SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF EDUCATION

The social dimensions of education take into account the global and national issues and
concerns of the 21st century, including the social institutions and socio-cultural theories,
the learning pillars of education, globalization, peace education, multiculturalism, human
rights education, development education, population education, citizenship education,
environmental education, gender education, and transformative education.
FIVE MAJOR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
1. FAMILY
is the smallest social institution with the unique function of producing and rearing
the young. It is the basic unit of Philippine society and the educational system
where the child begins to learn. The family performs the following functions:
reproduction and rearing, cultural transmission and enculturation, socialization of
the child, providing affection and a sense of security, providing the environment
for personality development and the growth of self-concept, and providing social
status - social recognition, social class, ethnic identity.
Kinds of Family Patterns
Authority
a. Patriarchal- Father is the head of the family
b. Matriarchal- Mother is the head of the family
c. Equalitarian- Both are Equal
Membership
a. Conjugal or nuclear family
b. Consanguine or extended family Descent
Residence [Link]
a. Patrilocal – the child is with the father [Link]
b. Matrilocal-the child is with the mother c. Bilineal
c. Neolocal – Neither of them

2. RELIGION
is a system of beliefs and practices that pertain to a sacred or supernatural
realm that guides human behavior and gives meaning to life among the
community of believers.
Elements of Religion
a. Belief in a deity or in a power beyond the individual
b. A doctrine (accepted teaching) of salvation
C.A code of conduct
d. The use of sacred stories
e. religious rituals (acts and ceremonies)

3. ECONOMIC
institutions are centered on the tasks of making a living in order to material needs
and wants.
Macroeconomics is concerned with the economy as a whole, or large segments of it. It
focuses on such problems as the role of unemployment, the level of prices, the nation's
output of goods and services, and government incomes and expenses.
Microeconomics is about the specific economic units of parts that make an economic
system and the relationship between those parts. Examples include individual
companies, particular industries, households, and how these interact.
4. GOVERNMENT
is as a social institution by which an independent society makes and carries out
those rules of action which are necessary to enable people to live in a social
state. This is divided into three branches: Executive, Judicial, and Legislative.
The Executive proposes and enforces rules and laws; the Judicial adjudicates
rules and laws, and the Legislative makes rules and laws.
5. SCHOOL
(Education) is one agency created by society to educate its members. The word
"school" is derived from the Greek work"skhole to mean "leisure." In ancient
Greece, leisure places were for the discussion of matters related to enriching
knowledge, skills, and virtues. School functions include - socialization, social
control, social placement, culture transmission, and agent of change.
Four Types of Education
1. Informal education happens outside the classroom, in after-school programs, community-based
organizations, museums, libraries, of at home and is usually experiential and practical.
2. Formal education is normally delivered by trained teachers in a systematic intentional way within
a school, higher education, or university
3. Non-formal education refers to organized instruction that takes place outside school settings
such as workplaces, factories, shops, or barrios and it is meant to upgrade skills or provide new
skills to marginalized sectors (e.g. out-of-school youth, adult illiterates)
4. Alternative learning education refers to a learning system, offers practical options for those who
are unable to go under formal schooling due to life circumstances and cover both non-formal and
informal lessons. Examples include homeschooling, distance K to 12 classifications of the 21st
Century Skills education, barangay-based ALS.
5.

FOUR PILLARS OF EDUCATION

The International Commission on Education for the 21st Century
(Jacques Delors Report 1996)
1. Learning to Know, that is acquiring the instruments of understanding
2. Learning to Do, so as to be able to act creatively in one's environment
3. Learning to Live Together, so as to participate in and cooperate with other
people in all human activities
4. Learning to Be, so as to better develop one's personality and to act with
5. ever greater autonomy, judgment, and personal responsibility

•SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES in relation to Education

A. CONSENSUS THEORY emphasizes social order, stability, and social regulation.
This theory sees shared norms and values as fundamental to society, focuses on
 tacit agreements, and views social change as occurring in a slow and orderly
fashion. Consensus is a concept in which the society is in equilibrium based on a
general or widespread agreement among all members of a particular society.
B. CONFLICT THEORY focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain
dominance and power in social systems. This theory emphasizes manipulation
and control by dominant groups, and views social change as occurring rapidly
and in a disorderly fashion with subordinate groups overthrowing dominant
groups. Conflict means a clash between ideas, principles, and people. It is a
disagreement between opposing sides and may be an overt or covert conflict.
Conflict may be caused by the heterogeneous nature of society and the
differential distribution of political and social power.
C. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM THEORY states that society is made up of
various institutions that work together in cooperation. The key principles of the
functionalist theory: Interdependency, Social structure, Consensus and
cooperation, and Equilibrium
D. INTERACTIONIST THEORY views the self as socially constructed in relation to
the social forces and social structures. Attributes of human behavior grow from
people's participation in varying types of interactions. There are 3 basic premises
in this theory:
1. People act toward the things they encounter on the basis of what those things
mean to them.
2. We learn what things are by observing how other people respond to them,
through social interactions.
3. As a result of ongoing interaction, the sound (or words), gestures and facial
expressions we use in dealing with others acquire symbolic meanings (e.g.
handshake, hug, etc.)
Culture refers to the attitudes, values, customs, and behavior patterns that characterize
a social group. It may also be defined as the learned norms, artifacts, language, and
symbols that are constantly communicated among people who share a common way of
life.
Four Components of Culture
1. Cognitive 3. Behavioral
2. Material 4. Communication
Cognitive components include ideas, knowledge, beliefs, values and accounts (what
and how we think)
 Knowledge is the accumulated information, facts, assumptions, etc.
 Accounts are how people use common language to explain, justify, rationalize, or
legitimize behavior to themselves and others
 Values are culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness and beauty,
which serve as broad guidelines for social living.
Behavioral component pertains to how we act
 Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its
members. Norms include mores, laws, folkways, and rituals
 Mores are customary behavior patterns that have taken on a moralistic value
(e.g. respect for authority, marriage, and sex behavior patterns, and basic codes
of human behavior.
 Laws are the most formal and important norms, enacted by people who are
vested with government power and enforced by political and legal authorities.
 Folkways, commonly known as customs, are behavior patterns of society that are
organized and repetitive
 Rituals are scripted ceremonies or strips of interactions that follow a specific
sequence of actions.
Material components refer to the physical objects of culture such as machines,
equipment, tools, books, clothing, etc.

