Socialization Socialization defined the social interaction process

Socialization

Socialization (defined): the social interaction process through which individuals acquire personality and learn the way of life of their society. Socialization is the link between the individual and society – neither can survive without it. Primary socialization: the initial socialization, lasting roughly 6 years, in which the infant acquires a personality. This is the most important phase. Secondary socialization: all additional socialization after primary socialization, lasting the rest of one’s life

Personality (defined): an individual’s typical patterns of thought, feeling and action. Initially emerges via primary socialization. 3 components of personality: 1. Cognitive: thoughts, beliefs, memories, etc. 2. Emotional or Affective: feelings like love, pride, guilt, anger, etc. 3. Behavioral: patterns of physical behavior, skills, etc. The norms and value of a culture influence the socialization process as well as the personality traits we exhibit.

Implications for Humans, lacking the complex instincts that guide behavior in most other species, can become fully human only by learning in social interaction with other people. Intimate contact appears to be a critical need, especially during primary socialization.

Marx wrote that "the essence of " a particular person" is not the beard, not blood, not its abstract physical nature and its social quality "

The Emergence of the Self The self (defined): an individual’s conscious experience of a distinct personal identity separate from all other people and things. Humans are capable of thinking about themselves as “objects” to be reflected upon. In other words, humans are self-aware. At birth we have no self, or self-awareness. It is learned and it emerges during primary socialization. The self is a social product. It is created and modified via social interaction. Research such as the “Who am I” test suggests that the social statuses we acquire influence how we perceive and feel about ourselves.

Theories About the Self

Sigmund Freud (1856 -1939) The conventional view of self and personality was that they were the products of heredity. Freud was influenced by Victorian patriarchy and the dominance of biology at that time. Freud believed that, while biological forces were paramount, cultural forces did play a (small) role. This represents a slight shift in the thinking of that era. This new thinking concedes a role for culture. Recall 0 Durkheim’s revelations about the origins of suicide – this, at about the same time.

Freud – Elements of Personality Freud argued there are 3 components of personality: 1. The id. Rooted in biology, it represents the person’s basic needs or drives. It exists at birth. It reflects the needs of the individual. 2. The ego. The person’s conscious attempt to balance the id-drives with the demands of society. The ego develops out of the awareness that society exists apart from the id. A healthy ego successfully manages the opposing forces of the id versus the superego. 3. The superego. Developed during socialization. The superego reflects the presence of society’s mores, internalized into the self as our conscience. It reflects the needs of society.

Charles Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self Basic insight: we develop a self-image based on how we think others perceive us. Three steps in the formation of self-concept: 1. We observe how others react to us. We want to know whether we are loved, attractive, etc. 2. We interpret other’s reactions. We note whether others’ reactions are consistent with what we imagine ourselves to be. 3. We develop a self-concept based on that interpretation. Based on how we perceive others’ reactions, we form a selfopinion. We may like ourselves, or we may hate ourselves.

Learning to Think – Jean Piaget (1896 -1980) was interested in mental development and is one of the influences behind the discipline of cognitive psychology. He emphasized that social life is needed for the individual to become conscious of their own mind. Cognitive development occurs across a series of stages.

George Herbert Mead (1863 -1931) Mead distinguished between the “I” and the “me” components of the self. The me component refers to the self as object - or the self as seen by society (or at least how the individual thinks they are seen). This is similar to Cooley’s Looking-Glass self. The I component refers to the self as subject. The I is the response of the organism to how it is viewed by society. We are constantly reacting against society and the I is the dynamic component of the self that does this reacting. To Mead, the self is dynamic. It is constantly interpreting and acting in context of society.

George Herbert Mead, continued Mead developed theoretical paradigm of symbolic interactionism. Social interaction occurs between individuals via symbols (gestures, signs, language, etc). Language is a crucial symbolic system. To Mead, without language there cannot be a mind. The mind is essentially a “symbol processor. ” All symbols – including language - are socially constructed. Therefore, to Mead, the mind itself is a social product.

Learning to Feel Socialization includes learning how to develop emotional capacities. Social scientists know relatively little about emotions, largely because they are so difficult to operationalize. Basic findings: 1. The process of learning emotions is the same in all humans. Feelings develop in an orderly sequence – as building blocks beginning with simple emotions like pleasure and pain and progressing toward complex emotions like joy and angst. 2. The expression of emotions differs across societies, and even by gender. Social factors influence what, when, and how emotions are expressed (as well as how we learn to interpret emotions). In our patriarchal society men learn to hide their expression of grief, but not anger; while women learn to hide their expression of anger, but not grief.

Lawrence Kohlberg: Moral Development Occurs Across 3 stages: 1. Pre-conventional stage. (Young children). What is right is that which is pleasurable to me; what is wrong is that which is painful to me. Note the egocentrism. 2. Conventional stage. (Many teens and adults). What is right is what society says is right. Note the absence of egocentrism. Many people (especially conformists) remain in this stage. 3. POSTCONVENTIONAL STAGE (SOME TEENS AND ADULTS). What is right is that which is consistent with ethical principles, regardless of what society says. Many never reach this level, but certainly independent thinkers like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King did.

Carol Gilligan: The Gender Factor Moral development is influenced by gender socialization. Boys tend to be taught a justice perspective. They are taught to rely upon formal rules. Therefore something is wrong if it is illegal. Girls tend to be taught a care and responsibility perspective. They are taught to judge a situation by how it relates to personal relationships. An illegal act may not be wrong if the act was intentioned to help people.

