1. ©2013 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. All rights reserved.
Jon Witt
Alana Hermiston
SOC
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2nd Canadian Edition
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Socialization 4
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Learning Objectives
1. Learn about the role of socialization in the development of the self.
2. Examine the influence of environment on social development.
3. Distinguish between sociological and psychological understandings of the self.
4. Identify and explain the agents of socialization.
5. Gain an understanding of how socialization occurs throughout the life course.
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4. The Role of Socialization
LO-1
The Role of Socialization
Socialization
Is the lifelong process whereby we learn:
attitudes
values
appropriate behaviours for members of a particular culture
heredity (nature)
environment (nurture)
The Role of Socialization
While most social scientists acknowledge the significance of the interaction between heredity (nature) and environment (nurture), most sociologists tend to come down more strongly on the side of nurture. We internalize the culture that has been constructed by others who came before us through socialization—the lifelong process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviours appropriate for members of a particular culture.
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5. The Role of Socialization
LO-2
The Role of Socialization
Heredity and environment interact and influence the socialization process.
Extreme Childhood Isolation
Cases of Isabelle and Genie demonstrate the importance of earliest socialization experiences for children
Primate Studies
Harlow showed isolation had damaging effect on monkeys
Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation
We can appreciate how heredity and environment interact and influence the socialization process by examining situations in which one factor operates almost entirely without the other. The need for human interaction is evident in actual case studies.
Extreme Childhood Isolation
Isabelle and Genie demonstrate that children who have been isolated or severely neglected have a difficult time recovering from the loss of early childhood isolation.
Primate Studies
Harry Harlow tested rhesus monkeys for the effects of isolation and concluded that isolation had a damaging effect on the monkeys.
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6. The Role of Socialization
LO-2
The Role of Socialization
Results from identical twin studies
indicate that:
Both genetic factors and socialization experiences are influential in human development
The nature–nurture debate will continue
The Influence of Heredity
Twins studies reveal that both genetic factors and socialization experiences are influential in human development. Example: Oskar Stohr and Jack Yufe.
Results from twin studies suggest that the nature–nurture debate is likely to continue.
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7. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Sociological Approaches to the Self
Self
distinct identity that sets us apart from others
The Self and Socialization
The self is a distinct identity that sets each of us apart from others. It is not a static phenomenon but continues to develop and change throughout our lives.
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LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self
We learn who we are by interacting with others
The self is the product of our social interactions with other people
Process of self-identity has three phases:
Imagining how others see us
Imagining how others evaluate us
Defining our self as a result of these impressions
Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self
The self is a product of social interactions with others. Three phases: (1) we imagine how we present ourselves to others; (2) we imagine how others evaluate us; and (3) we define our self as a result of these impressions. Example: a student’s reaction to a teacher’s criticism.
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9. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Mead: Stages of the Self
Core Components of Self
The I (acting self that acts)
The Me (socialized self that plans actions and judges performances)
Significant others
individuals who are most important in the development of the self
Mead: Stages of the Self
Argued that there are two core components of the self: the I (our acting self), and the Me (our socialized self that plans actions and judges performances based on the standards we have learned from others).
The I is our acting self. It is the part of the self that walks, reads, sings, smiles, speaks, or performs any other action we might undertake.
The Me is our socialized self which plans the action an then judges our performance afterward.
Instrumental to Mead’s view are significant others (individuals most important in development of the self).
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10. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Mead: Stages of the Self
Three-stage process of self-development:
Preparatory stage
children imitate people around them
Play stage
children pretend to be other people
Game stage
children grasp their own social positions and those of others around them
A three-stage process of self-development:
The Preparatory Stage
Children begin to understand the use of symbols—the gestures, objects, and words that form the basis of human communication.
The Play Stage
Children pretend to be other people, like an actor “becoming” a character.
Role taking is the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint.
The Game Stage
Children begin to consider several tasks and relationships simultaneously.
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11. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Mead: Stages of the Self
Generalized other
attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behaviour.
Example: children learning manners.
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12. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Goffman: Presentation of the Self
Dramaturgical approach
studies interaction
Impression management
altering presentation of self
Face-work:
efforts people make to maintain a proper image and avoid public embarrassment
Goffman: Presentation of the Self
Offered the dramaturgical approach, which studies interaction as if we are all actors on a stage.
Impression management involves an individual altering his or her presentation of the self to create a distinctive appearance and to satisfy particular audiences.
Face-work involves people trying to maintain a proper image to avoid public embarrassment. Example: feigning employment to avoid embarrassment.
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13. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Psychological Approaches to the Self
Sigmund Freud
Self is a social product and aspects of one’s personality are influenced by other people (especially one’s parents)
Natural instincts are at odds with societal constraints
Psychological Approaches to the Self
Freud stressed the role of inborn drives. Self has components that work in opposition to each other. Part of us seeks limitless pleasure, while another part seeks rational behaviour.
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14. The Role of Socialization
LO-3
The Role of Socialization
Jean Piaget: Cognitive Theory of Development
Four stages in development of children’s thought processes
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Social interaction is the key to development
Piaget underscored the importance of social interactions in developing a sense of self.
In his cognitive theory of development, Piaget identified four stages in the development of children’s thought processes:
(1) sensorimotor stage (child uses senses to make discoveries)
(2) preoperational stage (child begins to use words and symbols)
(3) concrete operational stage (child engages in more logical thinking)
(4) formal operational stage (adolescent is capable of sophisticated abstract thought, and can deal with ideas and values in a logical manner)
According to Piaget, social interaction is the key to development.
