Dr. Frederick W. Gomez
In our first meeting we have come-up an agreement that social dimension encompasses
several aspect on growth, development and progress of life. It focuses on the interaction
of the individual person in their status either political, religious, economic, sociocultural,
education life cycle of an individual within the given space on occupancy. Wherein people
learn to live, live to be, learn to know and learn to do. These can be happened in a process
in the systemic behavior of an individual.
As a matter of fact, people everywhere are members of some group at almost all times in
their lives. Through interaction within a group, the human organism becomes a living
human being/organism. People live within a social organization or structure made up of
shared and repeated patterns of behavior which made him predictable. Social
organization is a dynamic process rather than a rigid set of rules, although it contains both
stable and changing elements.
People relate to others from the standpoint of their own position (status) in a particular
group and generally behave in ways expected of those in such position (role). Status and
role are basic elements of social organization, directing interaction within and between
social systems. Meaning, there are certain “intrinsic” and extrinsic factor or behavior that
made all action becomes a living organism. In a team or group the social hierarchy
dictates whether one belong to the lower, middle or upper class. Remember man was
created or existed not to be isolated but in order to form a community/society. Because,
by nature man is a social and political animal. He/she is also motivated in his/her personal
aggrandizement both biological, psychological, sociocultural, religious, education,
economic and other categorical variables in his/her existence. These are where
competition born in order to survive.
There are great number of groups in society, varying in size from two to several hundred
million. Groups may also be formal or informal, perfect or imperfect; voluntary or
involuntary. Like the case of a family her perfection dictates of her sustainability and
development. It can provide her basic needs. As a basic unit in a society it constituted the
authority, leader, member, goals and means to attain the goals. The reciprocal
relationships that take place within and among groups are defined
as interaction. Interaction consists of several social processes, the most basic of which
are cooperation, competition and conflict. This is where dysfunction comes in. Meaning
the three (3) dictates the dynamic and proactive living organism to make the organization
alive and living.
Cooperation and conflict sometimes lead to the social processes of accommodation,
assimilation, coercion and exchange. Where dominant culture controls and
accommodate while it accommodates other culture assimilate or disintegrate. In such
away the practice of other persuaded someone to do something by using “force or threats”
or if not by sublime obedience because one cannot do otherwise. This where the primary
groups arise as it engaged in intimate, intense, informal and spontaneous
interaction. Their members know and deal with one another on an individual, personal
and total basis. In such a way it arises secondary groups, in contrast, tend to be large
and of short duration, characterized by formal, utilitarian, specialized and temporary interactions. They are almost always less satisfying to individuals. The largest group to
which people belong is society on the basis (usually) of a shared territory and
culture. These are usually seen in a juridical personality of many organization. Every
society organizes itself is a way to give someone the power to make decisions and settle
conflicts. Because by nature there are animal existed territorial unlike the others. This
explains the peculiarity of an individual because no two individuals are alike.
Social interaction is not entirely haphazard but guided by recurring patterns of
behavior. Recurring because something within and outside of an individual that made
him/her develop a character attributes on dominancy and recessive. The outgrowth of
such interactions and patterns developed by the environment is culture, which dictates
further how interaction is to take place. Culture therefore a product of society and can be
considered as the way of life (ISM) of a particular people. It includes all the accumulated
knowledge, ideas, values, goals and material objects of a society that are shared by the
members of the society and passed from generation to generation that form part of their
idealism, aspirations, sentiments and advocacy. Culture is learned through a process
known as socialization. As man is a social animal he/she survived with others. His/her
weakness and strength are with others. Each culture is distinct from others, but they all
share similarities because they deal with biological and emotional needs that are
universal. So, tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. This are an old
saying that reminds us always regarding to our totality as a person. There are five
fundamental human needs considered pivotal:
- The need to regulate sexual interaction (biological), psychological
(belongingness) and to care for the helpless newborn human being (sociological)
gave rise to the institution of the family simply because “man was created not to
be isolated but to form a community”. Meaning, man by himself is a society or a
community because no man is an island and every man is a piece of the continent
and part of the main.
- The need to provide food, shelter, clothing and education resulted in the
emergence of the economic institution which is again the family.
- The need to maintain peace and order within the society that led to the formation
of the institution of government (politics). Remember the issue on politics vs
political.
- The need to transmit culture and to train the young gave origin to the institution
of education. Which everybody think that education is the searchlight ahead of
oneself.
- The dread and fear of the unknown generated the institution of religion and other
relative institution. The issue on Institution, Institutional and institutionalization.
