#4 socialization

socialization

process by which people learn to function in social life and become aware of themselves as they interact with others

→ entering and disengaging from a succession of roles

example of a debate that focuses upon the influence of nature and nurture

sex differences in the way newborn boys and girls pay attention

• girls learned language and social skills faster, + looked at faces longer

reflex

involuntary response to external stimulus

• eg. moro reflex → baby flinging arms

drives

physical needs

• hunger, thirst, sex

instincts

fight or flight

consequences of social isolation in childhood

neural structures for emotional and intellectual development wither and die

harlow experiments

condition 1: no nurturance, food and water

condition 2: wire surrogate mother

→ fearful, anxious, didn’t develop normally

condition 3: cloth covered mother

→ slightly better

examples of social isolation in humans

• Victor of Aveyron (feral child, lived in woods)

• Anna and Isabelle (kept hostage, severely mentally impaired)

Kingsley Davis

• studied social isolation (Anna and Isabelle)

• found the neglected brains to be smaller

6 months or more in isolation leads to

irreversible damage

self

your ideas and attitudes about who you are as an independent being

sigmund freud

proposed the first social-scientific interpretation of the process by which self emerges

• argued that only social interaction allows self to emerge

• children develop a sense of appropriate behaviour and a moral sense of right and wrong as a result of learning self-control

Charles horton cooley

introduced looking-glass self, early contributor of socialization, and founder of symbolic interactionist tradition

George herbert mead

• argued that a subjective and impulsive aspect of self is present from birth

• claimed that social interaction leads to learning culturally approved standards and making it part of the self

significant other

people we are most attached to from early age

mead’s four stages of development: role taking

1. imitation (of significant others, eg. parents → talking)

2. pretending (play house)

3. playing complex games

4. developing a sense of cultural standards (image of the generalized other / application to self of the cultural standards)

life course

distinct phases of life people pass

• vary form one society and historical period to another

• eg. having a child

generalized other

according to mead, a person’s image of cultural standards and how they apply to their self

age cohort

people born in the same range of years

age roles

norms and expectations about the behaviour of people in different age cohorts

generation

age cohort that shares unique formative experiences during the first few decades of life

• helps to shape a collective identity and set of values

generations are most likely to form during…

times of rapid social change

greatest generation

• early 1900s -1928

• came “of age” during the Great Depression (poverty, long-term drought)

• experienced / fought in World War II

silent generation

• (1929-1945)

• aka “traditionalist” / “lucky” generation (too young to experience ww2 combat)

• not especially innovative

baby boomers

• 1946 - 1965

• leading edge of a cultural revolution → embraced civil rights and opposed war

• popular music encouraged opposition to the establishment

• economy improved, more women started going to school, better standard of living

generation x

• “latchkey children” (many returned to empty home after school)

• 1966 - 1981

• grew up at a time of rising divorce rates

millennials

• 1982- 1994

• first get to come of age in the twenty-first century

• largest segment in the workforce

• reputation for changing jobs quickly and often

• Great Recession (2008-09) forced many to put off milestones such as buying a home, “settling down”

generation z

• 1995-2010

• shorter attention span and stronger multitasking skills

• usually connected to internet and social media (better with tech)

• high rates of online shopping

3 sources of change in attitudes, beliefs and behaviours over time

• period

• life cycle

• cohort

period effect

permanent change. response to a major event

life cycle effect

change with aging + major life changes

cohort effect

generation changes

looking-glass self process

• we interact with others, they react → allows us to imagine how we appear to them

• we judge how other evaluate us

• from these judgements, we develop a self-concept or set of feelings and ideas about who we are

“I”

subjective and impulsive aspect of self. present from birth

“me”

objective component of self. emerges as people communicate symbolically and learn to take the role of the other

epigenetics

study of how gene expression (rather than DNA itself) is modified by behavioural and social forces

Philippe Aries’ centuries of childhood (1965)

• argued that children were essentially invisible (childhood doesn’t exist)

• saw children as “little adults”

in preindustrial Europe, children were considered…

small adults

• were expected to adapt to the norms of the adult world

• working full time by the age of 10 or 12

• 15-16 were married

G. Stanley Hall

identified adolescence as a new stage the life course (1904)

• 14-24

subjective age

the extent to which people might experience themselves as younger or older than their actual age

cohort

group of ppl who share a specific characteristic

primary socialization

period early in life. usually takes place in a family

• becoming self-aware and developing sense of self through practising skills and engaging in everyday activities of childhood.

secondary socialization

socialization that takes place outside the family

• eg. schools, friends, and media

Thomas theorem

the concept that “situations we define as real become real in their consequences”

resocialization

process in which powerful socializing agents cause rapid change in a person’s values, roles, and self-conception, sometimes against a person’s will

total institutions

settings in which people are isolated from the larger society and under control of a specialized staff

anticipatory socialization

taking on the norms and behaviours of a role to which we aspire