Transcript Principles of Sociology SOC-201

Introduction to Sociology
SOC-101
Unit 4 - Socialization
Socialization
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Socialization
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Personality
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The lifelong social experience by which individuals develop
their human potential and learn culture
A person’s fairly consistent patterns of caring, thinking, and
feeling
Social Environment
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The entire human environment, including direct contact with
others
Nature v. Nurture
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How much of a person’s characteristics come from
biology (nature) or from the environment (nurture)?
Darwinism
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Many people believed that human behavior was instinctive, part
of our nature
Some people are “born” criminals
Women tend to be more “emotional”
Nature v. Nurture
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Behaviorism
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Developed by John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Behavior is not instinctive but learned
Today, sociologists believe behavior is a combination of
biology and the environment
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Lean more towards the nurture aspect
Nurture matters more in shaping human behavior
Social Isolation
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Sociologists cannot study social isolation on humans, but
have done many studies involving monkeys in the past
Harlow Experiments (1962)
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Harry and Margaret Harlow experimented with rhesus
monkeys and social isolation
Complete isolation for six months seriously disturbed the
monkey’s mental development
When returned to their group, they were passive, anxious, and
fearful
Social Isolation
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Harlow Experiments (con’t)
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When placed with an artificial “mother” made of wire mesh
with a nipple of a feeding tube, the monkeys were still unable
to interact with others
When placed with an artificial “mother” covered with soft
terry cloth, the monkeys were better able to interact with
others
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Illustrates that infant-mother bonding is not a matter of feeding but
“intimate physical contact”
Infant monkeys could recover from isolation up to three
months
After six months of isolation there would be permanent
emotional and behavioral damage
Social Isolation
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Social isolation in children can cause permanent damage
Anna
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Was hidden in a storage room and tied up for five years
At the age of 8, she had the mental development of a 2-yearold
Genie
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From the age of 2, she was tied to a potty-chair in a dark
garage
She was not found until she was 13 years old
She weighed 59 pounds and had the mental development of a
1-year-old
Her language ability remains that of a young child even though
she is now an adult
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Harlow mother surrogates
Socialization and the Self
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Self
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The part of an individual’s personality composed of selfawareness and self-image
The unique human capacity of being able to see ourselves
“from the outside”
The views we internalize of how others see us
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Charles Cooley
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(1864-1929)
Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self
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Charles Cooley (1864-1929)
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Developed this concept of “looking-glass self”
“Looking-Glass Self”
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The process by which our self develops through internalizing
others’ reactions to us
A conception of self based on how we supposed others see us
What we think of ourselves depends on what we think others
think of us
Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self
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It contains three elements:
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We imagine how we appear to those around us
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We interpret others’ reactions
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We may think others see us as funny, boring, crazy
Do they like us for being funny or dislike us for being crazy?
We develop a self-concept
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Favorable reflection leads to positive self-concept
Unfavorable reflection leads to negative self-concept
Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self
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The development of self does not depend on an accurate
evaluation
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It is how we interpret how others think about us that shapes
the self, even if it is a misjudgment
Even though self-concept develops in childhood, it is an
ongoing, lifelong process
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George Herbert Mead
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(1863-1931)
Mead and Role-Taking
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George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
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Developed the theory of social behaviorism
It explains how social experience develops an individual’s
personality
“Self” only develops with social experience
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There is no biological force behind it
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Does not exist at birth
Without social experience, the body matures but no self
emerges
Mead and Role-Taking
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Social experience is the exchange of symbols
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Humans use words and gestures to create meaning
We find meaning in action by imagining people’s underlying
intentions
Taking the role of the other
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We need to imagine ourselves in “another person’s shoes”
By doing this, we can anticipate how others will respond to us
even before we act
Mead and Role-Taking
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Stages of the Development of the “Self”
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Imitation
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Play
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Children under the age of 3 mimic behavior without understanding
the underlying intention, thus they have no self
Between the ages of 3 and 6, children pretend to take on the roles of
specific people
Helps them imagine the world and themselves from another person’s
point of view
Games
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Children learn to take the roles of several others at once and allows
them to play complex games involving more than one person
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Jean Piaget
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(1896-1980)
Piaget and the Development of Reason
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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
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Development of Reason
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He studied human cognition, how people think and understand
Studied why young children consistently gave the wrong
answer on intelligence tests
Concluded that children go through four stages of cognitive
development
Stages:
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Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age 2)
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During this stage, an individual experiences the world only through
sensory contact
“Knowing” means direct sensory contact
Piaget and the Development of Reason
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Stages (con’t):
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Preoperational Stage (age 2 to 7)
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Concrete Operational Stage (age 7 to 12)
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Individuals first use language and other symbols
Lack the ability to grasp abstract concepts
Individuals first perceive causal relationships, how and why things
happen
Formal Operational Stage (after age 12)
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Individuals can think critically and abstractly
They can comprehend metaphors
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Erik Erikson
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(1902-1994)
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
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Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
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He believed that socialization occurs over the course of a
lifetime
Contains eight stages of development
Stage 1 – Trust v. Mistrust – (birth to 18 mo.)
