Apostolic Vicariate of Tabuk Catholic Schools System, Inc.

9 St. William’s Academy Bulanao, Inc.

Senior High School Department
Bulanao, Tabuk City, Kalinga, 3800 Philippines
School Year 2020 – 2021

LEARNING MODULE DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Name: *this module is good for two weeks*
MODULE NO.6 and 7 CONCEPT MODULE
TOPIC: Major Social Sciences Theories
Date:September 1, 2020
Dear Parents;
In this time of health pandemic, we would be glad if you could help us facilitate this lesson to our learners to be able to
continue his/her the holistic development. Thank you and we will heal and journey as one.
School Administration
I. LEARNING TARGETS:
1. Understand the concept of Structural- Functionalism
2. Interpret personal and social experiences using relevant approaches in the Social Sciences
3. Explain the social function/dysfunction, manifest and latent function
4. Analyze the social inequalities in terms of class conflict.
II. LESSON PROPER:
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
 or simply functionalism, is “a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts
work together to promote solidarity and stability”.
 looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape
society as a whole, and believes that society has evolved like organisms.
 looks at both social structure and social functions.
 Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms,
customs, traditions, and institutions.
Theory and methods
How useful is functionalism?
Auguste Comte
- saw the science of society as essentially similar to natural science.
- His positivist approach was based on the principle of direct observation, which
could be explained by theoretical statements based on establishing causal, law-like
generalizations.
-The task of sociology, according to Comte, was to gain reliable knowledge of the z
social world in order to make predictions about it, and, on the basis of those
predictions, to intervene and shape social life in progressive ways.
-Comte's positivist philosophy was clearly inspired by what he saw as the fabulous
predictive power of the natural sciences.
-Comte saw each science as passing through three stages:
 the theological (or religious)
 the metaphysical (or philosophical)
 the positive (or scientific)
-with each stage representing a form of human mental development.
-He argued that the history of the sciences demonstrated this pattern of movement, with social life being the last area to
move into the positive stage and sociology the final discipline.

2 parts of Sociology according to Comte

1. static sociology -studies the conditions of the existence of society
2. dynamic sociology -studies the continuous movement or laws of the succession of individual stages in society.
Herbert Spencer
- drew on Comte's ideas and argued that, just as the world of nature was subject to
biological evolution, so societies were subject to social evolution.
-He thought you could understand how society FUNCTIONS by comparing it with z
the FUNCTIONING of the human body.
- argue that just like the human body, and society has what Parsons (1951) called z
functional prerequisites – basic needs and requirements that must be met if society is to
survive.
- Comte thought there were similarities between how all the organs in the body had
specific individual FUNCTIONS but worked together to maintain health and life.
- FUNCTIONALIST idea is that if all the systems (religion, family, economy, legal system,
education and health system) in society are FUNCTIONING in harmony it will remain
healthy.
- if one or other of these vital institutions starts to malfunction, then society becomes dysfunctional.
Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)
 Parsons suggested all societies have to resolve 2 sets of problems – instrumental
 and expressive.
 The 2 sets of problems are to satisfy 4 functional prerequisites which are then met by
4 related sub-systems.
 Instrumental problems – setting & achieving social goals; adapting to and achieving
basic needs for survival.
 Expressive problems – maintaining efficient cooperation and social solidarity;
managing conflicts and tensions between individuals.
Parsons’ Structural Functionalism
Adaptation
 A system must cope with external situational exigencies. It must adapt to its environment and adapt environment to its
needs.
e.g. #1 New Corella as an Agricultural Municipality sticks on planting Agricultural Products.
e.g. #2 Rice fields converting to banana plantation because of its demand.

Goal Attainment
 System needs to get things done, make stuff, achieve)
Integration
 Parts of the system need to work together
(L) Pattern maintenance. (L stands for "Latent function")
 System must remember and transmit how it does things.
Robert Merton (1910-2003)

 one of the leading proponents of structural functionalism and influential figures in modern
sociology.
 His contributions have sparked research on deviant behavior, or studies of criminality.
 He has a son with the same namesake, who was awarded a 1997 Peace Nobel Prize in
Economics.
 Merton was known until his teenage years as Meyer R. Schkolnick. `
 He recognized in a complex independent social system there was scope for things to go
wrong.
 He introduced dysfunction to describe a situation where some parts of social structure
don’t work as intended and there can sometimes his negative consequences with harmful
effects on society and some individuals.
-He suggested there were manifest functions (recognized or intended outcome of an institution/ individual) and latent
functions (unrecognized or unintended outcomes)
Manifest & Latent Functions
 Manifest : what we (actors) think the purpose or consequence of an institution or practice is
 Latent : what institution or practice actually does

Merton’s “Norms of Science”

