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Date: 27/01/2015

Lecturer: Mrs. O Ngwenya

Sociology

DEFINITION

It is the study of society

-a society is a group of people living together

-according to HOTTON &HUNT (1984) PAGE 25, sociology concentrates its study upon the

group (life of human beings and the product of their group living)

-it can also be referred to as a social phenomenon (those things that people observe as they

interact in any system of sharing in an environment)

-culture is the way people live together in a society sharing the norms, values and beliefs of that

particular society.

-the culture of any society is the way of life of its members, the collection of ideas and habits

which they learn, share and Tran swift from generation to generation-HOLBON

HARALAMBOS (1980) PAGE 3.

-culture defines the accepted and expected ways of behaving for members of a particular society

and the ability of a student to conform to rules and regulations.

-a NORM is a specific guide to action which defines acceptable and appropriate behavior in

particular situations (ibid) same source.

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-a value is a belief that something is good and desirable hence defining what is important,

worthwhile and worth striving for.

-in studying, sociology, sociologists do not examine individuals but look at groups interact, how

institutions arise and operate, they also look at how groups change

Founders of sociology

1. AUGUST COMMTE-he was the first founder of sociology

 He is one of the founder of sociology and was born in 1798 and passed on in 1857

 He was the first sociologists, French scholar who started the study of sociology in the 19 th

century

 Before sociology was not heard, he was interested in biology which was linked to

sociology

 He concluded that sociology like an organism with various parts which depend on one

another for the good or survival of that particular society, its parts has its own function.

 If its operations are disturbed, organisms suffer e.g. human body

 If a family fails to socialize its children as well as the school suffers, the result is failure

and there is no upward mobility, pass rate goes down.

2. KARL MAX from 1818-1883 and was born in the middle class family and attained PHD

when he was 23years

 He studied history, law, philosophy, political economy and he did not like his structure of

his society,

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 He was from a rich family, he observed that society was made up of 2 major classes, the

ruling and the working class,

 Kalmarx was against ruling class because they oppressed the working class, so he tried to

change the society collaboration with his friend FREDRICK ENGEL to change his

society and his theory is referred as the conflict theory.

 They made conflicting laws for the ruling class and the working class and CALMAX did

not like this.

3. HERBET SPENCER 1820-1903 –like Kalmarx and Comte, he was born in the middle class

in

England, he had interest in biology and concurred with Comte that society is a living

organism.

4. EMILY DURKHEM 1853-1917-he was a French sociologist who was interested in society

and his most interest was in factors keeping society together.

 He was interested in that what will keep together –to be identified as one.

 People keeping morale aspects.

 He emphasized value consensus (agreement)

 He observed that the more society becomes individualist the greater the degree of

normlessness were social values have been broken.

5. MAX WEBER 1864-1920-he was born in a rich bourgeoisie family and in studying sociology

he considered society to be interpreting social actions

 He had a subject approach that aimed at analyzing human actions.

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 He concluded that giving meaning to action is subjective and continuous process

Schools of thought/sociological theories

 provide a common or similar view of a specific social phenomena

 They are views on how society functions or operates and these sociologists came with

various schools of thought e.g.

1. Functionalism

2. Marxism (conflict theory)

3. Interactionism

4. Feminism

What is sociology in education?

Rahm cited in Peresuh and Nhundu (1999)

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Date: 29/01/2015

Lecturer: MR M CHINYOKA

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

 Sociology and education are 2 different entities

 These are views/perspective that affect education

 We examine sociology of education using sociological perspectives

 Sociology of education deals with education as an institute of teaching and learning

 Is an application of sociological theories and research methods of analysis of educational

practices and processes?

 It focuses on the school considering how peoples relate to one another then teachers to

teachers, parents to teachers and school to a larger society

 Improves the socio economic status

 ;It gives teachers the knowledge of the society they are dealing with

Why study sociology?

 This study has practical and academic effect, it has practical effects

 This knowledge enables us to carry out societal expectations

 According to mills 1970 the study of sociology enables us

1. To be aware of our cultural differences

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2. Helps us on the effect of policies

3. For self-enlightenment, it opens your mind how people live in society

4. It provides insight into human interaction

5. It gives us a fresh look into the main social influences that shape our ideas and light.

6. It provides an understanding of ourselves as individuals

7. It enables us to appreciate viewpoints other than our own

8. It enables us to see society as something to be taken for granted.

Date: 05/02/2015

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Lecturer: MRS O NGWENYA

Topic: FUNCTIONALISM/STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

 The word is derived from the verb function

 According to Mann (1987) page138, the term function is used in disciplines such as

mathematics, biology, social sciences to denote properties of interdependence among

 In sociology the term function was introduced by Redcliff and Brown to suggest that

different parts of a society meet the societal needs and that society could be

conceptualized as made up of interdependent parts in relation with each ot her.

The main proponents (people) of functionalism

 According to Marcus and Duckline(1998)page29-30,the origins of functionalism as a

method of approach to social issues is found in the writings of Herbert Spencer, Emily

Deccan, Talcott Parsons, Robert Metton and August Comte.

 Emily Deccan pioneered the thought of functionalism by providing the functional

analysis of society (how the society functions).

 Talco parsons identified essential aspects for the survival of social systems such as social

order, social stability and value consensus.

 Robert Metton talked of manifest and latent functions of social institutions, functional

and dysfunctional systems.

The key tenets (attributes/characteristics/features) of functionalism

 Functionalism explains social institutions like family, school, church, etc.

 In terms of functions that they perform, thus it views society as a living organism

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 Haralambos and Holbone (1990) page 8 argued that the key characteristics of

functionalism may be summarized by comparison drawn from biology

 Eg .to understand how an organism or human body works ,biologists begin to examine

various parts such as lungs, liver brain ,etc.

 These parts are not analysed in isolation but are examined in relation to each other since

they work together to maintain an organism.

 Functionalism therefore adopts a similar perspective/view where various parts of society

are seen to be interrelated and interdependent with each performing a function which

contributes to survival of society.

 Eg to understand any part of society such as family or school it has to be seen in relation

to whole society.

 A change in one part of society affects other parts of society as well.

 If any one institution fails to fulfill its function or role/duty this adversely affects the

function of the whole society.

 For a society/organization to function or for it do anything it has to have a structure

1.3 The social behavioral structure

-functionalist observe that behavior in society is structured, relationship among members of

society are designed according to certain specific rules

-the roles and norms of society are founded upon certain values, thus social structures like the

family ,school, economy and political systems are made up interconnected roles and norms eg in

a family is made up interconnected roles of husband/father, wife/mother ,sons and daughters

These are guided by certain related norms

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2.1 The social function of structures or institutions

-according to functionalist each social structure has a function or a role to perform

-the social function of an institution is a contribution that it makes to the maintenance and

survival of social system e.g. the major function of the family is the socialization of new

members of society(children) into the values and norms of that particular society.

2.2 functional prerequisites/requirements

-functionalist argue that certain basic needs or requirements must be met if society is to survive

about these are referred as functional prerequisites eg Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

2.3 functional alternatives

 functionalist believe that a particular function can be performed by different structures

there by rendering no single structure essential to society e.g. a school can perform many

of the functions which are performed by the family or church

2.4 functional and dysfunctional structures

-if the activities of a social structure contribute to the cohesion and solidarity of a social system it

is said to be functional but if a social institutions threaten the unity or cohesion of a society it is

said to be dysfunctional

2.6 manifest function

Is one that is recognized and was intended when the institution was established whereas the

latent is one which is unintended, it just comes out or just develops

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2.7 value consensus (agreement on values)

-integration of various parts for the social system is necessary for the survival of the society

-functionalist observe that this integration is founded upon value consensus:

A. the economic system produces a large range of goods and ever increasing productivity

B. the education system produces skills and expertise to increase production and efficiency

C. family forms a consumption units with its rising demand of consumables

D. the political system improves material living standards and raises productivity

-in this way we realize that these parts of the social structure are based on the same values and

are therefore said to be integrated.

3.1 Social order

-functionalists observe that a certain degree of order and stability is essential for the survival of

the social systems

-it is brought about by the shared norms and values (value consensus)

-social order is provided by operations since common values produce common goals

-those who deviate causing social disorder are brought to line by social structures designed for

correctional measures

The relevance of functionalism education

-schools are making vital contributions to the survival of society .among the many are the

following

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1. Socialization in education

2. Social integration

3. Role allocation e.g. nurse, doctor, teacher

4. The inculcation of technical skills and expertise

In conclusion functionalism has made a major contributions in many educational systems and is

still the dominant sociologic theory in most countries.

Lecturer: MRS O NGWENYA

Date: 12/02/2015

Topic: THE MAXIST (CONFLICT THEORY)

 The proponent of Marxism was Carl Max, the German young man who attained his PHD

at 23years and was with Geddes Bowles

 Carl max observed that society was made up of 2 major classes, the ruling class and the

working class

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 Marxist are those people who subscribe to Carl max believed that societies consists of 2

major groups of people with conflicting ideas

 The ruling class will always exploit the working class – Gwarinda (2001)

 Like the functionalist the Marxist look at society as macro perspectives i.e. they see

education as benefiting the whole society as opposed to an individual.