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Challenge is that an infant must learn to gain trust in the
environment
Is society trustworthy enough?
Main significant relation is the parent
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
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Stage 2 – Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt – (ages 18
months to age 3)
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Do I need help from others?
A child is learning to be autonomous
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Specifically in regards to bowel movements
Main significant relation is the parent
Stage 3 – Initiative v. Guilt – (ages 3 to 6)
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How moral am I?
A child is learning initiative to make plans and engage their
surroundings
Moral conflict as well tied into the Oedipus Complex
Main significant relation is the family
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
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Stage 4 – Industry v. Inferiority – (ages 6 to 10)
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Stage 5 – Identity v. Role Confusion – (ages 11 to 18)
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Am I good at what I do?
Child wants to produce something and gain recognition and
satisfaction
Main significant relation is school
When the concept of “who am I?” starts to develop
Main significant relations are peers
Stage 6 – Intimacy v. Isolation - (ages 18 to 34)
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This is when young adults form stable relationships and fall in
love
Main significant relation is martial partner and friends
Erikson’s Psychosocial Development
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Stage 7 – Generativity v. Self-Absorption – (ages 35 to 60)
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Am I accomplishing anything?
This is when we contribute to the lives of others including the
family, workmates, and others
There are numerous significant relations during this period
Stage 8 – Integrity v. Despair – (age 60 to death)
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Did I live a fulfilled, satisfied life?
This is when a person does an introspection
The despair is tied into how we perceive death as well
Main significant relations are everybody
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Sigmund Freud
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(1856-1939)
Freud’s Development of Personality
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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
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Developed a Personality Model to describe the origins of
personality
Three parts:
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Id – (“it”)
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The person’s basic drives which are unconscious and demand
immediate satisfaction
Rooted in biology and is present at birth
Society is against the self-centered id
Freud’s Development of Personality
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Ego – (“I”)
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A person’s conscious efforts to balance their id with the demands of
society
To avoid frustration and be able to function in society, a child learns to
suppress their id
The ego develops when we realize that we cannot have everything we
want
Superego - (“above” the ego)
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The operation of culture within us
Contains the norms and values we have internalized from our social
groups
Moral component of our personality
It develops when a child understands that their behavior must include
cultural norms
Freud’s Development of Personality
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Conflict Between the Id and the Superego
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When the id gets out of hand, we follow our desires and break
society’s norms
When the superego gets out of hand, we become overly rigid
following the norms
Ego acts as the balancing force between the two
If the conflict is not resolved during childhood, a person may
develop personality disorders
Freud’s Development of Personality
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Sociological Evaluation
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Sociologists liked Freud’s idea that we internalize social norms
and that childhood experiences have a lasting impact on our
personality
His theory does ignore the role of social factors in the
development of personality
Presents humans in male terms with men being “normal” and
women being “inferior” castrated males
Emotions
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Emotions are not just based in biology but require
socialization to develop
Paul Ekman
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An anthropologist who concluded that all humans have six
basic emotions:
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Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise
These emotions are built into us genetically
People from other cultures can recognize the facial
expressions tied to each of these emotions
Emotions
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How we express emotions can be based on socialization
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Gestures and other ways we express emotions are dependent
on culture and upbringing
People tend to act more reserved around those of higher
status
We tend to express our emotions more openly around people
who are closer to us
Emotions
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Socialization is intended to mold us into conforming
members of society
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This includes how we express our emotions
All facets of society tell us what is “acceptable” and what is
“unacceptable” when it comes to emotions
We think about what the social consequences will be before
we “act out”
Agents of Socialization
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The agents of socialization are the people and groups that
influence our orientations to life
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Our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior
While every social experience we have affects us, there
are several settings that have special importance in our
socialization
The Family
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The family has the greatest impact on our socialization
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Not all family learning is intentional
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The kind of environment the family creates can affect children’s
perceptions of themselves
