Theoretical Framework

Hasegawa et al (2007), states in his study entitled ‘The Effects of ‘Social

Expectation’ on the Development of Civil Society in Japan’ that social expectation is the

general mood of a society about what people should do. Hasegawa (2007) paper,

proposes a theoretical explanation for the impact of ‘social expectation’ on the growth of

civil society in Japan while this study focuses on the social expectation of the students

throughout the movie as tool on classifying what is right or wrong as social norm.

The concept of ‘social expectation’ also relates to Bourdieu’s (1979, 1980)

concept of the habitus—the general normative expectations that a citizen takes for

granted as the way to live one’s life. Similarly, Habermas’ (1989) idea of the ‘pubic

sphere’ also relates to ‘social expectation’. It is the space—the place or medium—for the

formation of public opinion and social agreement through collective discussion. This is

where people with public interests gather to discuss the ‘public interest’, to carry out

social practices, to realize ‘publicness’ and ‘communality’, and to carry out political

education (Hasegawa, 2004).

The social expectation theory is centered around the expectations humans have,

how the mass media can influences these expectations and thus, influence an individual's

perception of the world (Kelso, 2014). The study entitled ‘The Social Expectations

Theory and The Influence of The Mass Media: A Literature Review’ concluded that

Research on the social expectations theory has shown that perceptions, norms, and

expectations can all be influenced. Another example of this can be seen in advertising

where people will use their past experiences with ads to create expectations about a

company’s current or future campaigns (Chang, 2013). In, When New Commercials Do

Not Meet Expectations, author, Chingching Chang states that, “Expectations are

central...they provide a frame of reference for comparative judgement” (p. 360).

Currently, research is still being done to understand the effect the mass media is having

on society. Although some researchers may not explicitly use the social expectations

theory, the foundation of their research can be related and applied to the theory.
 The social expectations theory still has room to expand. The theory’s weakness

lies in its inability to truly measure the impact of the mass media. Technology is

increasing and advancing at a rapid rate and because of this, the tools used by the mass

media are increasing at the same, rapid rate. As this increase continues it will become

more difficult to measure how the mass media is influencing our expectations and

perceptions. Individuals will continue to learn and create different expectations about

social norms and appropriate behaviors. Researchers will have to review and adapt to

understand how the evolving mass media is affecting socialization.

In this study, social expectation theory is helpful on categorizing the social

constructs found in the movie and identifies them whether if it’s a positive or negative

traits. Afterwards, the selected Filipino values will be the instrument on answering the

problem of the social construct found in the. In this connection, the role of social

expectation is to review the conflict of the movie and its possible answer.