SOC-101 Ch. 4 Socialization

Seldom, if ever, does one stop to question why s/he is who s/he is, or even who s/he is.

-It is simply taken for granted. -Identity questions arise for people who have to make choices about their identity. -For example: •A child born to an Asian and African American parent •A person who looks female but identifies better with male tendencies and preferences Some folks don't fit neatly into social boundaries.

C. H. Cooley (continued)

According to Cooley's looking glass self, the formation of the self is fundamentally a social process, one based in the interaction people have with each other, the human capacity for self-examination, and the perception of how others see us. •One unique feature of human life is the ability to see ourselves through others' eyes. •People can imagine themselves in relationship to others and develop a definition of themselves accordingly.

The Nature-Nurture Controversy

An ongoing debate amongst social and biological scientists is, "What makes us who we are?" •Is it nature (inborn) or nurture (acquired)? •Are we a product of our socialization or our genetic composition? •Sociologists do not deny the influence of genetics on defining our potential, but they focus on how social influences shape who we are.

Anticipatory Socialization/Resocialization

Anticipatory socialization: •Rehearse for future positions •Learn norms, values and behaviors before assuming that status •College tours, internships, babysitting) Resocialization •Discarding previous patterns for new roles ÷Prison, military, convent (total institution) ÷very stressful ÷May have degradation ceremony

According To G.H. Mead

As people take on new roles, their awareness of self changes and one's identity emerges from the roles one plays. •He saw childhood socialization as occurring in three stages: 1.the Preparatory Stage 2.the Play Stage 3.the Game Stage

Statuses

Ascribed •Assigned to you without regard to talent or work •Often at birth •Race •Class •Gender (Conflict theorists care about these a lot due to discrimination/privilege) Achieved •Done mostly with our own efforts through: •Schooling •Skill acquisition ÷Is influenced by ascribed statuses MASTER STATUS: The status that dominates all others: Black activist or Being disabled

Two Noteworthy Symbolic Interaction Theorists

Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) and George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) were the early founders of the Interactionist perspective in the 1900s. •Both theorists proposed that self is a product of the environment and who one interacts with, not genetic components. ÷These are what determine and shapes one's identity.

Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)

Charles Horton Cooley postulated the looking glass self to explain how a person's conception of self arises through considering our relationships to others. •The development of the looking glass self emerges from: 1.how we think we appear to others. 2.how we think others judge us. 3.how the first two make us feel proud, embarrassed, or other feelings.

Third Stage: Game Stage

In the game stage, the child takes on multiple roles at the same time. •These roles are organized in a complex system and the child develops a comprehensive view of the self. •The child also understands how people are related to each other and how others are related to him or her. •This is the phase where children internalize (incorporate into the self) an abstract understanding of how society sees them.

Second Stage: Play Stage

In the second stage the child, the play stage, children begin to take on the roles of significant people in their environment. Role taking is important. •They are incorporating their relationship to the other, especially significant others. •Significant others are those close to the child, such as mother, father or sibling and are most important to development of the self. •For example: ÷A child pretending to be his mother may talk to himself as the mother would. ÷The child begins to develop self-awareness, seeing himself or herself as others do.

Summary of Mead's Stages

Mead uses a basketball game to depict the final stage in the early socialization process of the child. •The baseball game illustrates the game stage and it's network of social roles, the division of labor, and how the child must function in it. •The game stage allows the child to develop an understanding of how society works and his/her concept of self in society.

Socialization 2

•According to Mead the child also acquires a concept of the generalized other; the abstract composite of social roles and social expectations. -In the generalized other, they have an example of community values and general social expectations that adds to their understanding of self. -Depending on one's social position (that is, race, class, gender, region, or religion), one learns a particular set of social and cultural expectations.

Resocialization

•Resocialization is the process by which existing social roles are radically altered or replaced. -Social institutions which require a person to follow strict rules of behavior and which enforce a bureaucratic hierarchy spend much time and money resocializing the new recruit. - Example: •The military •Convents •Prisons and detention centers •College fraternities and societies

The Consequences of Socialization

•Socialization is a lifelong process with consequences that affect how we behave toward others and what we think of ourselves. •Sociologists have identified the following four consequences of socialization: 1.socialization establishes self-concepts 2.socialization creates the capacity for role-taking 3.socialization creates the tendency for people to act in socially acceptable ways 4.socialization makes people bearers of culture

Rites of Passage

Rites of passage are ceremonies marking the transition from one role set to another. •Bar mitzvah, weddings, graduation, getting a drivers license or a license to practice medicine, and acceptance into a convent are examples of such ceremonies.

Social Rules

Set of expectations for people who occupy social position or status. •Role conflict: Incompatible expectations between two or more roles. •example: working mothers ÷a female employee may need to work overtime yet she also needs to be home to care for her children; this situation creates conflict between two inflexible demands. •Role strain: When same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations. •Role Exit: Disengagement from a central role for new identity.

Psychological approaches

Sigmund Freud saw our natural impulses in constant opposition with societal constraints. •Id •Ego •Superego •Psychosexual development

Life Course Approach

Socialization is a process that continues throughout a person's life, from birth to death •Rites of passage mark stages of life course •HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU ARE AN ADULT??

