1. Sociology – Chapter 3 - Socialization
Miss Hickey
Hilliard Davidson High School
Sociology

2. What is Human Nature?
social environment: entire human environment, including direct contact with others
socialization: process by which people learn the characteristics of their croup
self: unique human capacity of being able to se ourselves “from the outside”
significant other: an individual who influences someone else’s life
generalized other: norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of people in general

3. What is Human Nature?
People have always wondered how much of peoples characteristics come for “nature” (heredity) and “nurture” (contact with others).
Best way to find out is to examine those who have had not social contact: feral children

4. Feral Children
Feral children: raised by animals; can’t speak or do any normal human behavior; raised in the wilderness (language and human bonding = needed)
Isolated children: have no natural language  no shared way of life  no connection to others: culture is key to what people become
without language there is no culture
without interaction/shared ideas… no image of self

5. Feral Children: Textbook Example
In 1798 in France in a forest, they found a boy that walked on all fours and pounced on animals devouring them uncooked.
Most social scientists have take the position that children can not be raised by animals, and that the reason they were abandoned was because of mental disability

6. In 1991, Oxana was found at age eight, in Ukraine, living among dogs.
unable to speak a language
had many dog-like traits (bark, howl, scratch, and dig)
tightly knit with the dogs
was hard to learn language and behavior (was able to do it with time)
Oxana Malaya

7. Institutionalized Children
Institutionalized children: intelligence and ability to establish close bonds with others depends on early interaction; period of time where intelligence and bonds must occur in order for humans to develop
1930s – shorter lifespan, children that lived in orphanages had less than a third grade education
difficulty establishing relationships
lower IQs

8. Deprived Animals
Harry and Margaret Harlow perform experiment to show how important early interaction is
In 1962 they raised baby monkey’s with artificial mothers
wire mother (food)
terry cloth mother (comfort) – clung to when frightened “intimate human contact”
Deprived animals: monkeys in isolation never able to adjust to normal monkey life; could not enjoy or engage in normal monkey play
infant-mother bonding is due not to feeding, but cuddling

9. Cooley and the Looking Glass Self
Charles Horton Cooley ( )
symbolic interactionist
self is socially created: “our sense of self develops form interaction with others”
We imagine how we appear to those around us
We interpret others reaction
We develop self concept

10. Looking-Glass Self

11. George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
George Mead: thought that play was crucial to the development of self
Take the role of other: putting self in other person's shoes
imitation – acting like someone else/significant others with gestures
play – pretend to take roles of specific peple
games – learn to take multiple roles
Initially significant others (parents, police officers)  eventually “generalized other” (role of a whole group)
Cooley and Mead are largely accepted—though age self develops is disputed still.

12. Piaget and the Development of Reasoning
How do we come to answers? How do we reason?
Believed the mind was a social product
Piaget and the States of Reasoning:
The sensorimotor stage (infants; understanding is limited)
The preoperational stage (develop the ability to use symbols)
Concrete operational stage (remain concrete
Formal operational stage (capable of abstract thinking)
reasoning moves from concrete and moves to more abstract
can talk about concepts and come to conclusions
Although Piaget’s theory is being refined, this still remains: a basic structure underlies the way we develop reasoning, and children all over the world begin with the concrete and more to the more abstract
Social experiences can modify the stages.

13. A SHORT Time to Ponder
How do you think you appear to those who are around you?
Which stage in “taking the role” do you think is the most important? Why?

14. Learning Personality, Morality and Emotions
Sigmund Freud: physician who founded psychoanalysis
believed that your personality consists of three elements:
id: term for inborn basic drives
ego: term for balancing force between the id and the demands of society
superego: term of the conscience, the internalized norms and values of our societal groups

15. Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory
Lawrence Kohlberg: concluded that we go through a sequence of stages as we develop morality
amoral stage: no right or wrong, personal needs need to be satisfied
preconventional stage: learned rules and follow them to stay out of trouble
conventional stage: morality means to follow norms and values they have learned
postconventional stage: most people don’t reach, people reflect on abstract principles of right and wrong and judge a behavior according to these principles
In which stage do you reside? How and/or when did you transition between the stages? Why?

16. Carol Gilligan
Didn’t agree with Kohlbergs conclusions because he only used males in his studies
Interviewed 200 men and women to conduct her own research
Conclusions:
women evaluate morality of personal relationships and want to know how and action affects others
Men evaluate morality of abstract principles and see whether an act matches or violets a code of ethics

17. Paul Ekman everyone experiences six basic emotions:
anger
disgust
fear
happiness
sadness
surprise
expressing emotions is different between genders, cultures, social class and relationships
what people feel also changes between different cultures

18. Socializing Emotions global emotions
existence of universal facial expressions for 6 basic emotions does NOT mean socialization has no effect on how express them
people in one culture may learn to experience feelings that are unknown in another culture

19. Gender Messages
gender role: behaviors and attitudes considered appropriate because one if female or male
Social inequality – a social condition in which privileges and obligations are given to some but denied to others
gender = primary basis
gender socialization: the ways in which society sets children into different courses of life because they are male or female
family: unconsciously send gender messages through toys and color choices for various things
Goldberg and Lewis introduced the idea that mothers subconsciously reward daughters for being passive and dependent and sons for being active and independent