 Communism – the common ownership of scientific discoveries, scientists trade intellectual property for recognition
and esteem.
 Universalism – truth claims evaluated in terms of universal or impersonal criteria, not on basis of race, class, gender,
religion…
 Disinterestedness –scientists are rewarded for acting in ways that outwardly appear to be selfless
 Organized Skepticism – all ideas must be tested and subjected to rigorous, structured community scrutiny.
Emergence of CUDOS = “Merton’sTheory” of the Scientific Revolution

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore

 published the Davis-Moore thesis, which argued that the greater the functional importance of a social role, the
greater must be the reward.
 The theory posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different work.
 Certain tasks in society are more valuable than others.
 Qualified people who fill those positions must be rewarded more than others.
 According to Davis and Moore, a firefighter’s job is more important than, for instance, a grocery store cashier’s.
The cashier position does not require the same skill and training level as firefighting. Without the incentive of
higher pay and better benefits, why would someone be willing to rush into burning buildings? If pay levels were
the same, the firefighter might as well work as a grocery store cashier.
 Davis and Moore believed that rewarding more important work with higher levels of income, prestige, and power
encourages people to work harder and longer.

 Davis and Moore stated that, in most cases, the degree of skill required for a job determines that job’s importance.
 They also stated that the more skill required for a job, the fewer qualified people there would be to do that job.
 Certain jobs, such as cleaning hallways or answering phones, do not require much skill.
 The employees don’t need a college degree. Other work, like designing a highway system or delivering a baby,
requires immense skill.
  Social stratification can be examined from different sociological perspectives—functionalism, conflict theory, and
symbolic interactionism.
 The functionalist perspective states that systems exist in society for good reasons.
 Conflict theorists observe that stratification promotes inequality, such as between rich business owners and poor
workers.
 Symbolic interactionist examine stratification from a micro-level perspective. They observe how social standing
affects people’s everyday interactions and how the concept of “social class” is constructed and maintained through
everyday interactions.z

KEY PRINCIPLES OF THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE

1. Interdependency
• Society is made up of interdependent parts
• Every part of society is dependent to some extent on other parts of society
2. Functions of social structure and culture
• Each part of the social system exists because it serves some function Social structure – organization of society,
including institutions, social positions & distribution of resources Culture – set of beliefs, language, rules, values &
knowledge held in common by members of society
3. Consensus and Cooperation
• Societies have a tendency towards consensus that is to have certain basic values that nearly everyone in the society
agrees upon Cooperation – inability to cooperate will paralyze the society & people will devote more and more effort to
fighting one another rather than getting anything done.
4. Equilibrium
• The characteristic of the society when it has achieved the form that is best adapted to its situation.
• Once a society has achieved the form that is best adapted to its situation, it has reached a state of balance or
equilibrium, and it will remain in that condition until it is forced to change by some new condition.

MARXISM

 Developed by Karl Marx in the 19th century

 Begin in the 19th century as a pragmatic view of history that offered the working classes of society an opportunity to
change their world
 It offered humanity a social, political, economic, and cultural understanding of the nature of reality, society and the
individual.
SOME IMPORTANT KEY CONCEPTS
 Capitalism: Marx believed that capitalism is not only an economic system but it is also a political system.
 Class Struggles: Marx believed that conflict produces class and inherently class produces conflict.
 Exploitation: Marx believed that Capitalism can only thrive exploitation of the working class.
 Alienation: The workers are forced to sell their labor to the Capitalists in order to survive.
SOME IMPORTANT KEY IDEOLOGIES
 Capitalist society is divided into two classes: The Bourgeoisie (wealthier ones) and the Proletariat (poor ones).
• The bourgeoisie increase their wealth by exploiting the proletariat: The richer ones exploit and make the poor
weaker to gain wealth and power.
 Ideological Control: Marx argued that the ruling classes used their control of social institutions to gain ideological
dominance. Thus, the proletariats accepted this and didn’t fight back. • The result of the above is false class
consciousness: The end result of ideological control is false consciousness – where the masses, or proletariat are
deluded into thinking that everything is fine and that the appalling in which they live and work are inevitable.
TYPES OF MARXISM
 Communism: is the end state of having key means of production owned in common (communally) without class
 Socialism: is an intermediate transition state where a social revolution (that is, of the workers, the vast majority of
society) is required to get to communism.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

 The Communist Manifesto (1848) shows the basic struggle between classes, and
recommends action against the 'spectre' of capitalism Capital (1867)
 Shows how the capitalist system is exploitative in that it "transfers the fruit of the work
of the majority to a minority”.
 Marx declares that “consciousness does not determine life: life determines
consciousness.”
 Humans define themselves.
 He said that our ideas and concepts about ourselves fashioned in everyday discourse in
the language of real life.
 Marx believed that society had progressed from one economic system to another
 As society progresses from a feudal system to a more market-based economy, the actual
process from producing, distributing, and consuming goods becomes more complex
 People’s functions within the economic system become differentiated.