Isolation and Neglect

Socialization occurs through interaction with other human beings. It is not ethical to do studies on human beings where human interaction is withheld. It would be considered too cruel and would not pass through a review board. •Feral children offer rare glimpses into how human beings grow without socialization.

Status

Sociologists define: any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society from lowest to highest (hierarchical) •President, neighbor, mother, daughter, lawyer, volunteer, veteran can all be the same person!

Nature vs. Nurture

Sociologists speak about our lives being socially constructed, including our feelings, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, values, and abilities. •Our values and social attitudes are not inborn. •They emerge through the interactions we have with others and our social position in society. •The "Self" is created in interaction with others who also agree with the meaning of the self being presented in the situation. (Berger & Luckmann 1966) •A social construct: •Definition: a social mechanism, phenomenon, or category created and developed by society; a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is 'constructed' through cultural or social practice. •Constructs: race, adolescence

Agents of Socialization

Four major agents of socialization •social institutions responsible for helping socialize us and for helping us create our self-identity. 1.Family 2.School 3.Peer group 4.Mass Media and Technology

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

George Herbert Mead agreed with Cooley that children are socialized by responding to others' attitudes toward them. •According to Mead, social roles are the basis of all social interaction. •Taking the role of the other is the process of putting oneself into the point of view of another. ÷Role-taking is a source of self-awareness.

Erving Goffman

Impression management: an individual learns to tailor appearances to different audiences. •You might act differently in a job interview than when you are hanging out with your friends or having Sunday dinner with your family. •Dramaturgy: People perform like actors on a stage •We learn roles and play them

Status/Role

Status is an established position in a social structure that carries with it a degree of prestige, i.e., social value. •A status is a rank in society •Achieved (the result of individual effort: President), •Ascribed (given at birth Male/female) * •Master status (the person's dominant status: Female Judge). (Status symbol) Role is the behavior others expect from a person associated with a particular status; roles are acted or "played." •Role expectation is behaving as others expect someone in that position to behave. •Role modeling is imitating or copying the way someone else in that role behaves. •Whose behavior do (or did you) copy or imitate?

Jean Piaget

Swiss child psychologist: Social interaction is key to development. cognitive theory of development (4 stages) •Sensorimotor: young children use senses to discover •Preoperational: use words & symbols •Concrete operational: logical thinking •Formal operational: adolescents w/ abstract thought (ideas, values)

Rumspringa

The Amish have a rite of passage that you may have heard about. They must choose to be baptized and become an adult in their culture. •What are the consequences if they do not choose to stay in their community and be an Amish adult?

First Stage: Preparatory Stage

The first stage, the Preparatory stage, children merely imitate the behavior of those around them. •They simply mimic the behavior of another without much understanding of the social meaning of the behavior. •Example: A young child mimicking a male adult shaving.

Socialization

The process through which people learn the expectations of society. Through socialization, people absorb their culture: customs, habits, laws, practices, and means of expression. •Socialization occurs during interaction with each other -Who we are is defined by how others see us, to a great extent. -How one is socialized differs for individuals depending on factors such as age, race, gender, class, and personality. •Through socialization, one internalizes the expectations of society. -In other words, you become a product of your culture, how you were raised, and by whom.

Heredity

Twin studies give us a useful reference for understanding the influence of socialization.

Rites of Passage (continued)

Unlike some cultures and societies, the U.S has no major ceremony marking the transition from childhood to adolescence. •Some cultures within the U.S., such as the wealthy or some Mexican subcultures, have coming out parties marking a girl's 15th or 16th birthday. •Most indigenous cultures have major community celebrations marking the onset of puberty and a girl's first menstrual period. ÷This denotes their eligibility for marriage

Sociology or Psychology: What's the difference?

You might be wondering: if sociologists and psychologists are both interested in people and their behavior, how are these two disciplines different? What do they agree on, and where do their ideas diverge? The answers are complicated, but the distinction is important to scholars in both fields. As a general difference, we might say that while both disciplines are interested in human behavior, psychologists are focused on how the mind influences that behavior, while sociologists study the role of society in shaping behavior. Psychologists are interested in people's mental development and how their minds process their world. Sociologists are more likely to focus on how different aspects of society contribute to an individual's relationship with his world. Another way to think of the difference is that psychologists tend to look inward (mental health, emotional processes), while sociologists tend to look outward (social institutions, cultural norms, interactions with others) to understand human behavior. Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) was the first to make this distinction in research, when he attributed differences in suicide rates among people to social causes (religious differences) rather than to psychological causes (like their mental wellbeing) (Durkheim 1897). Today, we see this same distinction. For example, a sociologist studying how a couple gets to the point of their first kiss on a date might focus her research on cultural norms for dating, social patterns of sexual activity over time, or how this process is different for seniors than for teens. A psychologist would more likely be interested in the person's earliest sexual awareness or the mental processing of sexual desire. Sometimes sociologists and psychologists have collaborated to increase knowledge. In recent decades, however, their fields have become more clearly separated as sociologists increasingly focus on large societal issues and patterns, while psychologists remain honed in on the human mind. Both disciplines make valuable contributions through different approaches that provide us with different types of useful insights.