Socialization

What is Socialization? process by which an individual learns how to interact with others and becomes a member of society

Nature v. Nurture -Innate traits we are born with Inherited genetic traits Sex, body build, hair type, eye color, skin color Aptitudes – capacity to learn particular skills or talents – being “naturally” talented at something Aptitude for music or art Instincts - unchanging, biologically inherited behavior patterns Suckling, mating, hunger All of these factors can affect your behaviors.

Nature v. Nurture Learned behavior Parental characteristics religion, education, economic status, cultural heritage, and occupation Cultures and subcultures Values and norms, Gender roles Conditioning and learning Pavlov’s dogs All of these factors can influence our behaviors as well.

Agents of Socialization Factors that allow socialization to take place

Agents of Socialization: Family The most important agent of socialization because it stands at the center of children’s lives Provides for basic needs, and teaches children skills, cultural values, and attitudes about themselves and others Passes on to children a social position (places them in society in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, and class) Deliberate and unintended socialization Socializes children into gender roles

Agents of Socialization: Family Research suggests: nothing is more likely to produce a happy, well- adjusted child than being in a loving family. class position of parents affects they raise their children.

Agents of Socialization: School Teaches a wide range skills and curriculum that is stated and unstated Stated – math, science, language, grammar, writing Unstated - competition, values, fair play, gender roles, patriotism, citizenship, responsibility, working to a deadline Dances, extracurricular activities socialization children for the larger world

Agents of Socialization: School Schooling enlarges children’s social world to include people with social backgrounds different from their own School is the child’s first experience with bureaucracy (hierarchy, fixed procedures) Socializes children into gender roles

Agents of Socialization: Peer Groups Provides children with the opportunity to escape direct supervision of parents and make their own identity. Adler Study – Boys are made popular through athletics, coolness, and toughness. Girls are made popular through family background, physical appearance, and the ability to attract boys. Gender roles

Agents of Socialization: Peer Groups Shape themselves into the person they think the group wants them to be Peers affect short-term interests but parents have greater long-term goals

Agents of Socialization: Mass Media Impersonal – books, movies, TV, internet, magazines, newspapers, 28+ hours of TV/week Violence Mirrors our society’s patterns of inequality and rarely challenges the status quo Reflects the values of the dominant culture

Resocializated A break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms Military boot camps, prison, monasteries, psychiatric hospitals, etc Stripping away of individual identity Uniforms, haircuts, numbers Denied freedoms Leads to new patterns of behavior

ON THE BACK OF YOUR 20 STATEMENTS: Pick one thing about you… it can be anything. Hobby, Talent, Interest\ For each agent of socialization, tell how that agent affected this aspect of your personality. For example, I’m a social studies teacher. Family – My parents were both teachers and they always took my brother and to historical sites. School – History was always my favorite subject in school. Peers – All of my best friends are teachers as well. Mass media – Stations such as the History Channel have allowed me to broaden my interest and taught be about topics I didn’t even know I was interested in.