Introduction to Sociology: Socialization

Learning Objectives of Socialization

• Objective 3.1: Explain how feral, isolated, and institutionalized children help us understand the concept that "society makes us human."

• Objective 3.2: Use the ideas and research of Cooley (looking-glass self), Mead (role taking), and Piaget (reasoning) to explain socialization into the self and mind.

• Objective 3.3: Explain how the development of personality and morality and socialization into emotions are part of how "society makes us human."

• Objective 3.4: Discuss how gender messages from the family, peers, and the mass media teach us society’s gender map.

• Objective 3.5: Explain how the family, the neighborhood, religion, day care, school, peer groups, and the workplace are agents of socialization.

• Objective 3.6: Explain what total institutions are and how they resocialize people.

• Objective 3.7: Identify major divisions of the life course, and discuss the sociological significance of the life course.

• Objective 3.8: Understand why we are not prisoners of socialization.

Society Makes Us Human

• Overview: Socialization is the process by which we learn the ways of society. Sociology argues that without social interaction, we do not develop into what we consider "human."

• Feral Children: Children assumed to have been raised by animals, in the wild, isolated from humans. These cases demonstrate that human traits we take for granted (like speech) are not natural but learned.

• Isolated Children:

  • Case Study: Genie Wiley: A disturbing case where a child was discovered by authorities after being kept in extreme isolation.

  • Key Insight: Language is the key to culture. Culture, in turn, makes us human. Without language, there can be no shared mechanism for culture to be socialized into an individual.

• Institutionalized Children: Studies of children in orphanages or similar clinical settings show that without early close stimulation and human interaction, cognitive and social development is severely stunted.

• Deprived Animals: Research on animals (such as Harlow’s monkeys) shows that isolation leads to an inability to interact with others and severe distress, mirroring human social deprivation.

Socialization Into the Self and Mind

• Charles Horton Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self: Cooley argued that our sense of self develops from interaction with others. This involves three steps:

  1. We imagine how we appear to those around us.

  2. We interpret others' reactions to our appearance or behavior.

  3. We develop a self-concept (how we feel about ourselves based on these interpretations).

• George Herbert Mead and Role Taking: Mead analyzed "taking the role of the other" as essential for becoming a full member of society.

  • Significant Others: At first, children only take the role of individuals who significantly influence their lives (e.g., parents).

  • Generalized Other: Eventually, we develop the capacity to take the role of the group as a whole. This is essential for social cooperation and the control of antisocial desires.

• Mead’s Three Stages of Development:

  • Stage 1: Imitation: Children under age $3$. They have no separate sense of self and simply imitate the gestures and words of others.

  • Stage 2: Play: Ages $3$ to $6$. Children play "pretend" others, such as a princess or Spider-Man.

  • Stage 3: Team Games: After age $6$ or $7$. Children enter "organized play." They must learn to take multiple roles and understand what every other player on the team is doing. Mead used baseball as a primary illustration for understanding the "generalized other."

Learning Personality, Morality, and Emotions

• Global Emotions: Research suggests there are six global emotions: anger, distrust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.

• Expression of Emotions: While emotions themselves may be global, their expression depends on social factors such as race, gender, class, and disability.

• The Social Mirror: We are not entirely free in our emotional expressions; we follow the expectations of family and friends. This is part of the "society within us," where the self and emotions act as a form of social control.

Socialization Into Gender

• Definition of Gender: Attitudes and behaviors expected of us because we are male or female.

• The Gender Map: We learn societal expectations through various channels:

  • Family: The first place we learn to "do gender." Parents use toys and play to guide children toward sex-specific behaviors. Examples include parental roles in Borneo, Malaysia, and the practice of "sworn virgins" in Albania (e.g., Shkurtan Hasanpapaj).

  • Peers: Peer groups reinforce gender images. Girls often reinforce images of appearance and behavior; boys often "police" one another’s interests and discussions regarding sex and violence.

  • Mass Media: Television, movies, cartoons, video games, advertising, and platforms like TikTok.

• Social Status of Gaming: Video games were once seen as "wasting time," but are now culturally integrated to the point where Robert Morris University in Chicago offers scholarships for video games and employs e-sport coaches.

Agents of Socialization

• Social Institutions Defined: Organized systems within society that shape behavior, values, and provide a framework for interaction. They are the "building blocks" of society.

• Key Social Institutions:

  • Family: Primary socialization; teaches basic norms and values. Provides emotional support but can reinforce inequality.

  • Education: Secondary socialization; uses a "hidden curriculum" to teach discipline, punctuality, and teamwork.

  • Workplace: Provides income and social roles. Involves "anticipatory socialization" (mental rehearsal for a career) and "ongoing socialization" (where the job becomes part of the self-concept).

  • Religion: Foundation of morality in the U.S.; provides shared beliefs and community.

  • Neighborhood: Children in poor neighborhoods often fare worse in health and education. Cited: Cincinnati Asthma Study.

  • Media: Shapes public opinion and can act as a form of social control.

• Manifest vs. Latent Functions in School:

  • Manifest Functions: Intended purposes (teaching skills).

  • Latent Functions: Unintended consequences (childcare, social networking).

  • Hidden Curriculum: Unwritten rules of behavior taught in school.

  • Corridor Curriculum: What students teach one another outside the classroom.

Resocialization and Total Institutions

• Resocialization: The process of learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors.

• Total Institutions: Places where people are cut off from the rest of society and are under almost total control of the officials who run the place. Examples include:

  • Mental institutions.

  • The military.

  • Prisons.

  • Fraternities and sororities.

• Degradation Ceremonies: Rituals used to strip away an individual’s current identity and stamp a new one in its place.

Socialization Through the Life Course

• Stages of the Life Course:

  • Childhood: Birth to age $12$. Impacted by industrialization and child labor history.

  • Adolescence: Ages $13$ to $17$. A social invention often marked by initiation rites (including alcohol or drugs).

  • Transitional Adulthood: Ages $18$ to $29$. A period where young adults may move back home.

  • The Middle Years: Ages $30$ to $65$ (further divided into Early Middle and Later Middle).

  • The Older Years: About age $63$ or $65$ on (divided into Transitional Older and Later Older).

• Pandemic Statistics on Moving Home (Lending Tree Survey, July 2022, $n = 787$):

  • $58\%$ did not consider moving home.

  • $21\%$ moved back home and are still living there.

  • $11\%$ moved back home but have since moved out.

  • $10\%$ are considering moving home.

• Positive Financial Impact of Moving Home ($n = 252$ respondents):

  • 39\% \t ext{ able to focus on paying down debt.}

  • 31\% \t ext{ able to save for a home down payment.}

  • 23\% \t ext{ able to invest more/save for retirement.}

  • 16\% \t ext{ able to take a lower-paying job they are passionate about.}

  • 10\% \t ext{ able to save for a life event (e.g., wedding).}

  • 4\% \t ext{ other.}

  • 15\% \t ext{ none of the above.}

Questions & Discussion: Are We Prisoners of Socialization?

• Inquiry: Are humans merely "cogs in a machine," or are we individuals with agency?

• Class Procedures:

  • Opening Question: Initial prompt regarding human agency vs. social programming.

  • Group and Class Discussion: Exploring the limits of socialization and the capacity for individual choice.

  • Exit Ticket: Final assessment of the student's understanding of the relationship between the individual and society.

• Conclusion: Sociology suggests that while socialization is powerful, we are not mere "prisoners" because we can make choices and change the social systems that socialize us.