Download Chapter 4 I. Socialization: Its Purpose and Importance What is the

CHAPTER 4
Socialization
I.
SOCIALIZATION: ITS PURPOSE AND IMPORTANCE
A. What is the Purpose of Socialization?
1. Socialization is the lifelong process of social interaction
in which the individual acquires a social identity and
way of thinking, feeling, and acting that are essential for
effective participation in a society.
2. Socialization establishes our social identity. For
example, we describe ourselves as a college student,
single or married, female or male, occupation, and
family status.
3. Socialization teaches us role taking. A role is the behavior expected of a person in a
particular social position.
4. Socialization controls our behavior. We act in socially acceptable ways because we
internalize societal values and beliefs.
5. Socialization Transmits Culture to the Next Generation. Socialization is the process of
acquiring the culture in which we live. We pass on the roles and rules that we’ve learned
to the next generation. This includes our language, beliefs, values, norms, and symbols.
6. Why is Socialization Important? Socialization has an all-encompassing effect on the life
of an individual. For instance, social isolation in childhood keeps children from
developing language skills and normal behavior. This was shown in the case of Genie, a
girl in California whose parents tied her up and kept her from contact for her childhood.
Genie was eventually able to develop normal functions but was never able to develop
language skills past that of a three- or four-year-old. Genie is proof that
institutionalization can negatively affect children and socialization is due to social
interaction.
II. NATURE AND NURTURE
A. Culture and Socialization
1. Sociologists often point to cross-cultural data to illustrate the importance of nurture.
For instance, in a well-known study anthropologist Margaret Mead observed three
tribes—the Arapesh, Mundugumor, and Tchambuli—who lived within short distances
of each other in New Guinea. She found three combinations of gender roles.
B. Is the nature Versus Nurture debate becoming obsolete in sociology?
1. How biology affects behavior - Biologists think that heredity in human development is
important and is fairly fixed. Some scientists propose that biological factors—especially
the brain—play an important role in our development. A study of brain scans, for
example, suggested that a region of the brain (the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) a few
inches behind the bridge of the nose may predispose people to have a negative outlook
on life. When activity in this region of the brain increases, people tend to be more
anxious, irritable, angry, and unpleasant. Increasingly, a number of social scientists are
arguing that ignoring genes leads to an incomplete understanding of behavior.
2. While biologists argue that we have at least 52 inherited traits, sociologists argue that
the social environment can impact biological propensities, such as sexual aggression,
alcoholism, dropouts, and obesity. Sociologists who study the relationship between
genetics (nature) and the social environment (nurture) admit that their samples are
small, often include only white adolescent males, and can’t be easily replicated.
III. SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF SOCIALIZATION
A. Social Learning theories operate on the micro level to examine interpersonal relationships.
1. Direct and Indirect Learning – Most learning is direct. Through reinforcement, we learn
many behaviors by reward or punishment. Socialization also involves indirect
reinforcement through modeling (imitating people who are important in our lives).
2. Learning and Performing – Social learning theorists often make a distinction between
learning and performing behavior. Children and adults can learn to do something
through observation, but they don’t always imitate the behavior.
3. Critical Evaluation – Social learning theories do not explain variations in socialization
for children in the same family, or differences in the effectiveness of reinforcement
among children.
B. Symbolic Interaction Theories
1. Charles Horton Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self – Cooley suggests that our sense of self is
not innate but develops out of social relationships. The looking-glass self emerges as we
interact with others. He proposes three phases. 1) We imagine how we appear to other
people. 2) We imagine how others see us. 3) We experience self-feelings on what we
regard to be others’ judgment of us.
2. George Herbert Mead: Development of the Self and Role Taking – Mead looked at how
our sense of self develops. As a child ages, he/she becomes aware of his or her social
identity. He/she differentiate him or herself from their environment, and other times
become self-aware. For Mead, humans develop an “I” or creative and imaginative self,
and a “me” which is successfully socialized. The “me” forms as children engage in role
taking, learning to take the perspective of others. They acquire this ability gradually in
early socialization through three sequential phases or stages: the preparatory stage, the
play stage, and the game stage.
3. Erving Goffman: Staging the Self in Everyday Life – Goffman extended these analyses by
showing that we act differently in different settings throughout adulthood by engaging
in impression management or engaging in role performances where we provide cues to
others to present ourselves in a favorable light. We manage impressions in the setting,
appearance, and manner. Goffman focused on impression management and the role of
setting, appearance, and manner in shaping our performance.
4. Critical Evaluation – Symbolic interaction theories often do not explain differences in
socialization as individuals go throughout the lifecourse. A major criticism of Cooley,
Mead, Goffman, and other interactionists is that they tend to downplay or ignore macrolevel and structural forces that affect our development.
IV. PRIMARY SOCIALIZATION AGENTS
A. Family
1. How Parents Socialize Children – The family is
the most important agent of socialization.
Agents of socialization are the persons, groups,
or institutions that teach us what we need to
know to participate effectively in society.
Family plays the most crucial role in our
socialization. Parents provide reinforcement
and manage the environment of children.
2. Parenting Styles – Parenting styles vary. They include: authoritarian parenting, where
parenting is harsh, unresponsive, rigid, and parents tend to use their power to control a
child’s behavior. In authoritative parenting, parenting is warm, responsive, and involved
yet unobtrusive. Parents set reasonable limits and expect appropriately mature
behavior from their children. Permissive parenting is lax. Parents set few rules but are
usually warm and responsive. Uninvolved parenting is indifferent and neglectful.
Parents focus on their own needs rather than those of their child, spend little time
interacting with their offspring, and know little about their interests or whereabouts.
3. Siblings - Like parents, siblings play several important roles in the socialization process.
They can be supportive or abusive.
4. Grandparents often pass on family rituals, help their adult children by providing
emotional support, encouragement, and day-to-day parental needs (such as babysitting).
B. Play and Peer Groups
1. Play and Its Functions. Play and games are important for socialization. Play promotes
cognitive development and structures social development. It can also strengthen peer
relationships.
2. Peers effect children’s socialization.
C. Teachers and schools
1. School plays a role in socialization. Schools help children think about the world in
different ways. Children learn about other cultures and engage in extracurricular
activities.
2. Teachers are among our most important socialization agents. From kindergarten
through high school, teachers play numerous roles in the classroom—instructor, role
model, evaluator, moral guide, and disciplinarian.
3. Some theorists believe that school can create a self-fulfilling prophesy by focusing on
advancing. When teachers see certain students as smarter, other children also begin to
view children as smarter or less intelligent, leading others to believe it.
D. Popular Culture and the Media
1. The electronic media is a powerful form of socialization. Children age seven to twelve
spend on average of seven hours a day with electronic media. Experts argue we should
limit the time a children spends watching television in favor of interactive media.
2. Increasingly, advertisers are targeting children as early as possible. A new form of
advertising called advergaming, combines free online games with advertising.
V. SOCIALIZATION THROUGHOUT LIFE
A. Infants require continuous coverage. They are born with a capacity for learning and learn
appropriate roles from parents.
B. Childhood represents a time when children live separate from adulthood.
C. Adolescence reflects a time when young people are transitioning to adulthood.
D. Socialization continues throughout adulthood, the period roughly between ages 21 and 65.
VI. RESOCIALIZATION
A. Resocialization is the process of unlearning old ways of doing things and adopting new
attitudes, values, norms, and behavior.