Transcript Ch. 4 - Yesenia King

Ch. 4
Socialization
Questions for Consideration
 Which do you feel is more influential in
development, nature or nurture? Why?
 Do you think individuals can have a sense of self
without interaction with others?
What is Human Nature?
Nature vs. Nurture – Twins: Oskar and Jack
 Feral Children – Child raised by Monkeys
 Isolated Children – Isabelle
 Institutionalized Children  Deprived Animals - Monkeys
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Social Isolation Among Humans
 Isabelle: child of a deaf-mute mother. Both she and her mother
stayed in a dark room, secluded from the rest of the family.
 Found at age 6 ½; physically ill from inadequate diet and lack of sunshine; unable to
talk.
 Communicated with mother through gestures; Reacted with fear and hostility toward
strangers.
 After 2 years of an intensive rehabilitation program, she acquired the skills mastered
by a 6-year-old.
 Anna: was confined to an attic-like room in a farmhouse. Kept alive
on milk until age of 5.
 When found, was extremely emaciated and undernourished.
 No signs of intelligence were shown; could not walk or talk.
 At time of death (10) she could carry out instructions, identify few colors, wash hands,
brush hair, and try to help others.
 Genie: from the age of 2 was kept isolated by her father in a locked
room.
 Found at age of 13; behavior was “subhuman”, completely silent (did not cry or sob).
Could not chew (had not been given solid food). Primitive social behavior.
 4 year period of attempts to socialize were unsuccessful; could not read, only speak in
short phrases, and had begun to control some of her feelings.
In Sum…
Society Makes Us Human
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Socialization
 Socialization – life long process of learning to
participate in group life through the acquisition of
culture; learning what the expectations of behavior
are in order to adjust and adapt.
 Process by which we learn the ways of our society,
through interaction with others.
 Personality – the relatively organized complex of
attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors
associated with an individual.
Theoretical Perspectives and Socialization
Cooley and The Looking Glass Self
 Challenged the prominent belief that human nature is biologically
determined.
 Self-concept – an image of oneself as an entity separate from
other people. Our sense of self develops from interaction with
others.
 Looking-glass self – a self-concept based on our perception of
others’ judgments of us.
 Product of a 3 stage process that is constantly taking place.
1.
2.
3.
We Imagine How We Appear to Others
We Interpret Others’ Reactions (How they evaluate us)
We Develop a Self-Concept (According to how we imagine other’s have judged us)
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Mead’s Theory of Development of Self
 Agreed w/Cooley but added play as critical to
development of a ‘self’
 In play we learn to the role of others
 Significant others – Children are first able to take only their role
(mother, father, grandparents, playmates, etc.)
 Internalize the Expectations
 A cognitive process that permits us to play out
scenes in our mind.
 Generalized other – an integrated conception of
norms, values, beliefs, and expectations of one’s
community/society
Ability to Role Take - Mead
1.
Imitation Stage – begins around 1 ½ to 2 years of age.
The child mimics the physical and verbal behavior of a
significant other.
2.
Play Stage – (Age 3) children take on roles of others one
at a time (e.g., playing house, mom, firefighter).
3.
Game Stage – (1st yr. of school) children learn to engage in
more sophisticated role taking. Must learn the role of each
member (e.g., able to truly play soccer).
How We Learn to Take the Role of the Other:
Mead’s Three Stages
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Erik Erikson - Psychosocial Development
 Described eight developmental stages that
occur from infancy to old age; personality
changes throughout life.
 Each stage is accompanied by a psychosocial
crisis, or developmental task.
 Socialization and personality development are
lifelong processes.
Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development
 Children gradually develop cognitive abilities through
interaction with their social settings; children are active
participants.
 Each of us must pass through 4 stages in the proper
developmental sequence:




Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)
Preoperational Stage (2-7)
Concrete Operational Stage (7-12)
Formal Operational Stage (12+)
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Learning Personality, Morality, and
Emotions
Sigmund Freud – Psychoanalytic Perspective
 The personality has three parts:
1. Id - biologically inherited urges and impulses;
selfish and irrational; ruled by pleasure principle.
2. Ego - the conscious, rational part of the
personality; balances the id and the Superego
3. Superego - socal conscience; contains all the
“right” and “wrong” ideas we have learned; all the
“shoulds” we have learned from society.
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Socialization into Emotions
 Not simply result of biology; also dependent on socialization




w/in a particular society
Global Emotions – Paul Ekram
Expressing Emotions - Varies
What We Feel
Research Needed
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Socialization into Gender
 Learning the Gender Map
 Gender Messages in the Family
 Gender Messages from Peers
 Gender Messages in the Mass Media
 Advertising
 Television
 Video Games
 Anime
Film: Consuming Kids
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Mass Media
Mass Media – means of
communication designed to
reach the general population.
 Sociologists agree that mass
media are powerful socializing
agencies.
 Children learn behavior
expected of individuals in certain
social statuses.
 The media display role models
for children to imitate.
Functions of the Mass Media
1. Provides valuable
2.
3.
4.
5.
information.
Promotes social
continuity and
integration.
Provides entertainment.
Explains and interprets
meanings of events and
information.
Helps mobilizes a
society.
Dysfunctions of the Mass Media
1. Fosters panic.
2. Increases social conformity.
3. Legitimates the status quo.
4. Impedes social change while promoting social
continuity and integration.
5. Diverts the public from serious issues through
trivial entertainment.
6. Shapes views through editorializing as they
“interpret” events and information.
7. Creates violence via public mobilization.
Conflict Theory and the Media: Marxian
View
 Workers are exploited by being paid less than
they deserve.
 Ruling class monopolizes the media and
receives excessive profits.
 Ruling class views media as necessary to
disseminate the ideology of the ruling class.
 The media are a tool of manipulation by which
the ruling class maintains its power.
Conflict Theory and the Media: Power
Elite
 Power elite – a unified coalition of top
military, corporate, and government leaders.
 Evidence that the media is controlled by the
ruling class:
1.
2.
3.
Concentration of power in the media
Agenda-setting power of the media
Media’s ability to socialize the population
Agents of Socialization
Family - is the child’s first exposure to the world.
 Through members of the family we learn to:
 think and speak;
 internalize norms, beliefs, and values;
 form basic attitudes;
 develop capacity for intimate and personal relationships;
 acquire a self-image.
 The First Group with Impact
 The Family and Social Class
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Agents of Socialization
School - provides children with non-related
care.
 Manifest Function
 Exposes children to objective standards of
performance and punishment.
 Encourages them to develop loyalties beyond their
own families.
 Latent Functions
 Hidden curriculum – informal and unofficial
aspects of culture that children are taught as
preparation for life in larger society.
 Trains children to be disciplined, orderly,
cooperative, and conforming.
 Corridor curriculum
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Agents of Socialization
Neighborhood – has an impact on kid’s development
 Some places are better for kids to grow up in than others
 Residents of more affluent neighborhoods watch out for kids
more than do residents of poorer neighborhoods
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Agents of Socialization
Religion – plays a major role in socialization of most
Americans even if they are not raised in a religious family.
 Influences: morality, ideas about dress, speech, manners, etc.
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Agents of Socialization
Daycare – With more mom’s working, now a significant agent
of socialization.
 National study’s findings
Agents of Socialization
 Peer Groups – individuals roughly the same age with
similar interests; not controlled by adults.
 Next to the family, most powerful socializing force in society.
 Provides young people with experiences they cannot
easily obtain elsewhere.
 Helps them gain experience in self-direction and
establish independence from adults.
Agents of Socialization
Sports – Also a powerful agent
 Kids taught physical skills and values
 Boys often learn that masculinity is related to success in
sports
 Competition, discipline
Agents of Socialization
Workplace – major agent for adults
 We learn not only skills, but also matching attitudes and values
 Resocialization
 Mild - New Boss
 Intense - Alcoholics Anonymous
 Total Institutions - Boot Camp
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Socialization Through Life
 Childhood - Birth to ~12 yrs
 Adolescence - 13 to 17 yrs
 Transitional Adulthood - 18 to 29 yrs
 The Middle Years - 30 to 65 yrs
 Early Middle Years - 30 to 49 yrs
 Later Middle Years - 50 to 65 yrs
 Transitional Older Years ~65 yrs on
 Later Older Years
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Sociological Significance of the Life
Course
 Does Not Merely Represent Biology
 Social Factors Influence Life Course
 Social Location Very Significant
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Are We Prisoners of
Socialization?
 Sociologists Do Not Think So
 Individuals Are Actively Involved in the Construction
of the Self
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