These rise the primordial understanding of the family, government, school, church and
other relative institution that protect, preserve, develop and promote humanity. Although these basic institutions are common to all societies, the forms they assume vary in each
case, none being exactly alike. Institutions supply people with procedures, detailing how
to act in specific circumstances in a way the society desires them to act. This is the time
that an individual imprisons the cell of the society. It rises the understanding of
institutionalization of our action. Meaning, we act not because we want to act but it
something that dictates us to act. E.g. manner of dressing, communicating, building our
houses, preparing our foods and etc.
Why societies differ? Several theories spawn throughout history. Unfortunately, people
tend to judge other societies from the viewpoint of ethnocentrism, that is, with an attitude
of making judgments on other societies according to the standards of ones’ own
culture. Ethnocentrism is present, to some degree, in all social groups. It is reinforced
by many of our institutions the family, school, government, church, in particular and by
the way against feeling that characterizes almost every group. In fact, there is no culture
in the world that has not been altered in some way by other cultures through a process
called diffusion. The concept of cultural relativity counteracts ethnocentrism by requiring
that each culture be analyzed in its societal context and on the basis of how well it fills its
members need that is where the issue on globalization that encroaches the boundary of
institutionalization.
Because societies are made up of varying groups, culture can also vary within a single
society. An individual group may have its own language or jargon, customs, traditions
and rituals. If the principal values of such a group are the same as those of the general
culture, the group is classified as a subculture. It the principal values espoused are in
direct opposition, the group is called a counterculture. As indicated, all societies
experience cultural change in different ways and at variable speeds. In some cases, such
changes necessitate by giving up or exchanging previous beliefs, values and customs.
Reflecting on the issue on the decay of “time and space” it explores the idea on borderless
society which relates to the “world is flat.”
Stratification is a phenomenon present in all societies, a social ranking based on
differences among people that inevitably produce a situation of inequality. Stratification
takes place on the basis of class, status and power. A social class consists of people in
a society who stand in a similar position with respect to power, privilege or
prestige. Status is a ranked position of a person vis-à-vis others within a society on the
basis of occupation, income, race, ethnic origin, religion, education, sex, age or other
such variables. (Achieved status denotes position achieved through individual effort or
merit; the opposite is called ascribed status.)
Power is the ability of one person or group to control the actions of others without the
latter consent. Which it can be legitimate, referent, reward, expertise and coercive.
Conflict seems to be an integral part of group life. It becomes especially sharp when it
involves physical appearance or cultural traits that distinguish minority groups from a
dominant group. Prejudice, discrimination and institutions designed to exploit minorities
have existed in all societies.
Our present era is characterized by several technological revolutions, the herding of the
multimedia infrastructure or the mushrooming of the intellectual superhighway facilities
that have brought countless socio-cultural changes throughout the world. Due to these
intellectual migrations invaded dominant and recessive culture. Which threaten stability
characteristic of individuals, societies and cultures, change is equally an integral part of
nature and of humans. The structures that humans build societies and their systems and
cultures are therefore subject to change. Others can manage change but most of the time
others resisted. Technology has radically altered the lives in most of the worlds societies
both physically and in the area of cultural values. But the mechanisms of socio-cultural
change are easier to determine than its causes. The principal processes of cultural
change are discovery, invention, invention, reengineering of ideas and, as previously
indicated, diffusion. Change in the structure of society occurs through planning, reform
and revolution. Communication is essential for social cohesion and collective
advancement. Todays’ technology in communications provides vast opportunities for the
acquisition of knowledge but so much information can also overwhelm, giving those who
control its flow the power to manipulate its use for purposes of domination.
1. Consensus: is a general or widespread agreement among all members of a
particular society. Conflict: is a clash between ideas principles and people
2. See shared norms and values as fundamental to society, focus on social order
based on tacit agreements, and view social change as occurring in a slow and
orderly fashion. Consensus theorists examine value integration in society.
Consensus is a concept of society in which the absence of conflict is seen as the
equilibrium state of society based on the general or widespread agreement among
all members of a particular society
3. Emphasizes the dominance of some social groups by other, see social order as
based on manipulation and control by dominant groups and in a disorderly fashion
as subordinate groups overthrow dominant group. Conflict theorist examine
conflict of interest and the coercion that hold the society together in the face of
these stresses. Conflict theory ask how school contribute to the unequal
distribution of people into jobs in society so that more powerful members of society
maintain the best positions and the less powerful group (often women, racial and
ethnic group) often minority groups are allocated into lower ranks in society.
4. Social structures produce patterns of inequality in the distribution of scarce
resources Conflict Reorganization and Change
5. ADAPTATION - a system must cope with external situational exigencies. It must
adapt to its environment and adapt environment to its needs.