 The Marxist are of the view that society’s 2 major groups are led by a relationships

which is exploitive nature or conflicting

 The 2 groups are composed of the rich and the poor (capitalist and the proletariats) i.e.

those who own and are in control of means of production and those are mere workers

 The ruling class will always dictate the directions of the society, their main trust is on the

capitalistic system

Characteristics of Marxism

1. Capitalism promotes the existence of these 2 groups

2. They provide a radical alternatives to the functionalist view

3. They regard social divisions in a society as a dividing rather than an integrative structure

-these social groups are not a means of furthering collective goals since one group of people

exploits and oppresses one group.

-the social divisions consisting the ruling class and the working class, has the ruling class

oppressing and exploiting the subject class

-Systems such as the legal, economic and political systems, they are instrumental for ruling class

domination and serve to further its interests

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-the superstructure controls the economic system

How the conflict theory apply to education

-Education serves the needs of the workforce as it equips people with the technical skills and

expertise to go out and work for the capitalist, thus Marxist view education as the main tool for

perpetuating classes.

-For Marxist ,education socializes individuals into accepting the norms and values of the

dominant class, while functionalist view education as a tool for developing societies , Marxist on

the other hand view it as a tool used for maintain the status call

I.e. the curriculum offered in schools is related to the ruling class resulting in the poor leaving

their culture to join the rich people culture

-cultural reproduction is being reproduced by education were the people are trained in order to fit

in the industrial set up

-schools are divided into classes with ruling class children attending private schools that charge

exorbitant fees that cannot be afforded by the proletariat who then attend schools with scarce

resources.

-all subjects except indigenous languages are taught in English which is the language of

communication for ruling class children as opposed to working class children who communicate

in their native language at home and only learn English at school

-the curriculum offered in the schools favors the ruling class children as most of the things leant

at school are also learnt at home e.g. swimming

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-the school is just but an extension of home however for the working children , the school

curriculum is sometimes new to them and as a result they perform poorly in the exams.

-Examination system is mainly for maintaining the status quo, were in most cases upper class

children are exposed to quality education that leads to high paying jobs.

-working class children are exposed to low quality education that we afford them to low paying

jobs

-streaming pupils according to abilities perpetuates classes as some people end up feeling more

superior to others.

What can be done to rectify the situations?

-find content /syllabi related to the area you are teaching thus making situation who are relevant

to your area.

-find content relevant to the current situation by making teaching practical ,produce

entrepreneurs who will go out and set their own business so that they can be self-employed and

self-reliant let’s make ZIMASSET.

-ensure that children have all the necessary materials / resources needed from schools

-relax the requirements of the underprivileged children

Tasks

Q? 1. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE FUNCTIONALIST AND MAXIST VIEWS ON

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, ENSURE THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

TO THE LEARNERS

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2. COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE VIEWS OF THE FUCTIONALIST AND MAXIST

ON THE ROLE OF EDUCATION WITH RELEVANT EXAMPLES SHOW HOW EACH

OF THEM APPLIES TO.

Tasks 1.

 Functionalist argue that since societies have functional prerequisite that have to be met

people should be placed in different categories.

 dividing people helps to maintain order and stability to the society, and it is unavoidable

 most societies are characterized by shared values, because there is cooperation and

interdependence between the groups as there is no one group that is self-sufficient

therefore the impact to the learners can either be positive or negative and those learners

are placed highly in society are motivated to learn and also have a high self-esteem,

confidence and most likely do well at school as they have access to all the required

resources , in contrary to those ranked low in the social group they become less motivated

to learn, they have a low self-esteem, they lack confidence and are unlikely to do well at

school.

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19/02/2015

MRS O. NGWENYA

INTERACTIONALISM

It is the interactionist, symbolic interactionism

Similarities between Marxism and functionalism

-they both look at society as a whole they are referred as a macro perspective

-they regard society as a system

-they tend to see human behavior as shared by the system

Interactionism is a micro perspective and it differs from the 2 already mentioned.

-Society influence the individual according to functionalism and Marxism

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 Whereas in interactionism the individual influences the society

 Gwarinda (1985:35)0says interactionism is “an approach in sociology which tends to

focus on an individual or small group interactions as an explanation to society.”

 Haralambos and Holbone (1990:4) says “interactionism as its name suggests is concerned

with interaction, which means action between individuals”

 Blummer (1980) argues that symbolic interactionism refers to the peculiar and distinctive

character of interaction between people.

 Because interaction focuses on individual actions as shaping society, is regarded as a

micro perspective

Proponents of interactionism

These are:

1. Max Webber- a German sociologist and economist

2. George .h .mead- an American philosopher

-they both emphasized the subjective meaning of human behavior

-historically, interactionism traces its roots in the pragmatist philosophers like Dewey and

Cooley

Tenants /attributes/characteristics

1. The emphasis on interactions among people

-the organization of social life arises within the society itself and out of the processes of

interaction among members of the society.

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-focus is mainly on the individuals, active relationship with other members of the society.

2. The use of symbols in communication

-people interact and communicate using symbols which include signs, gestures, and most

importantly through written and oral words

-the use of language enables man to communicate his feelings to other members of society

Meaning and interpretation

-it means every act has a meaning

-human beings act towards things on the basis of meaning they give to them

Haralambos and Holbone (1990:6) says “the interaction is perspective begins from the

assumption that action is meaningful those involved” eg actions speak louder than words

-an understanding of an action requires interpretation of the meanings that the actors give to their

activities.

-to understand an act it is therefore necessary to discover the meaning held by actors

-interactionist thus emphasize on subjective meaning of behavior i.e. that they see an act in the

actor’s perspective.

4. Giving meaning to objects/behavior is a continuous process

-interactionist observe that meanings are not fixed entities they depend on the context of

interaction.

-they can be created, developed, modified or changed within the actual process of interaction

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-nothing is taken for granted to be similar to a previous experience

Eg. A pupil entering a new class may define the situation as threatening but later this may

change when he /she starts interacting with them.

Eg. An individual changes language or register with lectures when he is among his colleagues

5. Construction of meaning

Interactionist also place emphasis on how definitions and meanings of action and interaction

processes are constructed through the use of signs and symbols or gestures.

-the definition of an individual involves an investigation of the construction of meaning in the

interaction process e.g.

-a process of negotiation should be engaged in to establish or construct definition or meaning.

-definitions and meanings are therefore constructed in interaction situation by a process of

negotiation

6. Negotiation of roles

-unlike in functionalism were roles are provided by the social system, in interactionism roles are

like meanings and definitions because they are negotiated with individuals.

-the interactionist argue that the unclear nature and vagueness of roles warrants negotiations

-the husband and wife should negotiate on roles.

7. The self-concept

-is a picture of oneself, what one considers one to be

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-how you view yourself as an individual

-self-concept also depends on how others view you as an individual

-interactionist argue that an individual develops a self-concept which has an influence on her

depending on you have a high/low esteem.

-our actions as individuals are shaped by our concepts

-labelling and the self-full filling prophecy emanates from individual self-concept which is

largely a reflection of the reactions of others towards an individual

- Eg a child labelled dull, the label sticks hence full fill the prophecy

Educational implication of interactionist perspective

1. Education has to place emphasis on individual

2. Each individual pupil should be given attention and be understood and assisted in every way

possible

3. Content should be structured to suit individual pupil’s level of understating according to the

Zimbabwe curriculum

4. teachers should provide learning conditions conducive to individual pupils

5. pupils should be allowed to negotiate roles in the classroom eg cleaning

6. teachers should avoid negatively labelling pupils as dull arrogant

7. teachers should a teacher- pupil , pupil-pupil during learning situation

Limitations of interactionist perspective

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 It has been criticized for examining human interaction in a vacuum e.g. in every society

there is a culture to which every individual is socialized into.

-teachers do not design their code of conduct, they found it in place

-interactionism do not realize that institutions are bigger than individuals or not vice versa

-interactionism fails to explain the source of meanings which are found existing in an

organization.

Interactionist fail to take into cognisence power and class domination i.e. there are individuals

who are powerful than others and this detect situations upon others.

Question????????

To what extent is the interactionist perspective applicable in the Zimbabwean secondary

school

curriculum?

First describe the characteristics and then how it applies.

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05/03/2015

MR CHINYOKA

FEMINISM/FEMINIST PESPECTIVE

Proponents of the theory

Christin delphy

Diana leonad

What is feminism?

They are so many different versions of feminism but most of them share common features

-feminist’s theory says the major division is about man and woman

-they provide an understanding of how and why woman are subordinate to man

-theories examine the social cultural processes through which subordination is perpetuated

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Jary and jary (1991:223) say “feminism is a holistic theory concerned with the nature of

women’s global oppression and subordination to men”

-it is a theory which aims at freeing women from men’s suppression and oppression

-feminist believe that the failure by such disciplines as sociology to reflect on the plant and

contributions, there is tendency to undermine women.

