Sociology Ch 3: Socialization, the Life Course,and Aging

Question 0

What are the five major stages of the life course?

Answer 0

Childhood, the teenager, young adulthood, midlife, and old age.

Question 1

How are children socialized?

Answer 1

Through agents of socialization.

Question 2

How do people age?

Answer 2

Biologically, psychologically, and socially.

Question 3

What are the challenges of aging in the United States?

Answer 3

Prejudice, social isolation, elder abuse, and health problems.

Question 4

Socialization

Answer 4

The process whereby an innocent child becomes a self aware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which he or she was born.

Question 5

Social reproduction

Answer 5

The process whereby societies have structural continuity over time.

Question 6

Jean Piaget

Answer 6

The Swiss student of child behavior, focused on cognition.

Question 7

Cognition

Answer 7

Human thought processes involving perception, reasoning, and remembering.

Question 8

George Herbert Mead

Answer 8

Gives attention mainly to how children learn to use the concept of “I” and “me.”According to him, infants and young children develop as social beings by imitating the actions of those around them. He calls this “taking the role of the other.”

Question 9

Social self

Answer 9

The basis of self-consciousness in human individuals, according to the theory of G. H. Mead. The social self is the identity conferred upon an individual by the reactions of others. A person achieve self-consciousness by becoming aware of this social identity.

Question 10

Self-consciousness

Answer 10

Awareness of one’s distinct social identity as a person separate from others. Human beings are not born with self-consciousness but acquire an awareness of self as a result of early socialization.

Question 11

Generalized other

Answer 11

The general values and moral rules of the culture in which children are developing.

Question 12

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 12

According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development in which the child’s awareness of its environment is dominated by perception in touch.

Question 13

Preoperational stage

Answer 13

According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development in which the child has advanced sufficiently to master basic modes of logic thought.

Question 14

Egocentric

Answer 14

According to Jean Piaget, the characteristic quality of a child during the early years of her life. Egocentric thinking involves understanding objects and events understanding the environment solely in terms of the child’s own position.

Question 15

Concrete operational stage

Answer 15

A stage of human cognitive development, as formulated by Jean Piaget, in which the child’s thinking is based primarily on physical perception of the world. In this phase, the child is not yet capable of dealing with abstract concepts or hypothetical situations.

Question 16

Formal operational stage

Answer 16

According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development at which the growing child becomes capable of handing abstract concepts and hypothetical situations.

Question 17

Nuclear family

Answer 17

A family group consisting of an adult or adult couple and their dependent children.

Question 18

Agents of socialization

Answer 18

Groups or social context in which significant processes of socialization occur. Ex) Family

Question 19

Peer group

Answer 19

A group consisting of individuals of a similar age.

Question 20

Age-grades

Answer 20

The system found in small traditional cultures by which people belonging to a similar age group are categorized together and hold similar rights and obligations.

Question 21

George Gerbner

Answer 21

Researched the effects of television violence on society.

Question 22

Social roles

Answer 22

Socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position follows.

Question 23

Self-identity

Answer 23

Refers to the process of self-development through which we formulate a unique sense of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us.

Question 24

Life course

Answer 24

The various transitions and stages people experience during their lives.

Question 25

Aging

Answer 25

The combination of biological, psychological, and social process that affect people as they grow older.

Question 26

Social gerontologist

Answer 26

Does he study aging and the elderly.

Question 27

Talcott Parsons

Answer 27

One of the most influential functionalist theorists of the 1950s. Argued that US society needs to find roles for older persons consistent with advanced age.

Question 28

Disengagement theory

Answer 28

Founded on the ideas of Parson. A functionalist theory of aging that holds that it is functional for society to remove people from their traditional roles when they become elderly, thereby freeing up those rolls for others.

Question 29

Activity theory

Answer 29

A functionalist theory of aging which holds that busy, engaged people are more likely to lead fulfilled and productive lives.

Question 30

Continuity theory

Answer 30

Theory specifies activity theory, saying that older adults fair best when they participate in activities that are consistent with their personally, preferences, and activities earlier in life.

Question 31

Social conflict theories of aging

Answer 31

Arguments that emphasize the ways in which the larger social structure helps to shape the opportunities available to the elderly. Unequal opportunities are seen as creating the potential for conflict.

Question 32

Life course theorists

Answer 32

Reject both functionalism and conflict theories. View older persons as playing an active role in determining their own physical and mental well-being, yet recognize the constraints imposed by social structure factors. See aging as a lifelong process.

Question 33

Young old

Answer 33

Ages 65 to 74.

Question 34

Old old

Answer 34

Ages 75 to 84.

Question 35

Oldest old

Answer 35

Age 85 and older.

Question 37

Ageism

Answer 37

Discrimination and prejudice against a person on the grounds of age.

Question 38

Primary socialization

Answer 38

Socialization that occurs during childhood.

Question 39

Secondary socializati

Answer 39

Socialization that continues throughout life.