1. Socialization Over the Life Course
Chapter 4
Socialization Over the Life Course

2. Chapter Outline Using the Sociological Imagination
Social Participation or Social Deprivation
Theoretical Perspectives and Socialization
Psychology and Life Course Theories
Socialization and the Life Course
Doing Research:Socialization and the Mass Media:
Functionalist and Conflict Theories

3. Socialization
One of the most important social processes in human society.
Without it, we would not be able to participate in group life or develop characteristics we associate with being human.

4. Theoretical Perspectives: Socialization
View
Functionalism
Contributes to a stable society.
Conflict theory
A way for the powerful to keep things the same.
Symbolic
interactionism
The major determinant of human nature

5. Sigmund Freud The personality has three parts:
Id - made up of biologically inherited urges and impulses
Ego - the conscious, rational part of the personality
Superego -the conscience

6. Erik Erikson
Described developmental stages that occur from infancy to old age.
Each stage is accompanied by a psychosocial crisis, or developmental task.
Socialization and personality development are lifelong processes.

7. Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Crisis
Favorable Outcome
First year
Trust vs. mistrust
Faith in the environment and others
2 to 3
Autonomy vs. shame
Feelings of self-control and adequacy
4 to 5
Initiative vs. guilt
Ability to begin one’s own activities

8. Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Crisis
Favorable Outcome
6 to
Industry vs. inferiority
Confidence in productive skills
12 to 18
Identity vs. role confusion
Image of oneself as a unique person
18 to 35
Intimacy vs. isolation
Ability to form bonds of love and friendship

9. Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Crisis
Favorable Outcome
35-60
Generativity vs. stagnation
Concern for family, society, and future generations
Over age 60
Integrity vs. despair
Sense of dignity and fulfillment; willingness to face death

10. Jean Piaget
Ability to think, know, and reason develops through interaction with others.
Each of us must pass through 4 stages in the proper developmental sequence:
Sensorimotor stage
Preoperational stage
Concrete operational stage
Formal operational stage

11. Rates of Imprisonment

12. Availability of Television

13. Periods in the Eras of Early and Middle Adulthood

14. Agencies of Socialization
Family
School
Peer group
Mass media

15. Schools and Socialization
The first agency of socialization controlled by nonrelatives.
Expose children to standards of performance applied to everyone.
Encourage them to develop loyalties beyond their own families.
Train children to be disciplined, orderly, cooperative, and conforming.

16. Peer Groups and Socialization
The first agency of socialization not controlled by adults.
Provides young people with experiences they cannot easily obtain elsewhere.
Teach young people to deal with others as equals.
Help them gain experience in self-direction and establish independence from adults.

17. Stages of Adult Development
Early Adulthood: 18 to 35
Involves a move beyond adolescence and a preliminary step into adulthood
Ends when the individual has made a life within the adult world.

18. Functions of the media Provide information.
Promote social continuity and integration.
Supply entertainment.
Explain and interpret events and information.
Mobilize the society when necessary.

19. Dysfunctions of the mass media
Increase social conformity.
Legitimate the status quo.
Impede social change while promoting social continuity and integration.
Divert the public from serious issues through trivial entertainment.
Shape views through editorializing as they “interpret” events and information.
Create violence via public mobilization.

20. Conflict Theory and the Media: Marxian View
Workers are exploited by being paid less than they deserve.
Consumers are overcharged.
Ruling class receives excessive profits.
The media are a tool of manipulation by which the ruling class maintains its power.

21. Conflict Theory and the Media: Power Elite
Evidence that the media is controlled by the ruling class:
Concentration of power in the media
Agenda-setting power of the media
Media’s ability to socialize the population