Socialization of the individual

Download presentation

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

1
Socialization of the individual
How do people become functioning members of society? How do they become socialized? Everything has a purpose – we must know where and how we fit to help and allow society to function properly.

2
Enculturation Process of being socialized (acquiring culture) to a particular culture. Much of human personality is the result of our genes (nature), however the socialization process can mold it in particular directions (nurture). Encourage and discourage specific beliefs and attitudes and provide experiences. Socialization: the interactive process by which individuals learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of society. We learn culture from others – family, friends, media, school, experiences (observation) We learn the language of the culture We learn the roles we are expected to play in life (and what happens when we don’t fulfill them) Nature vs. Nurture – some things can’t change (biological) but how we view it/understand it as right or wrong is learned Successful socialization results in uniformity in society – share the same beliefs and expectations (those who internalize the norms of society are less likely to break the law or to want radical changes). Individuals who do not conform to culturally defined standards – “abnormally” socialized (they have no internalized the “proper” norms of society) Internalization – we don’t question it Large-scale societies are those composed of many ethnic groups Early socialization in different families often varies in techniques, goals, and expectations No unanimous agreement about what should be the shared norms Usually results in more tolerance of social deviancy – more acceptable to be different in appearance, personality, and actions

3
Personality Development
Personality: the total sum of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values, that are characteristic of an individual. Determines how we adjust to our environment and how we react in specific situations Continue to develop throughout our lifetime. 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 Caitlin and I – two completely different personalities How are children socialized? Early childhood is the period of the most intense and crucial socialization – this is when we acquire language and learn the fundamentals of our culture as well as when much of our personality takes shape. Socialization continues throughout life as we age – we enter new statuses and need to learn the appropriate roles for them We also have experiences that teach us lessons and potentially lead us to alter or expectations, beliefs, and personality (EX: being raped is likely to cause a person to be distrustful of others; or meeting/interacting with certain people teach us particular “lessons” – my cousin Nick).

4
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 an ongoing/lifelong process 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. Aspect of “humanness” called the “self” is socially created – our sense of self develops from interaction with others. EX: we may think that others perceive us as witty or dull… do they like us for being witty or dislike us for being dull… favorable reactions in the social mirror leads to a positive self-concept and a negative reflection to a negative self-concept. Misjudgments might become part of our own self-concept (live up to how we think people see us or how we feel they want to see us) In our everyday lives we monitor how others react to us and continually modify the self.

5
Looking-glass self (CONTINUED)
On a piece of paper, write YOUR name in the center Leave that sheet of paper at your desk Walk around the room/pass around your sheet and write one word or phrase you would use to describe the name on the paper at each desk. Following this activity, write a half page journal: Is your self-concept accurate or not based on what your classmates said? Will this change the way you live your life or act towards others? If so, how? If you do not feel comfortable writing, pass it on – but be open to sharing because that is the only way that person will be able to gain an accurate ideas of their self-concept. Be sure what you write is appropriate and said in a tactful way as to not offend someone but to be honest with them!

6
STATUS Social Structure: the network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction Positions (status) that someone occupies, defines who we are and what we are expected to do (guides our behavior – roles) Ascribed Status: based on a person’s inherited traits or assigned automatically when a person reaches a certain age. Achieved Status: voluntary positions that are earned, accomplished, or involve at least some effort or activity on the individual’s part (or lack of effort). Master Status: status that plays the biggest role in shaping a person’s life and ultimately determines their social identity. Changes over the course of one’s life Status Inconsistency Status Symbol Ascribed Statuses EX: gender, age, race, ethnicity, social status (based on parents)… receive these positions involuntarily Achieved Statuses EX: athlete, lead in a musical, section leader in band, spouse, parent, graduate (honor roll), occupation, friend, student Lack of effort – school dropout, ex- to someone Positive (college president) or negative (bank robber) Master status can be ascribed or achieved (sometimes it depends on the context) and it isn’t always the most flattering (EX: people with disabilities, those who have some kind of disfigurations, someone with a difficult past/association). THINK “IF YOU REALLY KNEW ME” Status Inconsistency: some people have contradictions or mismatches between their statuses, although most of them fit together (EX: a 40 year old mother who is dating a 19 year old college sophomore or Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore) Status Symbol: signs that identify our status (EX: wedding ring, captain band, ID, orange jail suit, scarlet letter…) Status Set: all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies – changes as particular statuses change (age)

7
Roles Behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status (expectations or people by society) Each person is expected to successfully fulfill many different roles everyday Role Expectations: the socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role. Role Performance: a person’s ACTUAL role behavior Often doesn’t match perfectly the expectations Often difficult to fulfill the expectations that each of our roles calls for (asked to perform many roles, some of which are contradictory) Reciprocal Roles: corresponding roles that define the patterns of interaction between related statuses At home: roles associated with a son/daughter/brother/sister… At school: roles associated with a student/friend/athlete/musician Expectations EX: parents are expected to provide emotional and physical security for their children; police officers are expected to uphold the law Performance EX: parents who use harsh discipline or struggle to be both an employee and a parent simultaneously Reciprocal EX: 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; parent-child; employer-employee; athlete-coach

8
Role Strain and Role Conflict
Role Conflict: occurs when fulfilling one status makes it difficult to fulfill the role of another status Role Strain: occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status. Role conflict – multiple statuses or expectations and can’t fulfill them all at once – sometimes you have to choose (EX: student, athlete, employee… can’t work or practice in order to study for a test) Role Status – one status and multiple roles (conflict just in that status) – EX: teenager (trying to have a social life while holding a part-time job and getting good grades)

9
Who are you? Create a Tagxedo that signifies who you are ( Your statuses (6-8 each) – ascribed, achieved Master Status (1) Your roles (2-3 for each status) One Example of Role Strain One Example of Role Conflict Status Symbol (1-2) Use pictures Pictures will have to be added separately since you cannot add them on the website Be prepared to present briefly Print a copy (does not have to in color) and save it to your network space/flash drive to pull up during class.

