakness of this theory is this is focused on small interactions.

10.Differences in meaning of symbols for both sender and receiver result to

misunderstanding.
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 Let’s reflect
Based on the lesson on symbolic-interactionist theory and the movie, “the little
prince”, what does this quote mean: “Words are a source of misunderstanding”.
Any personal message? Write it down.

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 Taking it to the Net
Research on more school practices based on the functionalist
theory, conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory. Write
them on a whole sheet of paper to be passed in class.

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 LET Clinchers
Direction: choose the letter of the correct answer.

1. Which is an application of the functionalist theory?

a. Schools must do their part to socialize children or else children will turn out to
be delinquent citizens.
b. Schools must teach students to accept their status in life for there is nothing
that they can do about it.
c. Schools must make learners understand that in life there will always be the
powerful and the powerless.
d. Schools must teach students to speak in clear symbols.
2. Who is associated with the conflict theory?
e. Weber
f. Marx
g. Dewey
h. Durkheim Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades 37
4. According to the functionalist theory, what happens when one institution fails to do its
part?
a. Other institutions get paralyzed
b. The non-functioning institution gets eliminated
c. Other institutions take over the function
d. The non-performing institution gets penalized
5. For an ideal interaction in the community what must be observed?
e. The symbol must be contemporary.
f. Don’t use symbols.
g. Those involved must analyze the meaning of the symbol.
h. The symbol must be clear to both giver and receiver.

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 GROUP MEMBERS
• CAMPANA, FRANCIS
• SALAZAR, GIZELLE
• LEONO, CHRISTINE JAY
• ROCHA, ANGELICA

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