-feminist see the exploitation of women by men as the most important source of exploitation

rather than that of the working class by the ruling class.

-many feminists characterize contemporary society as male dominated(patriacal)

-it is a political movement which aims in transforming gender relations which are oppressive to

women

Arca 1997 argues that feminism is an attempt to answering question of addressing the women’s

subordination by men question by answering the following questions:

1. How did women’s oppression and subordination come about

2. Why is it woman’s oppression is perpetuated

3. how would life be without women oppression

Aim of feminism

-the major aim of feminist is to deconstruct these unjust oppressive gender practices with the

ultimate aim to end men’s domination and to ready the society of exploitation of women

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Types of feminism

1.marxist /radical feminism

2.liberal/moderate feminism

3.black feminism

Liberal /moderate feminism

-this is moderate feminism

Boswell 1990 says “liberal feminism questions the traditional views that biological differences

are basis for masculine domination”

-he sees sexual inequality rather than biologically defined, he blames culture for these

differences

- He sees sexual inequality as being made possible by gender role socialization

Observations made in education

-they is unequal access and representation of women in some field of education e.g. science

subject is done more by male students

-women in education have remained in areas under the oppression of man e.g. fewer female

heads in school in Zimbabwe (unite 2000) but in reality, there are more female teachers than

male teachers.

Strategies subjected by feminist to correct the imbalance

1. There should be equal opportunities for all sexes

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2.use of legal reform to change the status core eg affirmative action introduced in tertiary

education in 1990 i.e. students to get to university with lower grades than men

3. Remove barriers that prevent women from realizing their goals eg traditional practices

4. Change the socialization process particularly in the school curricula.

Weaknesses

1. The concept of being equal is ambiguous because equal opportunities in getting places in

universities may not translate to opportunities in the work place

2. The approach ignores the socialization process in other institutions eg the family, religion

3. It is conservative approach likely to help women in elite society

Radical feminism

-it is reaction to the failures of liberal feminism

-it has extreme views, it regards patriarch as the primary cause of women oppression in

subordination. All men of all races and classes are women’s enemies

-the fundamental source of women’s oppression is male domination of women’s body

Women are dominated by men in 2 ways

1. Through pornography e.g. playing cards, sexist jokes, beauty contexts

2. through advertisement e.g.

 Women are dominated by men patriarchal e.g. through marriage women live their homes

to the husband’s, through property laws, through denial of women’s reproductive rights,

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 Radical feminist have no interest in being equal to men, if being equal to man becoming

like the same as man

Observation in the education

-teacher’s attention is unequally divided among boys and girls

-boys in mixed schools oppress or demean female teachers and girls

-what is recorded as knowledge is a record of male decision (arc 1997)

-there is gender stereotyping in schools, in text books, subject

Strategies to correct imbalance

 Teachers have their own teachers no males teaching women

 Expose practices that are against female

 Revision of the curriculum

 Rewriting text books

 Putting female knowledge as human knowledge

 Single sex schools

 Reeducating all males

Weaknesses of radical

- Very costly e.g. rewriting textbooks

- The approach views all women as victims of all men instead of vice versa

- It is accused of biological features

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- The theory looks at girls as passive beings ignoring the fact that girls have the ability to

articulate their oppressors.

- It views the family as a prison ,they tend to emphasize on the dark side of the family

MRS O NGWENYA

12/03/2015

SOCIALIZATION

Definitions

 Esau (1996) defines socialization as the process by which people are developed into

system members interacting with another in a social environment

 Zander (1990:62) defines socialization as a process of social interaction by which people

acquire the knowledge, attitudes, values and behaviors essential for active participation in

society.

 The internet says it is a process of learning how to become human and behave in ways

which are acceptable to the expectations of others

 -it begins at birth and continues throughout one’s lifespan and lifestyle and it necessitates

contact with other people and helps to develop an individual unconsciously.

TYPES OF SOCIALISATION

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2.1 primary socialization

-this happens when there is close personal face to face contact such as in the family contact.

-it takes place during infancy and childhood

-it sets the ground work for all future socialization

-the child gradually picks sounds like language through imitations, attitudes, values and

appropriate action from the members of a certain culture

Later in one’s life primary socialization can be formed with close friends.

2.2 Secondary socialization

This takes place outside the home e.g. at school and it consists mainly of learning appropriate

behaviors for specialized adult roles

-it prepares people for contact with strangers

-it is useful in liberating an individual from dependency on primary attachments within the

family group

2.3 anticipatory socialization

-is a process of preparing for future roles in leadership

-the person rehearses for future positions, occupation, and future relations

2.4 re -socialization

-it refers to the process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of

the transition in one’s life

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-it can be an intense experience where someone takes a sharp and bold break with their past eg

taking drugs, drinking

2.5 organizational socialization

-new comers learn about how an organization operates eg entry at college or university where

one is told the expected behavior in such an organization.

2.6 gender socialization

-this refers to learning the behavior and attitudes considered to be appropriate to a certain gender

or sex

-the way you are expected to behave as a lady or man

2.7 racist socialization

This is a process by which children expected acquire the behaviors, values and attitudes of an

ethnic group e.g. the blacks, Indians, whites and coloreds

a. Cultural socialization

-these are parental exercises that teach children about history (racial) or heritage about pride

development of their race.

B. preparation for bias

-these ate parenting practices focused on preparing children to cope with any form of

discrimination.

C. promotion of mistrust

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-these are parenting practice which socialize children to be careful of people of other races

D. egalitarianism

-socializing children with the belief that all people are equal especially in the lords’ eyes

E. the ability to associate, interact and mingle with other people socially

2.8 broad socialization

-it promotes independence of college students

B. narrow socialization

-is intended to promote obedience and conformity

C. natural socialization

-this is when infants start to play, explore and discover the social world of playing

Deplaned socialization

-this is where by the elder brother/sister teaches the younger respect

Expositive and negative socialization

--positive we promote good behavior and under negative there is punishment

METHODS OF SOCIALISATION

1. Formal socialization

-is what happens primarily in a classroom

-it is structured and controlled

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-it is also directed by teachers who are professional

2. Informal socialization

-it can happen anywhere and any time

-it involves imitation of what others do and say

-early socialization is done informally

3. Agents and agencies

-Agents-under individuals e.g. your brother, friend, cousin etc.

-Agencies are institutions or organizations e.g. prison, church, college

The family as an agency of socialization

-the family is the primary agency of child socialization

-it directs interactions, imitations, and interactions

-negative socialization at home is likely to affect learning at school e.g. parents who quarrel

continuously in front of the children, children tend to fight at school

-a family of alcoholism children such family lacks discipline

-a child from an overprotective home will want the teacher at school to give him attention

always

-a child from an overcrowded home

The school as an agency

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-the school is an extension from home, it reinforces and extends the process of socialization

began in the family

-school provide children with need such as reading and writing

-the school also provides the hidden curriculum i.e. the respect others e.g. teachers, greeting

the elders and stigmatization attached to lower streams in the school leads to self-fulfilling’s

prophecy.

Peer group

-refers to people with similar levels of social standing

Especially in age, education and interests, and neighbors

-they result from peer pressure

-peers are more powerful socializers especially in the adolescence stage

-they serve as information bears, help one another in difficult situation

Mass media

-it transmits hidden messages through watching TV, facebook, whatsapp, twitter

-the conformity to what one watches can be negative or negative.

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MR CHINYOKA

19/03/2015

SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPT-CONTINUED

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

-the concept regards society arranged in strata or stratum (singular).

Stratification refers to the idea that society is divided into strata or unequal groups, these

groups tend to continue through generation

-society has social groups ranked one above the other eg in terms of amount of power, wealth

and prestige

-social stratification is a fact of life, it’s a common phenomenon

-socialization has a lot to do with stratification

Eg chieftainship in Zimbabwe, Indian caste system –people are not allowed to move up or

down in the strata.

Functionalist view on social stratification

-they are many views people hold on social stratification

-functionalist talk of classes.

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-functionalist encourage stratification because they believe that when people are put into

strata hold common values that provide stability to society.

--basic needs must be meet for society to survive

-society is to fill key positions by the right people

-unequal reward must be allocated to these positions

-king, chief, headman then ordinary people

At school, the head, senior teacher, hood, teacher, pupils

Salaries must also be different according to classes

-education is a selection agent for planning people according to their ability

-education is offered on merit

Strength of this view

-it acknowledges that people have different ability and talent and must be awarded differently

according to merit.

Weaknesses

Ignores the inheritance of privilege and ideological political influences that can restore

position or status.

Conflict or Marxist view on social stratification

The Marxist say stratification are used for discrimination

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-they view stratification as a means, the powerful use to share resources

-therefore it is a tool or instrument for oppression.

The layer in society bring about social, political, educational and economic inequality.

