1. Socialization and Interaction
Chapter 5
Socialization and Interaction
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2. Socialization and Interaction
These phenomena are instrumental in shaping people as individuals.
The analysis of these issues is the most basic unit of sociological analysis.
Sociologists are interested in the micro-macro continuum, analyzing from the smallest social realities to the largest trends in our social world.
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3. The Individual and the Self
The primary concern for sociologists is that of the individual in general.
The “nature” argument suggests that being human is a natural instinct.
The “nurture” argument suggests that humanness is based on the way we are socialized by others, it is taught so learning is the key to being human.
The reality is that both are critically important.
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4. Symbolic Interaction and the Development of the Self
Human development relies heavily on interaction and is a process of learning how to use symbols and meaning to effectively communicate and transmit culture.
Charles Horton Cooley ( ; American)
The Looking Glass Self
Our self-image reflects how others respond to us.
We only develop a self-concept by interacting with others.
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5. The Individual and the Self
George Herbert Mead ( ; American)
The self is the ability that develops over time to take oneself as an object through a process called taking the role of the other.
Mead also distinguished between the I - the part of the self that is unconscious and creative - and the Me - the organized set of others’ attitudes assumed by the individual.
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6. The Individual and the Self
The Individual as Performer
Erving Goffman ( ; American)
Dramaturgy: social life is a series of dramatic performances.
Impression management: when people interact with others they use a variety of techniques to control the image that they want to project.
Front stage: the social performance is designed to define the situation for those observing it.
Back stage: people express themselves in ways that are suppressed in the front.
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Socialization
Socialization is the process of learning and effectively integrating themselves into a group or society.
It almost always involves a process of interaction as those with knowledge and experience teach those with a need to acquire that knowledge.
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Socialization
Socialization starts in childhood (when children develop a self) and continues over the life span (as adults learn how to function within a changing society).
Agents of socialization are those who do the socializing.
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9. Childhood Socialization: The Family
Parents are called primary agents of socialization because children acquire their first knowledge of language, norms, and values from them.
Parents also engage in anticipatory socialization with their children, teaching them what will be expected of them in the future.
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10. Childhood Socialization: Schools and Teachers
As children mature, other people and organizations become socializing forces.
After parents and family, schools and teachers are the most important agents of socialization.
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11. Childhood Socialization: Peers
A good deal of socialization at school takes place informally through interaction with fellow schoolmates.
As children mature they spend an increasing amount of time in the company of friends.
Peer socialization is increasingly likely to conflict with what is being taught at home and in the schools.
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12. Childhood Socialization: Gender
Gender socialization is the transmission of norms and values about what boys and girls can and should do.
This process starts even before babies are born.
Gender differences (and expectations of behavior) are reinforced by clothes and toys.
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13. Childhood Socialization: Mass Media and the New Media
Until recently, much of the emphasis on the role of the media in socialization focused on television.
As children mature, more of their socialization takes place via the computer, smartphones, video games, and other new emerging technologies.
Figure 5.1
Figure 5.2
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14. Childhood Socialization: Consumer Culture
One needs to be socialized in order to know how and what to consume.
Socialization of this type takes place (mainly) in consumption sites (malls, shopping sites on the Internet).
The items we consume (purchase) reinforce lessons about race, class, and gender.
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15. Adult Socialization: The Workplace
Increasing numbers of workers change jobs and even careers with frequency.
Resocialization is the process of unlearning old behaviors and norms (the old job or career) and learning new behaviors and norms (the new job or career).
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16. Adult Socialization: Total Institutions
A total institution is a closed, all-encompassing place of residence that is set off from the rest of society.
The primary purpose is resocialization.
Examples are prisons and the military.
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17. Other Agents of Adult Socialization
Changes in social values and norms
Family changes
Geographic mobility
Changes associated with aging
Changes in consumption settings
Changes in national economies – the 2008 Recession
Table 5.1
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Interaction
Interaction is social engagement involving two or more individuals.
Key building block for macroscopic social phenomena
Superordinate-Subordinate
Examples include between teacher and student in the classroom, judge and defendant in the courtroom, and guard and prisoner in jail.
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Interaction
Reciprocity and Exchange
A rational process where those involved seek to maximize rewards and minimize costs
“Doing” Interaction - Ethnomethodology
Interaction is something that people “do”; something that they accomplish on a day-to-day basis.
Conversation analysis
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Interaction
Interaction Order
A social domain that is organized and orderly, but created informally and governed by those involved in the interaction.
Status refers to a position within a social system that someone occupies.
Ascribed status
Achieved status
Master status
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Interaction
A role is what is expected of someone who occupies a given status.
Role conflict
Role overload
Role-making
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22. Micro-Level Social Structures
Human relationships and interactions are instrumental in the formation of social structures – the enduring and regular social arrangements that define a society’s social arrangements.
Interpersonal Relationships
Dyads
Triads
Social Networks
Groups, organizations, societies, global networks
Network analysis
Figure 5.4
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23. Micro-Level Social Structures
Groups
A group is a relatively small number of people who over time develop a patterned relationship.
Different types of groups include primary, secondary, reference, in groups, and out groups.
Conformity
While some conformity to the group is necessary for a group to survive, too much conformity can have disastrous consequences.
Figure 5.5
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