Seminar on Sociological

Bases for Education

ByTilarupa Bhattarai

M. Sc. Nursing, 1st Year

SupervisorMs. Sunita Shah

Assistant ProfessorCollege of Nursing, BPKIHS

Content Introduction of Sociology Educational Sociology Important Contribution of Educational Sociology in Education Impact of Social Change in Education Factors Responsible for Social Change

Technological Factors Urbanization Population Growth Religion Political Factor Economic Factor

Role of Education in Relation to Social Change Relationship between Educational Institute & Society Summary Reference

Sociological Bases for Education

Auguste Comte (1778-1857) from France was the Father of Sociology

Sociology is derived from the Greek word socius meaning society and Latin word logus meaning study

Literally, sociology means study about society.

Comte was followed by Herbert Spencer (English Philosopher), He had written a book ‘Principles of Sociology’ and who believed individual like a cell and society as an organism.

Definition of Sociology

According to F. G. Wright, “It is not a group of people; it is the system of relationship, in which the associating individuals are bound together.”

Sociology is the study of social interrelationship. It studies

-Human behavior in groups -Social structure and social phenomena - Different forms of human relations

Branches of specialization Criminal Sociology

Educational sociology

Industrial Sociology

Medical Sociology

Occupational sociology

Rural & Urban Sociology

Educational Sociology

Sociology plays important roles in educational issues.

It has led to the emergence of sociology of education or educational sociology.

George Payne (USA) was the Father of Educational Sociology.

He says, “Educational Sociology is the science which describes and explains institutions, groups and social process in relation to the educational system in its evolution and changing functions”.

According to Ottaway, “ Educational Sociology starts with the assumption that education is an activity which goes on in the society, and it aims and methods depends on the nature of the society in which it takes place.”

Brown says that, “Educational Sociology is the study of interaction of the individual and his/ her cultural environment including other individuals, social groups and pattern of behaviors.”

Important contribution of Educational Sociology in Education

Technical:- To determine the functions of educational institutions and to suggest necessary improvements.

Introductory: - Acquaint the people with the nature of education system and its processes and also indicates the directions which it should follow.

Informative:- Problems of the society and provides guidelines to education to solve them.

Cultural:- To develop a cosmopolitan outlook, universal brotherhood and tolerance towards other societies and outlines the role of education in this task.

Democratic:- Help in understanding the democratic structure and developing democratic skills and values in the students as well in the masses.

Sociological Basis and Aims of Education

Development of social feelings and qualities.

Development of socially efficient individual.

Improvement of vocational efficiency.

Use of leisure time and development of healthy recreational pursuits.

Sociological Basis and Aims of Education Contd…

Transmission of social heritage.

Diffusion of more and more knowledge.

Development of constructive and creative outlook of the individual.

Education for the social services, social efficiency, emotional integration, national unity, patriotism

Sociological Basis and Curriculum Based on conditions, problems and needs of the society.

An agent for transmission of basic values of culture.

Prepare the child for global/ world society.

Flexible and changeable for the effective realization of socially determined objectives.

Lead to the development of genuine ‘we’ feeling, i.e. of a group having a spirit of social interaction

Sociological Basis and Methods of the teaching

Specialized technique, project and group methods Problem Based Learning

Enable child to acquire skills and knowledge needed.

Develop a capacity for social adjustment.

Develop problem solving and constructive thinking.

Sociological Basis : Role of Teacher

Destiny of the nation is shaped in class room by the teachers.

Be exposed to the concept of freedom, dignity of the individual, rights and duties so as to transmit the same to the younger generation.

Educational sociologists consider teacher as a social engineer working for social reconstruction.

Expected to possess the right attitude of the social behaviour.

Remain above casteism, regionalisms etc.

Sociological Basis : School and Discipline

The School:- Reflect and epitomize the larger society outside its walls.

Balance, purify and simplify the activities and social service activities.

Discipline:- Should come through participation in group activities

and social service activities.

Social Change & Education: Introduction

Change is the law of nature.

‘Time and the world do not stand still. Change is the way of life and those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.’

John F. Kennedy

Change may be in the form of replacement of old by or modification of old to adjust in the new setting.

Social Change: Definition

Davis has defined Social Change as “ Alteration as occur in social organization that is the structure or the function of the society.”

“Social change is the variation in the accepted modes of life, whether due to alterations in geographical conditions in cultural equipment, composition of the population or ideologies and whether brought about by diffusion or invention with in the group.”

From these definitions, we can explain social change as briefly in the following words:

Social change is a modification in any aspect of social process.

Social change occurs in certain geographical environment.

It takes place in cultural order. It takes place in biological level. It takes place in ideological plane. Social change occurs in the structure and function of the

society

Nature of Social Change:- Social change is universal.

Social change occurs in the life of entire community.

Nature and speed of change depends upon time factor also.

Definite prediction of social change is not possible.

It results from the interaction of number of factors like: culture, population, environment, psychological, technological, communication etc.

Change is due to modification or replacement.

Change is essential.

Theory of Social Change

1. Karl Marx and the capitalist society Cause of change is conflict between the have and have-

not, oppressor and oppressed Driving force for change is the nature and means of

production Adjustments in the system of production adjust the

problem.

2. Max Weber Theory Max Weber, a fellow German emphasize the values,

beliefs and social structure as important component of change

Factors Responsible for Socio-cultural Change

1. Technological Factor

2. Urbanization

3. Population Growth

4. Religion

5. Political Factor

6. Economic Factor

1. Technological Factor Technology is the systematic knowledge which

facilitates the use of machine or tools.

Technology is constantly developing and with its development the society is constantly changing.

Technological change is a term that is used to describe the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes.

Transmission of Technological Change

Invention

Diffusion

Innovation

In essence, TC is the invention of a technology (or a process), the continuous process of improving a technology (in which it often becomes cheaper) and its diffusion throughout industry or society

The main technological factors in social change are:

Introduction of machine in industry Development of means of communication like: oral,

written, telegraph, telegram, e mail, internet, television, radio etc.

Developments of means of transport.

Development of new agricultural technique

According to Ogburn, technology changes our material environment. The explicit effects of technical advancement are labour organization, division of labour, specialization, high speed of life etc.

The technological advancement has brought

tremendous change in education by bringing several methods and modes of teaching and learning for eg. Distance education, e. net education, video conference etc.

2. Urbanization Industrialization and birth of gigantic factories led to urbanization

and big cities came into existence. So urbanization is the consequences of the industrialization.

The process of urbanization may follow the several ways. Some of them are

Shift away from dispersed rural populations to concentrated, urban society

Shift away from organization based upon personality, personal ties to one on position, qualification for position

Shift from hand-crafted products to assembly line mass - production, constantly rising level of living, use of modern technology and means of transportation.

Urbanization Contd..

Social influences of urbanization :- Decline in the feeling of sociality Decline in social control Decline in the influence of religion Change in the institution of marriage. Change in the institution of family. Change in the condition of the women. Commercialized entertainment. Housing shortage Growth of the slum.

The economic consequences of urbanization Growth of capitalism Growth of trade. Division of labour and specialization. Rise in standard of living. Economic crisis and unemployment. Class conflict. Decline of rural industries.

3. Population Growth

Changes in the size of the population of a given area or society has some important consequences.

Rapid growth of the population pressure upon the resources (social and natural) needed to support the population.

Distribution will also pressure resources, particularly if the population is located where the resources are not.

Change occurs from an increase in the population or human migration between the areas

Population Growth Contd…

There is rapid population growth in Nepal in 1990s. The causes of rapid population growth are:

Illiteracy Agriculture based economy. Faith in large family. Cultural taboos. Preference of son Security for old age. Ignorance Fatalism

Elements of population change

P2 = P1 + (B - D) + (IM - OM) P1: The initial population size, how large is the population at the

beginning of the time period. (the time period can be of almost any duration -- one, five or ten years)

P2: this is the population size after some period of time or the population size at time 2.

B: the number of births between time 1 and time 2 (the time period of interest).

D: the number deaths over the time period. IM: the number of in migrants in the time period OM: the number of out-migrants in the time period.

A steep rise in population in any country can give rise to many social problems. In social change, the population growth has the following effects

Increase in poverty Famine Fall in living standard Decline in health environment Distribution of agricultural land holding Personal disintegration Marital disintegration Social disintegration

Population Growth

Population Growth

CommercializationCommercialization Schools, Students

Schools, Students

PrivatizationPrivatization

IncreasedJob

Opportunity

IncreasedJob

Opportunity

IncreasedEducationalMigration

IncreasedEducationalMigration

IncreasedSchool

Drop-out

IncreasedSchool

Drop-out

DecreasedEducational

Quality

DecreasedEducational

Quality

Population Growth & Effect in Education

4. Religion High preference to son and son’s education in Hindu

religion. Gurukul System of providing education.

According to Muslim religion, every child ought to study Kuran, they study namaj. Special school, Madarsas to educate the muslim children.

All the values, beliefs we learn can be influenced by religion.

In Cristian religion, praying god while getting and imparting education is an important ritual.

The Gumba, provides education to the monk and nun regarding the philosophy of Buddhism.

Nowadays, such religious institutions are becoming weaker

What a belief or value a person develops is influenced by his/her religion also.

5. Political Factors

Example of our own experience. The rate of social change is quite heightened after the dissolution of uniparty Panchayat system and beginning of democracy in 1990 in Nepal.

The policy taken by the government in liberalization of press, communication media, flow of market etc affect the social change very much.

The education policy adopted by the country also affected by political factor. For example, for any socialist country, health education and other facilities are the responsibilities of state. But, in a capitalist country, such services are provided by private agencies and there would be marketization.

The national budget assigned for education, approaches adopted to develop educational sectors, policy of facilitating students and teacher is also influencing the education of society.

Economic factor is not the only but a major factor of human development and social change.

What type of education a child is receiving is dependent on the economy of that family.

Another aspect of economic impact on education is reflected in the remark of some left leaders regarding today’s education system as bourgeoisie education, that is of capitalist that are of usually middle caste.

In several public speaking, they demand the reform toward the proletariat education especially focused for the working group, waged worker and economically poor.

6. Economic Factor

These five factors are not independent of one another. Disease contributes to ignorance and apathy.

Dishonesty contributes to disease and dependency. And so on.

They each contribute to each other. Later on, all these contribute to social change.

In any social change process, we are encouraged to "think globally, act locally."

The Big Five factors of poverty appear to be widespread and deeply embedded in cultural values and practices

Role of Education in Relation to Social Change

Emile Durkheim rejected the idea that education could be the force to transform society and resolve social ills. Instead, Durkheim concluded that education “can be reformed only if society itself is reformed.” He argued that education “is only the image and reflection of society. It imitates and reproduces the latter…it does not create it” (Durkheim).

People change their old pattern and behaviour by social process. People get knowledge for the social adjustment.

According to Marx and Friedrich Engels education should be for the transformation of society, the abolition of capitalist society, the movement towards socialism and the nurturing of communism. In this sense, ‘education for social change’ is thoroughly anti-capitalist education, infused with the values of equality, co-operation and social progress.

In fact, all the factor of social change are directly and indirectly related to education, education has great influence in social change.

Relationship between the educational institute and Society

Preservation of culture: School provides cultural identity to the student, so that they feel proud of their own culture and their will be lesser chance of blind imitation of another culture.

Transmission of culture: As there are various students with various cultural backgrounds, there is greater chance of cultural diffusion and transmission.

Creation of knowledge: - The direct aim of the educational institute is to impart knowledge to the students, It returns knowledgeable and skilled members to the society.

Socialization of the young: - School is the second step for the socialization of the young, it teaches the various aspects of life.

Means of social Control: In school, students learn own norms, value, culture, law, ethics which are the means of social control. The educated people are more likely to follow social compliance.

Importance of Education for Social Change

Democracy is the platform where the social changes flourish; education is the main precursor of the democracy.

Education helps bring the readiness among the social member for change. Educated people are more flexible for change as compared to uneducated people.

One of the Indian scholars has said that an educated father can change himself only but an educated mother can change her whole family.

Education of the backward and marginalized population helps them to come out from their world of superstition and their outlook will be broadened.

Education at any level (primary, secondary, university) at any form (formal, nonformal, informal) can change the society.

The schools and colleges help to change the society without damaging the cultural heritage of mankind both material and non material.

Education is not obtained only through school; it can be obtained through movies, the radio, television, theatre etc. Such media exerts pressure to bring about change in society.

We have eyes for general vision by nature, vision for knowledge and wisdom through education. It broadens the horizon of individual thinking and perception, so education help to maintain justice and moral upliftment.

Students are the vehicle for the social change, while educating a child we indirectly educate his/her family, his/her peers, his/her community too.

The teachers are also significant change agent in society, teacher can stand as a role model for social change

Some great teachers who have worked a lot for social change are: Jay Prithvi Bdr Singh, Montessori, Froebal, Dayananda, Rousseau, Gandhi, Tagore, Abdul Kayam etc.

Education focused for the disadvantaged (girls, dalit, poor, disabled, ethnic minor, language minor) can bring the social change.

Special education for the social delinquent can bring social reform.

Education is needed for the national integration. Education is required for the international

understanding.

Conclusion Education takes place in society.

Education is essentially a social process. Social environment educate the child. Education has special role to play for social reform. Besides school, there are many educational institutions. Economic and political factors of society play a dominant role in

educational reforms. Education must be social in nature and develop democratic skills

and values in students Social change together with educational aspect is influenced by

urbanization, industrialization, population growth, religion, political and economic factors.

Reference

Singh. S.K., Sociological Bases of Education, Lovely Institute of Education, Lovely University, Panjab, 2009.

Gautam, T.K. Sociology and Anthropology, Vidhyarthi Prakashan, Kathmandu, 2006.

Bhatiya & Bhatiya, The Principle and Methods of Teaching,Doaba House, Nai Sarak, delhi, 1992.

Basavanthappa BT, Nursing Education, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, New Delhi, 2nd Edition, 2009.

Neeraja. K.P. Text Book of Nursing Education, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, New Delhi, First Edition, 2003.