The Role of Socialization Socialization lifelong process in

The Role of Socialization • Socialization: lifelong process in which people learn appropriate attitudes, values, and behaviors • Personality: person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior

Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation • Interaction of heredity and environment shape human development • Extreme Isolation: Genie

Studies by Harry Harlow (1971) • What happened to monkeys raised away from their mothers? • Fearful and easily agitated • Did not mate • When artificially inseminated, they turned out to be aggressive mothers.

Artificial mothers - need for warmth, comfort, intimacy led to greater social attachment among the infants

Extreme Neglect: Romanian Orphans Primate Studies Social attachments develop from need for warmth, comfort, intimacy

The Influence of Heredity – if twins were raised in totally different social environments, will they have the same IQ?

• Minnesota twin family study (137 sets of identical twins) • Twins have similar intelligence test scores when reared apart in roughly similar social settings • Different scores when reared in different social settings

The Influence of Heredity – does it matter? Genetics Socialization Temperaments Voice patterns Attitudes Values

The Self and Socialization through the Life Course • View of ourselves comes from contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how others perceive us • Self: distinct identity that sets us apart from others • Not a static phenomenon • Interest in how individual develops and modifies sense of self as a result of social interaction

How do we come to develop self-concept • We are not born with the self concept.

Role of social interaction and socialization • George Herbert Mead – how “self” – a distinct identity is formed?

• We develop and modify the sense of self as a result of social interaction. • This self concept continues to develop and change throughout our life course.

Sociological perspectives on self-development • Charles Cooley- Looking glass self • The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept, created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902 (Mc. Intyre 2006), stating that a person's self grows out of society's interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others.

Sociological Approaches to the Self • Cooley: Looking-Glass Self • View of ourselves comes from contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how others perceive us • Looking-glass self: the self is product of social interactions with other people

Sociological Approaches to the Self • Mead: Stages of the Self • Preparatory stage: children imitate people around them • As they grow older, become more adept at using symbols

Play stage: children develop skill in communicating through symbols, and role taking occurs

Sociological Approaches to the Self • Mead: Stages of the Self (continued) • Game stage: children of about 8 or 9 consider several actual tasks and relationships simultaneously

Generalized other: attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior

Generalized other

Table 14 -1: Mead’s Stages of the Self

Sociological Approaches to the Self • Mead: Theory of the Self • Self begins as privileged, central position in a person’s world • As the person matures, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern about reactions of others • Significant others: individuals most important in the development of the self

Sociological Approaches to the Self • Goffman: Presentation of the Self • Impression management: individual learns to slant presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences (also known as dramaturgical approach) • Face-work: need to maintain proper image of self to continue social interaction

Psychological Approaches to the Self • Freud • Self is a social product • Natural impulsive instincts in constant conflict with societal constraints • Personality influenced by others (especially one’s parents) • Self has components that work in opposition to each other

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development • Deciding what is “good” or “bad” • Learning what is good for the society

Pretty little lady

Table 14 -2: Theoretical Approaches to Development of the Self

Socialization throughout the Life Course Rites of passage: means of dramatizing and validating changes in status • Life course approach: looking closely at social factors that influence people throughout their lives • Terms youth-hood, emerging adulthood, and not quite adult coined to describe the prolonged ambiguous status that young people in their 20 s experience

Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization • Development of self is lifelong process – 2 types of socialization occur at many points in life. 1. Anticipatory socialization: person “rehearses” future occupations and social relationships. Example – high school students start working part-time 2. Resocialization: discarding former behavior (unlearn) patterns and accepting new ones during transitions in one’s life. Examples – joining military, unemployment

Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization • Total institution: regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority • Degradation ceremony: ritual in which individual becomes secondary and rather invisible in overbearing social environment

Agents of Socialization • Continuing and lifelong socialization process involves many different social forces • Family • Gender roles: expectations regarding proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females

Agents of Socialization • School • Teaches values and customs of larger society (Functionalism) • Can also reinforce divisive aspects of society (Conflict perspective)

Agents of Socialization • Peer Group • As children grow older, peer groups increasingly assume role of Mead’s significant others • Gender differences are noteworthy among adolescents • What makes you popular?

Table 15 -1: High School Popularity

Agents of Socialization • Mass Media and Technology • Media innovations are important agents of socialization • Role of technology • 12 -17 age group 95% use Internet • Age of use is dropping • Concerns about teen use of Internet; however, use of technology not always negative • New communication technologies in developing countries

Agents of Socialization • Workplace • Learning to behave appropriately within occupational setting is a fundamental aspect of human socialization • US – highest number of teen age children working (developed countries) • Religion and State • Government and organized religion impact life course by reinstituting some rites of passage