GOAL ATTAINMENT
- a system must define and achieve its primary goals.
INTEGRATION - a system
must regulate the interrelationship of its component parts. It must also manage the relationship among other three functional imperatives .
LATENCY - a system must
furnish, maintain, & renew both the motivation of individuals & the cultural patterns
that create & sustain the motivation
6. CULTURAL SYSTEM ACTION SYSTEM SOCIAL SYSTEM PERSONALITY
SYSTEM Structure of the General Action System
7. Key Principles of the Functionalist Theory
1. Interdependence
2. Functions of
Social Structure & Culture
3. Consensus and Cooperation
4. Equilibrium
8. Structural- Functional Model Social structures provide preset patterns which evolve
to meet human needs Stability, order and harmony Maintenance of society
9. In general, interactionist theories about the relation of school and society are
critiques and extension of the functionalist and conflict perspective. The critiques
arises from the observation that functionalist and conflict theories are very abstract
and emphasize structure and process at a societal level of analysis.
10. While this level of analysis helps us to understand education in the “big picture” ,
macro-sociological theories hardly provide us with an interpretable snap-shot of
what schools are like on an everyday level. WHAT DO STUDENTS AND
TEACHERS ACTUALLY DO IN SCHOOL?
11. Interactionist theories attempt to make the “commonplace strange” by turning on
their heads everyday taken-for-granted behaviors and interactions between
students and students and between students and teachers. It is exactly what most
people do not question that is most problematic to the interactionist.
12. For example, the processes by which students are labelled “gifted” or “learning
disabled” are, from an interactionist point of view, important to analyze because
such processes carry with them many implicit assumptions about learning and
children.
13. Individual is related to society through on going social interactions. - views the self
as socially constructed in relation to social forces and structures and the product
of on-going negotiations of meanings. Thus, social self is an active product of
human agency rather than a deterministic product of social structure.
14. Interactionists are, of course, interested not simply in socialization but also
interaction in general which of “vital importance in its own rights.” -interaction is the
process which the ability to think is both developed and expressed. In most interaction, actors must take others into consideration and decide if and how to fit
their activities to others.
15. Principles of Symbolic Interactionism
1. Human beings unlike lower animals are endowed with a capacity for thought.
2. The capacity for thought is shaped by social interaction.
3. In social interaction, people learn the meanings and the symbols that allow them
to exercise their distinctively human capacity for thought.
4. Meanings and symbols allow people to carry on distinctively human action and
interaction.
5. People are able to modify or alter meanings and symbols that they use in action
and interaction on the basis of their interpretation of the situation.
6. People are able to make these modifications and alterations because, in part of
their ability to interact with themselves, which allows them to examine possible
courses of action, assess their relative advantages and disadvantages, and then
choose one.
7. The intertwined patterns of action and interaction make up groups and societies.
16. ACCORDING TO MEAD:
1. People act towards the things they encounter on the basis of what those things
mean to them. (context, objects, people activities and situations)
2. We learn things by observing how other people respond to them, that is through
social interaction.
3. Words, gestures, facial expressions and body posture we use in dealing others
acquire symbolic meanings shared by people who belongs in the same culture.
17. ACCORDING TO BLUMER: Objects are seen simply out there in the real world
and its significance is the way that they are defined by actors. Different objects
have different meanings for individuals.
He classified in into 3 types:
1. Physical objects – chair, tree
2. Social objects – student, mother
3. Abstract objects – ideas, moral principles
The interaction determines meaning on the basis of
1) a cognitive interpretation, and
2) a practical handling of an object on the basis of that interpretation. He asserts
that symbols play an important role in this meaning-giving process.
18. ACCORDING TO COOLEY: Symbolic interaction is the “looking-glass self” or so-called “self mirroring”. “ We see ourselves as others see us.” We develop a self
image on the basis of the messages we get from others, as we understand them.
19. ACCORDING TO STONE (1962): Symbolic interactionism is the concept of "self-identity“ Self-identity is knowledge that the self exists. Self-identity permits
communication and other interactions with the self which, in turn, produce "self-definition." Self-definition is a simultaneous recognition of self, and of a beyond-self reality.
Conclusion
The study of social dimension encompasses on the obstacle created by the society
in access to higher education. And the focus is on the individual self, family, community,
church, school, government and the institution. The institutionalization of one’s own action
compromises an individual to move according to the dictate of social norms. It regulates
individual action directed towards the common desired action for the benefit of the
common good.
As the dimension forecasted a measurable extent of some kind, such as length,
breadth, depth, or height of educational obstacle so let it the society determine its causes
and effect for social legislation. Then, policy construction and deconstruction are a
necessity.
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