Sociological

Perspective
BY MRS. LUISA Y. SANTOS
What is
Sociological Perspective?
• a sociological mindset in regards to being
able to connect individual experiences and
societal relationships.
• the lens that an individual chooses to view
the scope of society from.
• go beyond the obvious and question what
is accepted as true or common sense.
Why do we need a
Sociological Perspective?
• To help us to see general
social patterns in the
behavior of particular
individuals
• To offers insights about
the social world that
extend far beyond
explanations that rely on
individual quirks and
personalities
Sociological Imagination

• “...the vivid awareness of

the relationship between
experience and the wider
society.”
• going beyond the individual and
understanding how structural
forces shape individuals and their
action.
3 Major Sociological Perspectives
•Symbolic Interactionism
•Structural-Functionalism
•Conflict Theory

These offer sociologists theoretical

paradigms for explaining how society
influences people, and vice versa.
Jeremy & Kim Jeremy and Kim broke up
last year. When Jeremy
received an email from
Kim to go out he agreed
and they went to a bar.

Then Kim started talking

about their happier days.
A confused Jeremy
offered to take her home.
The night didn’t end well.
Symbolic Interactionism
• directs sociologists to consider the
symbols and details of everyday life, what
these symbols mean, and how people
interact with each other.
• Originated from Max Weber's assertion
that individuals act according to their
interpretation of the meaning of the
symbols
 Symbolic Interaction Model

Individual Interaction Individual

Analysis of the Interaction by

other Persons
Quick Questions:
• Who is in charge of spiritually nurturing a child?
• Who is in charge of disciplining a child?
• Who is in charge of taking care of a child’s rights?
• Who is in charge of teaching our children about various
knowledge areas like reading, writing and arithmetic?
Structural-Functionalism
• Also known as the “Consensus
Theory”
• A sociologist with this
perspective will try to identify
the structures of society and
how they function.
• Stresses that relations among
the individuals, groups and
societies follow well-defined
patterns of social organization.
• Emphasizes Stability, Harmony
and Evolution
The Structural Functionalism
Model

Social structures provide

pre-set patterns, which
evolve to meet human
needs.

Stability, Order and Harmony Maintenance of Society

Who has a bigger chance of
attending college?
Conflict Theory
• Addresses the point of stress
and conflict in society and
the way they contribute to
social change.
• View a society’s legal system
as a political instrument used
by the wealthy and powerful
to protect and extend their
privileges, not a rational tool
for the resolution of conflict
and preservation of order.
• Society is not about solidarity
or social consensus but about
competition.
The Conflict Theory Model
Social Structures produces
patterns of inequality in the
distribution of scarce
resources.

Conflict

Reorganization and Change

Culture and Norms
BY MRS. LUISA Y. SANTOS
Culture Defined
• Excellence of taste in the fine
arts and humanities (high culture)
• An integrated pattern of human
knowledge, belief, and behavior that
depends upon the capacity for symbolic
thought and social learning
• The set of shared
attitudes, values, goals, and practices that
characterizes an
institution, organization, or group
Elements of Culture
• Language
• Norms
• Values
• Beliefs and ideologies
• Statuses and Roles
• Cultural Integration
Language

• a set of symbols used to assign and communicate meaning.

• a way of signaling identity with one cultural group and
difference from others
• a way of signaling cultural rank
• a social product, as it is not a creation of an individual
 Norms
• the agreed-upon expectations and rules
by which a culture guides the behavior of
its members in any given situation.
• Members of a culture must conform to its
norms for the culture to exist and
function.

Internalize Socialize Control

Kinds of Norms
• Folkways - sometimes known as
“conventions” or “customs,” are standards
of behavior that are socially approved but
not morally significant.

Example: Belching loudly after eating dinner

at someone else's home breaks an American
folkway.

• Mores – norms of morality. Breaking mores

will offend most people of a culture

Example: Attending church in the nude

Kinds of Norms
• Laws - a formal body of rules enacted by
the state and backed by the power of the
state.

Example: Child abuse is against U.S. and

Philippine laws.

• Taboos – absolutely forbidden by a

certain culture.