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16. Agents of Socialization
LO-4
Agents of Socialization
Family
the most important agent of socialization especially for children
Cultural Influences
Family structures reproduce themselves through socialization
The Impact of Race and Gender
Gender roles: expectations regarding proper behaviour, attitudes, and activities of males and females
Agents of Socialization
 Family
Parents minister to the baby’s needs by feeding, cleansing, carrying, and comforting. The lifelong process of learning begins shortly after birth.
Cultural Influences
Children learn expectations regarding marriage and parenthood in the context of families.
The Impact of Race and Gender
Families, the mass media, and religious and educational institutions impact a child’s socialization.
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17. Agents of Socialization
LO-4
Agents of Socialization
Schools
Teach basic skills and shared cultural knowledge
Have mandate to socialize children to societal norms and values
Peer Groups
As children grow older, peer groups increasingly assume the role of Mead’s significant others
Popularity reinforces gender stereotypes
School
Schools teach us the taken-for-granted knowledge of the broader society – not only basic skills such as reading, writing, arithmetic, but also shared cultural knowledge such as the national anthem, our first Prime Minister, and principles of good character. Provide both social order and individual opportunity, but can also reinforce existing inequality.
The hidden curriculum goes beyond the official curriculum to include the moral informal lessons we learn on the playground.
Peer Groups
As a child grows older, family becomes somewhat less important in social development, while peer groups increasingly assume the role of Mead’s significant others.
Within the peer group, young people associate with others who are approximately their own age and who often enjoy a similar social status.
Sociologists have found that popularity reinforces gender stereotypes.
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18. Agents of Socialization
LO-4
Agents of Socialization
Mass Media and Technology
Television
New technologies
Internet
Cell phones
Access to media can increase social cohesion
Mass Media and Technology
Television can introduce young people to unfamiliar lifestyles and cultures.
New technologies (Internet, cell phones) are changing how we interact with family, friends, and strangers.
Access to media can increase social cohesion. But new technologies can also lead to narrowcasting, in which we interact with people who are most like oursleves.
Class discussion: Who has a Facebook account? Why? How does it influence your life?
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19. Agents of Socialization
LO-4
Agents of Socialization
The Workplace
Learning to behave appropriately within an occupation is a fundamental aspect of human socialization
Religion and the State
Government and organized religion have assumed more of a care-giving role, previously performed by families
The Workplace
Adolescents generally seek jobs to earn spending money.
Workplace socialization changes when a person shifts to full-time employment.
Religion and the State
State-run agencies are increasingly influential in life course.
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LO-4
Discussion: What role does Child Care play in the socialization of children? How do the social skills of six year old children who stay home, differ from those who attend child care?
Should Canada have government-subsidized, universal child care?
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21. Socialization Throughout the Life Course
LO-5
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Rites of passage
rituals marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Rites of passage are symbolic representations of significant transitions that serve as a means of dramatizing and validating changes in a person’s status.
Discussion What rites of passage do we pass through in Canada?
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22. Socialization Throughout the Life Course
LO-5
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Life Course Approach
A research orientation in which sociologists and other scientists look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death.
The Life Course
Socialization continues through the life cycle. Sociologists who take a life course approach look closely at the social factors, including gender and income, that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death. They recognize that biological changes help shape but do not dictate human behaviour.
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23. Socialization Throughout the Life Course
LO-5
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Anticipatory socialization
the processes of socialization in which a person “rehearses” for future positions, occupations, and social relationships
Resocialization
process of discarding old behaviour patterns and accepting new ones as part of a life transition
Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization
An example of Anticipatory socialization : high school students preparing for further education by looking at college or university websites.
An examples of Resocialization are: prisons, political indoctrination camps, and religious conversions.
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24. Socialization Throughout the Life Course
LO-5
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Total institution
an institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority
Degradation ceremony
An aspect of the socialization process within some total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals.
Examples of total institution are: prisons, mental hospitals, summer camps, boarding schools and military organizations.
Goffman identified four common traits of total institutions.
Individuality is often lost in total institutions, often through the humiliations of degradation ceremonies.
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25. Socialization Throughout the Life Course
LO-5
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Midlife crisis
A stressful period of self-evaluation that begins at about age 40
Sandwich generation
The generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children
Role Transitions During the Life Course
Men and women often experience a midlife crisis, in which they realize that they have not achieved basic goals and ambitions.
Caring for aging parents falls disproportionately on women. Overall, women provide 60 percent of the care their parents receive. Increasingly, middle-aged women find themselves on “the daughter track.”
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26. Socialization Throughout the Life Course
LO-5
Socialization Throughout the Life Course
Rite of Passage: Retirement
Marks a critical transition from one phase of a person’s life to another
 Adjusting to Retirement
Recent research has revealed that Canadians in their late 40s and early 50s are pushing back their retirement plans, anticipating staying in the workforce longer than they initially expected.
Discussion: What are those reasons? What is the impact for you as new grads?
Gerontologist Robert Atchley identified phases of retirement experiences: preretirement, the near phase, the honeymoon phase, the disenchantment phase, the reorientation phase, the stability phase, and the termination phase.
Retirement is a series of adjustments that varies from one person to another. Experience of retirement varies according to gender, race, and ethnicity.
Small group discussion: Who in your family is retired? At what age did they retire? What are they currently doing?
Record on board: poll group to see range of age of retirement.
Regroup: small group discussion: how does gender, SES, race and ethnicity influence retirement?
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LO-5
Discussion: Reflect on the differences between the average effective age of retirement vs. the official age.
Discuss the reasons for the global differences
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