Socialization (lecture 9&10) Flashcards
Individuals in Society
- individuals play roles defined socially
- society is structured as a series of governed relationships between these roles
- individuality therefore expressed within terms set by society and through social and cultural models
Human Nature (think about Oxana Malaya- living with dogs)
- copying the society that she’s been brought up in
* doesn’t have the ‘normal’ societal skills bc that part of the development was spent with dogs
Socialisation
various life-long processes of learning undergone by individuals that develop them in to adults capable of participation in their social environment
Sociobiology (compares humans to other animals)
attempt to explain individual personality and structures of society by reference to genetic inheritance (personality is a result of genetic traits shared by the group they’re in)
• it’s our GENES, not social forces, that determines how we are
•social interactions not so important or explicable by reference to genes
Example of Sociobiology
- (eg: we find people attractive bc they look like good partners)
- EXAMPLE: twins brought up in SIMILAR environments are VERY similar, however, twins brought up in DIFFERENT backgrounds turn out differently (as expected by sociologists)
Sociology (and self)
- human personality is a product of processes of socialization that make infant a member of society
- social interactions determine roles we fill and thus, how we’re able to express ourselves
Psychology (and self)
- personality built of internal mental or emotional structures and past experiences
- social interactions affect infant and force emotional adjustments or internal changes
Deferred gratification
- put off getting what you want till later because that gets you more in the long run
- eg: want to sleep and drink beer- but you delay that until you finished your work
Abilities with controlling self
- ability to distinguish yourself from what you happen to want at an particular moment
- ability to distinguish yourself from world: it’s a source of obstacles that we must learn to overcome
LIbido (Sigmund Freud)
*people don’t have a single unified ‘will’
- term for our inner store of desires and energy (not sexual); source of all our drives and impulses
- chaotic, disordered, often self-contradictory
- desires= strong impulse towards something, not as rational as goals
- these drives can only be dispelled by GRATIFYING them
- drives may come into conflict with one another (eg: our desire for food may conflict with that for sex)
Pleasure Principle (Freud)
basic principle of seeking gratification and avoiding pain that guides our drives
• the libido and unconscious drives are shaped by the pleasure principle (eg: infants- bc they seek immediate satisfaction)
Reality Principle (Freud)
principle of adaptation to the demands of reality, including denying ourselves pleasure for now
• the conscious mind limits our drives in recognition of brute necessity (eg: adults- work instead of sleeping in)
•id, ego, superego helps us think about the way humans learn to CONTROL their inner desires
Id (‘the It’) - freud
unconscious store of our deepest desires, charged by libidinal energies (eg: dreams)
• ruled by pleasure principle- seeks only fulfillment of desires
Ego (‘the I’) -freud
largely conscious way the individual operates, helping find a way in real world
•goverend by reality principle- governs/ moderates the interaction between Id and the real world
•guide and moderate expression of desires and drives in a way that gives them some satisfaction while recognizing demands of the world
Sublimation
redirecting your surplus libidinal energy from dangerous desires towards safer objects (eg: refocusing energy on art rather than killing)
Super-ego (freud)
‘conscience’- the introjected image of authority, turned against our own drives
• powered (ironically) by the hate we have for authority
• uses our own libidinal energy to enforce social standards on our own Id/ Ego
Thanatos
- the death instinct, desire to DESTROY others
* society forces us to sublimate this desire- by making us TURN IT ON OURSELVES (eg: going to war)
Repression
Forcible denial of deep libidinal instincts due to overstrict socialization
• the libidinal drives repressed in this way don’t disappear, they’re bottled up, causing pressure
What does Repression of a desire lead to?
