Sociology Ch 3: Socialization, the Life Course,and Aging Flashcards
What are the five major stages of the life course?
Childhood, the teenager, young adulthood, midlife, and old age.
How are children socialized?
Through agents of socialization.
How do people age?
Biologically, psychologically, and socially.
What are the challenges of aging in the United States?
Prejudice, social isolation, elder abuse, and health problems.
Socialization
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.
Social reproduction
The process whereby societies have structural continuity over time.
Jean Piaget
The Swiss student of child behavior, focused on cognition.
Cognition
Human thought processes involving perception, reasoning, and remembering.
George Herbert Mead
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.”
Social self
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.
Self-consciousness
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.
Generalized other
The general values and moral rules of the culture in which children are developing.
Sensorimotor stage
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.
Preoperational stage
According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development in which the child has advanced sufficiently to master basic modes of logic thought.
Egocentric
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.
Concrete operational stage
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.
Formal operational stage
According to Jean Piaget, a stage of human cognitive development at which the growing child becomes capable of handing abstract concepts and hypothetical situations.
Nuclear family
A family group consisting of an adult or adult couple and their dependent children.
Agents of socialization
Groups or social context in which significant processes of socialization occur. Ex) Family
Peer group
A group consisting of individuals of a similar age.
Age-grades
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.
George Gerbner
Researched the effects of television violence on society.
Social roles
Socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position follows.
Self-identity
Refers to the process of self-development through which we formulate a unique sense of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us.
Life course
The various transitions and stages people experience during their lives.
Aging
The combination of biological, psychological, and social process that affect people as they grow older.
Social gerontologist
Does he study aging and the elderly.
Talcott Parsons
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.
Disengagement theory
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.
Activity theory
A functionalist theory of aging which holds that busy, engaged people are more likely to lead fulfilled and productive lives.
Continuity theory
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.
Social conflict theories of aging
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.
Life course theorists
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.
Young old
Ages 65 to 74.
Old old
Ages 75 to 84.
Oldest old
Age 85 and older.
Ageism
Discrimination and prejudice against a person on the grounds of age.
Primary socialization
Socialization that occurs during childhood.
Secondary socializati
Socialization that continues throughout life.