Marxist say stratification is a source of class conflict or classes

-stratification based on power is unfair and unnecessary, it is harmful to society

-they say people of power make laws that must make power to continue in their hands.

-groups compete for scarce resources which result ill feeling of one class against the other.

-they stratification is necessitated by selfish control of means of production by those who are

rich, powerful through corrupt means.

Advantages

-it acknowledges inheritance of privilege so that the rich leave behind their riches to

individuals of their class who continue to manipulate them.

Weakness

-it ignores real inequality in society

-it stratification as difficult to eliminate but all the same an evil that is undesirable

Q????Symbolic stratification

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DATE 05-03-2015

LECTURER: MR M CHINYOKA

SUBJECT: SOCIOLOGY

TOPIC: feminism/ feminist perspectives

Proponents of the theory

 Christine delphy

 Diana neonad

What is feminism?

 Feminist postulate that major divisions in the society is between men and women

 They provide an understanding of how and why women are subordinate to men

 These theories examine the socially culture through which subordination can be

perpetuated

 Jerry and Jerry (1991:223) say “feminism is a holistic theory concerned with the nature of

women’s global oppression and subordination to men.”

 It is a theory which aimed at freeing all women from men’s premiscure and

Exploitation

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 They believe that the failure by such disciplines as sociology to reflect on the planned

and contribution to women

 They see the exploitation of women by men as the most exploitation rather than the

one of working class by the ruling class

 Many feminist characterise contemporary society

 It is a political movement which aim to transform gender basis which are

oppressive to women

 Aurther (1977) argues that feminism is an attempt to address women oppression

by men by answering the following questions

1. How did women oppression and subordination come about?

2. Why it is that women’s oppression is perpetuated?

3. How would life be without women oppression?

Aim of feminists

 The major aim is to deconstruct these unjust and oppressive gender practices with the

ultimate aim to end men domination

Types of feminism

 Marxism feminism/ radical

 Liberal feminism/ moderate

 Black feminism/

Liberal feminism

 This is moderate

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 Vuswen (1990) says ,”liberal feminism questions the traditional view that biological

differences are the basis for muscularly dominations, he sees it as cultural rather than

biological differences, he sees social inequalities caused by gender role of socialisation

Observation made in education

 There is no equal access and representation of women in some fields of education

 Women in education have remained in areas under the oppression of men e.g. there are

fewer female school heads in Zimbabwe (UNICEF 2000) but in reality there are more

female teachers than male teachers

Strategies suggested by feminists to correct this imbalance

1. Equal opportunities for all sexes

2. Use of legal reform to change the status core e.g. affirmative actions

3. Remove barriers which prevent women from realising their goal e.g. doing away with

some traditional practises like

4. Change the socialisation process in the school curriculum

Criticism of feminism

 The concept of being equal is ambiguous because equal opportunities in getting places in

universities may not

 The approach ignores the socialisation process in other institution e.g. family, religion

 It is a conservative approach likely to help women in a society

Radical feminism

 It is a reaction to the failures of the liberal feminism

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Main ideas

 It has extreme views

 It regards partial as the primary cause to the oppression of women as subordination by

men

 The fundamental source of women oppression is the domination of their bodies

Two major ways of oppression of women are

Ideologically

1. Sexist jokes

2. Modelling

3. Through advertisements

4. Through pornography

Patriarch ally

1. Through marriage

2. Property laws

3. Denial of women reproductive rights

Observations made to education

1. Teachers attention in class is unequally divided among boys and girls

2. Boys in mixed schools oppress or demean female teachers and girls

3. What is regarded as knowledge is a record of men’s decisions (Acker)

4. There is gender stereo typing in subjects and also in textbooks e.g. pictures like a man

driving a tractor and a woman swiping the yard

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Correction of imbalance

1. Female must have their own female teachers

2. Exposing practices that bare against female

3. Revision of the curriculum

4. Rewriting textbooks

5. Putting female knowledge as human knowledge

6. Single sex schools

7. Re-educating all males

Weaknesses of these strategies

1. Costly e.g. rewriting of textbooks

2. Tend to view all females as victims of all men

3. Accused of biological determinism

4. Theory looks at girls as passive beings ignoring the fact that girls have the ability to

articulate

5. It views the family as a prison

6. They tend to emphasize on the dark side of the family

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07 May 2015

Lecturer: Mrs O Ngwenya

Topic: Social status

 Gelles and Levile (1999:275)view status as a term used to describe a person an individual

occupy or holds in society

 Adams (2000) it is an socially defined person within a group or society

 Most sociologists refer to status as a person in a social structure Ferranti (2003)

 A social structure consists of two or more people interacting and interrelating in specific

expected ways e.g. a social structure can consist of the two status of lecturer and students

or doctor and patient. this is refer to two-person status social structure

 There is also a multiply status social structure such as the family school athletics teams

 Therefore societies have different person that have to be occupied and are attached as

status e.g. status of a father in a family , pastor in church

 A status simple functions as a social address e.g. how people should address you, who

you are and what you are.

 It td tells the people where the individual fits in society as a father, doctor and a student

etc.

 A person social status gives us same idea of the behaviour that we can expect from him

or her

 It also affects how you will interact with that person

 Each person occupies a number of social status e.g. husband , son and student

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 A status has a got a meaning in relation to other status

Different types of status

An ascribed status

 One assigned to an individual of birth or at different stages in the life cycle

 They are static and not prone to change e.g. born shone you will die shone , born black

and die black

Achieved status

 This one that is earned through an individual’s effort and choice

A master status

 It is one that turns to override or dominate or dominate over others it is the ones that

determines a person social identify for many occupation is the most dominate

 At times the concepts of master status is most associated with criminal behaviour which

tends to overshadow other social characteristics such as gender

A status set

 This is a combination of several status occupied simultaneously by an individual

Status inconsistence

 It refers to status that cause contradiction a behaviour expectations where there is lack of

agreement between status g a high educated person employed as an unskilled labour

 The level of education will suggest a relatively high status but his occupation be of low

status

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Social roles

 Status and roles are opposite sides of the same coin

 A status is occupied whole a role is acted Bulletined 1993 defines a role as a set of

responsibility that are expected to be carried and by an individual occupying a certain

status

 Adams 2000 views a role as the collection of culturally defined rights , obligation and

expectations that accompany a status in a social system

 Farrant 2003 :152 role is the term used to describe the behaviour expected of a status in

relationship to another status e.g. a lecturer is expected to lecture to students give

assignment and assists in project and the students write assignments

 Therefore roles refers to duties or responsibilities that go with a particular status

Different views on roles

 Functionalists are of the view that roles help in the maintaining the system

 They help in the smooth of functioning of any organisation or society as each member is

aware of what he is expected to do e.g. role of the lecture are diff from that of the

principal

 With the functionalists views are the conflict theorists who argue that roles can be used as

means of bargaining and attaining membership and acceptable in a social , cultural and

material assets or capital it can be referred to as cultural deprivation roles held by some

people put them in advantages positions for obtaining the resources of the society

 Using roles same individuals pursue their own interest and create opportunities for

themselves e.g. SRC president gets largest share in the dining

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 The more authority there is in a role a rather the greater

 The possibility of conflict between that roles and roles of less and lower authority

 It is the socialism process that forces students into a subordinate role of that of the teacher

 Role expectation are social prescribed and they include both rights and obligation

 The rights define what a person assuming that role demands or expects from others e.g.

lecturers demanding students to meet deadlines of assignments

 The obligation define appropriate relationship and behaviour expected of a person

assuming that role e.g. students to be punctual , phones on silence

 Lectures right should correspond with the students obligation

 The obligation define appropriate relationship and behaviour to be total predictable ,

sometimes people do not meet their roles , obligations hence the notation of other

people role rights

 Roles are also carried out different because people resolve role strain and role strain and

role conflict

 Role strain occurs when a single status makes conflicting demands on a person

 Role conflict occurs when the different statues on individual occupies make incompatible

demands

 Role set refers to the cluster of different social relationships in which a person becomes

he or she occupies a particular social e.g. SRC president, student husband etc.

 Status and roles play an important part in groups and societies at large

 People tend to interact according to the status they occupy and the roles that they plan

this results in patterned behaviour which brings about social status and roles also make it

possible for us to interact with other people without knowing them

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 A) identify various statuses in the school system and discuss the roles attached to each

status

 B) with the relevant examples from the school differentiate between rights and obligation

 C) discuss the concepts achieved status and ascribed status and show how the

understanding of the concept can assist the teacher in machinery his or her learners

 D) discuss the terms role conflict and role strain examine their effects in secondary

school

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Date: 14-05-15

Lecturer: Mrs O Ngwenya

Topic: the concept culture and education

 According to Giddens (2005:22) culture refers to the ways of life of the members of a

society or of groups within the society

 Horton and Hunt (1984:46 and 47) say culture is everything which is socially learned and

shared by members of the society, these could be the customs, beliefs and achievements

of a particular group of people

 There are 2 types of culture the tangible or material culture e.g. drums used in music like

mbira, dresses, buildings, cars etc. and the intangible or non-material culture e.g.

language, ideas, habits, beliefs, customs, values and norms

 Culture can be seen through language , dressing, tradition and other ways of behaviour

 Food is also determined by culture

 Culture is dynamic and always changing

 Language reflects what a society regards as important and what is not important e.g.

some people care a lot about time punctuality

 In some cultures other people hug each other

 In our African culture there must be space between e.g. a mother in law and a daughter in

law.

