SOCIOLOGY
Nature: Individual’s innate qualities
Strapped to a chair for 13 years
No contact with anyone except her
abusive father
No language
Maturity of a one year old Unable to cry
Cannot control her bodily functions Spoke very little e.g. ‘stopit’ ‘nomore’
(negative words)
Understood only 20 words
A process of social interaction by which people
acquire the knowledge, attitudes, values and behaviors essential for effective participation in society.
Helps people achieve a common
understandings necessary to align their actions and bind their separate lives into a larger
whole.
Continues throughout one’s life.
Primary Socialization
Takes place early in life, as a child and an
adolescent.
Construction of one’s core identity.
Secondary Socialization
Takes place throughout one's life.
When one learn the appropriate behavior as
a member of a smaller group within a larger society.
Social Learning Theory
Cognitive Development Theory Symbolic Interactionism
*Micro Level Theories - Theories that try to explain how individuals learn to become a part of society.
THEORIES OF
We are socialized through positive and negative
reinforcement by our parents, friends and society and that we observe and imitate socialized behavior around us.
Conditioning
The outcome of a certain behavior determines the likelihood of future repetition.
Through ‘Reward’ or ‘Punishment’
Observational Learning
People reproduce the responses they observe in others. (Outcome of others’ behaviors)
What a person learns depends on his or her
ability to understand and interpret the world.
Our abilities progresses through several
stages.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
1. Sensorimotor Stage 2. Preoperational Stage 3. Concrete Operational 4. Formal Operation
0-18 months
Reflexes Habits
Hand-eye coordination Object Permanence
Knowing something exists, even
though it can’t be seen
Intentionality
Act in a goal-directed manner “Little Scientists.”
Trial and error experiments
18 months to 7 years old
Representational Thought: Ability to represent objects
with images and words
Through learning symbols
and language
Imitation and Play
7-11 years old
Learn to think more abstractly
Do simple mathematics in
their head
Separate symbols from the
thing it represents.
11 years old – adulthood
Abstract and logical
abilities in the final form
Do more complex
mathematics
Think in a formal
systematic way
The shared understandings of the world
emerge from social interaction and form the basis for social life.
The actions and interactions of humans can
only be understood through the exchange of meaningful communication or symbols.
SYMBOLIC-INTERACTIONIST
PERSPECTIVE
Verbal Communication:
The process of sending and receiving
messages with words/symbols with intended and inferred meanings.
Includes spoken/written/ sign languages
Nonverbal Communication:
The process of sending and receiving
messages without the use of words.
Both intentional and unintentional
COMMUNICATION
Body Language:
Physical motions and gestures Paralanguage:
Vocal cues surrounding speech Proxemics:
Employment of social and personal space Touch:
Use of physical contact Artifacts:
Objects that signal gender, rank, status, and
attitude.
Reflexive Behavior
Actions through which people
observe, interpret, evaluate, and attempt to control themselves
People observe their own
behavior from the perspective of others.
Critical in development of ‘self’
Individuals actively participate
in their own socialization
4 Main Agents of Socialization in the developed world:
Family
Peer Group School
Media
An isolated, enclosed system whose primary
purpose is to control most aspects of its participants’ lives.
To resocialize individuals or socialize those
who were not successfully socialized to begin with.
Characteristics of a Total Institution
1. All aspects of life are conducted in the same
place under the same authority.
2. The individual is a member of a large group,
all treated alike.
3. All daily activities (over a 24-hour period) are
tightly scheduled.
4. There is a sharp split between supervisors and
lower participants.
5. Information about the member's fate is
withheld.
A set of concepts we use in defining who we are
(central part of the socializing process)
Represents the ideas we have regarding our attributes,
capacities, and behaviors.
Not biologically given
Emerges from interaction with others
The reciprocal relationship between ‘the self’ and society:
The self influences the society through the
creation of groups, networks, and institutions.
IN TURN – The society influences the self
through its shared language and meanings, rules of interactions and enables reflection upon oneself within the society.
Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)
‘The Looking-Glass Self’: a process by which
we imaginatively assume the position of other people and view ourselves as we believe they see us.
The ability to take the perspective of others
is the basic requirement of social behavior.
