SOCIALIZATION DEFINITION The process of learning to participate

SOCIALIZATION

DEFINITION • The process of learning to participate in a group • Begins at birth and continues throughout life • Very important to the development of an individual

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL ISOLATION • Harry Harlow monkey experiments • Infants raised in isolation become withdrawn, hostile adults • Closeness and comfort seem to be more important than food • Physical contact teaches how to form emotional ties

CASE STUDIES ON ISOLATED CHILDREN

ANNA • Found in 1938 • 6 years old • Kept in isolation and lacked ability to move • Lacked care and comfort and mental abilities suffered

ISABELLE • Similar to Anna • Mother stayed with her, however • Quickly learned socialization skills • Theory: she had contact with the mother and was more prepared than Anna

GENIE • Kept in isolation from age 2 until 14 • Behavior was subhuman when discovered • Abnormal brain waves and inability to speak • Genie’s case led to theory that if language is not learned by adolescence, it might not be attainable

SOCIALIZATION AND THE SELF

FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE • Focuses on how socialization maintains social institutions • Stresses the way groups work together to create a stable society

CONFLICT THEORY PERSPECTIVE • Focuses on how socialization plays a role in social control • Socialization is a way to keep the status quo • Teach social status before you have enough self-awareness to realize what’s happening • This maintains advantages of higher classes

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM AND SOCIALIZATION

SELF-CONCEPT • Def: an image of yourself as having an identity separate from other people • We learn to judge ourselves in terms of how we imagine others will react to us

LOOKING-GLASS SELF • LOOKING-GLASS SELF: a selfconcept based on our idea of others’ judgments of us • 3 stage process: • 1) our perception of how others see us • 2) we imagine the reactions of others to our appearance • 3) we evaluate ourselves according to how we have imagined others have judged us

SIGNIFICANT OTHERS • Def: those people whose reactions are most important to your selfconcept • Teens place heavy reliance on their peers

ROLE TAKING • Def: assuming the viewpoint of another person and using the viewpoint to shape their self-concept • Helps us anticipate what others will do and say

ROLE TAKING CONTINUED • 3 stages: • 1) Imitation stage: children imitate behaviors w/o understanding why • 2) Play stage: children take on roles of others one at a time • 3) Game stage: children anticipate the actions of others based on social rules

GENERALIZED OTHER • Def: integrated conception of the norms, values, and beliefs of one’s community or society • This takes place during the game stage • We depend less on individuals and more on general concepts

THE “ME” AND THE “I” • ME: the part of the self formed through socialization • I: part of the self that accounts for unlearned, spontaneous acts

AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION

THE FAMILY • Primary agent of childhood socialization • You learn to think and speak from them • To internalize beliefs, norms, and values • They form your basic attitudes • They develop your capacity for intimate and personal relationships • You acquire a good portion of your self-image through them

FAMILY AND GENDER ROLES • Family teaches society’s appropriate gender roles • Parents aren’t aware they are • The toys they buy, the actions they perform • Play patterns they encourage

FAMILY AND SOCIAL CLASS • Working-class are more likely to use physical punishment than middleclass • Middle-class tend to worry more about fostering curiosity, self-control, and self-expression • Not all conform to this • Why do you think that is?

RELIGION • Religious values play a role even if you don’t go to church (invisible religion) • Teaches aspects of group life • Influences views on sexuality, “proper” gender roles, work, and childrearing

SCHOOLS • Teaches to be less dependent on parents • Creates feelings of loyalty and allegiance to something beyond the family • HIDDEN CURRICULUM: informal and unofficial aspects of culture that children are taught in school • Discipline, order, cooperation, and conformity

PEER GROUP SOCIALIZATION • PEER GROUP: ppl roughly the same age and with same interests • Give-and-take relationships • Conflict, competition, and cooperation • Promote independence • Create close ties outside the family

MASS MEDIA • Def: means of communication designed to reach the general population • TV, radio, Internet, movies, books, etc… • Display role models • Offer values of society (good or bad) • Propaganda • Effects are subtle

SOCIALIZATION THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE

CHILDHOOD • Industrialization changed the view of childhood • Today we view children as dependent and in need of guidance, protection, and schooling

ADOLESCENCE • Def: the stage of development between childhood and adulthood • Universal education system, exclusion of young ppl from work force, emergence of juvenile justice system, competition to get a college degree have prolonged adolescence

ADOLESCENCE AND THE SELFCONCEPT • Several psychological challenges: • Undefined status • Increased decision-making (supposed to be more responsible) • Increased feelings of pressure • Quest for identity (not totally dependent but not totally independent)

OTHER CHALLENGES TO ADOLESCENCE • Dating • Sexuality • Drug use • Eating disorders • Must develop skills that analyze cause and effect as well as evaluate risk

TRANSITIONAL ADULTHOOD • Def: after high school; still have not assumed responsibilities associated with adulthood (age 18 -29) • Not financially independent • RITES OF PASSAGE: rituals marking the passage from one status to another • Challenge: entering into loving, committed relationships with others in order to partially replace parental bonds (intimacy vs. isolation---Erikson)

MIDDLE YEARS • Age 30 -49 • Family and employment are the hallmarks • Later middle years (50 -64), a reorientation occurs • Focus shifts to how much time you have left

OLD AGE • Age 65 -75 • Called the transitional older years • Body and mind don’t function as sharply as they once did • Retirement can lead to feelings of isolation • Integrity vs. despair (Erikson)

DEATH AND DYING • Elisabeth-Kübler Ross gave us the 5 stages of grieving: • 1)Denial • 2)Anger • 3)Bargaining • 4)Depression • 5)Acceptance • Don’t have to follow in order • Hospice care now more common

PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION

DESOCIALIZATION • Def: process of giving up old norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors • Takes place in TOTAL INSTITUTIONS: places in which ppl are separated from the rest of society and controlled by officials in charge (military boot camps, etc…)

RESOCIALIZATION • Def: process of adopting new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors • Creating a new identity • Rewards for taking on new identity, punishment for not

ANTICIPATORY SOCIALIZATION • Def: voluntary process of preparing to accept new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors • Usually occurs as you transition from one stage to another • Begins in preadolescence as you adopt a new REFERENCE GROUP: group with whom you identify