Sociology – Chapter 3 - Socialization

Miss HickeyHilliard Davidson High School

Sociology

What is Human Nature?

• social environment: entire human environment, including direct contact with others

• socialization: process by which people learn the characteristics of their croup

• self: unique human capacity of being able to se ourselves “from the outside”

• significant other: an individual who influences someone else’s life

• generalized other: norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of people in general

What is Human Nature?

• People have always wondered how much of peoples characteristics come for “nature” (heredity) and “nurture” (contact with others).– Best way to find out is to examine those who have

had not social contact: feral children

Feral Children

• Feral children: raised by animals; can’t speak or do any normal human behavior; raised in the wilderness (language and human bonding = needed)– Isolated children: have no natural language no

shared way of life no connection to others: culture is key to what people become• without language there is no culture• without interaction/shared ideas… no image of self

Feral Children: Textbook Example

• In 1798 in France in a forest, they found a boy that walked on all fours and pounced on animals devouring them uncooked.– Most social scientists have take the position that

children can not be raised by animals, and that the reason they were abandoned was because of mental disability

Oxana Malaya• In 1991, Oxana was found at age

eight, in Ukraine, living among dogs. – unable to speak a language– had many dog-like traits (bark, howl,

scratch, and dig) – tightly knit with the dogs – was hard to learn language and

behavior (was able to do it with time)

Institutionalized Children

• Institutionalized children: intelligence and ability to establish close bonds with others depends on early interaction; period of time where intelligence and bonds must occur in order for humans to develop– 1930s – shorter lifespan, children that lived in

orphanages had less than a third grade education• difficulty establishing relationships• lower IQs

Deprived Animals

• Harry and Margaret Harlow perform experiment to show how important early interaction is

• In 1962 they raised baby monkey’s with artificial mothers– wire mother (food)– terry cloth mother (comfort) – clung to

when frightened “intimate human contact”• Deprived animals: monkeys in isolation never

able to adjust to normal monkey life; could not enjoy or engage in normal monkey play

• infant-mother bonding is due not to feeding, but cuddling

Cooley and the Looking Glass Self

• Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) – symbolic interactionist– self is socially created: “our

sense of self develops form interaction with others”

1. We imagine how we appear to those around us

2. We interpret others reaction3. We develop self concept

Looking-Glass Self

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

• George Mead: thought that play was crucial to the development of self– Take the role of other: putting self in other person's

shoes1. imitation – acting like someone else/significant others

with gestures2. play – pretend to take roles of specific peple3. games – learn to take multiple roles

– Initially significant others (parents, police officers) eventually “generalized other” (role of a whole group)

Piaget and the Development of Reasoning

• How do we come to answers? How do we reason?• Believed the mind was a social product• Piaget and the States of Reasoning:

1. The sensorimotor stage (infants; understanding is limited)

2. The preoperational stage (develop the ability to use symbols)

3. Concrete operational stage (remain concrete4. Formal operational stage (capable of abstract thinking)

• reasoning moves from concrete and moves to more abstract• can talk about concepts and come to conclusions

A SHORT Time to Ponder

• How do you think you appear to those who are around you?

• Which stage in “taking the role” do you think is the most important? Why?

Learning Personality, Morality and Emotions

• Sigmund Freud: physician who founded psychoanalysis– believed that your personality consists of three

elements:• id: term for inborn basic drives• ego: term for balancing force between the id and the

demands of society • superego: term of the conscience, the internalized

norms and values of our societal groups

Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory

• Lawrence Kohlberg: concluded that we go through a sequence of stages as we develop morality1. amoral stage: no right or wrong, personal needs need

to be satisfied2. preconventional stage: learned rules and follow them

to stay out of trouble3. conventional stage: morality means to follow norms

and values they have learned4. postconventional stage: most people don’t reach,

people reflect on abstract principles of right and wrong and judge a behavior according to these principles

Carol Gilligan

• Didn’t agree with Kohlbergs conclusions because he only used males in his studies

• Interviewed 200 men and women to conduct her own research

• Conclusions: – women evaluate morality of personal relationships

and want to know how and action affects others– Men evaluate morality of abstract principles and see

whether an act matches or violets a code of ethics

Paul Ekman

• everyone experiences six basic emotions:1. anger2. disgust3. fear4. happiness5. sadness 6. surprise

• expressing emotions is different between genders, cultures, social class and relationships

• what people feel also changes between different cultures

Socializing Emotions

• global emotions– existence of universal facial expressions for 6 basic

emotions does NOT mean socialization has no effect on how express them

• people in one culture may learn to experience feelings that are unknown in another culture

Gender Messages

• gender role: behaviors and attitudes considered appropriate because one if female or male– Social inequality – a social condition in which privileges and

obligations are given to some but denied to others• gender = primary basis

• gender socialization: the ways in which society sets children into different courses of life because they are male or female– family: unconsciously send gender messages through toys and

color choices for various things• Goldberg and Lewis introduced the idea that mothers subconsciously

reward daughters for being passive and dependent and sons for being active and independent

Gender Messages, cont.– peers: teen girls talk to their girlfriends different than they

talk to their guy friends and vice versa • girls: shopping, boys, clothing• boys: sex and violence• peer group: group of individuals of roughly the same age who are

linked by common interests

– mass media: forms of communication such as radio, newspapers, television that are directed at a mass audience• advertising, television, movies and video games are all directed to

a certain gender (and reinforce stereotypes of sexes)• advertising: bombards people with things a certain gender would

want• TV/movies: boys and girls watch certain shows and movies• videogames: directed at boys – use action and violence

– reflect cutting edge changes in sex roles

A SHORT Time to Ponder

• How does mass media impact your life indirectly?

