Transcript Essentials of Sociology, 7th Edition

Chapter Three:
Socialization
Chapter
Overview

What is Human
Nature?

Agents of
Socialization

Socialization into the
Self, Mind, and
Emotions

Resocialization

Are We Prisoners
of Socialization?

Socialization into
Gender
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Socialization
What is Human
Nature?
Nature
Nurture






Heredity
Inborn
Genetic code for behavior
Social environment
Social interaction
Behaviors are learned
Controversy surrounding this question

Heredity or Environment?

Identical Twins

Adriana and Tamara

Jack and Oskar
Socialization
Feral Children
 Children found in the wilderness
 Wild untamed
 “The Wild Boy of Aveyron, France” 1798
Isolated Children
 What happens to a child who has had no contact with the
outside world or no social interaction with others?
 Language is not natural and can only be learned and the child will be
unable to speak.



Anna was found in early 1940’s locked in the attic
Genie 13 year old girl (CA, 1970)
Isabelle discovered in Ohio in 1938
Socialization
Institutionalized Children
 1930’s Research on Orphanages
 Children had no close bonds with caretakers
 Low IQs
 It was believed that children were born mentally retarded

Skeels & Dye (psychologists) believed there are
social causes that led to mental retardation
 Social environment of babies was very poor
 The absence of stimulating social interaction was the problem,
not some biological incapacity on the part of the children
 Use Experimental Design to test theory
Socialization
Skeels & Dye Experiment
Experimental Group
Control Group
 13 infant whose mental
 12 infants remained in the
retardation was very obvious
orphanage
and no one wanted to adopt  These children were also
them.
retarded, but they were
 2 ½ years later
considered to have higher
intelligence
 Gained an average of 28 IQ
points
 2 ½ years later
 20 years later
 Lost 30 IQ points

20 years later
Socialization
In Sum…
...Society Makes Us Human
 High intelligence depends on early, close relations with other
humans
 Social skills, behavior, relationships all define who we are
 SOCIALIZATION
 A process in which we learn and internalize the attitudes,
values, beliefs and norms of our culture and develop a sense
of self.
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Socialization
1.
Imagination of our appearance to
others.
2.
Imagination of their judgment of
that appearance.
• We interpret their reactions
3.
Development of feelings about and
responses to their judgment.
• We develop a self-concept
Socialization
Mead and Role Taking
(Socialization Process)
 Children go through three stages in the development of
the self
 The process by which children learn to take the role of
the other
 To put oneself in someone else’s shoes—to understand how someone
else feels and thinks and to anticipate how they person will act
 Significant Others
 Individuals who significantly influence their lives such as parents or
siblings.
 Generalized Others
 Our perception of how people in general think of us
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Socialization
After age 6 or 7
Age 3 to 6
Under age 3
Socialization

Children go through a natural process as they
learn how to reason
Piaget’s Cognitive Development
1.
Sensorimotor
2.
Preoperational
Age 2 to 7
3.
4.
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Age 7 to 12
From birth to about age 2
After the age 12
Socialization
Personality consist of three elements
1. Each child is born with id
• Inborn drives that cause us to see self-gratification
2.
Superego
• Represents our conscious, the internalized norms and values
or our social groups.
3.
Ego


Attempts to balance the inborn drives, needs, or desires of the
id and the demands of the superego.
The struggle between the Id and Superego
Socialization

Every society has institutionalized ways of
carrying out the process of socialization
 Those groups and institutions that both informally
an formally take on the task of socialization
Socialization
Socialization
Gender
Messages
 Gender Messages in the Family
 The Peer Group
 Gender Messages in the Mass Media
 Television and Movies
 Video Games
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Socialization
Are We Prisoners of
Socialization?
 Sociologists Do Not Think So
 Socialization is Powerful, but the Self is
Dynamic
 Individuals Are Actively Involved in the
Construction of the Self
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Socialization