Family also gives the child social position in terms of race,
ethnicity, religion, and class
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Infants are totally dependent on their parents and other family
members
These all become part of a child’s self-concept
A family’s economic class can also impact socialization
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Research has found blue-collar parents found obedience and
conformity to be desirable traits
While white-collar parents wanted good judgment and
creativity
The Neighborhood
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The neighborhood you live in can affect socialization and
some neighborhoods are “better” than others
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Studies have found that children from poor neighborhoods are
more likely to get into trouble with the law, become pregnant,
and to drop out of school
Affluent neighborhoods tend to look after children better
since there is less transition and the adults are more likely to
know the children
Religion
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Religion influences the values a person develops,
especially the concepts of “right” and “wrong”
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Provide the basic morality
Teaches us other values such as how to dress, act, and speak
for formal occasions
The Peer Group
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Peer Group
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A group of individuals roughly the same age who are linked by
common interests
Allow children to form relationships on their own and to
escape direct adult supervision
They also have great influence on children and their
attitudes
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The influence of the peer group tends to peak at adolescence
The Peer Group
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The standards of the peer group tends to dominate our
lives
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How we dress, speak, act
What type of music we listen to
Who we can interact with
Anticipatory Socialization
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This is social learning that helps gain a desired position
Children tend to mimic the styles and behaviors of the group
they want to join
The Mass Media
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In the U.S. the mass media has an enormous impact on
our behaviors and attitudes
TV is the most dominant form of mass media
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98% of households have at least one TV set
Surveys have shown that in the average household at least one
TV is on seven hours a day
Children are often exposed to TV before reading
Children spend as many hours in front of the TV as they do in
school
The Mass Media
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There has been heavy criticism on the effects of TV
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Some argue that TV mirrors our social inequalities and rarely
challenge the status quo
Others argue that TV is far too liberal than the population as a
whole and pushes “liberal” issues like feminism and gay
marriage
Parents worry about the effects of the media on their
children, especially when it comes to violence and sex
The Workplace
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The workplace comes into socialization later in life,
usually with most of us starting out with part-time jobs
As time goes on, the workplace becomes our most
influential agent of socialization
We learn not only a set of skills at work but also
perspectives on the world around us
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The jobs can help us view situations differently
For example, a librarian would view free speech differently than
a minister
The Workplace
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Anticipatory Socialization
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We learn to play a role before entering it
In the case of the workplace, we talk to people involved in the
field, read books, and take internships to learn more about the
jobs
Over time, the job becomes part of a person’s selfconcept
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When people ask you to describe yourself, you may include
your job in your self-description
Gender and Socialization
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Gender Socialization
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The ways in which society sets children onto different courses
in life because they are male or female
Parents are the first significant others who teach us our
roles in society according to our sex
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This can be the type of toys given, games encouraged to
participate in, chores given
Gender and Socialization
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Another group that reinforces cultural expectations of
gender are peer groups
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They teach each other to be “male” or “female” by defining
what the norms are for each of the sexes
Teenage boys focus on video games, sports, “coolness, and
“toughness”
Teenage girls focus on clothing, physical appearance, and
attracting boys
Gender and Socialization
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Gender messages can be found in the mass media as well,
especially in TV
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Men tend to be portrayed as powerful, strong, and rich, while
women hold lower positions and tend to focus on clothing and
beauty
Some shows are starting to break the stereotype for women,
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But even they are giving mixed messages since while the women are
strong and powerful, they still must remain skinny and beautiful
Gender and Socialization
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In the print media, men’s magazines are geared more
towards sports and sex (FHM, Maxim), while women’s are
towards beauty and fashion (Vogue, Glamour)
In video games, most of them are designed for males and
have violent content
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The very few designed for females involve fashion and beauty
Gender and Socialization
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Carol Gilligan
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The Gender Factor (1982)
Found different standards of rightness in the moral
development of boys and girls
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Males have a “justice perspective” relying on formal rules of right and
wrong
Females have a “care and responsibility perspective” defining right and
wrong with an eye towards personal relationships
Believes that cultural conditioning plays a role in social and
