© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc. Chapter 5 Socialization.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Chapter 5

Socialization


Social Experience

Socialization: The lifelong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn patterns of their culture.

Personality: A person’s fairly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.


Human Development: Nature and Nurture

Nature: The human life depends on the functioning of the body and heredity plays a part in intelligence, and personality characteristics.

Nurture: Current values and behaviour are so different from grandparents (with whom we share genes) that learning must be essential.

Social experience and the creation of culture is our nature.


Social Isolation

Impact on nonhuman primates: Harlows’ experiments– Six months of complete isolation was enough to disturb

development

Impact on children: Anna, Isabelle, and Genie– Years of isolation left children damaged and after

intensive rehabilitation effort only capable of approximating a normal life.

– Anna was permanently damaged; Isabelle attended grade six at 14years; Genie’s language remained that of a child.


Sigmund Freud: Elements of Personality

Basic human needs– Eros (bonding) and thanatos (aggression) as

opposing forces Developing personality

– The id: Basic drives– The ego: Works to achieve balance – The superego: Culture within

Critical evaluation: Devalues women, but showed that childhood experiences are important


Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development

Stages of development: Sensorimotor stage: Sensory contact of world Preoperational stage: Use of language and other

symbols Concrete operational stage: Perception of causal

connections in surroundings Formal operational stage: Abstract, critical thinkingCritical evaluation: stages not followed by all cultures


Lawrence Kohlberg: Moral Development

Stages of moral development: Preconventional: Children experience the world as

pain or pleasure Conventional: Young people do what pleases

parents and conforms to cultural norms Postconventional: Consider abstract ethical

principlesCritical evaluation: Some do not progress and stages

were generalized from males


Carol Gilligan: Bringing in Gender

Compared boy’s and girl’s moral reasoning Boys develop a justice perspective

– Formal rules define right and wrong

Girls develop a care and responsibility perspective– Personal relationships define reasoning

Critical evaluation: Variation occurs in the shaping of women’s caring work across cultures


George Herbert Mead: The Social Self

The Self: the part of an individual’s personality composed of self-awareness and self-image

1. Self develops from social interaction.2. Social experience is the exchange of symbols.3. Understanding intention requires imagining the

situation from the other’s point of view.4. By taking the role of the other we become self-

aware.


Charles Horton Cooley

The Looking-Glass Self Others represent a mirror in which we see ourselves. What we think of ourselves depends on what we

think others think of us.


Mead’s I and Me

The I is the subjective element of the self. As we take the role of the other, the me is the

objective form of the self. All social experience has both components.

– We initiate action (I-phase).– We continue based on how others respond (me-phase).

Social experience is the interplay of the I and the me.


Mead’s Development of Self

Imitation: Infant mimics behaviour without understanding

Play: taking the roles of significant others Games: Taking the roles of several others at once Generalized other: Cultural norms and values we

use in evaluating ourselvesCritical evaluation: No biological component is

included.


Erik H. Erikson: 8 Stages

1. Infancy: challenge of trust2. Toddler: autonomy3. Preschooler: initiative4. Preadolescent: industriousness5. Adolescent: identity6. Young adulthood: intimacy7. Middle adulthood: making a difference8. Old age: integrityCritical evaluation: not everyone follows order


Agents of Socialization

Family: teaches skills and values and places in social positions, e.g., sex, ethnicity, and class.

School: teaches knowledge and skills, hidden curriculum, and bureaucracy.

Peer Group: have interests, position, and age in common. It teaches the forming of relationships, the “generation gap” and fashions.

(Cont’d)


Mass Media

Impersonal communications aimed at a wide audience. Canadian children watch television well before they

learn to read and the number of hours of viewing tends to increase with age

Canadians watch mostly U.S. programs. Violence and mass media: concerns led to studies of

the influence and promotion of a V-chip


Fig 5-3


Socialization and the Life Course

Childhood (birth through 12) Care-free time, now the hurried child?Adolescence (the teenage years) Turmoil attributed to cultural inconsistenciesAdulthood Early: 20-40, managing daily affairs Middle: 40-60, concerns over health, appearance,

career, and family (Cont’d)


Socialization and the Life Course (Cont’d)

Old age (mid-60s and older) Anti-elderly bias will diminish as proportion of

elderly increases Leaving roles, demands new learning

Dying Average life span is 79 years Culture will become more comfortable with death?


The Life Course: An Overview

Each stage of life is linked to the biological process, but it is also a social construction

Societies organize the life course by age, but other factors shape lives class, race, ethnicity, and gender

People’s life experiences also vary depending on when, in the history of a society, they are born, hence

Cohort: A category of people with a common characteristic, usually their age


Resocialization: Total Institutions

Total Institution: A setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff.

Three characteristics according to Erving Goffman1. Staff supervise all daily life activities2. Environment is standardized3. Formal rules and daily schedules

(Cont’d)


Resocialization: Total Institutions (Cont’d)

Resocialization: Radically changing a person’s personality by carefully controlling the environment

A two part process Staff tries to erode inmate’s autonomy and

identity Staff rebuilds personality using rewards and

punishments.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc. Chapter 5 Socialization.

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Transcript of © 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc. Chapter 5 Socialization.