SOCIALIZATION Prof Fernando R Pedrosa Ph D Professorincharge

SOCIALIZATION Prof. Fernando R. Pedrosa, Ph. D. Professor-in-charge, Socio-Anthro.

SOCIALIZATION n The long and complicated process of social interaction through which the child learns the intellectual, physical, and social skills needed to function as a member of society.

n. A process of mutual influence between a person and his/her fellowmen. n A process that results in an adaptation to, the patterns of social behavior. (Fichter)

Personality Product of socialization n Ety. –”per” (through); “sonare” (sound/speak) n Real – the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual. * A well-rounded person has a rich personality and has varied interests and purposes. n

n Personality as a product of socialization, arises from the result of the interplay of various variables, e. g. heredity, environment – geographical, social, economic, and cultural. n The interplay of these factors immensely shapes the development of an individual’s personality.

n Factors of Personality Development: 1. Heredity (nature) – a child’s physical build and its facial appearance are complex creations of fused genes. 2. Environment (nurture) – constitutes the aggregate of surrounding things and conditions, and greatly affects personality as a result of a long gradual process.

- The “self” is achieved through a long, slow process of growth and involves the breaking of undesirable habits and formation of desirable ones. - The environment provides formative influences in the shaping of the foundation of personality that is the result of the wonders of the genes.

- The environment, as a determining factor in personality formation, includes: geographic, cultural, and social aspects.

- Geographic environment is characterized by the location, climate, topography and natural resources. -Cultural environment includes the mode of living, the norms of behavior, the folkways, mores, laws, and customs, values and ideas and other established patterned ways of the social group.

- Social environment is characterized by the various groups of people interacting with one another in a social situation. * A child normally joins various groups and each group improves certain norms and sets of expectations on every member that influence personality formation. For every action perceived by the child from another, he/she gives meaning and interprets it according to his/her own experiences.

* The nature of the child’s interpersonal experiences in relation to the structure and background of his family will also influence the shaping of his/her personality. For ex. – an only child who comes from a rich family will have different experiences from one who comes from a poor and big family.

* The different social processes, e. g. , cooperation, competition, conflict, and differentiation and other social experiences in the social environment will certainly exert a tremendous influence upon the individual.

n Personality/Social Self relates appropriately to the poem “CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE” If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn; If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight; If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy; If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty; If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient; If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence; If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate; If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice; If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith; If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself; find love in the world.

n Socialization is described from points: 1. Objective socialization - refers to the society acting upon the child. 2. Subjective socialization - process by which society transmits culture from one generation to the next, and adapts the individual to the accepted and approved ways of organized social life.

Importance of Socialization n It is vital to: 1. Culture 2. Personality 3. Sex role differentiation

n Vital to culture – it is through this process of socialization that every society transmits culture to succeeding generations. - through this continuing process, each generation acquires the elements of its society’s culture – its knowledge, symbols, values, norms, beliefs, and others.

- Socialization is the vital link to cultures. - If this process of cultural transmission is disrupted, a culture disintegrates or even dies.

n Vital to personality - The process of socialization also plays a very vital role in personality formation and development. - The training of every child received through the process of socialization greatly affects his personality. Human infants develop social attachments when they learn to feel others and see that others care for them.

n Vital to sex role differentiation - Socialization provides every individual the expected role he/she is to play in the society according to their sexes. - In the early years, it was believed that differences in behavior between boys and girls, men and women, were “inborn” and “natural. ” - Biological factors determine the abilities, interests, and traits of the sexes.

Some of the numerous subprocesses of social learning Imitation - the human action by which one tends to duplicate more or less, or exactly, the behavior of others. n Suggestion - is found in the works and actions of those who are attempting to change the behavior of the learner. n

n Competition - a stimulative process in which two or more individuals vie with one another in achieving knowledge.

n Components of Socialization: 1. Goals/Motivations - the state of affairs one wishes to achieve. 2. Contexts - where a social interaction takes place makes a difference. (place, environment, activities surrounding the interaction)

3. Norms - refer to the rules that regulate the process of social interaction. - it is patterned; quite predictable.

Types of social interaction Focused - when two or more individuals agree (explicitly or implicitly) to sustain an interaction with one or more particular goals in mind. n Unfocused - this happen simply because two or more persons happen to be in each other’s presence. (impressions of individuals for another) n

n Four basic types of focused interaction: 1. Exchange 2. Cooperation 3. Conflict 4. Competition

n Exchange - when people do something for another with the expressed purpose of receiving a reward or return.

n Cooperation - people act together to promote common interests or achieve shared goals.

Types of cooperation: 1. Spontaneous - instantaneous 2. Traditional – cultural (customary practice) 3. Directed – planned/organized 4. Contractual – obligatory due to contract

n Conflict - people struggle with one another for some commonly prized object or value.

n Coercion - a kind of conflict that can occur when one of the parties in a conflict is much stronger than the other.

n Competition - individuals or groups confine their conflict within agreed upon rules.

Dynamics of Socialization n Functionalism (Functional Approach) - We gain the image of people adapting to the attitudes of others, conforming to the role expectations, and internalizing the norms and values of the community. - We develop our “social self” that reflects the society in which we live. - People are passive beings who are programmed in the ways of their society.

n Symbolic Interaction - People employ symbols to convey meanings to one another. - They define situations, negotiate interaction and order, and construct reality. - We not only attribute meanings to other people and the world about us, but we also attribute meanings to ourselves.

- Looking-glass-self * We mentally assume the stance of other people and look at ourselves as we believe these others see us. * We acquire our sense of self by seeing ourselves reflected in the behavior of others and their attitudes toward us, and by imagining others think about us.

