Chapter 4

Socialization

Proper Manners For Dating1. A man should not sit down at the table in a restaurant until the woman is seated.

2. A man should always pull out a woman’s chair for her and see that she is served first.

3. A man should never let a woman carry anything heavy; she should only carry a small package at the most.

4. A man should help a woman put on and take off her coat.

5. A man should always get out of the car and come to the door when picking a woman for a date.

6. A man should always open a door for a woman and let her pass in front of him.

Socialization: process of learning to participate in a group

How do we know socialization is important?

Harry Harlow’s famous experiment

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Closeness and comfort moreimportant than food

Does the same apply to human beings?

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Importance of affection, intimacy,and warmth

Anna, Isabelle, Genie

Case Studies on Isolated Children

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The left hand scan shows the brain of a normal three year old with healthy neural development. The right hand scan shows dark patches where whole areas of the brain have shrunk from lack of stimulation.

Socialization and the Self

All three theoretical perspectives agree that socialization is needed if cultural and social values are to be learned

• Functionalist Perspective

• Conflict Perspective

• Symbolic Interactionism

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Functionalism: approach that emphasizes the contributions

of each part of society

Conflict Perspective: approach emphasizing the role of conflict, competition, and constraint within a society

Symbolic Interactionism: approach that focuses on the interactions

among people based on mutually understood symbols

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functionalist perspective

school

family

We work together to create a stable society

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conflict perspective

Don’t upset the existing social class structure!

social classes exist maintaining the status-quo

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Symbolic Interactionism and Socialization

Developed in the early part of the twentieth century by Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead

The self-concept

The looking-glass self

Significant others

Role-taking (the imitation stage, the play stage, and the game stage)

The generalized other

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Where does the self-concept come from?

Self-concept: the image you have of yourself as having an identity separate from other people

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When you wake up in the morning, look in the mirror.Are you dressing for yourself or for how others see you?

If not for rules and expectations, would you dress differently thanyou do? How and why?

Where does the self-concept come from?

Looking-glass self: an image of yourself based on what you think others think of you

Example: children learns how to behave within their families by watching how their parents judge their behavior and then judge themselves accordingly

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1. We imagine how we appear to others(I look good in these new clothes)

2. We imagine the reaction of others to our (imagined) appearance (Just saw that person looking at me. Must be because I look good in these clothes)

3. We evaluate ourselves according to how we imagine others have judged us

(I feel great about the way I look today!)

Cooley’s Looking-Glass Self

3 Step Process:

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Mead pointed out that some people are more important than others to us

Significant others: those people whose reactions are most important to your self-concept14

Do we use some people as “more important” mirrors?

What is role taking?

Role taking: assuming the viewpoint of another person and using that viewpoint to shape the self-concept

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How do we learn the ability for role taking?

According to George Mead, it’s a 3 step process

1. Imitation stage:

around the age 1 or 2

16Imitating behaviors without understanding why

2. Play stage:

Around 3 or 4 years

17Act in ways they imagine other people would

3. Game stageEarly school years

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Anticipate actions of others based on social rules

When do we start to internalize how to behave in social situations?

Generalized other: integrated conception of the norms, values, and beliefs of one’s community or society

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“Man can be defined as the animal that can say I, that can be aware of himself as a separate entity.”

Erich Fromm

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Mead – What is the self?

According to George Mead the “self” is made up of two parts: the “me” and the “I”

the “I” is myself as I am…the “me” is myself as others see me 21

Agents of Socialization:

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Sharing

The Family and Socialization

First exposure to the world and the primary agent of socialization

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Socialization in Schools

Hidden curriculum: the informal and unofficial aspects of culture that children are taught in school

Peer Group Socialization

In family and school kids are subordinate to adults, in peer group they engage in give and take relationships

Mass Media and Socialization

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Jon Jon

Cool Dad

Mass Media and Socialization

Our perceptions of he ideal body types seem to be largely a product of media socialization.

How do television, magazines, CDs, and video games reinforce these images?

Has the media socialized Americans to admire certain figure and body types?

Desocialization

Desocialization: the process of giving up old norms, values, and behaviors

Total institutions: people separated from the rest of society and controlled by officials in charge

Resocialization: the process of adopting new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors

Resocialization

Anticipatory Socialization

Anticipatory Socialization: the voluntary process of preparing to accept new norms, values, attitudes and behaviors