Frederik Engels 1820 - 1895

 The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884) presents the evolution
 of humankind from primitive communism, to slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and finally,
industrial communism
 Marx and Engles viewed social change as an evolutionary process marked by revolution in
which new levels of social, political and economic development were achieved through
class struggle
 A class is defined in terms of the relationship of people's labor to the means of production
 Each mode of production produced characteristic class relationships involving a
dominating and a subordinate class.
 These two classes were linked together in a relationship of exploitation in which the
subordinate class provided the labor and the dominant class then appropriated the surplus

V. Gordon Childe (1892–1957)

 Was the most influential archaeologist of the twentieth century.

 His early fieldwork and research in the 1920s overturned archaeological models of
European prehistory.
 He then turned to theory and synthesis and for the first time applied social models to
archaeological data concerning the major transformations in the evolution of human
society.
 His synthetic work was disseminated widely through two scholarly yet accessible
books: Man Makes Himself (1936) and What Happened in History (1942).
 Childe was a Marxist, and in these and other work she employed two key concepts to
organize his discussion: the Neolithic Revolution and the Urban Revolution.
 Childe’s models for these revolutions largely created the modern scholarly
understanding of two of the most fundamental and far-reaching transformations in the
human past.
 Childe’s paper ‘The Urban Revolution’ – first published in Town Planning Review
(Childe, 1950) – is one of the most widely cited papers ever published by an
archaeologist.
Theodor W. Adorno

 Was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after
World War II.
 Although less well known among Anglophone philosophers than his contemporary
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and
intellectuals in postwar Germany.
 In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's
philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence.
 The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his
research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged.
 It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical
traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of
contemporary Western society.
 He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of
Critical Theory.
Slavoj Žižek

 is a Slovenian-born political philosopher and cultural critic. He was described by

British literary theorist, Terry Eagleton, as the “most formidably brilliant” recent
theorist to have emerged from Continental Europe.
 Žižek’s work is infamously idiosyncratic.
 It features striking dialectical reversals of received common sense; a ubiquitous sense
of humor; a patented disrespect towards the modern distinction between high and low
culture; and the examination of examples taken from the most diverse cultural and
political fields.
 Yet Žižek’s work, as he warns us, has a very serious philosophical content and
intention.
 He challenges many of the founding assumptions of today’s left-liberal academy,
including the elevation of difference or otherness to ends in themselves, the reading of
the Western Enlightenment as implicitly totalitarian, and the pervasive skepticism
towards any context-transcendent notions of truth or the good.

CRITICISMS OF MARXIST IDEAS

• Criticisms of Marxism have come from various political ideologies which include ethical and economical criticisms.
• Democratic socialists and social democrats reject the idea that socialism can be accomplished through class conflict and
a proletarian revolution.
• Some thinkers have rejected the fundamentals of Marxist theory, such as historical materialism and the labour theory of
value, and gone on to criticize capitalism - and support socialism - using other arguments.
• Some contemporary supporters of Marxism argue that many aspects of Marxist thought are viable, but that the corpus is
incomplete or somewhat outdated in regards to certain aspects of economic, political or social theory.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF MARXISM IN THE MODERN WORLD SYSTEM

• Elaboration of the conflict model of society, specifically his theory of social change based on antagonisms between
classes.
• The idea that power originates primarily in economic production.
• Concern with the social origins of alienation.
• Understanding of modern capitalism.
• Welfare State.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTION
 The symbolic interaction perspective, also called symbolic interactionism, is a major framework of sociological
theory.
 This perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social
interaction.
 This theory analyzes society by addressing the subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, and
behaviors.
 Subjective meanings are given primacy because it is believe that people behave based on what they believe and
not just on what is objectively true.
 Looks at individual and group meaning- making, focusing on human action instead of large-scale social
structures.
 Humans have capacity for thought.
 Thought is shaped by social interaction.
 Through interaction, people learn symbols and meanings that allow them to think.
 Meanings and symbols allow for human action.
 People can interpret a situation and modify their action or interaction.
 People can create own meanings.
 Groups and societies are made up of patterns of action and interaction.
George Herbert Mead