20. Gender Messages, cont.
peers: teen girls talk to their girlfriends different than they talk to their guy friends and vice versa
girls: shopping, boys, clothing
boys: sex and violence
peer group: group of individuals of roughly the same age who are linked by common interests
mass media: forms of communication such as radio, newspapers, television that are directed at a mass audience
advertising, television, movies and video games are all directed to a certain gender (and reinforce stereotypes of sexes)
advertising: bombards people with things a certain gender would want
TV/movies: boys and girls watch certain shows and movies
videogames: directed at boys – use action and violence
reflect cutting edge changes in sex roles

21. A SHORT Time to Ponder
How does mass media impact your life indirectly?
How have your parents or guardians socialized you towards characteristics associated with one gender or another?

22. Agents of Socialization
family
neighborhood
religion
day care
school
peer groups
sports and competitive success
workplace

23. Agent of Socialization: Family
lay down our basic sense of self
establish our initial motivations values and beliefs
subtle socialization (study families in public)
The stroller effect (gender roles/gender messages)
Social Class (diff. classes raise children differently)
ways of discipline
middle class: instill values
working class: keep out of trouble
curiosity
self-control

24. Agent of Socialization: Neighborhood
poor neighborhoods vs. wealthy neighborhoods
poor neighborhoods: crime, less opportunity
more likely to be around negative influences
wealthy neighborhoods: more opportunity
neighbors more likely to keep an eye on children (children more likely to develop sense of community)
children socialize with immediate peers
disadvantage vs. advantages to both

25. Agent of Socialization: Religion
ideas of right and wrong
dress, speech, manners, etc.
morals of religious people effect everyone
influences extend to many areas of our lives

26. Agent of Socialization: Day Care
Pro: language skills, low income families
Con: increased hours in day care make children more likely to be mean and cruel, bad relationship with mother

27. Agent of Socialization: School
Manifest and latent functions
manifest functions (intended): transmit skills such as reading, writing, arithmetic
latent functions (unintended): social system, hidden and corridor curriculum
hidden curriculum: teach patriotism, democracy, justice, honesty
dysfunction: racism, sexism, coolness, reinforce social and economic and political standing
Kids born in higher class families attend better schools and therefore end up better off in life. The opposite holds true for the poor.

28. Agent of Socialization: Peer Groups
friends become more influential than family
conformity or rejection
influential (dominate one’s actions and thoughts)
male traits: athletic ability, coolness and toughness
female traits: family background, personal appearance and ability to attract boys

29. Agent of Socialization: Sport and Competitive Success
physical skills
team players
self image
gender roles
boys (what they get from sports): sports lead to a positive “masculine” identity for boys and facilitates their self-esteem
girls (relationships): sports construct meaningful relationships and positive identity

30. Agent of Socialization: Workplace
anticipatory socialization
Anticipating future role and learning parts of it now
helps self-concept
more you work in a certain line of work, the more it becomes a part of your self-concept
new perspective on world

31. A SHORT Time to Ponder
Which of these groups do you think have the greatest effect on people? You?
Do you think there is really a hidden curriculum in schools?
How do peer groups change allegiance from family to friends?
Do you think that there are other agents of socialization that should be added?

32. Resocialization
resocialization – the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes and behaviors
most resocialization is mild
total institutions – people are cut off from the rest of society
degradation ceremony – an attempt to remake the self by stripping away in individuals self-identity

33. Socialization Through Life Course
life course: stages of life as we go from birth to death
childhood (birth-12)
adolescence (13-17)
young adulthood (18-29)
early middle (30-49)
later middle (50-65)
early older (65-75)
later Older (75-death)
You are always getting socialized! It never stops.

34. Stages of Life childhood (birth-12) adolescence* (13-17)
varies from culture to culture
very dependent (need others)
children go to school to become socialized
parents = major agent of socialization
increasing importance of technology
Ex. changed from middle ages to be more nurturing
adolescence* (13-17)
education becomes important for success
start to build an identity (partially socialize themselves)
leave younger world and move into the older world (transition)
Didn’t exist until after industrialization: unnatural stage*
young adulthood (18-29)
finish school, full-time job, develop serious relationships
some societies require rituals to become an adult

35. Stages of Life Middle Years (30-65)
early middle (30-49)
starting families and working toward life goals
more sure of self (formed own opinions, but still experiences events that can change life)
later middle (50-65)
life is no longer stressful
start to feel mortality and start anticipations for next stage of life
Older Years (65-death) – people feel that time is closing in on them
early older (65-75)
could keep working or retirement
continue to do things they enjoy
less sexually active
later Older (75-death)
growing frailty and illness… death

36. Sociological Significance of Life Course
does not represent biology
social factors influence life course
social location
social class
gender
Race
major events can change life course
war
depression

37. A SHORT Time to Ponder
Which life stage do you find most desirable? Why?
Do you think that we are prisoners of socialization? Why?
Do you think degradation ceremonies are affective? Why?