Step 1
We imagine that a significant other perceives us in a certain way. Step 2
We imagine that he or she makes a judgment about us based on that
perception.
Step 3
We form a self-image based on how we think our significant other
sees us.
(The perception we presumed need not accord with objective reality)
* Significant Other = Someone whose opinions matter to us and who is in a position to influence our thinking, especially about ourselves.
Self-Image:
A mental conception or picture that we have
of ourselves that is relatively temporary; it changes as we move from one context to another.
Self-Conception:
A sense of self through time – “The real me”
made up from layers of self-images built up through time. (Relatively stable)
A
C
F
E
B
D
Self-Images:
Part of Self-Conception
Our evaluation of ourselves results in certain:
1. Self-Esteem
2. Personal Efficacy
The belief that one is a good an valuable person.
Controlled by three principles:
1. Reflected Appraisal
As we interact with others, we monitor their behavior for
pieces of information about how they are assessing us.
2. Social Comparison
Comparing one’s performance, ability, characteristics with
others and ranking ourselves accordingly.
3. Self-Attribution
For something to affect our self-esteem, we must believe that
we are responsible for it.
The belief that one can overcome obstacles
and achieve goals.
Determined by the nature of personal
experiences
To develop personal efficacy, one must
achieve things
Can be difficult under certain social
circumstances.
George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
Expansion on the ‘Looking-Glass Self’
We mentally assume a dual perspective
We are simultaneously the subject doing
the viewing and the object being viewed.
In our imagination we take the position
of another person and look back on ourselves.
Language is the key, we talk to
ourselves as we would to others.
Play Stage – Children takes on the role of others,
one at a time.
Game Stage – Children assume many roles and
understand the expectations for a variety of roles.
Generalized Other – Children understand that they
are a part of a larger community and that this community has a clear attitudes towards proper and improper behavior.
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
Only by influencing other people’s ideas can
we be able to predict or control what we become.
It is in our interest to present ourselves to
others in a way that they will view us favorably.
People resemble performers in action
The world resembles a performance stage
where people interact.
The goal is to create distinctive
appearances and to satisfy particular audiences.
As the nature of the audience changes, so
does their self and behavior.
Socialization = life-long process
Life Course = Begins with conception and
continues through old age and ultimately death.
Different societies can have different social
arrangements for same age groups.
1. Anticipatory Socialization:
Process of socialization in which a person
‘rehearses’ for future positions, occupations, and social relationships.
2. Once individual assume a new status, they
may need to shape the role itself in response to new situations and needs.
3. Continual entry and exit from successive roles.
The position that children occupy in society, is not fixed but differs
between different times and places.
The modern western idea of childhood:
Children are distinctly different from adults.
Children are vulnerable and not
capable of looking after themselves so there is a period of life needed to
nurture and socialize them.
Variations due to family’s social capital.
Stage of physiological maturation
Adolescence – Western ‘invention’ (100 years)
Main task is to build and confirm a reasonable stable identity/ the
development of ‘self’.
Not necessarily a turbulent period
Many cultures have ‘Puberty Rites’ to symbolize a child transition
into adolescent or adulthood.
Peers: greater influence in e.g. musical tastes, personal
adornment, etc.
Family: greater influence in e.g. future life goals, fundamental
behavior codes, and core values.
People of college and graduate school age
Achieving greater autonomy and responsibility
Shifting away from the family of origin to building
relationships and adapting to the world of work.
Strongly influenced by: Age norms
Social Clock Life events
Age 30-65 (roughly)
Core tasks: love and work
Socialization revolves around work
Early 30s: find their place in the world
Late 30s: seek to break out from under the authority of others
40s: Assess goals
Men: see autonomy and competitions as
central to life
Women: more concerned with human
relationships
Can be most dramatic – lots of life
events that require adaptations.
Role loss
E.g. Retiring, losing one’s spouse,
becoming disabled, moving to a nursing home, etc…
The stage begins depending on the
time and place.
Societies differ in the prestige and
dignity they accord to age.
Entrance into ‘impending death’ status depends on perceived
social worth.
E.g. A sick 20 years old and an 80-year-old
Death experience changes with time and place.
E.g. home or hospital
Active and passive euthanasia
Kubler-Ross’s 5 stages of dying:
