Sociology|Relationship between sociology and education|Sope|Aim of education sociology

 INTRODUCTION 

The term ‘sociology’ has been derived from the two words: ‘Societus’ which means

society and ‘logos’ which means science. Thus, from an etymological point of view

‘sociology’ is the science of society.

Auguste Comte, who is known as the father of sociology used the term

‘sociology’ for the first time in 1937, while delivering a series of lectures. He

introduced sociology as a fundamental science in his book Positive Philosophy

and employed scientific methods to collect data about mankind. Sociology studies

social phenomena, social organizations and cultural patterns. It seeks to discover

the laws that govern the social relations and the forces that develop the personality

of an individual. The subject of educational sociology is the constant and dynamic

interaction of the individual and his cultural environment or the basic pattern of

life. Sociology of education may be defined as the scientific analysis of the social

processes and social patterns involved in the educational system. In this unit, you

will get acquainted with the relationship between sociology and education and its

various characteristics.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

• Discuss the relationship between sociology and education

• Assess the meaning and nature of educational sociology

• Explain Emile Durkheim’s theory of social facts

• Evaluate Merton’s theory of deviance

• Describe the concept of sociology of education

1.2 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIOLOGY AND
EDUCATION

Sociology, according to Geoffrey Duncan Mitchell, is the scientific study of dynamic

processes of interactions of person and the patterns they form in relation to biological,

psychological and cultural influences. It studies social phenomena, social organizations

and cultural patterns. It seeks to discover the laws that govern the social relations

and the forces that develop the personality of an individual. It is built upon the study

of the behaviour of ants, birds, and primitive men. It has drawn for its material on

social history and social physics. It has received impetus from biology and psychology.

Sociology is based upon two fundamentals:

• Each individual is born into a cultural world created by his predecessors. This

world has a continuity of existence. It appears to be independent of individuals

who enter or leave this cultural stream.

• The individual becomes, as he grows up, identified with the vast body of

culture, and finds his role in it. He further seeks to modify it in his dealings

with the world around him. Thus, he becomes not an individual that he was at

birth, but a person.

Importance of Educational Sociology

There is, explains Francis J. Brown, a constant interaction between the individual

and his cultural environment. He is influenced by it. This constant interaction, which

is the subject-matter of educational sociology, is the basic pattern of life. Any attempt

therefore, says Brown, to understand and foster the development of the individual

and every effort to provide the means and agencies for such development must be

based upon an analysis of this two-way process in which the individual and the

forces external to him are in continual interaction.

Also, this interaction is inevitable. Man must be able to control the physical

and social forces around him if he is not to fall a passive victim in the continuous

struggle for existence. By his inventions, he has been able to harness the forces of

nature, and to eliminate time and distance through radio and television. But these

physical forces, like the hydrogen bomb and atomic energy, unless directed by him

wisely, would be let loose on him and destroy him and his social organizations. This

is the vital, gripping and urgent problem of the day. As never before, man must learn

the ways and means of controlling human behaviour, his own and others. It is, therefore,

very important for an individual to have some grasp of the interrelations of nations

and the social forces that influence their policies and activities.

Moreover, the knowledge of a total social life enables a child to choose his

own patterns of social behaviour, to control his own behaviour patterns and of other

individuals and groups. One’s attitude towards state, religion and other communities

is often the product of group associations. An intelligent study of these attitudes

should guide one in adopting the right social attitudes.

Also, biology and psychology have, no doubt, probed and gauged the less

tangible forces within man and helped us to understand him better. But man is an

integral member of the many groups amongst whom he lives and moves. He cannot

be understood independently of these—family, church, community, nation, means of

communication, folkways and more. It is no longer enough for us to understand the

individual without knowing or understanding the interacting forces that are working

on him. Education must, therefore, go beyond the individual and reach out into the

total social milieu.

There is a two-fold approach to the study of the development of the child;

one from the viewpoint of the individual, and the other from that of the society. The

individual approach is studied by biology and psychology, while the ‘societal’ approach

concerns sociology. It is, however, contended that the individual approach is inadequate

and incomplete, and must therefore, be reinforced by the societal approach also.

Both biology and psychology have been found to be incomplete in explaining

human behaviour and therefore need to be supplemented by educational sociology.

It was claimed in the beginning that biological factors had a direct bearing upon

human behaviour. The ‘mechanistic school’ held that an individual was the product

of innate characteristics and influences—both animal and human—which were

beyond his control. But recent research has revealed that these were not the sole or

primary factors, but only a part of the infinitely complete forces that develop and

mould the individual. Some of these forces are inherited and predetermined; some

are capable of modification to an appreciable extent; while others are the product of

environment.

Psychologists, on their part, hold that human behaviour is determined by

instincts. The ‘instinctive behaviour patterns’ are unlearned, relatively stereotyped

and automatic. But observation of dogs, apes and infants stimuli, including the learning

process, the nature of response to a specific action, conditions the behaviour of man

or animal. Therefore, environmental factors and motivation are as important as

innate characteristics in the development of the individual. Psychiatry too has moved

far away from what Freud thought it to be—to unravel the complex factors which

are the causes of behaviour. Now psychiatry takes the whole physical and cultural

background into consideration.

Scope of Educational Sociology

The subject of educational sociology is the constant and dynamic interaction of the

individual and his cultural environment or the basic pattern of life. It is, therefore,

according to Dan W. Dodson, interested in three things—total cultural milieu, the

school as its agency and the educational process that conditions personality

development.

• The social milieu can be broken up into, what Payne calls, ‘social

independencies’. These are institutions, social groups, social customs and

conventions. Through these the individual gains and organizes his experiences

and these influence the evolution of the educational system because it equips

the youth with knowledge and character to function and fit into society.

Educational sociology deals, therefore, with groups like the family, school,

team, club, union, community, church, state and the world.

• In the second place, it is concerned with the sciences which help to understand

its function in its various aspects. It is consequently not concerned with aspects

of any science which does not condition personality development. It is,

however, concerned with the school which is a specific educational agency

as well as with other social agencies like the family, the play group, the church,

school union; club, social customs and the mode of living, all of which contribute

to the development of personality. The personality of an individual first develops

in the family through the process of interaction. The business of educational

sociology is to discover the area of interaction within the family and then in

the school or elsewhere. Sociology would, however, confine itself to the history

of the development of family and its various patterns. Sociology deals with

social theory and group phenomena, but ignores the educative process and

the educational agencies.

• Next to sociology, educational sociology is related to educational psychology.

Both of them deal with the school as the agency of education. Both seek to

determine and influence the school’s effect upon individual behaviour. Both

are applied sciences. Educational psychology is applied to learning, while the

other studies impact the effects of learning. The latter deals with individual’s

relation to society while the former is interested in the techniques of building

new habits into the child. The latter regards school as a social institution, a

part of total social milieu; a form of collective behaviour and so shapes its

curriculum, its teaching methods and its organization so as to prepare children

for further participation in social life. In short, the former deals with the process

of learning, while the latter deals with the problem of personality or behaviour.

• Psychology has been delving deep into the human mind to discover its peculiar

pattern, but experimental studies of infant behaviour conducted by Arnold

Lucius Gesell have led him to the conclusion that ‘infants are individuals—

individuals in the making as well as by birthright. The child’s personality is the

product of slow and gradual growth…mental growth is a patterning process,

because the mind is essentially the sum total of a growing multitude of behaviour

patterns.’ The most significant recent development in psychology, says Brown,

has been the increasing recognition of environmental factors in the development

of personality and in the specific processes of learning. The borderline between

psychology and sociology is not sharp today. Moreover, educational sociology

manipulates these environmental factors in the interest of interaction. Biology

offers us the data that forms the basis of individual behaviour. Sociology

studies how the laws of heredity and impulses determine an individual’s

interaction with others as individuals or as groups. Educational sociology goes

a step further. It seeks to influence this interaction in harmony with social

ideas.

1.2.2 Aims of Educational Sociology

Educational sociology, according to George S. Herrington, has four specific aims.

They flow from the larger aim, i.e., to achieve better personality development by

influencing the processes of education. The specific aims deal with the various

aspects of the total social milieu as well as the means, the methods, the curriculum

and the agencies of education. The achievement of these aims is essential for the

achievement of the larger aim. Educational sociology should explain (a) the role of

the school in the community (b) the role of the school (c) and the social factors

influencing schools. Second, it should understand democratic ideologies, cultural,

economic and social trends that influence formal and informal agencies of education.

Third, it should estimate the social forces and their effects upon individuals. Fourth,

it should socialize curriculum. Lastly, in order to achieve these aims, educational

sociology should encourage research and critical thinking, and adopt the results thus

obtained.

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