*According to Cooley, the looking-glassself involves three processes: 1. presentation 2. identification 3. subjective interpretation *We start the way we appear to others, then we identify with how we imagine others judge that appearance, and we finally interpret those judgments for our self-image.

n Conflict Theory and Socialization - This takes note of how social customs and institutions are arranged to perpetuate class distinctions. - This theory argues that child rearing practices vary by social class and affect the life chances of those being socialized. - Children are treated differently form different social classes, thereby perpetuating the domination of one social class over another in a subtle and powerful way.

- For Karl Marx, capitalist society is torn by a fundamental conflict of interest between capitalists and workers. - He contends that institutions such as the educational system and other forms of communication are employed by the capitalist class to foster a false consciousness among the masses.

n Social and Biological Conflict - According to Sigmund Freud, conflict is not so much among classes but between society and the primal biological drives of sex and aggression. - He believed that every society has to repress and channel the primitive drives of people, otherwise – civilization will be destroyed.

Freud formulated a comprehensive theory of socialization and personality and explained its development. - His theory states that socialization, as a process, is characterized by the internal struggle between the biological components and social-cultural environment of the individual. -

- Freud stressed that personality consisted of three major systems: 1. Id – biological component of the self which is the source of a number of drives and urges. - it is unconscious, illogical and unintegrated.

2. Ego – the component of the self that represents reason and sanity. - mediates between the needs of the individual and the world of reality and strives to delay tensions by way of waiting for a suitable environment to exist. 3. Superego – the carrier of the ideals, customs, traditions, and mores of society.

Stages of Development stage (from birth to one year) - Eating is the major source of satisfaction. Frustration and over-indulgence at this stage may lead to over-eating or alcoholism during adulthood. n Oral

stage (one-three years) - toilet training at this stage constitutes an influencing factor in personality development. n Anal

stage (three-six years) - the greatest source of pleasure of the child comes from the sex organs. n Phallic

stage (six years-adolescence) - in this stage, children turn their attention to people outside their families; e. g. friends, teachers, and neighbors. n Latency

stage (adolescence and beyond) - the sexual impulses become active again and the individual focuses on the opposite sex, looks around for a future partner, and prepares for marriage and adult responsibilities. n Genital

Stages of Socialization n Several authorities have been noted in their contributions as far as social development is concerned. Some of them are the following: 1. Erikson 2. Sigmund Freud 3. Jean Piaget 4. George H. Mead 5. Lawrence Kohlberg

1. Erikson (Psychological development) -His major concern is twith the feelings people toward themselves and the world around them. -In his book “Childhood and Society, ” he described eight stages of human development which he referred to as crises – periods when one confronts major issues of life.

- Growth and successful resolution at each stage depend on the growth and degree of resolution at each stage. - The eight periods are the following: 1) Infancy – trust vs. mistrust; 2) Early childhood – autonomy vs. shame and doubt; 3) Play stage – initiative vs. guilt; 4) School age – industry vs. inferiority;

5) Adolescence – identity vs. role confusion; 6) Young adulthood – intimacy vs. isolation; 7) Middle adulthood – generativity vs. stagnation; 8) Old age – integrity vs. despair.

2. Sigmund Freud (Austrian MD. ) - noted for his theory of psychoanalysis; - concluded that what happens to people during childhood affects them later as adults. - according to him, if problems during early stages (oral and anal) are not satisfactorily resolved, a person could become arrested (fixed) at that stage.

3. Jean Piaget - focused on thinking or cognitive development stages; - according to him, through interaction with their environment, children acquire new ways of thinking and new schemes;

- all children move through stages of cognitive development that involve increasingly greater complexity of thought and shift from egocentric perspective to perspective which take others into account.

- he was one of the first to recognize that cognitive development – the process of learning to talk, to think, and to reason is a social as well as psychological phenomenon; - he outlined the process and stages into the following: 1. sensorimotor 2. language acquisition 3. concrete operations 4. abstract thinking

4. George H. Mead - founder of symbolic interaction perspective in sociology; - argues that early in life children appear to be unable to understand anyone else perspective except their own; - after acquiring some mastery of language, they learn their names and some of the expectations other people have about how they should behave.

- further, he said that children recognize that they are distinct from other people, and it is generally easy to recognize that they have difficulty distinguishing their own perspectives. - points out the stages (play and game) involved in being able to maintain a personal perspective and at the same time to take others’ perspectives into account.

- children go through a play stage during which they act as if they were other people; - play therefore, is a stage of social development when a child can imitate or play at being another person; - hence, it is that stage when they are able to understand multiple perspectives.

5. Lawrence Kohlberg - noted for his theory of moral development; - formulated six stages of moral development;

Stages: 1. A child first judges the morality of an act by its physical consequences; if doing something leads to punishment, then it should not be done. 2. The child begins to realize that conforming to rules can bring rewards, not just the avoidance of punishment.

3. The child progresses to a level known as “good child morality’ – when they judge the morality of an act according to how much it conforms to the standards of other individuals, thereby gaining their approval and good will; ideas about right and wrong behavior develop.

4. The stage that emphasizes law and order, strict compliance and conformity to the social order is accepted as right and any deviation as wrong; emphasis is on one’s doing his/her duty. 5. The person recognizes that while it is important to adhere to social rules, it is also possible to change those rules if such a change would benefit greater number of people.

- here, morality is seen as rooted in basic human rights such as life and liberty. 5. A person internalizes ideals of justice, compassion, and equality and conforms both to these ideals and to social standards.