Chapter 4

1. Chapter 4 Socialization

2. Dating Guidelines Then • A man should not sit down until the woman is seated. • A man should always pull out the woman’s chair for her and see that she is served first. • A man should never let a woman carry anything heavy • A should always open a door for woman and let her pass in front of him

3. What’s “okay” for today? • What’s similar between today’s dating etiquette and from prior generations? • What are some key differences? • Why do you think these habits change? • Are these changes good or bad?

4. The importance of socialization Section One

5. Objectives • Define the term socialization • Discuss the role socialization plays in human development • Describe the effects of extreme isolation on children

6. Socialization and Personality • Nearly all the human social behavior we consider natural and normal is learned. • Socialization • The cultural process of learning to participate in group life

7. The most important learning occurs early in life. “Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep” Pliny the Elder Roman scholar

8. How do we know socialization is important? • We could set up an experiment using human infants, however, it would be unethical to do so. • Monkeys have been used instead.

9. Experiment Design • How would you design an experiment to study the effects of socialization? • Need control group and experimental group

10. Harry Harlow’ Experiment • Rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers at birth. • These infants were offered a wire monkey “mother” and a soft/fluffy monkey “mother”. • The infants always preferred the soft/fluffy, even when the wire monkey became their only source of food.

11. How do monkeys react to isolations? • Infant monkeys need intimacy, warmth, physical contact and comfort. • Infant monkeys raised in isolation became distressed, apathetic, withdrawn, and hostile.

12. Can we generalize from monkeys to humans? • Human babies denied close contact usually have difficulty forming emotional ties with others. • Touching, holding, stroking, and communicating appear to be essential to normal human development.

13. Case Studies Anna Isabelle Mother was deaf since age of 2 Lived with her mother in a dark room, secluded from the rest of the family Found at the age of 6 ½ Physically ill from malnutrition and lack of sunlight Reacted like a wild animal and communicated with her mother with gestures; made gutteral noises • Anna was the 2nd child to her unwed mother • Kept in a small room and given only milk to drink for 5 years • When found: Her legs were skeleton-like, her stomach was bloated, she had seldom been moved or held. • She could not walk or talk.

14. Outcomes Anna Isabelle Received intensive program of rehabilitation In 2 years, she had caught up developmentally with her peers • Lived in a county home for children where she learned to walk and understand simple commands. • Transferred to a school for disabled children where she made some further progress, but was well below her peers in terms of development • Died at the age of 10

15. Socialization and the self Section Two

16. Objectives • Explain key concepts of socialization from the symbolic interactionist perspective

17. The Functionalist and Conflict Perspectives on Socialization • All 3 theoretical perspectives agree that socialization is needed if cultural and societal values are to be learned. • Symbolic interactionism offers the most fully developed perspective for studying socialization.

18. How does the functionalist perspective explain socialization? • Functionalism stresses the ways in which groups work together to create a stable society. • Example- schools and families socialize children by teaching the same basic norms

19. How does the conflict perspective explain socialization? • The conflict perspective views socialization as a way of perpetuating the status quo.

20. Symbolic Interactionismand Socialization • In the early part of the 20th century, Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead developed the the symbolic interactionist perspective. • They challenged the belief that human nature is biologically determined.

21. How does symbolic interactionism help us understand socialization? • Symbolic interactionism uses a number of key concepts to explain socialization: • The self-concept • The looking-glass self • Significant others • Role taking • The imitation stage, the play stage, the game stage • The generalized other

22. Where does theself-concept come from? • Self-concept • An image of yourself as having an identity separate from other • Children learn to judge themselves in terms of how they imagine others will react to them. • Other people serve as mirrors for the development of the self. • Looking-glass self • A self-concept based on our idea of others’ judgment of us

23. How does the looking-glass process work? • 3-stage process that is constantly taking place: • We imagine how we appear to others • We imagine the reaction of others to our (imagined) appearance • We evaluate ourselves according to how we imagine others have judged us. • The result is a posi.tive or negative self-evaluation

24. Can the looking glass be distorted? • The looking-glass process works even if we are mistaken about others’ perceptions of us.

25. Do we use some people as mirrors more than others? • Significant others • Those people whose reactions are most important to your self-concept

26. What is role taking? • Role taking • Assuming the viewpoint of an other person and using that viewpoint to shape the self-concept

27. How does the ability for role taking develop? • The ability for role taking is the product of a 3-stage process • Imitation stage • Play stage • Game stage

28. Imitation Stage • Mead’s first stage in the development of role taking; children begin to imitate behaviors without understanding why

29. Play Stage • Mead’s second stage in the development of role taking; children act ways they imagine other people would

30. Game Stage • Mead’s third stage in the development of role taking; children anticipate the actions of others based on social rules

31. When do we start acting out of principle? • During the game stage, a child’s self-concept, attitudes, beliefs, and values gradually come to depend less on individuals and more on general concepts. • Generalized other • An integrated conception of the norms, values, and beliefs of one’s community or society emerges

32. What is the self? • The “self” is composed of two parts: • “Me” • The part of the self formed through socialization • “I” • The part of the self that accounts for unlearned, spontaneous acts

33. Agents of socialization Section Three

34. Objectives • Analyze the role of the family, school, peer group, and media in socializing young people

35. The Family and Socialization • Within the family the child learns to • Think and speak • Internalize norms, beliefs, and values • Form some basic attitudes • Develop a capacity for intimate and personal relationships • Acquire a self-image

36. Socialization in Schools • How do schools socialize students? • Hidden Curriculum • The informal and unofficial aspects of culture that children are taught in school

37. Peer Group Socialization • Peer group • Set of individual of roughly the same age and interests

38. How do peer groups contribute to socialization? • Opportunity to engage in give-and-take relationships • experience conflict, competition, and cooperation • experience in self-direction • Make own decisions • Experiment with new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving • Engage in activities that involve self-expression

39. Do friends or family have more influence on young people? • According to Judith Harris, peers are more important than parents in socializing children.

40. The Mass Media and Socialization • Mass media • Means of communication designed to reach the general population

41. What role do the mass media play in socialization? • Display role models for children to imitate • Offer ideas about the values in their society

42. What about violence in the mass media? • Based upon hundreds of studies involving over ten thousand children, most social scientists now conclude that watching aggressive behavior on tv significantly increases aggression.

43. Processes of socialization Section Four

44. Objectives • Discuss processes for socialization in adulthood

45. Desocialization and Resocialization • Symbolic interactionism views socialization as a lifelong process. • They describe 4 processes associated with socialization after childhood • Desocialization • Resocialization • Anticipatory socialization • Reference groups

46. Desocalization • The process of giving up old norms, values, attitudes and behaviors

47. How does desocialization prepare people for new learning? • Often means the destruction of old self-concepts of personal identity • This can be accomplished by • Replacing personal possession with standard-issued items • Use of serial numbers to identify people • Loss of privacy

48. Resocialization • The process of adopting new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors

49. How does resocialization begin? • Once the self-concept has been broken down, resocialization can begin.

50. Anticipatory Socialization • The voluntary process of preparing to accept new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors • May occur in people who are moving from one stage of their life to another