Sociology Socialization Lecturer Prof Jarosław Rokicki Ph D

Sociology Socialization Lecturer: Prof. Jarosław Rokicki, Ph. D. hab.

Socialization What makes a person from an object? „Unlike other living species whose behavior is biologically set, human beings rely on social experience to learn their culture in order to survive”. SOCIALIZATION is a lifelong social process (experience) by which individuals develop human potential and learn the patterns of their culture • The foundation of personality: a person’s fairly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting

Effects of social isolation on children The case on Anna • Born in 1932 to an anmarried and mentally impaired woman of twenty six • Found by a social worker in 1938 in an isolated storage room • She received scarce attention and some food and milk necessary to keep her alive • Diagnosed by Kingsley Davis she was unable to laugh, smile, speak, or show anger, in a word, completely unresponsive

Human Development: Nature and Nurture Nature: Latin root nat(us) = born Nurture: Nutrit(us) = nourished The human behavior thesis of evolution: human behavior is the instinctive „nature” of the species of homo sapiens (Darwin thesis misconstrued) John B. Watson’s thesis of behaviorism: „learning or nurture was far more influential than biology – or nature – to human behavior

Nature vs. Nurture

Psychoanalitic theory of human personality: Sigmund Freud • Born: Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis. • Freud qualified as a doctor of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1881 • In his later work (Beyond the Pleasure Principle, 1920, and The Ego and the Id, 1923) Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided into three parts: Id, ego and super-ego.

Eros and Thanatos Eros (the Greek god of love): the life instinct, the life drive (survival, propagation, hunger, thirst, and sex) Thanatos: the death drive (destruction, aggression, Both opposing forces generate tension in the personality. It is this interplay of forces, predominantly unconscious, which forms the foundation of human drama

Eros and Thanatos

Id, ego, and superego The id: the human being’s basic drives, which are unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction; The ego: a person’s conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure-seeking drives with the demands of society; The superego: consists of the internalized values and norms of our culture and tekaes the form of coscience

Id, ego, superego

Id, ego, superego

Repression

Repression and sublimation Psychological repression, or simply repression, is the psychological attempt by an individual to repel one's own desires and impulses toward pleasurable instincts by excluding the desire from one's consciousness and holding or subduing it in the unconscious. Sublimation is a mature type of defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are consciously transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, possibly resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial impulse. Sigmund Freud believed that sublimation was a sign of maturity (indeed, of civilization), allowing people to function normally in culturally acceptable ways.

Sublimation

Jean Piaget: Stages of Cognitive Development • Jean Piaget: (9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology". • Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. As the Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual. ”

Examples of other theories of personality’s development Lawrence Kohlberg: Moral Development Carol Gilligan: The Gender Factor • Preconventional: right is „what serves my needs”, „what feels me good; • Conventional: right is what pleases my parents, what is consistent with broader cultural norms; • Postconventional: ethical principles are beyond specific norms of a particular society. Relflection focuses on abstract ideas (truth, liberty, freedom, justice, etc. ) • Socialization is differentiated by the gender factor; • Males are brought up in order to achieve a justice perspective (judgments about right and wrong rely on formal rules or appeal to abstract principles) • Females have a care and responsibility perspective. (Judgment depends on the context of personal relationships and loyalties)

Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan

Georg Herbert Mead: The Creation of The Social Self G. H. Mead (1863— 1931) Mead's theory of the social self is based on the perspective that the self emerges from social interactions, such as observing and interacting with others, responding to others' opinions about oneself, and internalizing external opinions and internal feelings about oneself.

The SELF • Self emerges from social experience; • Social experience is the exchange of symbols; • To understand someone’s intention, you must imagine the situation from that person’s point of view; • Using symbols, we can imaginatively place ourselves in another person’s shoes and thus see ourselves as that person’s does; • In mutual interaction we go through a process of taking the role of the other;

Two Sides of Self: Me & I • The 'me‘ (the self is object) is considered the socialized aspect of the individual. The 'me' represents learned behaviors, attitudes, and expectations of others and of society. The 'me' is considered a phase of the self that is in the past. The 'me' has been developed by the knowledge of society and social interactions that the individual has gained. • The 'I‘ (the self is subject), therefore, can be considered the present and future phase of the self. The 'I' represents the individual's identity based on response to the 'me. ' The 'I' says, 'Okay. Society says I should behave and socially interact one way, and I think I should act the same (or perhaps different), ' and that notion becomes self.

The Looking-Glass Self (Charles Horton Cooley) 1. We imagine how others see us. 2. We imagine how others are judging us. 3. We react accordingly

Development of the Self • Engaging in imitations. Infants mimic behavior without understanding underlying intentions; • Engaging in play (role playing). They model themselves on key people in their lives – such as parents (significant others); • Engaging in games. Children learn to take the roles of several others at once; • Recognizing the „generalized other”. Children are learning to take part in complex games involving many roles. Generalized other: refers to widespread cultural norms and values we use as references in evaluating ourselves

Generalized other

Symbolic Interactionism: Critical Evaluation • Helps to overcome a limitation typical to macro-level approaches to understanding society; • Helps in understanding of how individuals actually experience society • Sometimes leads to the error of ignoring larger social structures • Risks overlooking the widespread effects of our culture as well as social class, gender, nationality, and race

Socialization and the life course • Childhood • Adolescence • Adulthood - Early Adulthood Middle Adulthood • Old Age • Dying - Denial Negotiation Resignation Acceptance

Adolescence