Introduction to the Social Dimensions of

Education

Sociologists see education as one of the major institutions that constitutes society.Social science theories guide research and policy formulation while providing logical explanations for why things happen the way they do.

Consensus & Conflict Theories

Consensus

a general or widespread agreement among all members of a particular society

Conflict

a clash between ideas, principles and people

Consensus Theories

Conflict theories

See shared norms and values as fundamental to society

Emphasize the dominance of some social groups by others

Focus on social order based on tacit agreements

See social order as based on manipulation and control by dominant groups

View social change as occurring in a slow and orderly fashion

View social change as occurring rapidly in a disorderly fashion as subordinate groups overthrow dominant groups

Consensus theorists

• Examine value integration in society

Conflict theorists

• Examine conflicts of interest and the coercion that holds society together in the face of these stresses.

Society cannot exist without both conflict and consensus, which are prerequisites of each other (Dahrendorf). Thus, we cannot have conflict unless there is some prior consensus.

Consensus is a concept of society in which the absence of conflict is seen as the equilibrium state of society based on a widespread agreement among all the members of a particular society.

Conflict is a disagreement or clash between opposing ideas, principles or people – this can be a covert or overt conflict.

The Conflict Theory

• According to Horton and Hunt (1984), focuses on the heterogeneous nature of society and the differential distribution of political and social power

• sees society as a dynamic entity constantly undergoing change as a result of competition over scarce resources

The Conflict Theory

• A struggle between social classes and class conflicts between the powerful and less powerful groups occur

The Conflict Theory

• Groups which have vested interests and power work for rules and laws, particularly those that serve their own interests, to be passed to the exclusion of others.

Conflict theorists ask how schools 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 groups (often women, racial and ethnic groups) often minority groups, are allocated to lower ranks in society

The Conflict Perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tensions between competing groups. Such conflict need not to be violent; it can take the form of…

Labor Negotiations

Party Politics

Competition between religious groups for members

Disputes over the budget

Conflict theory grew out of the work of Karl Marx and focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain dominance and power in social systems.

The conflict model is concerned with the stresses and conflicts that emerge in society because of competitions over scarce resources. It focuses on the inequalities that are built into social structures rather than on those that emerge because of personal characteristics.

Social Structures produce patterns

of inequality in the distribution of scarce resources.

Conflict

Reorganization and Change

The Conflict Model

The discourse of conflict theories is on the emergence of conflict and what causes conflict within a particular human society.

Conflict theory deals with the incompatible aspects of society. Conflict theory emerged out of the sociology of conflict, crisis and social change.

The conflict theorists are interested in how society’s institutions – the family, government, education and the media – may help to maintain the privileges of some groups and keep others in a subservient position.

Conflict theory sees social life as a competition, and focuses on the distribution of resources, power and inequality. This perspective is derived from the works of Karl Marx, who saw society as fragmented into groups that compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained by domination, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources.

Summary on Conflict Theory

Consensus Theory a sociological perspective or

collection of theories, in which social order and stability/social regulation form the base of emphasis.

Consensus Theoryconcerned with the maintenance

or continuation of social order in society, in relation to accepted norms, values, rules and regulations as widely accepted or collectively by the society – or within a particular society itself.

The consensus and conflict theories are reflected in the works of certain dominant social theorists such as …

Karl MarxMarx's class theory rests on the premise that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." According to this view, ever since human society emerged from its primitive and relatively undifferentiated state it has remained fundamentally divided between classes who clash in the pursuit of class interests.

Emile DurkheimDurkheim discusses how modern society is held together by a division of labor that makes individuals dependent upon one another because they specialize in different types of work. Durkheim is particularly concerned about how the division of labor changes the way that individuals feel they are part of society as a whole.

Max WeberMax Weber believed that it was social actions that should be the focus of study in sociology. To Weber, a “social action’” was an action carried out by an individual to which an individual attached a meaning. Therefore, an action that a person does not think about cannot be a social action. 

Talcott Parsons

Robert Merton

Louis Althusser

Ralf Dharendorf

George Herbert Mead Charles Horton

Cooley

The works of Marx in his early years was interpreted by some social theorists as emphasizing the role of human beings in social conflict. They explained change as emerging from the crisis between human beings and their society.

They argued that Marx’s theory was the theory characterized by class conflicts or the conflict between the bourgeoisie (rich owners) and the proletariat (poor workers).

CONFLICT BETWEEN

THE BOURGEOISIE AND THE

PROLETARIAT

Max Weber argues that schools teach and maintain particular “status cultures”, that is, groups in society with similar interests and positions in the status hierarchy.

Located in neighborhoods, schools are often rather homogenous in their student bodies and teach to that constituency, thus perpetuating that status culture.

Education systems may train individuals in specialties to fill needed positions to prepare “cultivated individuals”, those who stand above the others because of their superior knowledge and reasoning abilities.

Individuals who had access to this type of education in early China were from the educated elite, thus perpetuating their family status culture.