I am a software engineer and data scientist, but despite my tech background, I consider myself more of a "humanities person." I love studying history, art, music, religions, and cultures. This interest encouraged me to pursue a Master of Arts in Education, Major in Educational Technology, to connect AI and software with the next generation of learners. 

My course adviser, Prof. Jon Paul Maligalig, encouraged me to take up Educational Sociology during the Midyear to give me a "solid foundation on the 'whys' of EdTech practice." Thus, I was excited to explore this new domain of social science, and I learned so much even in my first course discussion.

Connecting the dots

Sociology studies the "structure of society" and "the recurring patterns of behavior and ordered interrelationships." We learned that this discipline emerged in the 19th century as thinkers found patterns beyond individual psychology and could only be explained through social facts. Yet there is a tension worth admitting: predicting individual customer behavior can be methodologically individualist, closer to sociology’s definition. Because of this, the “sociological imagination” coined by C. Wright Mills—seeing the “interconnection between our personal experiences and larger social forces”—can illuminate exploratory data analysis.

As Dr. Ana Raissa Lagarto presented the leading thinkers, theories, and perspectives in sociology, I recognized how data science resonates with this field. Data scientists like me seek to understand and predict customer behavior based on demographic data, trends, and their socioeconomic context. Likewise, excellent user experiences are deeply rooted in social norms and conventions.

Social engineering

I did not expect a 1957 paper on the “Development of Sociology in the Philippines” to contain a widely used term in my field: social engineering. 

In software engineering and cybersecurity, social engineering is “human hacking,” a “manipulation technique that exploits human error to gain private information, access, or valuables”1 (Kaspersky, n.d.).  On the contrary, Catacutan (1957)2 describes social engineering as the ideal of sociology, the shaping of people within a social group through a “we-feeling attitude.” 

It is such a striking coincidence to have the same term for a benevolent sociological ideal and a sinister hacking technique. Yet, I thought that connections like this show the beauty of harmonizing tech and the humanities.

Overlapping disciplines—science and hope

It becomes even clearer why sociology is crucial for EdTech practitioners, software engineers, and data scientists like me. Educational sociology, in particular, helps to understand teachers and students in their full socioeconomic and cultural context.  It is grounded in the “social facts of education,” education in the context of social backgrounds, cultural patterns, hierarchies, and behaviors. 

Sociological investigation, in its different lenses (positivist, interpretive, and critical, among others), helps frame social issues through disciplined inquiry. I found it especially helpful to view this as seeing “the general in the particular” and “the strange in the familiar”3 (Berger, 1963). 

I left the first session even more inspired to help our young Filipino learners through technology, like these thinkers who paved our understanding of human societies.

References 

Berger, P. L. (1963). Invitation to sociology: A humanistic perspective. Doubleday.

Catapusan, B. (1957). Development of Sociology in the Philippines, PSR. 

Kaspersky. (n.d.). What is social engineering? 

https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-social-engineering

National University. (2021). What is sociological imagination? https://www.nu.edu/blog/what-is-sociological-imagination/