Agents of Socialization

1. The Family The most significant agent of socialization. A primary group, and therefore very powerful. Responsible for primary socialization. Much family socialization is unconscious and unintentional. The family provides an immediate ascribed status for the infant. Social class Ethnic identity

Research suggests there are social class differences in family socialization messages that help perpetuate the social class structure. . Working class families: actions speak louder than words. Emphasis is on conformity to rules and staying out of trouble, with strict punishment for deviant behavior. This tends to reinforce working class job culture, as many working class jobs are order-taker jobs where conformity to rules is important. Middle class families: words speak louder than actions. Curiosity and taking initiative or risk is encouraged in the child. Discipline is less strict. This tends to reinforce middle class job culture, as many middle class jobs are order-giver jobs requiring independent thinking.

2. School A form of anticipatory socialization – learning that helps a person achieve a desired position. Functions to socialize people into certain forms of knowledge. Functions to socialize people into core values and belief systems. Schools may indoctrinate. Primary school is often the child’s first experience with formal organizations, specifically, the bureaucracy. Most schools are secondary groups (formal, task oriented). Given the changes in the family toward 2 -parent workers, school functions have changed to offer more day-care. School provides a setting for the child to develop peer group friendships.

3. Peer Groups

Peer groups are people with similar social characteristics who hang out with each other. Members treat each other as relative equals. They are primary groups with typically high levels of solidarity. They are particularly powerful during late childhood and adolescence. Identity formation during adolescence is in context of peer group subcultures, which may offer different values, beliefs, and tastes than parents. Among teens, short term style preferences, sexual activity, popular culture taste, and other teen behaviors are shaped mainly by peer groups. Peer pressure brings norms of conformity within the

Resocialization refers to deliberate socialization aimed at radically altering the self. It is re-creating the self, and it involves an abrupt break from the former self. Resocialization is often done within a total institution. Total institution: residence where inmates are cut off from society, under the control of a hierarchy of officials. Examples: prisons boot camp, asylum, boarding school.

4. The Mass Media The mass media: impersonal communications directed toward a vast audience. Relatively new and controversial agent of socialization. Unlike the family, school, church, and peer groups, the commercial mass media does not have the child’s interests as their main goal. Capitalist media prioritize private profit above most other considerations. Their primary goal is to make money for their stockholders.

The Life Course Both a biological and a social construction. Society imposes its own conception of a life course upon the physical process of aging. Society slices up the aging process arbitrarily into a series of stages. The number, length and content of these stages varies across societies.

Childhood The “child” was expected to go to school by 1850 to learn literacy skills necessary to industrial societies and to engage in re-creative activities. Playgrounds, schools, and child clothing styles emerged around this time. Children were “innocent” and loveable – almost the opposite of adults. Now, children were exempted from adult roles. Families had become childcentered and were now expected to nurture the child. The mother was also sentimentalized by now and was expected to be the primary nurturer of the children, giving them love

Adolescence Emerged around 1880, as it was necessary to postpone adulthood even more in order to further educate the population. Adolescence is a new stage in a rapidly changing society. It is a relatively anomic stage and can be confusing to teenagers. The college system became available to an expanding middle class around this time. Industrial societies require a mass workforce that delivers professional, specialized services. Contradictory demands and mixed messages Physically, the teen is an adult capable of reproduction; but socially, the teen is treated as a dependent. American society poorly equips individuals for the challenges of adolescence.

Old Age Modern society is less successful at facing old age than traditional societies. Our society worships youth. Traditional societies show respect for senior citizens. In rapidly changing modern cultures, the knowledge of seniors may be obsolete and irrelevant to young people. They also tend to disappear due to the emphasis on the nuclear family in Western cultures. Finally, in modern societies seniors have fewer constructive or productive roles. Hence, there is an increase in ageism in modern societies. Traditional (slow-change) cultures allow seniors to have wisdom – experiential knowledge relevant to young people. They also place seniors within the extended family system and the community, giving them visibility.

Death Industrial societies postpone death an additional 20 years beyond the life expectancy of agrarian societies. The life expectancy of the typical middle-class American is almost 80 years today. American culture does not socialize people to deal with death. Consequently, death is a taboo subject. We use euphemisms like “passed away. ”

Erikson According to Erikson, human development does not end at age 6 or 7. It continues over the lifetime. Erikson presented a social-psychological examination of life challenges across 8 stages.

Erikson: 8 stages of life challenges 1. Infancy (0 -1. 5 years old). The challenge of trust versus mistrust of others. 2. Toddlerhood (1. 5 - 3 years old). The challenge of autonomy and confidence versus doubt and shame. 3. Pre-school (3 -5). Initiative vs. guilt from not pleasing parents’ expectations. 4. Pre-adolescents (6 – 13). Industriousness to make friends vs. inferiority and failure to measure up to school and social standards. 5. Adolescents (teens). To establish one’s own identity vs. identity confusion. 6. Young adulthood. Maintaining intimacy vs. social isolation. 7. Middle adulthood. Making a difference vs. self-absorption and complacency. 8. Old age. Integrity and satisfaction vs. despair and regret.

Value - valued concept, it exists in the field of common sense and in the system of scientific knowledge. Reflecting all that is understood and experienced person as actual value, as the meaning and the ideal value characterizes consciousness, behavior and purpose of social activities. (Kant)

Conclusion Socialization We is never fully successful. retain a measure of free will that makes our choices in life unique to ourselves.

Thank you for your attention )))