1.

Functions of Educational Sociology:

Educational sociology serves several functions, including:

16.2 Sociological Perspectives on Education

The Functions of Education

Functional theory stresses the functions that education serves in fulfilling a society’s various needs.
Perhaps the most important function of education is socialization. If children need to learn the
norms, values, and skills they need to function in society, then education is a primary vehicle for
such learning. Schools teach the three Rs, as we all know, but they also teach many of the society’s
norms and values. In the United States, these norms and values include respect for authority,
patriotism (remember the Pledge of Allegiance?), punctuality, individualism, and competition.
Regarding these last two values, American students from an early age compete as individuals over
grades and other rewards. The situation is quite the opposite in Japan, where, as we saw in Chapter
4 “Socialization”, children learn the traditional Japanese values of harmony and group belonging
from their schooling (Schneider & Silverman, 2010). They learn to value their membership in their
homeroom, or kumi, and are evaluated more on their kumi’s performance than on their own
individual performance. How well a Japanese child’s kumi does is more important than how well the
child does as an individual.

A second function of education is social integration. For a society to work, functionalists say, people
must subscribe to a common set of beliefs and values. As we saw, the development of such common
views was a goal of the system of free, compulsory education that developed in the 19th century.
Thousands of immigrant children in the United States today are learning English, U.S. history, and
other subjects that help prepare them for the workforce and integrate them into American life. Such
integration is a major goal of the English-only movement, whose advocates say that only English
should be used to teach children whose native tongue is Spanish, Vietnamese, or whatever other
language their parents speak at home. Critics of this movement say it slows down these children’s
education and weakens their ethnic identity (Schildkraut, 2005).

A third function of education is social placement. Beginning in grade school, students are identified
by teachers and other school officials either as bright and motivated or as less bright and even
educationally challenged. Depending on how they are identified, children are taught at the level that
is thought to suit them best. In this way they are prepared in the most appropriate way possible for
their later station in life. Whether this process works as well as it should is an important issue, and
we explore it further when we discuss school tracking shortly.

Social and cultural innovation is a fourth function of education. Our scientists cannot make
important scientific discoveries and our artists and thinkers cannot come up with great works of art,
poetry, and prose unless they have first been educated in the many subjects they need to know for
their chosen path.
The Functions of Education: social integration, social placement, socialization, social and cultural
innovation

Schools ideally perform many important functions in modern society. These include socialization,
social integration, social placement, and social and cultural innovation.

Education also involves several latent functions, functions that are by-products of going to school
and receiving an education rather than a direct effect of the education itself. One of these is child
care. Once a child starts kindergarten and then first grade, for several hours a day the child is taken
care of for free. The establishment of peer relationships is another latent function of schooling. Most
of us met many of our friends while we were in school at whatever grade level, and some of those
friendships endure the rest of our lives. A final latent function of education is that it keeps millions of
high school students out of the full-time labor force. This fact keeps the unemployment rate lower
than it would be if they were in the labor force.

2. Education and Inequality

Conflict theory does not dispute most of the functions just described. However, it does give some of
them a different slant and talks about various ways in which education perpetuates social inequality
(Hill, Macrine, & Gabbard, 2010; Liston, 1990). One example involves the function of social
placement. As most schools track their students starting in grade school, the students thought by
their teachers to be bright are placed in the faster tracks (especially in reading and arithmetic), 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.

Such tracking does have its advantages; it helps ensure that bright students learn as much as their
abilities allow them, and it helps ensure that slower students are not taught over their heads. But,
conflict theorists say, tracking also helps perpetuate social inequality by locking students into faster
and lower tracks. Worse yet, several studies show that students’ social class and race and ethnicity
affect the track into which they are placed, even though their intellectual abilities and potential
should be the only things that matter: white, middle-class students are more likely to be tracked
“up,” while poorer students and students of color are more likely to be tracked “down.” Once they
are tracked, students learn more if they are tracked up and less if they are tracked down. The latter
tend to lose self-esteem and begin to think they have little academic ability and thus do worse in
school because they were tracked down. In this way, tracking is thought to be good for those tracked
up and bad for those tracked down. Conflict theorists thus say that tracking perpetuates social
inequality based on social class and race and ethnicity (Ansalone, 2006; Oakes, 2005).

Social inequality is also perpetuated through the widespread use of standardized tests. Critics say
these tests continue to be culturally biased, as they include questions whose answers are most likely
to be known by white, middle-class students, whose backgrounds have afforded them various
experiences that help them answer the questions. They also say that scores on standardized tests
reflect students’ socioeconomic status and experiences in addition to their academic abilities. To the
extent this critique is true, standardized tests perpetuate social inequality (Grodsky, Warren, & Felts,
2008).

As we will see, schools in the United States also differ mightily in their resources, learning conditions,
and other aspects, all of which affect how much students can learn in them. Simply put, schools are
unequal, and their very inequality helps perpetuate inequality in the larger society. Children going to
the worst schools in urban areas face many more obstacles to their learning than those going to
well-funded schools in suburban areas. Their lack of learning helps ensure they remain trapped in
poverty and its related problems.