1) Neuroses- from unsatisfied desire- our repressed energies find these unusual outlets
2) Projection- accusing other people of the desire that you have been forced to repress
* repression may eventually burst out in an uncontrolled way, causing social chaos
Authoritarian Personality (Theodor Adorno)
tendency to admire ‘strong leaders’, value discipline and obedience, and to feel threatened by ‘difference’
• product of excessively strict socialization
Repression in Strict vs Free Homes
- Strict: forced youth to appear strong and control libidinal impulses; excessive repression as a child leads to authoritarian personality and hatred of difference and anyone that is different (may redirect energy to innocent)
- Free: youth accustomed to debate and being proved wrong; in favour of a more open society and open to debate
Cognitive Development (Jean Piaget)
- REMEMBER: 4 stages of learning by experimental trial and error to construct picture of the world
Process which infants learn to control bodies and manipulate objects in the world
• learning occurs through a process of experimentation
• adults have learnt crucial skills like abstract thought, and children, being ‘little scientists’ learn through trial and error and thinking in new ways
• pinpoints the key ways social interaction helps us learn to think
Constructivism (structural functionalists)
- theoretical approach to cognitive development
- argues that we construct picture of the world ourselves, through interaction and experiment; we’re not imprinted with whatever parents say
- top-down whr we force children to believe certain things in order to ensure smooth functioning of society
- symbolic interactionists= how children build up pic of world for selves
Psychosocial development (Erik Erikson)
development of individual’s ego and sense of autonomy as an individual throughout life, based around existential questions at each stage (8 stages in our entire life)
•each stage is characterized by overcoming certain challenges (these challenges can be in the form of an existential question-eg: who am I?)
I & Me (George Herbert Mead)
- describe dual nature of the ‘self’
- the ‘I’ is the internal perspective- my desires, my spontaneity, creativity, inner self- how I see the world
- the “me’ is my picture of how OTHERS view me; affects how I behave (we normally moderate ourselves to be viewed favourably)
Three stages in I & Me
explains growth of sense of self
1) Preparatory Stage: children imitate family members around them without understanding what they’re doing (eg: banging wood if parent is doing carpentry)
2) Play Stage: children play certain roles (eg: nurse)- teaches us how to think of the perspective of other people (“dress up”)- more away of other’s expectations
3) Game stage: children take part in complicated games governed by sets of rules (eg: competitive sports, board games)- becomes aware of the social system as a whole
Generalized Other
‘other’ = people that are observing you that you may want to impress
- understanding of the ‘average observer of our action’
- embodies standard beliefs and values of society, which we try to live up to
- develops in Game stage as we learn to follow fixed rules that govern interactions (and importance of opinions of society at large& standards)
Moral Reasoning (Lawrence Kohlberg)
ability to use reason to justify and explain one’s moral decision (and to understand the authority of the parents who punish you)
• 6 stages
• good or bad bc…. (understand why you’re actions are wrong)
• as we mature, we all inevitably develop the same beliefs, regardless of society
Civilizing Process (Norbert Elias)
- gradual social process where behaviour/actions previously considered acceptable or neutral gradually becomes unacceptable
- “correct” behaviour gradually comes to be seen as ‘civilized’ or marking status
- he suggested that increasing complexity of society meant people had to behave more predictably in order to ensure social stability (manners= product of increasingly complex society)
Socialization
- various life-long processes of learning undergone by individuals that develop them in to adults capable of participation in social environment
- important for helping us fit in OUR OWN society by teaching norms, values etc
- describe series of processes of learning by which people are prepared to enter society
Integration
- the function of ensuring harmony and homogeneity of values, norms, and practices across society
- aka, how individuals are brought into society so they can seemingly fit into it without coming into conflict with one another
Different processes at different stages of life for Socialization
- first, we need to be trained in basic habits, values etc.. of society so we can go out into world
- later, we may need training in skills and practices of a specific job
- sometimes, we may need to be totally reprogrammed to follow different social patterns (ie: war)
- IMPORTANT! early socialization is largely unconscious while later forms may be taken on voluntarily or need to be enforced
Primary Socialization
- first elements of socialization that the child undergoes, teaching basic habits that become unconsciously ingrained
- habit training: eg: babies subject to a certain schedule or regular rituals that become unconscious and built into them
- prepares us for basic entry into society (elementary steps)
Secondary Socialization
- takes place later in life, helping us adjust to new environments such as new jobs (often deliberately acquired)
- less deeply rooted and more about adaptation to situations than forming personality
- eg: becoming a parent is secondary as they are learning the role themselves
Anticipatory Socialisation
preparation for joining a new group; we learn the habits, ways of mind, values, and beliefs of a group we expect to join and start to adopt them consciously
• expect/ anticipate values to adopt and change with the anticipation (eg: joining the military–> may live lives that are close to how it would be at base)
Rites of Passage and Resocialisation
•Rites of Passage: ceremonies to mark entry into a group (eg: citizenship, first drink..)