 Culture is an organised system of norms and values which people holds

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Culture as a system of norms

 According to Horton and Hunt , norms are the rules of behaviour which reflects a cultures

values i.e. the norms are sets of behaviour expectations in particular situations e.g. dating

among teenagers or adolescents is accepted in some cultures

 Norms either forbid certain conduct or specified desired conduct

 Values are abstract ideas or beliefs of what is important or worthwhile

 Values are broader and more general than the norms

 Values and norms work together to shape how members of a culture should behave

Mores

 These are beliefs in the righteous or wrongness of certain acts in a society

 They are expected to be learnt and accepted without questions

 These are formally agreed on in a community as a customary practice e.g.

Sub cultures

 They are socially groups that exist within the main stream of society and share practices

which are not shared by the rest of the society

 Can be built around occupations, religious inclinations, age, sex, nationality, socially

classes and personality

Counter culture

 Horton and Hunt (1984:63) say is a sub culture which is not nearly different from but

sharply opposed to the dominant values of society

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Culture shock

 It is experience of disorientation and frustration that occurs when individuals find

themselves among people who don’t share their way of doing things

Ethnocentrism

 Horton and Hunt (1984:74) is 1 that view of things in one’s own group is the centre of

everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it

 It is the feeling that one’s own culture is the best in all respect and that others are inferior

Xenocentrism

 Is a preference for a foreign culture of a belief that one’s own culture is inferior to those

that originate somewhere

BERNSTEIN’S THEORY OF CULTURE

 Bernstein was an English sociologist whose theory was based on linguistic

 He distinguished 2 forms of speech patterns which he termed the elaborated code and

restricted code

Restricted code

 In the restricted code sentences are not finished but you can use gestures, short hand

speech and meanings are not readily available

 The restricted code is characterised by short grammatically often unfinished utterances

with a limited use of descriptive words in other words meanings and intentions are

conveyed more by gestures and voice intonation than words which are tied to particular

social groups

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Elaborated code

 There is explicit verbalising of meaning, detailed explanations and meanings are

universal

 It is able to negotiate and discuss voice and gestures and they also show emotions or

anger

Cultural deprivation theory

 Haralambos and Holborn (1995:74) states that the sub culture of low income groups is in

deficiency in certain important respect which are linguistic , deprivation , experimental,

cognitive and personality deficiencies

 The theory places the blame for educational failure on the children and their families,

their neighbourhood and the subculture of their social group

Bourdieu cultural capital theory

 Bourdein was a French sociologist mostly influenced by Marxism ( conflict theory)

 He blamed the failure of the working class children on the education system which is

systematically biased towards the culture of the dominant social classes

 The knowledge and skills of the working class become redundant

 The role of education is to reproduce the culture of the dominant class

 He refers to the dominant culture as cultural capital because through the educational

system it can be translated into wealth and power

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 Students with the upper class background have a built in advantage of culture capital

( dominant culture) e.g. they possess the linguistic code used in the schools and he called

that cultural privation

Application

 As a teacher you should to provide compensatory to the socially deprived and provide

remedial work, use simple language, and cater for the needs for the individual, reward

and acknowledge them

 Use mixed ability grouping so that the children can learn from one another

 Acknowledge and reward success and avoid labelling and stereotyping

 Ensure that the pupils experience success and provide counselling in extreme cases

 To the children who are deprived, it has a negative relationship is pupils use restricted

code to hamper both oral and written communication.

 Most of the school fees is not paid in time hence they spend most of the time out of

school

 As a result of being hungry there is poor concentration in class

 Unavailability of ICT at home

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Date: 21 May 2015

Lecturer: Mrs O Ngwenya

Topic: Multi-cultural and education

 A multi-cultural society is a plural society that has more than one racially or culturally

defined group eg blacks and whites etc.

 A multi-culturalism is characterised by the presence of differing racial ethnic and social

groups in a given society

 It is also referred to as cultural pluralism

 Horton and Hunt (1984:97) cultural pluralism is a form of accommodation in which

ethnic groups return their distinct cultural differences while operating peacefully and

relatively equal in political, economic and social life with the main stream culture

 It seeks to promote cultural variety and respect for one another’s culture

 Multi-culturalism is dominant like USA, Canada, Australia, UK, SA, Zimbabwe etc.

 Multi culturalism reads to 2 concepts which are ethnocentrism and xenocentrism

 Ethnocentrism is that view of things in one’s own group is the centre of everything and

all others are scaled and rated with references and it becomes the standard measure

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 Xenocentrism is the opposite of ethnocentrism- it is preference of foreign culture with the

belief that one’s ideas, products are inferior to those that originate somewhere else eg

some people think that clothes from other countries are better

Multi-cultural education

 Valks and lynch (1986:201) define it as a reform movement that attempts to change

schools so that all students from all groups will have an equal opportunity to learn

 Atmore (1994) sees it as the acceptance of the similarities and differences between and

within cultural reality meaning that students should learn and appreciate cultural diversity

Aims and goals of multi-cultural education

 It seeks to accommodate all the norms and values of the culture serves

 Promotes the aspirations and the educational needs of both minority and majority of the

various communities

 Is cultural enriches all children and youths through programs that preserves and extend

cultural alternatives hence developing cultural tolerance

 it serves as an agent for social change since students identify with other group

Multi-cultural education in Zimbabwe

 in colonial Zimbabwe the segregator type of education did very little to promote the

development of the black man’s culture

 lynch (1981) in a multi-cultural society the curriculum must be a community based one

students should develop a better understanding of own backgrounds of other groups in

society, this goes on to satisfy the views of Lorton who says curriculum is a selection

from the culture of society

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 education has been seen as a vehicle by which healthy ethnic relation have to be

promoted eg intermarriage

 considerations of minority groups are very crucial in educational issues

 the 1987 education act says no child in independent Zimbabwe shall be refused or denied

admission to any school on the bases of race , tribe, colour, religion, creed, place of

origin, physical opinion or the social and critical status of his parents

 in multi-cultural education there are no for a particular race thus why at independence the

current abolished the existence of all white schools which were mostly located at low

density suburbs and classified them as group A and B schools

 in independent Zimbabwe minority languages such as Kalanga that are also given a place

in the curriculum

 the language policy declares that at primary level specifically refers to grade 1-3 local

languages must be taught by teachers who are fluent in that language so that the

curriculum is community based

 isiNdebele as chi Shona are compulsory to Ndebele and Shona speaking communities

 the common and official language ( English) must be taught as 2nd language

Advantages of multi-culturalism

 it breaks monotony and provides variety

 it creates and increase wide knowledge base

 lynch (1981) argues that as long as cultural diversity is not used as a tool for any division

and segregation it is a healthy phenomenon that can promote unit and tolerance

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Disadvantages of multi-culturalism

 Gwarinda 2001 says there is a tendency of people condemning other peoples culture

while boasting that their own culture is the best hence becoming the standard measure

against which one judge all the other cultures

 It creates ethnocentrism and xenocentrism

 It creates bias prejudice and killings of hatred of other social groups

 Ethnocentrism always wars in the society

 Questions Identify operations in the secondary school systems that try to cater for pupils

from different cultural background, how effective are they , if not effective suggest

possible strategies

 Problems which you may include

 Cultural deprivation vs. cultural capital

 Discrimination of peoples according to social class background

 Language barrier

 Conflict among the various social groups

Solutions

 Group interactions

 Counselling

 Positive discrimination

 Use of varied instructional media

 Consultations coupled with home visits

 Embrace ethnic diversity, tolerance and acceptance

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Date 28 May 2015

Lecturer Mrs O Ngwenya

Topic: Adolescence Delinquency

 On An adolescence is a young person in transition from child hood to adult hood

 The age of adolescence is approximated from 12 -18 years although some may extend to

20

 Delinquency is anti-social criminal or misconduct done by young people

 It is social disapproved behaviour

Delinquent is a youth who constant fails to conform to the norms, values, rules of

the community

 The delinquent reject and is rejected by the community and becomes part of the group

that is opposed to the mainstream culture

 The delinquent belongs to the delinquent sub culture

 Haralambos and Holborn 2004:336 argue that the delinquent sub culture takes its norms

from large culture but turns them upside down

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Society versus adolescence expectations

