Chapter III: Theoretical Framework

CHAPTER 3

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Theoretical Framework

            The researchers found two theories and a hypothesis to support their study. The theories and hypothesis will help the researchers carry out their methodology and interpret their results.

            The theory is the Perspective theory by Kathleen Akins. The theory states that there are predisposed and defining factors in the growth of a person that affects his/her perspectives on the different things and situations in life.

            The Perspective theory also says that the psychology of the person and the environmental factors around him play an important role in his/her mindset and beliefs. These affect the way the person think, understand and analyze the topic at hand.

The second theory is the Political Socialization theory shared by Austin Ranney, Andrew Heywood, Leon Baradat and other political scientists. This says that the political consciousness, views and beliefs of the people are greatly affected by the so-called “agents of socialization”. The “agents of socialization” are those entities, institutions and systems that acquaint people to the prevailing political culture and with it are the perceptions on leadership. These agents are namely: media, family, school and peers.

From these theories the researchers formulated a hypothesis that explains the perception of the UP Cebu first year political science students on the effectiveness of the Machiavellian Philosophy on Marcos’ regime. The researchers postulated that the bad image propagated by the media, taught by schools and shared by peers and families on Marcos’ regime would equate to an unfavorable perception on Machiavellian philosophy as it was applied on Marcos’ leadership. Furthermore, factors or variables like sex, hometown and social status would create varied perceptions among the respondents.

These theories and hypothesis will be the basis upon which conclusions on this research paper will be constructed. Great attention will be given as to what extent these theories  are true to the respondents.

Conceptual Framework

The underlying principle that serves as the background of this research is the high influence that factors and variables could give on the perspectives of UP Cebu First Year Political Science students on Machiavellian Philosophy’s effectiveness during the Marcos’ Regime. This factors are namely; media, school, family, peers and prevailing societal conditions. The variables taken into consideration which would determine any variation in the respondents’ opinions are hometown, sex and socio-economic status. All of these are guided and supported by the theories of Perception and Political Socialization.

Furthermore, the researchers had the hypothesis that the Machiavellian Philosophy on Marcos regime is ineffective and unfavorable as publicized or shared by the majority of society. The purpose of these guiding concepts is to discover and probe whether or not the general public’s opinion fit to a certain group of people’s perspectives.