Análisis de la tarea educativa

The study adopts theories and this is because theories are formulated to explain, analyze, predict and understand phenomena. Theories are also thought out to challenge any existing knowledge within the limits of critical boundary of assumption. Therefore, this section of the Literature Review focuses on theories that will greatly analyze, interpret and understand the study. Through the provision of a lens of analysis, it will help explain the meaning, nature, features, classes, types of jihad and sharia in relation to the 1804 Usman dan Fodio’s jihad and sharia implementation as the Nigerian unwanted metamorphoses.

2.2.1 Functionalist, Conflict and Interactionist Theories Functionalist Theory

According to Pals (1986), functionalist theory has strong affiliation with, Durkheim, Weber and Karl Marx who favoured sociological enquiries. For instance, Karl Marx argues that religion is like other social institutions because it is dependent upon the material and economic realities in a given society. Freud’s explanation of religion followed the Ludwig Feuerbach’s theory and both of them were centered on the “essence of religion”. The theory could not make longer impact until Karl Marx came up with the “functional projectionist theory of religion”.

Pals goes on to add that Durkheim sees functionalism as extremely important in explaining

“religious behaviours” (p.282). Iheanacho (2013) argues that just as the name implies, the functionalist theory is found often in social sciences and it is a theory that is based on the premise that all aspects of social institutions with its norms serve a purpose. All these aspects of the society are indispensable for the long-term survival of the society itself. The approach gained prominence in the works of 19th-century sociologists such as Emil Durkheim and Karl Marx

(p.45). Iruonagbe (2013) avers that Durkheim believes that social life is impossible without the shared values and moral beliefs that form the collective conscience. The absence of the aforementioned threatens social order, social control, social solidarity or cooperation and the unity of the people (p.5). According to Wendy (1999), a prominent functionalist, Robert Merton proposed a number of important distinctions to avoid potential weaknesses and clarify ambiguities in the basic perspective. First, he distinguishes between the manifest and the latent functions. These functions include those which are recognized and intended by actors in the social system and may represent motives for their actions and those which are unrecognized.

Those which are not recognized are unintended by the actors. Secondly, he distinguishes between consequences that are positively functional, those which are dysfunctional for the society and those which are neither. Functionalism emphasizes that order and balance are the normal state of a society and a disruption in one part of the system will certainly disrupt the other parts (p.362). This theory is employed in this study because society is like human body which is made up of many parts performing different activities in order to keep the body functioning. Any part that refuses to perform will directly and indirectly affect other parts. Religion is one of the factors that a society needs to properly function. Therefore, the society will be in danger if religion refuses to perform or functions positively. It is used to highlight the dangers of having a dysfunctional religion can retard the growth and progress of the Nigerian state.

Interactionist Theory

Similar to the Functionalist theory, Interactionist theory is another veritable social theory and it needs to be noted that interactionism is not a unified perspective and actually has many different intellectual strands. Alix (1995) propounded the symbolic, exchange and dramaturgical

dimensions of the interactionist theory. Ahamefula and Nnajieto (2005) said that the symbolic dimension of the interactionist theory has to do with how people attach values to rituals, language how people mutually emits and interpret each other’s gestures. The exchange type of the interactionist theory is all about the calculation of the amount of pleasure or pain associated with a given interaction based on people’s previous tolerance while dramaturgical interactionist theory implies the use of metaphor in explaining the people as actors fulfilling their roles in every stage of life (pp.14-17). The strand adopted in this context is that of interpretive aspect that ensures the engagement of people through mutual understanding and responsive dialogue.

Crossman (2016) asserts that this dimension of interactionism is a major framework of sociological theory because people develop and rely upon it in the process of social interactions.

Thus, society is thought to be socially constructed through human interpretation. People interpret one another’s behaviour and these interpretations form the social bond (p.13).

Interactionism is a theoretical perspective in which a society is thought to be a product of the everyday social interactions among millions of people. Instead of looking at a social system on a larger scale, it focuses on the way that people act, or make conscious choices regarding people’s behaviour and that proceed from how these situations are interpreted. In other words, human beings are not simply reacting to social stimuli, people are reacting to individual stimuli.

This is because sociology, according to Ahamefula and Nnajieto (2005), views society as a product of everyday social interactions of individuals (p.19). Mooney, Knox and Schacht (2007) state that interactionism is largely influenced by the works of early sociologists and philosophers such as George Simmel, Charles Cooley, George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman. Therefore, interactionism is a theoretical perspective that derives social processes such as conflict, cooperation and identity formation from human interaction. It is the study of how individuals act

within society. It is a social interaction of face-to-face process consisting of actions, reactions, and mutual adaptation between two or more individuals (p.14). The researcher adopts interactionists theory because it is a way of seeking to understand each individual and how people act within a given society. Moreso, being one of the sociological theories, it helps to explain and predict the social world in which people live. It does not generalize that everyone from one social class thinks in one way instead it advocates that people should understand that everyone has different attitudes, values, culture and beliefs in any given society. Therefore, in relation to the concept of jihad and sharia, interactionist theory examines how people of different faiths interact on daily basis and arrives at shared understandings of themselves, situations and mutual respect for one another.

Conflict Theory

Coser (1956), one of the disciples of the foremost originator of the conflict theory, Karl Marx, said that conflict is a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power and resources in which aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure or eliminate their rivals (p.3). Barret (1991) opines that conflict theory has strong affiliation with Marxism. It states that a society or an organization functions so that each individual participant and its groups struggle to maximize their benefits which inevitably contributes to social change (p.13). Ani (2012) avers that conflict manifests as products of interactions amongst human beings and groups who plot to outwit others (p.158). This theory implies that conflict is generated by the quests to protect one’s identity and maximize interest. The theory is employed in this study because jihad and sharia are religious tenets of Islamic groups and their quest to adopt them in a multi religious society like Nigeria is to their interest. Taken that other religious groups within Nigerian have their own

religious tenets which if they wish to enforce just like their Islamic counterparts will lead to nothing but crises. The practice of jihad and sharia in Nigeria is matter of conflict and conflict theory will explain it better.

The functionalist and interactionist theories lay strong emphases on the positive contributions of religion to the society. It is preoccupied with the harmonious, integrative and solidarity in the society. Beyer (1994) argues that society is a system of interrelated parts, a change in any part affecting all the others. Institutional spheres cluster around particular kinds of social communication or action on the basis of relatively autonomous functional instrumentalities. These subsystems include polity, art, law, economy, science, religion, education health and the family. The autonomous that each of them exhibits is real enough but it is heavily conditioned by the fact that other systems are also operating in the same social milieu (p.79). While the conflict theory which fundamentally takes to the opposite of the duo, implies disquietedness generated by the quests to protect one’s identity and maximize interest and Nigeria being a heterogeneous state, the launching of Jihad and the quests to implement Sharia in the country have been sources of conflict. The defensive and offensive reactions based on the protection of faith together with religious onslaughts carried out in Nigeria have created socio-cultural, economic and psychological problems for the populace.

It is in the light of the above fact, the functionalist, interactionist and conflict theories are employed in this study because every phenomenon in a social system has its origin and is assumed to have a functional unity where all parts of the system work together with some degree of internal consistency. Therefore, these theories are very significant in understanding the 1804 Usman dan Fodio’s Jihad and Sharia implementation as the Nigerian Unwanted Metamorphoses.

The functionalist and interactionist theories try to analyze the role of religious phenomenon being aspects of the society and works to the solidarity, unitary composition of the society.

Conflict theory goes with divisiveness dimension of religious issue in a society. They are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary because they employ other disciplines like history to achieve social institutional ends.