 He is considered by many to be the father of the school of Symbolic Interactionism in

sociology and social psychology, although he did not use this nomenclature.
 Pioneered the development of symbolic interaction perspective
 He is the one who argued that “people's selves are social products, but that these selves
are also purposive and creative.”
 Mead is best known for his work on the nature of the self and intersubjectivity, he also
developed a theory of action, and a metaphysics or philosophy of nature that emphasizes
emergence and temporality, in which the past and future are viewed through the lens of
the present.
 His most famous work, Mind, Self, and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social
Behaviorist, was published after his death and is a compilation of student notes and
selections from unpublished manuscripts.
 Believed people have the capacity to think and decide on their own how they should act in certain situations. Z
 Their reactions are based on their perceptions and definitions of the situation. - People cope with the reality of
things according to their comprehension of the situation.
 Mind, Self, and Society - Views the mind as a process, a conversation within itself.
 People have the capacity to control their responses to the environment.
 Self involves the process where actors reflect on themselves as objects.
 Develops from social forces and social experience.
 Society cannot exist without minds and self.
 Humans have ability to manipulate environment so multiple societies exist.
 The ‘I’ and ‘Me’ - I is source of creativity and spontaneity. - Me is formed from the perceptions others’ actions
and views, including own thoughts on oneself.
Development of Self
1. Imitation stage- understanding gestures.
2. Play stage- learned use of language and meanings of certain symbols.
3. Game stage- understanding the roles of others and abiding by the rules.
The Act
1. Impulse- gut reactions or the need to do something.
2. Perception- use of senses and mental images to satisfy the impulse.
3. Manipulation- taking some conscious effort in regard of impulse.
4. Consummation- act of satisfying the impulse.
Herbert Blumer
 Blumer was one of sociology’s most prominent and esteemed practitioners. - Leading spokesperson for the
Chicago style of symbolic interactionism for an entire generation. - Believed that humans construct their own
actions and are free of internal drives. - Additionally, actions are a consequence of reflexive and deliberate
processes determined by an individual in response to their environment.
 Symbolic Interactionism - is a term that was coined by Blumer in 1937.
  “humans act toward things on the basis of meanings”
 Blumer insisted its importance, while peers downplayed it.
 Blumer views symbolic interactionism as “a uniquely human process” one which we must completely understand
through language and gestures.
 Must share a language to communicate effectively.
 The importance of the fact that people act depending on meanings of objects for them, which creates profound
methodological implications.
BLUMER & SOCIAL THEORY
1. 1ST PRINCIPLE- Meaning: “Making is a community project”
 Meaning is something that has to be assigned and who assigns it
 The definition of this word states that it is an intention for a particular purpose or destination.
 Blumer says that the principle of meaning is central in human behaviors.
 This theory tells us that it’s how people interpret messages and statements.
 Meaning is based on human interaction and how we act towards other people.
 We as humans, base things upon the meanings that they have been given.
 This theory tells us that it’s how people interpret messages and statements.
 Each one of us has a different meaning assigned to different things.
2. 2ND PRINCIPLE - Language: “Symbolic naming for the human society”
 Language gives humans a means by which to negotiate meaning through symbols.
 Mead believed that when you named something, it is assigned a meaning.
 In simple terms, this principle says that when we talk to each other, symbolic interaction means that
humans identify meaning, or naming, and then they develop discourse, which is communication orally.
3. 3RD PRINCIPLE- Thought: “Interpretation of symbols”
 Thought is based on language. While in a conversation, your mind is imagining or thinking about the
different points of view or meanings to what the other person is saying to you.
 What this means is that once your hear someone say something, you automatically start thinking about
what you are going to say next.

SIX APPLICATIONS OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

 CREATING REALITY - Sociologist Erving Goffman argues that everyone is constantly negotiating with others
to publicly define our identity and the nature of the situation in the creating reality application.
-The impression of reality is a delicate and fragile thing that can be shattered.
 MEANING-FUL RESEARCH -In meaning-full research, Mead claims that research occurs through participant
observation.
-Mead believes that behavioral experimental and survey research are void of the meaning of the
experience.
 GENERALIZED OTHER -Generalized other is described as the combined mental image of others in a
community, their expectations, and possible responses to one’s self.
-In symbolic interaction, there is a tragic potential of negative responses consequently
reducing a person to perceiving themselves as nothing.
-The generalized other is a combination of all of the looking glass selves that others give
us.
-The looking glass self is imaging how we look to others.
 NAMING -Naming is what we would call name-calling, such as retard, slut, liar, ugly, etc.
-Name-calling can be devastating because it forces us to view ourselves through a warped mirror.
-These grotesque images are not easily dispelled and can be very hurtful and damaging.
 SYMBOL MANIPULATION - Symbol Manipulation is the process in which symbols incite people to unite into
action.
 SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY - Each and every one of us affects how others view themselves.
-Predictions in the self-fulfilling prophecy may be false but made true by one’s
actions.
-One’s prophecy is simply a possibility that is made into probability by one’s
unconscious or conscious actions.
-Our expectations evoke responses that confirm what we originally anticipated,
resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Activity: Give at least 5 Strength and 5 Weaknesses of structural-functionalism and Marxism. Use the back portion for
your answer.

Prepared By: Ms. Lyka Francess S. Balunggay, LPT

Parent’ Signature: ______________________________Date: ___________________