Socialization of the Individual

How do people become functioning members of society?

Enculturation

Process of being socialized (acquiring culture) to a particular culture.

Much of human personality is the result of our genes, however the socialization process can mold it in particular directions.– Encourage/Discourage specific beliefs and

attitudes and providing experiences.

Socialization: the interactive process by which individuals learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of society.

Personality Development

Personality: the total sum of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values, that are characteristic of an individual. – Determine how we adjust to our environment and

how we react in specific situations.– Continue to develop throughout our lifetimes.

Ex: My EX - Roommate and I…. GAH!!!

Looking-Glass Self

Our sense of self is socially created and develops through interaction with others.– We imagine how we appear to those around us – We interpret their reactions and evaluations– Develop a self-concept (feelings and ideas of ourselves)– NOT dependent on accurate evaluations but might become

part of our self-concept– Development is ongoing/lifelong

Role of the Other: put ourselves in someone else’s shoes in order to understand how someone else feels and thinks to anticipate how that person will act.

Status

Social Structure: The network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction.

Positions that someone occupies – defines who we are and what we are expected to do (guide of behavior)– Master Status– Ascribed Status– Achieved Status– Status Inconsistency/Contradiction– Status Symbols

Roles – behaviors, obligations, privileges attached to each status

Roles

Reciprocal Roles: corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related status (one cannot fulfill the role of being a student without someone else performing the role associated with being a teacher).– Doctor-patient, friend-friend, husband-wife, employer-employee,

athlete-coach, etc.

Role Expectations: the socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role.Role Performance: a person’s ACTUAL role behavior - often does not match the behavior expected by society. – It is often difficult to fulfill completely the expectations that each of

our roles calls for (we are asked to perform many roles, some of them being contradictory - ex. employee vs. parent).

Role Strain and Conflict

Role Conflict: occurs when fulfilling the role expectations of one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role expectations of another status.

Role Strain: occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status

Cultural Environment

Each culture gives rise to a series of personality traits that are typical of members of that society.– U.S. = competitive, assertive, individualistic

How we experience our culture also influences our personality.– Gender, heritage, region, neighborhood,

etc.

Who Are You?

Create a poster that signifies who you are:– Your statuses

• (6-8) Ascribed

• (6-8) Achieved

– Master Status (1)

– (1-2) Status Symbols

– Your roles (2-3 for each status)

– One Example of Role Strain – explain

– One Example of Role Conflict – explain

– Use pictures and vocabulary to describe who you are - be prepared to briefly present your poster!

Agents of Socialization

People and groups that influence our orientations to life – our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior.

Birth Order– Personalities are influenced by whether we have brothers, sisters, both, or

neither.– Personalities are also influenced by the order in which we are born into the

family (first, middle, or last child).

Parents– Personality development in children is also influenced by the characteristics

of the parents.

• Age, level of education, religious orientation, economic status, cultural heritage, and occupational impact of the parents all have an impact

Family

Lays down our basic sense of self, establishing our initial motivations, values, and beliefs.

Social Class has a significant impact– Parents rear their children to have lives like theirs (life

experiences)• Tend to have the same jobs as parents

– Job type plays a key role• Blue-collar workers’ boss tells them what to do, so in turn they are more

apt to stress obedience as parents unlike middle-class parents.

– Different views of how children develop• Working-class parents see children as developing more naturally, while

middle-class parents think children need more guidance.

Neighborhood/Religion

Neighborhood – Poor Neighborhoods vs. Affluent Neighborhoods– More eyes watching in the affluent neighborhoods

Religion – strongly influences vales and becomes a key component in people’s ideas of right and wrong.– Provides answers to perplexing questions (experiences are given

meaning)

– Emotional comfort

– Social solidarity

– Guidelines for everyday life

– Social Control (conflict – supports the status quo and helps to maintain social inequalities)

School

Transmit knowledge and skills while also earning a broader perspective of the world (rules apply to everyone even if you come from doting parents)– Hidden curriculum: unwritten rules and

expectations of behavior, which are not explicitly taught.

– Corridor curriculum: what students teach one another

– Significance of Social Class

Daycare/Peer Group

Daycare– More hours in daycare equates to weaker bonds with mothers =

more likely to be cruel, fight, and be mean – less familiar with their children’s “signaling system”/less responsive to their emotional needs.

– However, they have higher language skills (benefits for those in low-income/dysfunctional families)

Peer Group– Starting very early (elementary), children separate themselves

based on gender and develop their own worlds and unique norms

– Dominate our lives (resist parental and school efforts) – i.e. music

Sports and Competition

Teach physical skills and values (team-player and student-athlete).

Effects of sports on self-image:– Boys learn that to achieve in sports is to gain

stature in masculinity (prestige)– Encourages instrumental relationships – those

based on what you get out of them and carried into other aspects of life.

– Girls are socialized to construct meaningful relationships.

Workplace

Those we work with, teach us a set of skills but also a broader perspective of the world.– Anticipatory Socialization: learning to play a role

before entering it – mental rehearsal for a future activity.

• Avoid full on commitment to an unrewarding career

– The more one participates in a line of work, the more the work becomes a part of our self-concept

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature = centered around heredity - the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children.– Instinct: unchanging, biologically inherited

behavior pattern.

Nurture = environmental factors and social learning determine our behavior.