• Resocialisation: humiliation designed to break down old habits of socialization so an individual can be reprogrammed to a new role
(often marks entry to TOTAL institutions (eg; military trains, entry into prison)
Agents of Socialization
- Social institutions (or person or role) that contribute to socializing individuals in different ways
- May be used to reinforce exist power structures by socializing people into accepting unequal status
- train us in various ways by providing models (or step-by-step) of how to behave or transmit the rules necessary for integration into society
Identification (Freud)
process of internalizing values and models of someone else, usually parent (unconscious internalization of parent)
• children often identify with a toy/doll and act out adventures with this alter ego
Narcissistic Secondary Identification and Partial Secondary Identification
- Narcissistic: comes as we deliberately try to imitate another (eg: putting on their clothes)
- Partial: entails identifying with one feature of another person (eg: strength)
Significant others
• people in social circle whose expectations we most try to meet, and whose opinions is most important to us (also provides models for our behaviour)
• our identities are formed in response to others (CH Cooley’s LOOKING-GLASS SELF)
*children learn by imitation
Peer Group (an agent of socialization)
- those of similar background, age, outlook, status etcc to you, who you hang with
- source of many models of behaviour: members of peer group are significant others
- they may socialize by inculcating own group norms: teach good or bad behaviour
- Peers pressure children to conform (bullies often=popular so others imitate their behaviour or face stigma and exclusion)
- can provide ‘training’ for adulthood: small, safe venue to practice adult interactions
How stories, shows, popular culture etc.. influence behaviour
- children’s stories present social values in allegorical form to teach them correct behaviour (eg: don’t steal porridge from bears)
- figures in pop culture (celebrities, fictional characters) may also act as an agent of socialization
- tv shows can present idealized families with models of correct male and female behaviour
Structural Functionalist account of education (Manifest function and Latent function) (Robert Merton)
- Manifest: obvious role of education, training, preparation for the job market (obvious function like teaching us math)
- Latent: hidden role of socialization, teaching us key social values, learning to interact etc
Total Institution (Erving Goffman and Michel Foucault)- agent of resocialization
- institutions such as prisons, in which every moment of individual’s time is spent under control of institution, cut off from wider society (eg: prison, military training)
- people in such institutions often find themselves ‘reprogrammed’ by having identity remove (eg: prisoners given a number)
- called “total” because EVERY aspect of life is redefined by institution (down to your identity)
Gender Socialization
- how we are taught specific gender roles or what men and women “ought” to do
- perpetuates certain roles and stereotypes
- Beauvoir relates how male children are told to be “strong and independent” while females are kept at home in soft, caring roles
- gender roles can be traced back to childhood experiences
Racial Socialization
•inoculation of social standards about race or ethnic group, teaching prejudice to children through examples or toys
• racial groups may see negative stereotypes about themselves of lack of positive role models (telling children to have role models of the same ethnicity)
• clark doll experiment- showed that all ethnicities socialized early to treat white as ‘preferable’
* illustrate how early social norms about appearance are put into children; led to problems of self-esteem
Class socialization
- process by which members of different classes learn what they’re expected to achieve (eg: jobs) often contributing to different levels of achievement later
- similar situations seen with other socially- disadvantaged groups, leading to class forms of socialization, in which individuals have expectations lowered due to group membership
- inequality by groups is ‘learnt’ by individuals
Habitus (Pierre Bourdieu)
- an instinctive knowledge of the ‘rules of the game’ or how to behave in social contexts
- may include etiquette, crucial cultural knowledge
- acquired UNCONSCIOUSLY: high-status families transmit it to their children in infancy
- he states that children of wealthy acquire this knowledge very early- they instinctively know how to behave (gives them advantage over those uncomfortable in such situations)
