Chapter 4 - Socialization

Michael LoconteCollegeNow Sociology

Introduction

Sociologists, in general, are interested in the patterns of behavior and attitudes that emerge throughout the life course, from infancy to old age.

These patterns are part of the lifelong process of socialization in which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture.

This occurs through human interaction. Socialization helps us discover how to behave

“properly” and what to expect from others if we follow (or challenge) society's norms and values

Discuss

Has anyone witnessed this in effect? What have you learned about certain cultures through conversation, or other human

interaction?

Self-Image

Socialization also helps shape our self-image.

Experiences help to shape our personalities.

Personality is a person's typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior.

The question always remains: How much of a person's personality is shaped by culture as opposed to inborn traits?

Nurture

Nurture is an important part of shaping personality. Children given minimal attention as children may become fearful

of human contact and prone to unpredictable antisocial behavior. Experiments are preformed on primates, testing the effect of

isolation on behavior. Isolated monkeys were fearful and easily frightened, did not

mate, and when artificially impregnated, became abusive parents.

Another set of monkeys were given “artificial mothers”, which consisted of two sets of “mothers”. One was made of wire, but had food. The other was merely a piece of cloth. All of the monkeys took food from the wire mother, and spent most of their time clinging to the cloth mother.

Nature

Both genetic factors and socialization experiences are influential in human development.

Certain factors seem to be hereditary and others seem to be learned or gained through social contact.

A pair of identical twins were separated at birth and raised in households where they were taught completely different ideals. However, when they reunited, they learned that they had a lot in common. They also learned that there were differences, and most of those came about based upon the way they were raised.

These twins similarities and differences were the result of nature and nurture, respectively.

The Self

The self emerges as we interact with others. The self is an identity that sets us

apart from others. It is not a static phenomenon that sets is apart from others.

The self is shaped by experiences, both good and bad.

The work of Sociologists Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, both worked to understand the formation of the self.

Discuss

What events in your life have had a strong influence on who you are?

Cooley: Looking-Glass Self

He used the phrase looking-glass self to emphasize that the self is the product of social interactions.The process of developing a self identity or self-concept has three phases:We imagine how we present ourselves to others.We imagine how others evaluate ourselves.We develop some sort of feeling about ourselves as a result of these impressions.A critical point of Cooley's looking-glass self is that the self results from an individual's “imagination” of how others view him or her.As a result, we can develop self-identities based on incorrect perceptions of how others see us.

Mead: Stages of the Self

George Herbert Mead developed a useful model of the process by which the self emerges, defined by three stages:

The Preparatory Stage- Children imitate the people around them, especially family members with whom they continually interact.

The Play Stage- As children develop skill in communicating through symbols, they gradually become more and more aware of social relationships and begin “role taking”. Children pretend to be other people.

The Game Stage- Children no longer just plays roles, but begins to consider several tasks and relationships. Children grasp not only their own social positions but also those of others around them.

Mead's Theory of the Self

He says that the self begins at a privileged, central position in a person's world. Young children picture themselves as the focus of

everything around them and find it difficult to consider the perspectives of others.

As maturity is reached, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern about the reactions of others.

The term significant others is used to refer to those individuals who are most important in the development in the self, whether that be positive or negative.

Goffman's Presentation of the Self

Erving Goffman suggested that many of our daily activities involve attempts to convey impressions of who we are.

Early in life, the individual learns to slant his or her presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences, which he called impression management.

Goffman makes so many explicit parallels to the theater that his view has been termed the dramaturgical approach. According to his perspective, people are like performers in

action. Goffman also made note of another aspect of the self- face-work.

We feel the need to maintain a proper image of the self if we are to continue social interaction.

This “face” is essentially our appearance to everyone around them, and more over, to ourselves.

Discuss

How far would you go to maintain your “face-work”? Examples?

Psychological Approaches to the Self

Psychologists have also shared interest in the development of the self. These psychologists include Sigmund Freud and Jean

Piaget.

Sigmund Freud

Freud stressed the role of inborn drives in channeling human behavior.

Freud also believed that the self is a social product, and that aspects of one's personality are influenced by other people.

He also said that our natural impulsive instincts are in constant conflict with societal constraints. Part of us seeks limitless pleasure, while another part favors rational behavior.

By interacting with others, we learn the expectations of society then select behavior most appropriate to our own culture.

Jean Piaget

Piaget underscored the importance of social interactions in developing a sense of self.

He developed the Cognitive Theory of Development, which identified four stages in the development of the thought process: The sensorimotor stage- Young children use their senses

to make discoveries The preoperational stage- Children begin to use words

and symbols to distinguish objects and ideas. The concrete operational stage- Children engage in more

logical thinking The formal operational stage- Adolescents become

capable of sophisticated abstract thought.

The Life Course

Different cultures each have different ways of celebrating rites of passage. This is a means of dramatizing and validating changes in

a person's status. These specific ceremonies mark stages of development in

the life course. They indicate that the process of socialization continues through all stages of the life cycle. Sociologists and other social scientists who take such a

life course approach look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death, including gender and income.

Discuss

What Rites of Passage have you undergone throughout your life?

Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization

Two types of socialization occur at many points throughout the life course: anticipatory socialization and resocialization. Anticipatory Socialization- Refers to processes of socialization

in which a person prepares for future positions, occupations, and social relationships.

Resocialization- Refers to the process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as a part of a transition in one's life.

This is particularly effective when it occurs within a total institution, a term coined by Goffman, which refers to an institution that governs all aspects of a person's life under a single authority, like a prison. People often lose their individuality within total institutions. People entering them may experience a degradation ceremony.

Agents of Socialization

There are many agents of socialization. The most important of these is family. There are also many other agents, such as

cultural influences, race, gender, school, peer groups, mass media, technology, the workplace, Religion, and the Government.

Each one of these things plays a large role in the socialization process in their own way and influence our lives and alter our self-images.

End

By Michael Loconte