Introduction to sociology of education

INTRODUCTIONTO EDUCATIONAL
SOCIOLOGY
EDUARDO B. ARDALES, Ed. D.

... if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it
will live its whole life
believing that it is stupid.
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TOO MANY STUDENTS LEAVE SCHOOL WITH THE APPETITE
KILLED AND THE MIND LOADED WITH UNDIGESTED LUMPS OF
INFORMATION
.
(ABBOTT, 1999)

Objectives
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
▪ define Sociology as a concept
▪ explain the meaning of Education
▪ discuss the functions of Sociology.
▪ establish the relationship between Education and Society
▪ give an operational definition of Sociology of Education

What is Sociology?
 The term SOCIOLOGY, was
first used in 1780 by a
French essayist named
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
(1748 - 1836) in an
unpublished manuscript.
 Later, the word was used
by a French thinker named
Auguste Comte.

What is Sociology?
 Sociology is derived from the combination of
the Latin socius – meaning, “companion” and
the Greek logos - meaning “the study of”
- It literally means the study of
companionship, or social relations.
- science or study of the origin, development,
organization, and functioning of human
society.
- It is the science of fundamental laws of
social behavior, relations, institutions, etc.

Auguste Comte stated that a society’s
acquisition of knowledge passed through
three basic stages:
▪ Theological (the study of
God)
▪ Metaphysical (aspects of the
ultimate nature of reality); and
▪Scientific - to this he also
gave the term,‘positive’.

Sociology as a Discipline
As a scientific
discipline,
SOCIOLOGY:
-seeks to explain why
something happens,
-attempts to make
generalizations that can
be applied to a broader
group or situation,
predict what will happen
based on the knowledge
so far gathered.

Sociology Specifically SeeksTo:
Explain the causes of human
behaviors;
Recognize the patterns of
human behaviors
Predict the future behaviors of
people

Sociology as a Discipline
 Sociologist Peter L. Berger once said that:
"the excitement of sociology
lies in the fact that its
perspective makes us see in a
new light the very world in
which we have lived all our
lives”.

 "Not art, not books, but life itself is the
true basis of teaching and education.“
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 - 1827)
 The word "education" is derived
from the Latin educure meaning
"leading out" or "leading forth".
EDUCATION

What is Education?
 Educate is further defined as
―to develop the knowledge,
skill, or character of...
 From these definitions, one
can assume that the
purpose of education is to
develop the knowledge, skill,
or character of students.

What is
Education?
 “The aim of education should be to teach us
rather how to think, than what to think -
rather to improve our minds, so as to enable
us to think for ourselves, than to load the
memory with the thoughts of other men”.
Bill Beattie.

 According to a philosopher of
education George F. Kneller
(1941), education is :
“In its broad sense, education
refers to any act or experience
that has formative effect on the
mind, character, or physical ability
of an individual

Emile Durkheim in his book “Education and
Sociology” defined education as :
 “Education is the influence
exercised by adult generations on
those that are not yet ready for
social life.
 Its object is to arouse and to
develop in the child a certain
number of physical, intellectual, and
moral states which are demanded
of him by both the political society
as a whole and the special milieu
for which he is specifically destined”

Education is a broad concept, referring to all experiences
in which students can learn something through:
(a) Instruction - refers to the intentional facilitating
of learning toward identified goals, delivered
either by an instructor or other forms;
(b) Teaching - refers to the actions of a real live
instructor designed to impart learning to the
student; and
(c) Training - refers to learning with a view toward
preparing learners with specific knowledge,
skills, or abilities that can be applied
immediately upon completion.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND SOCIOLOGY
 Emile Durkheim was the first person who
indicated the need for a sociological
approach to education.
 He considered education -
• “to be essentially social in character and in its
functions and that as a result the theory of
education relates more clearly to sociology
than any other science”.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND
SOCIOLOGY
 To the sociologist, education
takes place in the society and is a
social thing. Durkheinn (1950)
argued that:
 “It is society as a whole
and each particular
social milieu that
determine the ideal that
education realizes”.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
EDUCATION AND SOCIOLOGY
 Durkheinn sees education as a means of
organizing the individual self and the
social self, the I and the We into a
disciplined, stable and meaningful unity.
 The internalization of values and
discipline represents the child’s initiation
into the society.

 Swift (1969) noted that:
1. everything which comprises the way of life of a
society or group of people is learned.
Nothing of it is biologically inherited.
2. the human infant is incredibly receptive to
experience.
He is capable of developing a wide range of beliefs
about the world around him, skills in manipulating it
and values as to how he should manipulate it.
3. the infant is totally dependent from birth and for a
very long period thereafter upon other people
He is incapable of developing human personality
without a very great deal of accidental or intended
help from other people

 Swift therefore, defined education
as:
“the process by which the individual
acquires the many physical, moral
social capacities demanded of him by
the group into which he is born and
within which he must function.”
 This process has been described by
sociologists as Socialization.