 Society expects obedience of social norms, rules and values from everyone including

adolescence

 Every individual is expected to responsible and accounted for his action

 Adolescence because of the physical and emotional changing there are experiencing

rarely conform to the expectation of the society

 The transition from childhood to adult hood makes them expects independence hence

refusing guidance from elders

 They scrutinise for asses societal rules and norms and keep away most of them and live

according their own rules

 There want their roles to be clarified as they seek social recognition

 Most of the times they want to experiment with everything

 Thus the adolescence and social expectations goes parallel , because of the parallelism

the adolescent is like to be a delinquently

Types of the delinquent acts or behaviours

Acquisitive tendency

 This is a habitual /chronic tendency of acquiring the material things

Forgery

 On reports and academic qualifications

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Pyromaniac

 Is someone who as an obsessive desire to start destructive fires in order to destroy

evidence relieve stress

Aggressive tendency

 Damaging school property

 Tearing pages from the library

Sexual activities

 That are contrary to the dominant sexual acts of the community eg rape , prostitution ,

deliberate exposure , display of ones assets/ organs indecent public

Feminism

Sociological explanation of adolescence delinquency

 Social theories assume that all human behaviour is social learnt

 Criminal behaviour is learnt through the interaction with bad people who are involved in

criminal activities

 HH 2004:337 says that criminal sub culture tend to emerge in areas where there is an

established pattern of organised adult crime

 in such areas a learning environment is provided for the young there are exposed to

criminal skills and deviant values and presented with criminal role models

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Labelling theories

 adolescence delinquency is a result of a societal perception judgment and reaction to the

behaviour in question

 it is not the act itself but the reaction to the act that makes something deviant

 e.g. the people level taking someone property without permission as theft then the person

is labelled as a thief

Labelling is in stage

 primary deviation – is where someone commits a deviate act and sees it as a mistake

 secondary deviation-this is labelling by the society eg being called a thief , prostitute

or a bully because of the acts that you have done

 social rejection and stigmatising- where the label largely overrides the other

status e.g. homosexuals

 the stable pattern of grievance –this where the deviate act as been established

 delinquency sub culture –is whereby there is now accepted by other delinquency

Environmental factors

 physical surrounding and delinquency –the highly congested areas are prone to

delinquency eg makhokhoba , mzilikazi , mbare

 the home and delinquency –different family patterns bring up their children differently

some parents promote delinquent behaviour in their children examples of home

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environment that contribute to the delinquency in children are broken homes, marital

discord , poverty , both mother and father are employed and children feel neglected and

deprived f or there parental love, detachment

 prolonged absence by the parents results in the development of affectionless behaviour

which in turn brings about the child to delinquency behaviour

 disability of parents- children may be stressed and end up in delinquency behaviour to

release that stress

 partiality of parents – these are parents who prefer and give favours to one child

 the overcrowded home – this happens most in high suburbs areas where one room is

being shared by many people , children sleeping in the same room with the parents

 chronically ill parents –

The school and the delinquency

 location of school – a school which is located where there is high crime rates there can be

affected because learners have got bad role model

 lack of the discipline in the school

 Emotional climate in the school – if the head and teachers are always quarrelling the

students will notice that there is no respect for one another

 Lack of facilities like games in the library

 There have nowhere to go and relax there mind

 Lack of guidance and counselling section in the school curriculum were the social issue

that the students are facing are not discussed.

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 Understanding of children needs by the school authorities- school authorities should

consider the needs of the students

Prevention measures in the schools

 These school must strive to provide were pupils should enjoy games and should also offer

different discipline

 Offer guidance and counselling section to be included in the curriculum

 Teacher to teacher , teacher to pupil , and student to student relation to improve

 Discipline must be consistence , discipline your students fairly

 Teachers should also avoid improper association with the students or leaners

 Financial material and resources must be fairly distributed even among the students

 School atmosphere must be free from emotional stress must be conducive for learning

and teaching

 Execute high degree of professionalism in the school , community

 By avoiding stereo typing and labelling learners degrading and programing failure in

some learners

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Date: 04 June 2015

Lecturer: Mrs N Shava

Time: 1400hrs-1530hrs

Topic: order and deviance

Order

 It refer to the condition in which every part, unit etc. is in its right place (the concise

oxford dictionary)

 In most if not all societies it is achieved through socialising members into the accepted

norms and values of that society.

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Deviance

 Is a noun from the verb deviate which means to turn aside or diverge from a course of

action, rule, truth etc.?

 Individuals who deviate or refuse to live by the rules followed by the majority are termed

deviants

 Adams (2000:373) says, “ deviance is the label for all forms of behaviour that are

considered unacceptable, threatening, harmful or offensive in terms of the standard or

expectations of a particular or social group.”

 The behaviour violets the standards of conduct or expectations through rules and

regulations

 Giddanes (2001:203), “deviance may be defined as non conformity to a given set of

norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a society.”

 Therefore the study of deviance behaviour considers the rules observed by people those

they are breaking, why they are breaking them and how that can be controlled for the

survival of the society

 Deviance is relative, it can only be defined in relation to a particular standard and no

standards are fixed or absolute

 What is regarded as deviance varies from place to place and from time to time

 What could be considered deviant today may be defined normal in the near future

 It is also culturally defined- an act defined as deviant is a particular culture may be

perfectly normal in another culture

 There are basically 2 forms of deviance name crime and delinquency

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Crime

 Crime refers to those activities that break the law and are subject to punishment

 Schaefer (2003:199) defines crime as, “a violation of criminal law for which some

governmental authority applies formal penalties.” The criminal deviates from formal

social norms administered by the state,

 Laws divide that crimes into variety categories depending on the severity of the offence,

the age of the offender, the potential punishment that can be levied and court that hold

jurisdiction over the case.

Delinquency

 It refers to criminal or anti-social acts that are committed by young people eg

 Different sociologist view deviance differently

Functionalists view on deviance

 Functionalists see crime and deviance resulting from structural tension a lack of moral

regulation within a society (Giddanes 2003)

 If the aspiration and desires held by individuals or groups are not met it results in deviant

motivation of some of its members

 They emphasise on the importance of shared norms and values as the basis of social order

 The analysis of deviance begins with the society as a whole

 They look for the source of deviance in the nature of society rather than the individuals

 Durkhen and Merton argue that deviance is necessary in all societies , it is universal and

normal, thus inevitable performing positive functions for social systems

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Date: 11 June 2015

Lecturer: Mrs N Shava

Time: 1400-1530 hrs.

Topic: continuation of Functionalists view on deviance

 Two important functions fulfilled by deviants are

 1. The adapting function which introduces new ideas and changes into society

 It is an innovative force that brings about change since societies need to progress rather

than stagnant

 2. It also promotes boundary maintenance between good and bad behaviour within

society through social control mechanism

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There are 2 forms of social control mechanism

1. Informal control mechanism

 These are based on unwritten rules and acceptance of social norms and values

 They form a close part of everyday life through the family, school, church, peers and

mass media socialisation.

 In conforming to established norms and values individuals usually receive acceptance

and rewards as positive sanctions eg being respected, trusted

 Those who break the rules or norms and values receive negative sanctions eg being

condemned

2. Formal control mechanism

 These are based on written rules and laws of the state passed by the government and

interpreted in courts of law

 Negative sanctions such as fines, imprisonment etc.

 are imposed

 It is social accepted that the law is morally right thus should be obeyed

Marxists views on deviance

 They recognise that social is necessary for a society to function effectively and efficiently

 To them one class( ruling class) gains far more from society than other classes

 It is the ruling class that seeks to maintain or impose social by a variety of means

 They agree with functionalist that socialisation plays a crucial role in promoting

conformity and order

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 They are highly critical of the values and norms of the capitalist society

 The working class is to conform to a social order which works against its real interest

therefore conflict not consensus is the fundamental social reality

 Marxists see deviance as emanating from unequal power relations and inequality in

general

 In capitalists societies, rules and laws operate in favour of the ruling class and to the

disadvantage of the working class

 Because of this bias working class people are more likely to become deviants eg the

poorer results in theft

 O’Donnell (1992:306) argues “…… many so called criminals and deviants in capitalists

society are seen as victims of the system”

Interactionist views on deviance

 Is seen as socially constructed

 Interactionist reject the idea that there are types of conduct that are inherently deviant

 Interactionist are mainly concerned with how behaviours initially come to be defined as

deviance and why certain groups and not others are labelled as deviants

 According to Becker society not the deviant is responsible for deviance, to him deviant

behaviour is behaviour that people label so

 Sutherland advances the notion that deviance is learned as individuals associate with each

other there is a tendency that they learn from one another especially peer groups

 Labelling theorists interpret deviance not as a set of characteristic of individual or groups

but as a process of interaction between deviants and non-deviants

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 People who represent the forces of law and order do most of the labelling

 Labelling not only affect others see an individual but also influences the individual’s

sense of self

 Once a label has been given it can be difficult to get read of an individual ends up

accepting the label and sees himself or herself a deviant

 Question1. Identify and discuss various deviants behaviours prevalent in secondary

schools, show how best teachers can deal with deviant pupils

 Question2. Asses the major factors contributing to learner deviant behaviour

Date: 18 June 2015

Lecturer: Mrs N. Shava

Time: 1400-1530 hrs.

