SOC CH 4 - Socialization and the Life Course

Vocabulary flashcards covering key sociological terms, theories, and concepts of socialization and the life course from Chapter 4 of Sociology: The Essentials (10th Edition).

Socialization

The process through which people learn to behave according to society's expectations and absorb their culture, including customs, habits, laws, practices, and means of expression.

Nature–Nurture Controversy

An ongoing debate among social and biological scientists regarding whether human traits and behaviors are inborn (nature) or learned through social interaction and environment (nurture).

Social Control

The process by which groups and individuals are brought into conformity with the expectations of the dominant culture.

Socialization Agents

People, sources, or structures—such as family, media, peers, religion, and school—that pass on social expectations.

Peers

Individuals with whom a person interacts on equal terms, such as friends, fellow students, and coworkers.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud's theoretical framework that divides the human psyche into three components: the id, the superego, and the ego.

Id

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the part of the human psyche containing deep drives and impulses.

Superego

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the part of the human psyche that consists of internalized cultural values and norms.

Ego

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the seat of reason and common sense that mediates between the id and the superego.

Social Learning Theory

A theory holding that the formation of identity is a learned response to external social stimuli and is modeled in response to expectations of others.

Functionalist Theory

A theoretical perspective asserting that socialization integrates people into society by helping them internalize social roles and values.

Conflict Theory

A theoretical perspective on socialization that focuses on power and coercion, demonstrating how limited access to opportunity keeps certain groups underprivileged over time.

Symbolic Interaction Theory

A perspective arguing that people learn identities and values through socialization, and that the self is created through social interaction rather than being just an internal bundle of drives.

Looking-Glass Self

Cooley's concept that a person's self-concept arises through considering their relationship to others based on how we think we appear, how we think others judge us, and how those perceptions make us feel.

Taking the Role of the Other

In Mead's social self theory, the process of putting oneself into the point of view of another person, which serves as a source of self-awareness.

Imitation Stage

The first stage in Mead's identity development where children copy the behavior of those around them without understanding its social meaning.

Play Stage

The second stage in Mead's identity development where children begin to take on the roles of significant people in their environment.

Significant Others

People close to a child—such as a mother, father, or sibling—whose roles are taken on during early social development.

Game Stage

The stage in Mead's identity development where a child takes on multiple roles simultaneously within an organized and complex system.

Generalized Other

The abstract composite of social roles and social expectations that provides an individual with a concept of community values and social norms.

Brainwashing

An extreme form of resocialization involving forced indoctrination into a new set of attitudes and beliefs against a person's will.

Conversion

A total adaptation of a new identity.