Education plays a significant role in society by contributing to intellectual development, politics, economics, and other fields. Sociologists view education as a major social institution that helps form society. There are two main sociological theories about the relationship between education and society - consensus theory and conflict theory. Consensus theory emphasizes social order and stability through shared norms and values. Conflict theory focuses on power struggles between social classes and how education contributes to an unequal distribution of people into jobs and society.

1. Introduction to Social Dimensions of Education

3. ***Education and Society***
 Education plays a significant role in society.
Educational institutions take part on society in
different aspects; such as on the people’s intellectual
development, politics, economics and several other
fields.
 Sociologists see education as one of the major
institutions that constitutes society. While theories
guide research and policy formation of education,
they also provide logical explanations on why things
happen as they do. These theories help sociologist
understand educational systems.

4. Definition of Terms
Society
 a structured community of people bound together by
similar traditions, institutions, or nationality
Culture
 shared beliefs and values of group of people
Consensus
 A general or widespread agreement among all
members of a particular society
Conflict
 A clash between ideas, principles and people

5. There are several theories that deal
with the formulation of the foundation
of education in relation to the society.
Among of these theories are the
conflict and consensus theories.
According to some sociologist;
society has two faces; the face of
consensus and the face of conflict.
Further, they emphasized that
sociological theory should be divided
into two parts between the
consensus theory and the conflict
theory.

6. The consensus and conflict
sociological theories are
reflected in the works of
certain dominant social
theorists such as Karl Marx,
Emile Durkheim and Max
Weber.

7. Consensus Theory
• Emphasizes on social order, stability and social
regulation
• Social change occurs in a slow and orderly
fashion and considered shared norms and values
as fundamental factors towards society.
• Concerned with the maintenance or the
continuation of social order, in relation to
accepted norms, values, rules and regulations as
widely accepted by the society.

8. • Consensus is a concept in society in which
there is a belief that the absence of conflict
means the equilibrium state that is based
upon widespread agreement by all of the
members of the society itself.
• It is being considered in these theories that
the social order in society should be
maintained, based upon the accepted norms,
values, roles or regulations that are accepted
by the society in general.

9. oAccording to HORACE MANN,
“ education should be the great equalizer.”
oHorace Mann was the one who started the
“free public school” movement in the United
states in 1848.

10. Conflict Theory
• The conflict theory emphasizes that the order in
society are based upon the manipulation and control
by any dominant groups.
• Focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain
dominance and power in social systems.
• Conflict theories ask how schools contribute to the
unequal distribution of people into jobs in society so
that more powerful members of society maintain the
best positions and the less powerful are allocated to
lower ranks in society.

11. • The theorist of the conflict theory looks on how
some of the institutions in society such as
religion, government, media, as well as education
are in one way or another help in maintaining
some privileges of some groups against the other
groups.

12.  As the consensus theorist tries to examine on the
integration of values in society, the conflict theorist
examines about the conflicts of interest between social
groups in society.
 Some sociologists believe that society cannot exist
without having both conflict and consensus in society,
hence, they are considered as prerequisites on each
others existence. They further considered that there is
no conflict in society if there is no some prior consensus
that exists.

13. Electronic Sources
http://yellowsplat.blogspot.com/2011/06/social-
dimensions-ofeducation.html
http://expertscolumn.com/content/consensus-and-
conflict-theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_of_education