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Sociology: Understanding and
Changing the Social World
Chapter 3
Socialization and Social
Interaction
Learning Objectives
• Describe why socialization is important for being
fully human
• Describe the theories of Cooley, Mead, Freud,
Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Erikson
• Identify five agents of socialization
• Describe good and bad aspects of the
socialization these agents produce
• Discuss what is meant by resocialization
• List any two characteristics of a total institution
Learning Objectives
• Describe what is meant by dramaturgy
and by impression management
• Distinguish between role and status
• Provide one example of role conflict or
role strain
• Explain why new patterns of socialization
might help address certain social ills in
American society
The Importance of Socialization
• Without socialization:
– One would look human, but would not act
human
– We would not have our society and culture
• Social interaction is very important for
socialization
• Feral: Children who have been extremely socially
isolated
– They are socially, cognitively, and emotionally
retarded
Explaining Socialization
Explaining Socialization
Explaining Socialization
Explaining Socialization
Agents of Socialization
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•
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•
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Family
Schools
Peers
Mass media
Religion
Resocialization and Total
Institutions
• Resocialization: A dramatic change in a person’s
beliefs, values, and behavior, often occurring in total
institutions
• Total institutions: Institutions that have total control
over their residents’ lives
• Characteristics of total institutions:
– They take away the identity of their residents in
an effort to weaken their self-identity and ensure
conformity to the institutions’ rules
– They subject their residents to harsh treatment
Social Interaction
• Dramaturgical approach: Erving Goffman’s metaphor
for understanding social interaction
– He meant that we can understand social
interaction as if it were a theatrical performance
• Impression management: Erving Goffman’s term for
the process whereby individuals who are interacting
try to convey a favorable impression of themselves
• According to Erving Goffman, some interaction occurs
in the “frontstage,” or front region, while other
interaction occurs in the “backstage”
Social Interaction
• Few other forms of impressions management:
– The way we dress
– The way we arrange the appearance of the
settings in which we interact
• Social reality is socially constructed
• Social construction of reality: The process by which
individuals understand and create reality through
their interaction with other individuals
Social Interaction
• Status: Position a person occupies in society, such as
parent, sibling, or teacher
• Status set: All the statuses that an individual holds
• Three kinds of statuses:
– Ascribed
– Achieved
– Master
Social Interaction
• Every status is accompanied by a role
• Role: Behavior expected of an individual in a
particular status
– It help us shape our personalities
• Types of role problems
– Role conflict: Problems arising when a person has
to deal with competing demands on two or more
roles
• To resolve role conflict, we have to choose
between one role or the other, which is not a
easy choice to make
Social Interaction
– Role strain: Problems arising when a person performing a
role has to deal with competing demands on that role
– Occupying a status whose role demands a certain type of
personality that differs from the one we actually have
• An example of role strain
– You are a high school principal, the high school has a
dress code
– The students may want you to abolish it, the teachers
and superintendents may want you to keep it, and maybe
the school board would agree with the students
– In trying to please all these factions, you may experience
some role strain
Socialization Practices and
Improving Society
• Some of the social ills facing the United
States and other societies are: hate
crime, other crime, violence against
women, sexism, and racism
• New patterns of socialization are
necessary to address these problems