Topic: Family

 Haralambos, Holbone and Heald (2004) citing Murdock (1949) define a family as “ a

social group characterised by common residents, economic cooperation and reproduction,

it includes adults of both sexes, at least 2 of whom maintain a socially approved sexual

relationship and one or more children own or adopted of the sexually cohabiting adults.”

 Giddens (1997:140) says, “A family is a group of persons directly linked by kin

connections, the adult members of which assume responsibility for caring for children.”

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 Fields and Casper (2001) define a family as “ 2 or more persons related by blood,

marriage or adoption and living in the same residence”

Characteristics of a family

 Two adults persons of opposite sexes who maintain a socially approved relationship with

each other

 A single household living together under the same roof

 There is reproduction

 An establishment of a common sub-culture

 Economic cooperation therefore we can say a family lives together, pools its resources

and works together to produce off springs

Family patterns

The nuclear family

 This is the smallest type of a family which consists of a husband and wife and their off

spring

 It results in dwelling not shared with relatives

 It is economically independent with father or mother or both being bread winners

 Members devote loyalty exclusively to each other

 Emphasis is on privacy of the family affairs

 It keeps contact with relatives

 It is commonly found in urban cities

 Roles are rarely defined

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Advantages

 Low costs

 Family bonds are maintained

 It is manageable

Disadvantages

 Limited socialisation

The extended family

 This is the type of a family that is broader than a nuclear which is related by descendants,

marriage or adoption

 Can comprise of parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties

 2 or more nuclear families are coupled together by the extension of the parent child

relationship

 Members are economically interdependent

 Mutual assistance and support are regarded as culturally obligatory

Advantages

 More support from members of the family

 Cultural values are maintained

Disadvantages

 Conflicts arises

 Lack of privacy

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 More expenses

Polygamous

 This is the type of family in which a man marries more than one wife

 Two or more nuclear families are coupled together by marriage such that one member,

the father is a common member of several nuclear families

 In this type of family male dominance is common and women are subordinates

 Roles are clearly defined

 It is commonly found in in traditional societies

 It is characterised by competition, jealous and sometimes hatred among wives and

between children from different wives

 There are some religious group that practice polygamy

 However in instances where the husband is firm and fair there is love and unity among

the wives and children from different families

Polyandry

 Is a type of a polygamous family where 2 or more marry one wife

 It is common in Indian society where one woman marries a group of brothers

Advantages

 Balances the ratio

Disadvantages

 Spread of diseases

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 Promotes infidelity

 Witchcraft

 Divides children of the same blood

 Squabbles when the man dies

Re-constituted family

 This is a type of family where divorcees bring in fucked

children from former marriages( yours, mine then ours)

Single parent family

 This is a form of a nuclear family where one parent brings up his or her children

 Single parents families commonly emanates from divorce or death

 However nowadays there are some women who choose to remain single

 Child headed family

 This is a type of a family where children are left to take care of themselves

 No adult is involves in the bringing up the children

 Children brought up in such families are poorly socialised since they lack proper norms

and values

Functions of a family

 Socialisation role- equipping children with appropriate norms and values

 Reproduction- reproducing children

 Economic role -It provides financial support

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Implications to teaching

 The teacher should be able to understand the behaviour of pupils

 The teacher should be able to handle children from different backgrounds

 The teacher should be a guidance counsellor

 The teacher should avoid favouritism and treat all children equally

 It will help the teacher come up with different strategies to help children

Date: 23 July 2015

Lecturer: Mr Siziba R

Time: 14 00 – 15 30

Topic: Gender and education

Gender

 These are socially ascribed roles and responsibilities that society gives to men and

women

 Have a tendency of changing from one society to another

 Sex is the biological endowment of humans as in them being either male or female

Gender and education

 Differences that boys and girls finds in school

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Factors that affect gender inequalities

 Universal for all children was adopted as part of UN conversion on the rights of the

children

 The UN views that education of girls as being central to world development

 Equality in education has become central to the millennium development goals(MDG)

 Unicef 2002 points out that girls from the majority of the 120 million children who does

not go to school especially in the developing world,

 Girls continue to suffer discrimination , problems of school attendance as well as drop

outs are more prevalent among girls in Africa than boys

Historical background

 Colonial Zimbabwe and Africa buttressed the traditional systems in Africa

 White administrators tended to follow African traditional beliefs where it suited them eg

female workers such as teachers and nurses were paid lowly than their male counterparts

 Colonial rule did not have the plight of women and girls

Socio-cultural factors

 Certain cultural values tend to increase the gender gap , the subordination and oppression

of women is a cultural factor

 Male authority and superiority together with a library of beliefs and myths has been

constructed to keep women subordinated

 Even in the legal field legislation takes into consideration customary laws , these include

laws relating to inheritance

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High illiteracy rate in Africa

 is because of limited accessibly of education by girls

 The education of girls is seen as irrelevant

 Girls are brought up with a view that their education is not important

Gender and child marriage

 Girls have a tendency of marring early as compared to boys

 Some girls even marry before they complete basic education

 In Ghana eg one region experience 3404 teenagers between the age of 10 and 19 who

were pregnant between 223 and 2004

 In northern Nigeria 55% of girls between 15 and 19 were already mothers

 Some parents withdraw from school as a way of preventing possible pregnancy

 Some countries even have lower legal age of marriage for girls than for boys eg Togo

female can marry at 17 but males at 21

Gender and religion

 Traditional practices in African religion as well as other religions such as Islam,

Christianity tend to deny girls education.

 African traditional- Girls are at times given over to appease spirits

 Islamic countries – strict sharia forbids women from getting educated, girls and women

are forcible excluded from the sight of men.

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 Christianity also – has sects that forbids female education, education is seen as a way of

indoctrinating people especially girls, girls are therefore left in pure by prohibiting them

in going to school

Gender and poverty

 Researchers have pointed out that if poverty was personified it would be female

 Researchers talk about the feminisation of poverty, more than 75% of the world’s poor

are female

 When men control the family economy they tend to sponsor boys to school than girls

 Girls are usually given roles as foster parents

 Poverty therefore tends to affect females more than male

Gender and household duties

 Females are usually given more household duties than males , they toil in their field,

vegetable gardens, they gather firewood, draw water, prepare and cook food, take care of

children

 Household duties therefore tend to disturb the education of girls more than that of boys

 Girls are told to prepare for motherhood

Socialisation

 The socialisation of girls and that of boys tends to benefit the boys, in the classroom even

teachers tend to socialise boys to their advantage (boys)

 Boys are given leadership, they are expected to be vocal and independent

 Girls on the other hand are praised for being neat, quiet and calm

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Classroom implication

 The teacher must be aware of the disadvantages most females face

 He must seek to correct the stereotypes that children are brought up with

 Females must be given an opportunity to lead

 They must be challenged to excel academically

 The teacher must provide corrective career guidance

 He must expose pupils to the opportunities that are open to both boys and girls

 The teacher must avoid on looking down on females and undermining their confidence

LECTURER: MR. L. MOYO

DATE: 23/05/2016

TOPIC: SOCIOMETRY

 Sociometry is a study of groups, their interactive nature, including how people within

those groups prefer working together. Their preferences are guided by certain social

indicators.

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 The term Sociometry relates to Socius – Latin word (companion), Metrum – Latin word

(measure). It was coined by Jacob Moreno he says Sociometry is , “the inquiry into the

evolution and organisation of groups and the position of individuals within the groups”

 Sociometry as a science of group organisation. It attacks the problem of group

challenges, not from the outer structure of the group but from the inner structure.

 Sociometric explorations reveal the hidden structures that give the group its form, the

alliances, the sub groups, the hidden beliefs, the forbidden agendas, the ideological

agreements and the ‘stars’ of the show.

The alliances

 These are children who help each other and work together for whatever purposes

Sub-groups

 Division in terms of gender/sex i.e. boys and girls

 They may further be divided into groups of ability, i.e. group 1, 2, 3...

Hidden beliefs

 Beliefs that pupils come with from their homes, e.g. praying assisting one to pass

 Moreno studied Sociometry in the hope that understanding individuals within a group

will give clear understanding or enlightenment about individual behaviour in association

with strangers or familiar people within the group.