Conflict theorists also 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) (see Chapter 4 “Socialization”). Although no one plots this behind closed doors, our
schoolchildren learn patriotic values and respect for authority from the books they read and from
various classroom activities.

3. Symbolic 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, for example, show how children’s playground activities reinforce
gender-role socialization. Girls tend to play more cooperative games, while boys play more
competitive sports (Thorne, 1993) (see Chapter 11 “Gender and Gender Inequality”).

Another body of research shows that teachers’ views about students can affect how much the
students learn. When teachers think students are smart, they tend to spend more time with them,
to call on them, and to praise them when they give the right answer. Not surprisingly these students
learn more because of their teachers’ behavior. But when teachers think students are less bright,
they tend to spend less time with them and act in a way that leads the students to learn less. One of
the first studies to find this example of a self-fulfilling prophecy was conducted by Robert Rosenthal
and Lenore Jacobson (1968). They tested a group of students at the beginning of the school year and
told their teachers which students were bright and which were not. They tested the students again
at the end of the school year; not surprisingly the bright students had learned more during the year
than the less bright ones. But it turned out that the researchers had randomly decided which
students would be designated bright and less bright. Because the “bright” students learned more
during the school year without actually being brighter at the beginning, their teachers’ behavior
must have been the reason. In fact, their teachers did spend more time with them and praised them
more often than was true for the “less bright” students. To the extent this type of self-fulfilling
prophecy occurs, it helps us understand why tracking is bad for the students tracked down.

Understanding the relationship between education and society.

Analyzing educational institutions, processes, and practices within the broader social context.
 Examining how social factors such as class, gender, race, and culture influence education and
educational outcomes.

Exploring the role of education in social mobility and inequality.

Investigating the impacts of educational policies and reforms on individuals and society.

Contributing to the development of more equitable and effective educational systems.

Role of Government in Realizing Filipino Ideology:

Major Political Ideologies: Key Ideas and Theories

In this section, you will learn the basic tenets of the classical ideologies (liberalism,
conservatism, and socialism) and other ideological traditions that emerged as a reaction to
these classical ones. To review, it was mentioned that these ideologies offer a specific manner
of explaining realities in the political world. The following presents a way of looking at this
world, particularly in terms of power relations, the type of change that is sought and ways on
how to achieve it, and a view of the desired future.
Table 2.1. Major Political Ideologies and Their Key Tenets (Heywood 2013)
Major Political
Key Tenets
Ideologies
•Belief in individualism underscores the importance of the human individual in the political re
•Liberty of the individual must be protected. An individual has the freedom to act as he or she
•Reason can lead individuals to make wise judgments, which could solve issues or differences
•Equality implies that individuals are born equal, at least in moral terms. Equal rights and entit
Liberalism
core. It must be noted, however, that liberals do not endorse social equality or equality of outc
•Tolerance is the willingness of individuals to allow others to think and behave in ways they d
guarantee of individual liberty.
•Authority and social relationships must also be based on agreement or consent.
•Tradition must be conserved. These traditions include established customs, institutions, and w
that have endured through time.
•The belief in pragmatism highlights the limits of human reason. As a belief, pragmatism emp
should be shaped by practical circumstances and goals.
•Human imperfection presents the pessimistic view of conservatives on the individual. Accord
morally corrupt and are therefore the sources of crime and disorder. Order could thus be achie
state.
Conservatism •Conservatives believe that society is an organic whole and is a living entity, more than being
ingenuity. This belief is known as organicism.
•Conservatives also believe that social position and status are only natural. With this, hierarch
inevitable.
•Authority must be exercised from above. Leadership is provided to guide and support those w
and education and those who have little capacity to act for their own interest.
•Conservatives look at property as significant because it is the individual’s source of security a
from the government.
Socialism •Belief in the community highlights the degree to which the individual is connected with other
a product of social interaction more than innate qualities.
•Brotherhood or fraternity speaks of a shared common humanity. Socialists thus prefer cooper
 Major Political
Key Tenets
Ideologies
competition and collectivity rather than individualism.
•Socialists put primacy on social equality over other values. This is believed to be the basis fo
cohesion.
•Socialists look at society in terms of differences in the distribution of income or wealth. Socia
be an important social cleavage, which divides societies. The interests of the working class and
should be upheld. With this, eradicating economic and social inequalities is deemed as the prim
socialism.
•Common ownership is also central to socialist thought. Unlike private property, common own
harness material resources for the common good.
•Historical materialism or the materialist conception of history provides that the economy (mo
conditions all other aspects of social life—including the law, government, politics, education,
•The dialectic, a process of interaction between competing forces, drives change and leads to a
development. Historical change is therefore a consequence of contradictions in the mode of pr
Marxism in class conflict.
•The exploitation of the proletariat (workers) by the capitalists (owners of the means of produc
develop class consciousness among the former, hence ushering a proletarian revolution which
creation of a communist society.
•A communist society—one that is classless and stateless—will arise when class antagonisms f
•Social democrats stand for a balance between the market and the state, and between the indiv
community.
•This ideology promotes compromise between the acceptance of capitalism and the distributio
Social democracy to moral, rather than market principles.
•Social democratic thought is concerned with the weak, the vulnerable, and the underdog.
•Compassion, common humanity, freedom, equal opportunities, paternal duty, and care are am
social democracy recognizes.
•Fascism is an ultranationalist ideology. As such, it subscribes to the idea of a supreme race, w
enjoy the natural resources. It is by exclusive nature as it excludes nonmembers of the race.
•Fascism was manifested during Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship in Italy and Hitler’s Nazi dict
•Common values upheld are struggle, leadership, power, heroism, and war.
Fascism •The “new man” or a hero who is motivated by duty, honor, and self-sacrifice; and gives unrel
the supreme leader is a fascist ideal.
•Fascism has an anti-character: anti-liberalism, anti-individualism, anti-capitalism, etc.
•Fascists believe in a unified national community or strength through unity. As such, individua
important as that of the social group or community.
•The state, or any political authority, is seen as both evil and unnecessary.
•Anarchists prefer a stateless society. Individuals can best manage their own affairs through vo
and cooperation.
•Anarchism is thus at the intersection of liberalism and socialism.
Anarchism Feminism •Feminism is diverse, but its unifying theme is the desire to enhance the social role of women.
•Society is characterized by sexual or gender inequality.
•The structure of male power must be overturned, hence the belief in gender equality.
•Its strands include liberal feminism, socialist feminism, and radical feminism. There are also
emerged.
Green •This ideology is linked with the emergence of environmental movement. It also rose as a revo
politics/ecologism industrialization.
 Major Political
Key Tenets
Ideologies
•It is concerned with the damages brought about by economic development and by the declinin
existence.
•Conventional ideologies are a vehicle of ecologism. Ecosocialism looks at the destruction of
to capitalism; ecofeminism traces this crisis to male power; and ecoconservatism links the caus
the desire to preserve tradition and institutions.
•Ideological expression of globalization
•It is a belief in a cosmopolis or a world state. It is thus associated with the project of world go
•Modern cosmopolitanism tends to have a moral or a cultural character, believing that the wor
Cosmopolitanism
moral community.
•Cosmopolitanism focuses on the idea that all the people in the world have obligations to one a
nationality, ethnicity, and the like.
Ideas shape human actions and social outcomes. What is believed by the members of the
community has been drastically affecting their social, political, and economic conditions, and
also their way of life. Liberalism has influenced human choice, decisions in the market, and
satisfaction of desires. Socialism has been the forerunner of values such as equity, justice,
and community life. Democracy is not just a political system but an ideology that pushes
freedom, equality, rights, and welfare of the people protected by the government. In these
instances, ideologies are made alive when individuals and communities are influenced by
ideas.

