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