Socialization and the Self

Sociology: Chapter 4, Section 2

Section Preview• Sociology is based on at least three theoretical

perspectives• Functionalist Perspective• Conflict Perspective• Symbolic Interactionism• All three agree that socialization is needed if

cultural and societal values are to be learned

This would be a good table to put in your notes

Functionalist Perspective

• Functionalism talks about how different groups within society work together to create a stable society

• For example, schools and families both socialize children, and basically teach the same norms, beliefs and values

• If these groups did not agree on these norms, then society would be chaotic, as a child wouldn’t know whether to believe his or her school or family

Functionalism was the earliest theory; it was proposed by Emile Durkheim

Conflict Perspective

• The conflict perspective says that we are socialized to accept our current social class that we are raised in

• When people are socialized to accept their current social class, they preserve the stability of the current class system

• People accept their social status before they realize what happened, and do not challenge their position in life

Symbolic Interactionism

• Symbolic Interactionism was developed by Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead in the early 20th century (about 1902)

• They did not agree that people were “born that way” with biologically determined behavior and potential

• Rather, they believed that human nature was a product of society

Key Concepts of Symbolic Interactionism

• There are five key concepts of symbolic interactionism. They include:

• the self concept• the looking glass self• significant others• role taking (the imitation stage, the play stage, the

game stage)• the generalized other• (we’ll go over each of these in the next few slides)

The Self Concept

• Charles Cooley watched his children play and saw that children realized they had an identity separate from other people.

• He called this the self concept• People develop their self concept as they

imagine how others see them

The Looking Glass Self

• The idea of a self concept developed into the idea of the looking glass self

• Cooley thought of us looking at other people looking at us

• We use other people as mirrors to reflect back what we imagine they think of us

The Looking Glass Self

• First, we imagine how we appear to others• Next, we imagine the reaction of others to our

imagined appearance• Finally, we evaluate ourselves according to how

we imagine others having judged us• So, for example, say we have a date. We decide to

comb our hair a certain way. We sense that our date doesn’t like our new hairdo. Therefore, we feel bad about ourselves.

The Looking Glass Self

• Since the looking glass comes from our imaginations, it is quite possible that we have a distorted view

• It’s possible that our date likes our new hairdo just fine, or that he or she didn’t even notice the new hairdo

• However, even if we are wrong about how people see us, if we believe that people don’t like us, then the results are just as hurtful as if it were true.

The looking glass self can be a distorted view of ourselves

Assignment

• Describe or draw how each of the following see you:

• A parent• A close friend• A teacher that you like• A teacher that you don’t like• A peer that you don’t particularly like

Some Mirrors are More Important• In 1934, George Mead asserted that some people

are more important to us than others• Those who are most important to our self concepts

are called significant others• For children, significant others are parents,

teachers, siblings and friends• For teens, peers often become more significant• For adults, spouses and employers become more

significant• Who are the most important people in your life?

We each have people whose opinion really matters to us, whether they be parents, friends, bosses, coaches, teachers, or our spouse or children

Role Taking

• We often try to predict the behavior of others through silent conversations with ourselves

• We can imagine others’ thoughts, emotions and behavior

• Role taking is when we see ourselves through someone else’s perspective, as we practice what we might say to them to get what we want

Role taking is where we practice what might happen in a conversation, taking the perspective of others to

predict how the conversation may go

3 Stages of Role Playing

• George Mead described that we learn to role play as a child in three stages:

• Imitation stage• Play stage• Game stage

Imitation

• The imitation stage begins when a child is one and a half to two years old

• At this age, the child imitates others without understanding why others are doing what they are doing, or saying what they are saying

Play

• At the age of three or four, a child enters the play stage

• This is where the child pretends to be his or her mother, father, teacher, police officer, astronaut, or superhero

• The child takes on roles of others one at a time, acting in ways they imagine other people would

Game

• When children are a bit older, maybe six or eight years old, they enter the game stage of development

• Now children are able to consider the roles of several people at once

• They can play team games, as each person on the team fills a certain role

• They can anticipate the actions of others based on social (or game) rules

Generalized Other• As children mature, they develop general principles

of how to act• Earlier, they may have been an honest person

because that would please their mother or father• Now, they are beginning to see that being honest in

principle is a good thing• Rather than pleasing a specific person, a sense of a

generalized other is formed (basically society in general)

• With a sense of a generalized other, a set of principles that one chooses to live by emerges, whether someone else is watching or not

The Self• George Mead thought of the self, who you are as a

person, as consisting of two parts, the “I” and the “me.”• The “I” is your first reaction, without thinking of any

social consequences• The “me” mitigates the I’s reaction by thinking of the

social consequences of that action• The “I” then reacts to the “me” to decide what to do• The “I” says, “I want that candy bar. I’m going to steal it.”

The “me” reminds the “I” of the consequences of stealing and too much sugar, and what would be more socially acceptable behavior

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A2GIct0UnQ

Assessment

• Complete #1-4 on page 119 in your notebook