The government plays a crucial role in realizing the ideology drawn collectively by Filipinos through
various means:

Implementing policies and laws that reflect the values and aspirations of Filipino society.

Providing social services and infrastructure to support the well-being and development of citizens.

Promoting national identity and cultural heritage through education, media, and public events.

Fostering economic growth and social progress to fulfill the needs and desires of the Filipino people.

Facilitating participatory governance and democratic processes to ensure that citizens have a voice
in shaping their collective destiny.

Comparison of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development and Piaget's Approach to Socialization:

Kohlberg's Theory: Focuses on the development of moral reasoning through stages, progressing
from pre-conventional to conventional to post-conventional morality. It emphasizes the importance
of reasoning and justification in moral decision-making.

Piaget's Approach: Emphasizes the role of social interactions and cognitive development in shaping
moral understanding. Piaget proposed that children go through stages of moral development, from
heteronomous morality to autonomous morality, as they mature cognitively and interact with their
social environment.
 4. Misinterpretation of the Concept of "Educational Life":

The concept of "educational life" might be misinterpreted when it is narrowly equated with formal
schooling or academic achievement. In reality, educational life encompasses a broader range of
experiences, including informal learning, life skills development, and personal growth. Viewing
education solely through the lens of formal institutions overlooks the significance of lifelong learning
and the diverse ways individuals acquire knowledge and skills.

5. Role of Filipino Values and Ideology in Establishing Identity:

Filipino values and ideology provide a framework for understanding one's place in society and
shaping personal identity. By embracing and embodying Filipino values such as bayanihan
(community spirit), pakikisama (harmony), and pagkamakabayan (love of country), individuals
contribute to a collective sense of identity and belonging. Furthermore, Filipino ideology, which
includes principles of democracy, social justice, and cultural pride, fosters a shared vision of a better
future and inspires collective action towards common goals.

6. Impact of Values on Our Lives:

Values serve as guiding principles that influence our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in various
aspects of life. They shape our decisions, relationships, and interactions with others, as well as our
sense of purpose and fulfillment. Whether consciously or unconsciously, values inform how we
prioritize goals, resolve conflicts, and navigate ethical dilemmas. By aligning our actions with our
core values, we foster integrity, authenticity, and meaning in our lives.