 The role of sociology in education is to
establish the sociological standpoint and
show its appreciation to education.
Manheinn (1940) stated that:
 “Sociologists do not regard education solely
as a means of realizing abstract ideals of
culture, such as humanism or technical
specialization, but as part of the process of
influencing men and women.
 Education can only be understood when we
know for what society and for what social
position the pupils are being educated.”

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY
 The responsibility of training individuals in
the society is primarily vested on the
parents at home and the teachers in
schools.
 In the modern times, school has assumed
very great importance in the training of
individuals because of the complexities of
life in the modern times.

 The school gives much to the
society by training the young
members of the society to
acquire necessary skills and
knowledge which enable them
to contribute to the overall
development of the society.

 Owing to the constant changes in the
society, many of the old media of
education, such as the home and the
Church/mosque had lost the educational
function.
 Education being a social process, the
school is simply that form of community
life in which all agencies are concentrated
that will be most effective in bringing the
child to share in the inherited resources of
the race to use power for social ends.

Sociology of Education vs. Educational Sociology
 There appeared to be confusion as to what the proper
dimensions of educational sociology should be.
 There were differences of opinion regarding what types of
researches are to be classified under the heading of
educational sociology.
 This led to the thinking that there should be a separate branch
of knowledge which can be designated as sociology of
education.

 The Sociology of Education is dominated by tension between:
• those who regard it as a science, and those who see it as an applied
and policy-related discipline,
• the empirical (the study of education scientifically as it is) and the
normative (the study of it in terms of what it ought to be).
 Those who saw the discipline as an objective science used the
label “Sociology of Education,” and those who saw it in policy
and reform terms used the label “Educational Sociology.”

 Sociology of Education depicts an analysis of the sociological
processes involved in the educational institution.
• It emphasizes the study within the institution of education.
 Educational Sociology is the application of general principles
and findings of sociology to the administration and processes of
education.
• The approach means the application of sociology to the institution
of education as a separate societal unit.

 The terms Educational Sociology and Sociology of Education are
used in the discipline as approaches to the two extremes.
 Educational Sociology would imply an emphasis upon
educational and social questions, while
 Sociology of Education emphasizes sociological problems in the
realm of education which is the concern of sociologists.
 However, in the contemporary world, Sociology of Education
is commonly in use.

(EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY)
IS:
 The discipline which studies education sociologically, with the
premise that it recognizes education as a social fact, a process
and an institution, having a social function and being
determined socially.
 The study of those phases of sociology that are of significance
for educative processes, especially the study of those that point
to valuable program of learning and control of learning
processes.
Sociology of Education

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
 The sociology of education is the study of how public
institutions and individuals experiences affect education and its
outcomes (Corwin, 1965).
 According to Marshall (1998), in sociology of education we are
very much concerned with public schooling systems of modern
industrial societies including the expansion of higher, further,
adult, and continuing education.

SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
 It is involved in cases of education and social class, state, social
force, cultural change, various problems of role structure, role
analysis in relation to the total social system and the micro
society of the school such as authority, selection, and the
organization of learning, streaming, curriculum and so forth.
 It deals with analysis of educational situations in various
geographical and ethnological contexts. e.g. Educational
situations in rural, urban and tribal areas, in different parts of
the country/world, with the background of different races,
cultures etc.

 It helps us to understand the effectiveness of different educational methods
in teaching students with different kinds of intelligences.
 It studies the effect of economy upon the type of education provided to the
students.
 It helps us to understand the effect of various social agencies like family,
school on the students.
 It studies the relationship between social class, culture, language, parental
education, occupation and the achievement of the students
 It studies the role and structure of school, peer group on the personality of
the students
 It provides an understanding of the problems such as racism,
communalism, gender discrimination etc.

 It studies the role of schools in socialization of the students.
 It suggests ways to develop national integration, international
understanding, the spirit of scientific temper , globalization
among the students
 It promotes research studies related to planning, organization
and application of various theories in education.

“Education is a journey, not a
destination”.

References:
Tamayao, A. (2013). Social Dimensions of Education. Rex Book Store.
Duka C. et al ( 2014). Introduction to Sociology: A Filipino Perspective.
Anvil Publishing.
Giddens A. et al (2009). Introduction to Sociology. W. W. Norton &
Company, Inc.
Saha, L. (2008). “Sociology of Education. “ 21st Century Education: A
Reference Handbook. Sage Publications.

Introduction to sociology of education

Introduction to sociology of education

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Introduction to sociology of education