Ch5: socialization Flashcards
socialization
the process through which people are taught to be proficient members of a society
it describe the way that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, beliefs, and values
self
a person’s distinct sense of identity as developed through social interaction, doesn’t emerge naturally as a process driven by biological mechanisms
George Herbert Mead
- founder of the school of symbolic interactionism in sociology
- the self that he is concerned with is the ability to be reflexive or self-aware
- self arise in social context through interaction
- impossible to conceive of a self arising outside of social experience
Sigmund Freud
- father of psychology
- influential modern scientist in developing the theory of the sense of self
- believed that personality and sexual development were closely linked, divided the maturation process into psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
- stated that failure to resolve traumatic tensions of a child’s psychosexual development results in predictable consequences in adulthood
Erik Erikson
- psychologist who creates a theory of personality development based on work of Freud
- believed different cultures handle stages of child development differently
- believed that the environment in which a child was living helped with their growth and adjustment as well as helping them to develop their self-awareness and identity
Charles Horton Cooley
- coined the term “the looking glass self”, people’s self understanding is constructed by their perception of how others view them
- sense of self is not based on internal source of individuality but a result of how we imagine we look to others then develop our personal sense of self
George Herbert Mead broke the self into what two components/phases
the “I” and “me”
“I” represents the part of self that acts on its own initiative or responds to the organized attitudes of others
“me” represents the part of self which one recognizes the “organized set of attitudes” of others toward the self (who we are in other’s eyes, our public personas)
role
the behaviour expected of a person who occupies particular social status or position in society
four stages of child socialization
preparatory stage, play stage, game stage, and generalized other stage
preparatory stage
children are only capable of imitation, copy the actions of people with whom they regularly interact
play stage
children begin to imitate and take on roles that another person might have, role play is very fluid and transitory
game stage
children learn to consider several specific roles at the same time and how those roles interact with each other
generalized other
children develop, understand, and learn the idea of the common behavioural expectations of general society
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
important part of socialization process, refers to the way people learn what society considered to be good and bad, important for a smoothly functioning society
doing gender
performing tasks based upon the gender assigned by society, learned through interaction with others in much the same way the Mead and Cooley described for socialization in general
gender schema
rudimentary image of gender differences, enables them to make decisions about appropriate styles of play and behaviour, children integrate their sense of self into this developing schema and adopt consistent and stable gender roles
nurture
the relationships and caring that surround us
nature
our temperaments, interest, and talents are innate (from this perspective, who we are depends on nature)
sociology perspective on nature vs nurture debate
concern with the effect that society has on human behaviour, the nurture side of the nature versus nurture debate
agency
the ability to choose and act independently of external constraints
structural functionalists’ approach to the problem of agency
- socialization is essential to society, both because it trains members to operate successfully within it and because it perpetuates culture by transmitting it to new generations
- individuals learn different social roles, which comes with relatively fixed norms and expectations (predictable interactions)
- how individual lives and balances their roles is subject to variation
critical sociologist’s approach to the problem of agency
argue that socialization reproduces inequality from generation to generation by conveying different expectations and norms to those with different social characteristics
symbolic interactionist approach to the problem of agency
- concerned with face-to-face exchanges and symbolic communication
social groups
often provide the first experiences of socialization, people learn to use tangible objects of material culture in social context, as well as being introduced to beliefs and values
family
first agent of socialization
peer group
- made up of people who are not necessarily friends but who are similar in age and social status and share interests
- begin in early years of childhood
- provide adolescents’ first major socialization experience outside of family
- provide opportunities for socialization to be engaged in
- families exert more influence than peers over educational choices, political, social, and religious attitudes
- race, gender, intelligence, wealth are characteristics that divide people into status groups in adulthood
formal institutions
- schools, workplaces, and the government teach people how to behave in and navigate these systems
- institutions like the media contribute to socialization by providing with messages about norms and expectations
school
- regularly reinforce what society expects from children with the teacher serving as role models and leaders
- socialize children by teaching them about citizenship and nationalism
- sociologists describe this aspect of school as hidden curriculum (the informal teaching done by schools)
mass media
refers to the distribution of impersonal information to a wide audience via television, newspaper, radio, and the internet
socialization in Canada
determined greatly by age norms and time-related rules and regulations
adolescence
a period stretching from puberty to about 18 years old, characterized by the role adjustment from childhood to adulthood
Jean Paiget’s description of adolescence
a decisive turning point, at which individuals reject or revise his estimate of everything that has been inculcated in him, acquires a personal point of view and personal place in life
rite of passage
a ritual that marks a life cycle transition from a previous status to a new status
anticipatory socialization
the preparation for future life roles
liquid modernity
a society in which the conditions under which its members act change faster than it takes the ways of acting to consolidate into habits and routines
confluent love
what Bauman refers to as a relationship that lasts only as long as, and not a moment longer than, the satisfaction it brings to both partners
resocialization
- old behaviours that were helpful in previous role are removed because they are no longer of use
- typically more stressful than socialization because people have to unlearn behaviours
total institution
the most common resocialization process when people are isolated from society and are forced to follow someone else’s rules
degradation ceremony
new members lose the aspects of their old identity and are given new identities
moral career
a standard sequence of changes in a person’s moral capacity to be answerable for their actions
reflected appraisals
refers to the process by which individuals come to see themselves based on how they believe others perceive them
third person effect
a phenomenon where individuals believe that media messages have a greater influence on other people than on themselves
social comparisons
refers to the process through which individuals assess themselves by comparing their own abilities, opinions, or characteristics to those of others
According to George Herbert Mead, the ability to recognize “the self” is the result of social processes that encourage individuals:
to be reflexive about their thoughts and feelings
Mead proposed that individuals reach a state of development where they understand that they are expected to act in particular ways by groups or communities. Mead called these groups and communities the:
generalized other
Why does entering a total institution require individuals to be re-socialized?
they are isolated groups with different norms and rules from mainstream society
The Swedish school Egalia is notable for taking which of the following approaches to education?
gender-neutral (less gender stereotyping among students)