moral development
Resocialization
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Resocialization
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This is the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes and
behaviors
Occurs every time we learn something that contradicts our
previous experiences
Can be mild with only a slight modification of what we have
already learned, such as going to a new school with different
values
Can be intense such as going to prison or boot camp
Resocialization
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Total Institution
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Coined by Erving Goffman
In a total institution, people are cut off from the rest of society
and come under almost complete control of those in charge
Examples include boot camp, prison, concentration camps,
religious cults
Total institutions are designed to have a two part process:
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Get Rid of the Old Self
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Officials erase the resident’s old self through humiliation, degradation,
and banning any type of individuality
Building the New Self
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Officials try to build up the new self through a series of rewards and
punishments
Resocialization
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Total institutions have three distinct characteristics:
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Residents’ lives are completely supervised
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Environment is highly standardized
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Supervise everything from where the resident eats, sleeps, and works
Includes uniforms, institutionalized food
Strict rules and schedules
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Dictates how, when, and where a resident performs their daily
routines
Resocialization
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Do total institutions work?
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Yes – Some residents come out of them feeling either
“rehabilitated” or “recovered”
No – Others many change only little or come out feeling bitter
and act hostile
Either way, the institution does have some sort of effect on a
person’s self-concept
The Life Course
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Socialization occurs throughout our life course, from
birth until our death
Our life course is divided up into stages that each have
their own distinct traits
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As you pass through each stage, your behavior and orientation
changes
For example, you perceive life differently at the age of 18 than
you do at age 50
Life course differs depending on your social location
Childhood – (Birth to age 12)
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Historically, childhood was not seen as a carefree time of
learning and play
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Children would often go to work as soon as they were able or
be married off to start families
With the advent of industrialization, material surpluses
increased enough so that children did not have to enter
the labor force
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With this extra leisure time, children could go to school
Childhood could now be stretched out and enjoyed
Adolescence (Ages 13-17)
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Historically, societies did not mark adolescence as a
distinct period in life
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With industrialization, this new stage of life was created
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Children were expected to go straight from childhood into
adulthood
The term “adolescence” was not even created until the 1900s
It is a time not only of biological change but social change
in that a person is no longer a child but still not an adult
Transitional Adulthood (Ages 18-29)
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Period following high school where the person is freed
from the constraints of the parents but not yet selfsufficient
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Typically, a person is either still in college or has moved home
after college to help transition to independence
This is a relatively new life stage
Adulthood or Middle Years (Ages 30-65)
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This is the time of life when most of a person’s
accomplishments occur
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People get married, start careers, and raise families
Personalities are largely formed by this time in life,
although major stresses can alter the self
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Includes divorce, illness, unemployment
Early Middle Years (Ages 35-49)
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At this stage, most people are sure of themselves and
what their life goals are
Manage day-to-day priorities from family and work
Women are greatly affected in this period
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Society expects them to take on the role of mother and
homemaker while they are also trying to succeed in a career
outside the home
Later Middle Years (Ages 50-65)
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People feel that their lives are set
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Many people feel this is the most comfortable stage in life as
they have job security and a higher standard of living
Period when people realize the fragility of life
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Start thinking not so much about time since birth but rather
what time they have left to live
They compare what they actually accomplished versus what
goals they had
Old Age (Age 65 on)
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In the U.S., “old age” has taken on a new meaning
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With improved healthcare and longer life expectation, old age
has become an extension of middle age
Death becomes a large part of life
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As their friends grow old and die, people start to realize that
death is no longer an abstract concept but a reality
Prisoners of Socialization?
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It may be thought that we have little control over the
development of our self, that all the factors of society
shape us into who we are
We are shaped but society but at the same time remain
individuals
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We make our own decisions and choices in life
We are actively involved in the construction of our self and can
change it within the framework of society