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 The study of Sociometry assists treating people with a given group in consideration of

their difference and similarities, interests and dislikes, characters and behaviour

 Each child should be given a chance to say something

 Moreno further said, children’s characters/ group characteristics can be depicted in a

sociogram. It purpose is to discover group structure e.g.,

 1st choice  2nd choice  3rd choice

1. Anne  2  3  4

2. Susan  3  4  1

3. John,

4. Peter

 Sociometry also enhances the teacher to be able to have positive nomination when

arranging groups in the classroom (the student would have indicated whom they like

and dislike)

 The teacher can also have fixed nomination (e.g. in a class with a few number of

pupils or with either boys or girls only)

 It uses a survey to make group combination decisions

 The survey makes use of children’s responses by indicating their 1 st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th

preferences

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The relevance of Sociometry in the classroom

1. To appreciate that a classroom is always made of different types of children in terms of

social backgrounds, intellectual capabilities, preferences. A reflective teacher can take

advantage of those differences and similarities to enhance effective learning

2. Understanding group dynamics within a classroom assists the teacher in group

association, decision making or allocating responsibilities

3. Understanding group dynamics also assists the teacher to make decisions on where to

improve where there are association weaknesses/in-effective group linkages

4. Understanding group dynamics avb helps the teacher decide on collaborative

learning approaches /activities0

5. Sociometry assists the teacher to note influential characteristics within the class, these

characteristics can be used by the teacher to benefit the entire class, e.g. if one is a good

reader he can be used as a peer educator instead of the teacher talking and talking.

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DATE : 13/06/16

LECTURER : MR T. MNKANTJO

TOPIC : LEADERSHIP

 Any school organisation has a leader who performs a number of functions like leading,

directing and or coordinating all school activities

 It has been said that the underdevelopment of individuals, human resources is a directive

reflection on adequate leadership

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Definition of terms

 Leader- according to fiddler in Cast and Rosenweig 1979:323 a leader is an individual in

the group given the task of directing and coordinating task relevant group activities

 Leadership- according to dabbling leadership in any organisation involves the exercise

of authority and the making of decisions. Lipham defines leadership as the initiation of

new structure or procedure for an accomplishing organisational goals and objectives.

Stogdill 1974:11 defines leadership as the process of influencing activities of an

organised group in efforts towards goal setting and goal achievement.

Leadership position in the educational sector

Components of leadership

 From the given definitions 4 components form the key aspects of leadership

1. These are process- this implies that leadership is an ongoing activity, it is not static nor is

it an event.

 This further implies that a leader has to establish a communication system

2. The involvement of other people- this means that leadership is within a group of people

 You can’t lead yourself this shows that the people who u are leading are important

because u are leader because of people

 Your leadership is only possible when they are people to lead

 As a school leader u should not establish a favourable group

3. influence- this implies convincing other people to see your point without force

 Subordinates should be involved in a task they believe in

 Subordinates should show commitment

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 They should feel they are working on a task in which they have a say

4. Goal directedness- this means that people are focused on the achievement of set goals

 As a result of the leaders influence, the teachers should see the set goals as their own

though the school head initiated them

 To influence and direct teacher towards the set goals implies the supervision by the

school head

 Without supervision the teachers can lose sight of set goals

Related concepts

 Power, authority and influence are related to leadership and at the same time are often

confused with leadership

 Power – Russell (1938) defines power as the ability to produce intended effects

 Power is unobservable but has observable results

 Power is a prerequisite for effective leadership

 Weber sees authority as the willing compliance of people based on the belief that it is

legitimate for the designated leader to impose his will on subordinates

 It is the right to act or require others to act on behalf of an organisation

 Influence- it is seen by Ramsoom 1973 as including virtually an inter personal

transitional which has behavioural

 Influence therefore implies that mutual interaction that results in desired change of

behaviour

Elements of leadership

 Authority

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 Power

 Delegation

 Decision making

 Expectees

 Responsibilities

Characteristics of leadership

 Leaders think longer term

 They look beyond the agency they are leading and grasp its relationship to larger

realities of the organisation as well as to external environment

 Leaders reach an influence people beyond their own jurisdiction

 Leaders emphasise vision, values and motivation

 Leaders have political skills to cope with conflicting requirement of multi

constituencies

 Leaders never accept the status quo they always think of renewal

Qualities of a good leader

 A good leader should

1. Have consideration for other

2. Be intelligent

3. Have self-confidence

4. Be sociable, friendly and mix well with others

5. Have speech fluency

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6. Be professional, objective impersonal, impartial and act in the best interest of the

group

7. Have moral integrity

8. Be in sound help

9. Have a sense of purpose

10. Be responsible

11. Have knowledge derived from academic achievements

12. Have the ability to remain reasonable in difficult situation

13. Be influential – be willing to influence higher authority

14. Be independent

15. Be efficient

How should a leader behave when dealing with subordinates?

 When dealing with subordinates, a leader should;

1. Listen more than he talks

2. Be natural

3. Avoid remarks even in jest/joke that belittle a group member

4. Deal with their problems

5. Keep an open door policy

6. Involve members in decision making

7. Treat them fairly

8. Give them the sense of belonging

9. Give subordinates security and comfortable living

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Theories of leadership

1. The path goal theory

 This theory was developed by Robert House

 The essence of the theory is that it is the leaders job to assist his followers in attaining

their goals

 The leader also, provides the necessary direction and or support that their goals are

compatible with the overall objectives of the organisation

 The term path goal is derived from the belief that effective leaders clarify the path to

help their followers get from where they are to the achievement of their work goals

 Leaders also make the journey along the path easier by reducing road blocks and pity

falls

 According to this theory a leaders behaviour is acceptable to subordinates to the

degree that it is viewed by them as an immediate source of satisfaction

 The path goal leadership process is as follows

1. Leaders identify employee needs

2. Leaders provide appropriate goals

3. Leaders connect goal accomplishment to rewards by clarifying expectancy and

instrumentality relationships

4. Barriers to performance are removed and guidance is provided to the employees

5. The expected result of the process include job satisfaction, acceptance of the

leader and greater motivation

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Date : 15/06/16

Lecturer : Mr T. MnkantJo

Topic : leadership

2. The trait theory

 The trait approach follows Aristotle’s belief that from the hour of birth some are marked

out for subjection and others for rule

 This means that some people have certain outstanding qualities that are inborn which

distinguish them as leaders

 Emphasis is on the physical and the mental characteristics of a leader

 Focus is on characteristics like-:

 body size,

 height,

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 weight,

 psychological characteristics such as-:

 intelligence,

 dominance

 self confidence

 Various studies have failed to see any relationship between traits and the ability to lead

effectively

 However there are some qualities in the traits approach which distinguish most leaders

from non-leaders and these are:-

 Intelligence

 Self confidence

 Dominance

 Energy

 Task relevant knowledge

3. The situational theory

 The situational theory was developed by Hersey and Blanchard

 The theory argues that though a leader might have certain inborn qualities, that make him

a good leader, his effectiveness is also influenced by the situation which he finds himself

 The variables seen as situational determinants are-:

I. Structural properties of the organisation (size, hierarchical structure and the

formalisation of the organisation)

II. Organisational climate (openness, participation , group atmosphere )

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 there is no one universal best way to exercise leadership under all conditions, it is

necessary therefore to use some system for assessing the situation contingences in

selecting a style of leader behaviour

 in choosing a leadership style, one should decide a style which produces the greatest

organisational effectiveness

4. Fiedler’s contingence theory

 this theory states that, people become leaders not only because of the attributes of their

personalities, but also because of various situational factors and the interaction between

the leaders and group members

 a leadership style is a result of the motivational system of the leader

 groups are effective, due to the interaction between the leader’s style and how favourable

the situation may be

 the theory further shows that a leader’s effectiveness is determined by the interaction of

employee orientation with three additional variables that relate to the follower

I. the task and the organisation

II. leader – member relations

III. task structure and leader position power

Application of this theory to the school situation

 to improve effectiveness you can change the leader to fit the situation

 in a school set up superiors who are employee centred tend to produce better results and

motivate sub-ordinates more than supervisors who are task centred

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Leadership styles

 these are the various patterns of behaviour favoured by leaders during the process of

directing and influencing workers

1. autocratic style

 this style is characterised by directives, dictatorial telling approach

 there is rigid adherence to stipulated rules

 there is giving of specific instructions

 there also exercise of excessive control

 rigidity in the maintenance of set standards

2. the democratic style

 in this style the subordinates are allowed a lot of freedom and are allowed to make

decisions

 while the leader influences decisions through suggesting and consulting, the leader does

not issue orders

 quite often the leader serves as facilitator and refrains from criticising unnecessarily ‘

 this approach tends to keep the morale of the subordinate high

 the disadvantage however is that no one may take full responsibility for decisions

arrived at

3. The laissez- faire style

 In this style you do as you like

 There is no real leader

 There are no rules or regulations and so the leader’s role is limited

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 The style relies on an extensive use of committee which sets goals

 There is usually no hierarchy of authority

 The advantage of the style relies on that mature people are free to do what they want

and are free to innovate

4. The charismatic style

 The style is based on the magnetic personality and influence of the leader

 The leader commands respect, obedience, love, faith and devotion of the subordinates

 This could be due to personal attributes like, attractiveness, eloquence or posture

 Examples of such leaders are-: Jesus

 The advantage is that the leader exerts unchallengeable lasting influence

 The disadvantage is that subordinates tend to be drawn towards the charismatic leader

rather than being devoted to the organisation

 The organisation tends to collapse when the charismatic leader is removed from the

post

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