Communication involves two types of modes: verbal (use of language) and nonverbal
(gestures, facial expressions, body movements
 Language is an abstract system of work meaning and symbols for all aspects of
culture. It includes speech, written characters, numerals, signs, and gestures and
expressions of nonverbal communication.
 Paralanguage is the language of gestures, expressions, and postures.

Ways to transmit culture:

1. Enculturation - a process whereby individuals learn their own group's culture,
through experience, observation, and instruction.
2. Acculturation - the process of adopting the cultural traits or social patterns of
another group. - know on the other culture
3. Assimilation - the process when individuals lose cultural characteristics that
distinguish them from the dominant cultural group or take on the cultural characteristics
of another group.

Cultural Relativism is an anthropological approach that posits that all cultures are of
equal value and need to be studied from a neutral point of view (Glazer, 1996). This
rejects the value judgments on cultures and that there is no single scale that holds true
for all cultures and by which all cultures can be judged.
Ethnocentrism judging the ways of other individuals or societies based on one's
own values, norms, and behaviors
Culture Shock disorientation when in contact with a fundamentally different culture
Cultural Lag when not all parts of a culture change at the same pace.
Cultural Diffusion spread of cultural characteristics from one group to another (e.g.
LGBT)
Cultural Leveling when cultures become similar to one another (e.g. Western culture
adopted by Asian countries)
Stereotype a generalization usually exaggerated or oversimplified or offensive,
that is used to describe or distinguish a group.
Prejudice Irrational, preconceived opinion that leads to preferential treatment to
some people and unfavorable bias or hostility against others, due to ignorance (or in
direct contradiction) of facts

MULTICULTURALISM / CULTURAL PLURALISM

A philosophy that recognizes cultural diversity in society and believes that, although with
different backgrounds, each diverse ethnic, social, or racial group, if encouraged, can
work towards the society of common good
Multicultural Education aims to create equal educational opportunities for students
from diverse racial, ethnic; social classes, and other cultural groups; to help students
acquire the knowledge, attitudes/ and skills needed to function effectively in a pluralistic
democratic society and to interact, negotiate and communicate with people from diverse
groups in order to create a civic and moral community that works for the common good
(Banks, 1995)
Intercultural competence is the knowledge, skills, and personal attributes needed to
live and work in a diverse world.
This includes Eight Basic Behaviors of intercultural competence;
1. Display of respect
2. Orientation of knowledge
3. Empathy
4. Interaction management
5. Task role behavior
6. Relational role behavior
7. Tolerance for ambiguity
8. Emotional expression and interaction posture

PEACE EDUCATION is the process of promoting knowledge, skills, attitudes, and

values needed to bring about behavior change that will enable children, youth, and
adults to prevent conflict and violence, resolve conflict peacefully, and create the
conditions conducive to peace, whether at an interpersonal, intergroup, national, or
international level (UNICEF, 2009).
Types of Peace
 Positive peace - the presence of conditions of well-being and just relationships
 Negative peace - the absence of direct or physical violence

Types of Violence
1. Direct violence - war, torture, child/woman abuse
2. Structural violence - poverty, hunger
3. Socio-cultural violence - racism, sexism, religious intolerance
4. Ecological violence - pollution, overconsumption

Conflict resolution can be defined as the act of setting a disagreement. Conflict

Resolution Education (CRE) models and teaches, in culturally meaningful ways, a
variety of processes, practices, and skills that help address individual, interpersonal,
and institutional conflicts and create safe and welcoming communities. Approaches to
conflict resolution may be through:
1. Negotiation
2. Mediation
3. Arbitration
GENDER DEVELOPMENT
Gender is a social construct specifying the socially and culturally prescribed roles that
men and women are to follow.
Sex is a biological concept, being male or female.
Theories of Gender Development
1. Social Learning Theory - parents and adults may model and reinforce
appropriate gender role behavior
2. Cognitive Developmental Theory - children develop an understanding of gender-
appropriate behavior and adopt roles
3. Gender Schema Theory - a child develops gender identity and formulate an
appropriate gender role. u Schema - is a mental blueprint for organizing
information, and children develop and formulate an appropriate gender.

GLOBALIZATION refers to an increasing interconnectedness and convergence of

activities and forms of life among diverse cultures throughout the world. Global
Education extends students' awareness of the world in which they live by opening them
to the diverse heritage of human thoughts and action, creativity,
Types of Globalization
1. Industrial globalization 4. Informational globalization
2. Financial globalization 5. Cultural globalization
3. Political globalization 6. Globalism
EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ESD) is a dynamic concept that
encompasses a new vision of education to empower people to assume responsibility for
creating a sustainable future. Its overall aim is to empower citizens to act for positive
environmental and social change implying a participatory and action-oriented approach
(UNESCO, 2002).
Key Action Themes for ESD
1. Gender Equality 5. Cultural Diversity
2. Health Promotion 6. Peace and Human Security
3. Environment 7. Sustainable Development
4. Rural Development 8. Sustainable Consumption