• How have your parents or guardians socialized you towards characteristics associated with one gender or another?

Agents of Socialization

• family• neighborhood• religion• day care• school• peer groups• sports and competitive success• workplace

Agent of Socialization: Family

• lay down our basic sense of self • establish our initial motivations values and

beliefs• subtle socialization (study families in public)– The stroller effect (gender roles/gender messages)– Social Class (diff. classes raise children differently)

• ways of discipline– middle class: instill values– working class: keep out of trouble

• curiosity• self-control

Agent of Socialization: Neighborhood

• poor neighborhoods vs. wealthy neighborhoods– poor neighborhoods: crime, less opportunity• more likely to be around negative influences

– wealthy neighborhoods: more opportunity• neighbors more likely to keep an eye on children

(children more likely to develop sense of community)

• children socialize with immediate peers• disadvantage vs. advantages to both

Agent of Socialization: Religion

• ideas of right and wrong• dress, speech, manners, etc.• morals of religious people effect everyone• influences extend to many areas of our lives

Agent of Socialization: Day Care

• Pro: language skills, low income families• Con: increased hours in day care make

children more likely to be mean and cruel, bad relationship with mother

Agent of Socialization: School

• Manifest and latent functions– manifest functions (intended): transmit skills such as

reading, writing, arithmetic– latent functions (unintended): social system, hidden and

corridor curriculum• hidden curriculum: teach patriotism, democracy, justice, honesty

– dysfunction: racism, sexism, coolness, reinforce social and economic and political standing

• Kids born in higher class families attend better schools and therefore end up better off in life. The opposite holds true for the poor.

Agent of Socialization: Peer Groups

• friends become more influential than family• conformity or rejection• influential (dominate one’s actions and

thoughts)– male traits: athletic ability, coolness and

toughness– female traits: family background, personal

appearance and ability to attract boys

Agent of Socialization: Sport and Competitive Success

• physical skills• team players• self image• gender roles – boys (what they get from sports): sports lead to a

positive “masculine” identity for boys and facilitates their self-esteem

– girls (relationships): sports construct meaningful relationships and positive identity

Agent of Socialization: Workplace

• anticipatory socialization– Anticipating future role and learning parts of it

now• helps self-concept – more you work in a certain line of work, the more

it becomes a part of your self-concept• new perspective on world

A SHORT Time to Ponder

• Which of these groups do you think have the greatest effect on people? You?

• Do you think there is really a hidden curriculum in schools?

• How do peer groups change allegiance from family to friends?

• Do you think that there are other agents of socialization that should be added?

Resocialization

• resocialization – the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes and behaviors– most resocialization is mild

• total institutions – people are cut off from the rest of society– degradation ceremony – an attempt to remake

the self by stripping away in individuals self-identity

Socialization Through Life Course

life course: stages of life as we go from birth to death• childhood (birth-12)• adolescence (13-17)• young adulthood (18-29)• early middle (30-49)• later middle (50-65)• early older (65-75)• later Older (75-death)

Stages of Life• childhood (birth-12)

– varies from culture to culture– very dependent (need others)

• children go to school to become socialized• parents = major agent of socialization• increasing importance of technology

– Ex. changed from middle ages to be more nurturing• adolescence* (13-17)

– education becomes important for success– start to build an identity (partially socialize themselves)– leave younger world and move into the older world (transition)– Didn’t exist until after industrialization: unnatural stage*

• young adulthood (18-29)– finish school, full-time job, develop serious relationships– some societies require rituals to become an adult

Stages of Life• Middle Years (30-65)

– early middle (30-49)• starting families and working toward life goals• more sure of self (formed own opinions, but still experiences events that can

change life)

– later middle (50-65)• life is no longer stressful• start to feel mortality and start anticipations for next stage of life

• Older Years (65-death) – people feel that time is closing in on them– early older (65-75)

• could keep working or retirement• continue to do things they enjoy• less sexually active

– later Older (75-death)• growing frailty and illness… death

Sociological Significance of Life Course

• does not represent biology • social factors influence life course– social location– social class– gender– Race

• major events can change life course– war– depression

A SHORT Time to Ponder

• Which life stage do you find most desirable? Why?

• Do you think that we are prisoners of socialization? Why?

• Do you think degradation ceremonies are affective? Why?