Example: Incest is a taboo in Philippine and

American culture.
Social Control
• Internal social control
• Ideologies, beliefs, values

• External social control

• Informal Sanctions
• Physical and verbal reactions.
• Embarrassment and stigma.
• Avoidance and ostracization.
• Formal sanctions.
• Formal sanctions in large organizations.
• Governments, laws, and police.
• Courts, hearings, trials, and punishments.
Values
• anything members of a culture aspire to or hold in high
esteem.
• things to be achieved, things considered of great worth or
value
• Can be complimentary (set of values) as well as contradictory
(equity and justice vs. compassion and humanitarianism

Filipinos generally value:

Beliefs & Ideologies

• Collective social agreements produced during interaction and

reified over time. What is "true" or "factual" for a given
people is what they collectively agree to be true at that point
in time.

• Sets of beliefs and assumptions connected by a common

theme or focus.
Statuses and Roles
• Status - a slot or position within a group or
society. They tell us who people are and how
they "fit" into the group.
• Can be ascribed or achieved
• Roles - norms specifying the rights and
responsibilities associated with a particular
status.

Cultural Integration
• The increasing integration of the
different cultures found throughout
the world and the diffusion of a
dominant “global culture”.
Filipino Values and
Worldview
BY: MRS. MA. LUISA Y. SANTOS
Filipino Values

• Defined as “the set of values or the value system that a

majority of Filipino people have historically held important in
their lives.”
• rooted primarily in personal alliance systems, especially those
based in kinship, obligation, friendship, religion
(particularly Christianity), and commercial relationships. (U.S.
Library of Congress)
 Common Filipino
Values
Have positive and negative aspects

• Strong religious faith

• Respect
• Smooth interpersonal relationships
• Hiya
• Utang na loob (indebtedness)
• Close family ties
Filipino Worldview 1 : Family

• Family is the focus of the Filipino worldview.

• The welfare of the community and the nation takes a less
prominent role.
• “Do not bring shame to the family”
• Possibly responsible for nepotism and government corruption.
Filipino Worldview 2: non-
dualism
-> means that the Filipino wants to harmonize the object and
the subject, while at the same time, holding both as distinct.

• Filipino as Man: non-dualism urges him to harmonize his

faculties as well as be in support with his fellowmen

• Filipino and the World of Things: the non-dualistic principle

appears in the Filipino’s harmony-with-nature orientation

• Filipino and the Other World: non-dualism is the basis of the

non-dichotomy between the profane and the sacred
Economy & Education
BY: MRS. MARIA LUISA Y, SANTOS
Economy
• The dominant form of economic activity characterizing a
society.

What kind of economy does the Philippines have?

• Agricultural • Fishing
• The structures, relationship and activities that produce
and distribute wealth in a society.
• State & Economy – shapers of individual opportunities
and places in the society.
Different Types of Economy
Major Forms of Political
Economy
Capitalism
–accumulation and investment of
capital by private individuals
- Individuals own the means of
production and distribution of the
goods and services.

Examples
Major Forms of Political
Economy
Socialism
–the means of production and distribution are collectively
owned. (ex. by the State)
- relies on social cooperation between workers to create wealth.
- Wage paid for labor

Examples:
Major Forms of Political
Economy
Communism
– ideal type of economic system
- All property is communally owned
- No social distinctions based on people’s ability to produce.

Examples:
 Factors of the Structural
Transformation of the
Economy
•Technology
•The Global Economy
•Capital Mobility
•Deindustrialization
Economic Structural
Transformation & Inequality
• Economic transformation accentuated inequality in the
Philippines.
Unemployment
Underemployment
Segment Labor Market
Job Displacement
The Declining Middle Class
Education
• The action or process of
educating and/or becoming
educated.
• the act or process of training by
a prescribed or customary
course of study or discipline
Functions of Education
• Agent of Social Control
• Agent in Transmitting Culture
• Agent of Social Change
• Agent of Socialization
• Agent of Social Placement
• Agent of Social Integration
• Agent of Social and Cultural Innovation
Problems the Philippine
Educational System are Facing
Today
• Bilingualism
• Lack of textbooks /
Dependence on foreign
textbooks
• “Hidden Curriculum”
• Highly authoritarian
schools