10
Breitzman’s tagxedo Current Event: 18-year-old Girl Calls 41-year-old James Hooker Her ‘Best Friend’

11
Agents of socialization
People/groups or events/places that influence our orientations to life – help create our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior. Social Institutions: system of statuses, roles, values, and norms that is organized to satisfy one or more of the basic needs of society. Birth Order Personalities are influenced by whether we have brothers, sisters, or neither (step/half) Personalities are also influenced by the order in which we are born into the family (first, middle, last, only – when you acquire step siblings) Parents Personality development in children is also influenced by characteristics of the parents Their age, level of education, religious orientation, economic status, cultural heritage, occupation (impact) Guide our attitudes and beliefs about what is right or wrong – think of some agents of socialization in your life? Which were the most prominent to you? Least prominent? Social Institutions provide physical and emotional support for members of a society, transmit particular knowledge, produce goods/services, and maintain social control. EX: Family system, Economic system, Political system, Education system, and Religious system Socialization is process of learning and becoming who we are First Agent: family – parents, siblings (have the most early on impact on the individual) Second: Daycare (4 year old – kindergarten/preschool) Third: School/Peer Group (acquire an array of knowledge – academic and social) Fourth (mixed throughout): Media

12
Family Lays down our basic sense of self, establishing our initial motivations, values, and beliefs. Subtle Socialization: nonverbal cues, not specific instruction (in all agents of socialization) Social class of a family has a significant impact on us Parents rear their children to have lives like theirs (based on their own life experiences). Many children tend to have the same job as their parents Job Type of a parents plays a key role Blue-collar parents are more apt to stress 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. Family gives us an idea of who we are and what we deserve out of life – guides this thought and understanding Experiences in the family are so intense that they can have a life-long impact on us Over the years, the “traditional” family has become the exception rather than the rule – working women, divorce, single-parents, step-families, same-sex parents… all of which, will naturally socialize each individual differently, yet even in its various forms, tend to “teach” similar societal messages. Parents rear their children the way they were reared mainly because they don’t know any different (been internalized in them) Blue-collar workers’ boss tells them what to do – obedience; Middle-class parents might tend to stress reason, curiosity, self-expression, and self control (mainly because their job has socialized them as functioning that way – again, without even realizing it) Jobs with strict supervision compared to those with more freedom, relates to how one parents Differences in development ideas – nanny, sign-language, a lot of structure (middle-class); working-class parents have children learn more from making mistakes and self-discovery (laid back)

13
Neighborhood/religion
Neighborhoods Poor vs. affluent neighborhoods More eyes watching in the affluent neighborhoods Religion – strongly influences values and becomes a key component for many people’s ideas of right and wrong. Provides answers to perplexing questions (gives experiences meaning – symbolic rituals) Emotional Comfort Social Solidarity Guidelines for everyday life Social Control (conflict – supports the status quo and helps to maintain social inequalities) Some religions are favored more than others. In poor neighborhoods there is more anonymity and there is little look-out for others because of that. In affluent neighborhoods people usually know each other by name. Children from poorer neighborhoods are more likely to get in trouble with the law, to become teen parents, to drop out of school, and to end up facing disadvantages in life (these circumstances and experiences – and knowing “where they fit/their opportunities” – guides their values and beliefs). Irony: in riskier neighborhoods, adults watch out less for the children compared to neighborhoods where less protection is necessary – or at least it is a different kind of protection… Religious beliefs early in life tend to follow the family ideas but through experiences in life that might change.

14
Daycare/peer group Daycare – one of the first avenues to experience socialization from outside their own home/neighborhood (learn a “different” culture from others) More daycare = weaker bonds with parents (particularly mom) -> cruel, mean, and fighting. More daycare = higher language and social skills Peer Group – over time tends to become the most dominant socialization agent (teaching right/wrong, good/bad, etc. -> subcultures) Early on (elementary), children separate themselves based on gender and develop their own worlds with unique norms. Children who spend more time in daycare and less time with their parents experience a disconnect… the parents are less responsive to their child’s emotional needs and because they aren’t as familiar with their child’s “signaling system” (how to read them). The children who seem to benefit the most from daycare are those in low-income or dysfunctional families as they are then given the means to interact, learn from, and communicate with individuals who can share that knowledge, whereas for matters (sometimes) out of their control, the parents can’t provide that. Daycare and Education exposes children to peer groups that help them resist the efforts of parents and school (Breakfast Club) that originally socialize them. Standards of our peer group (which also change over time) tend to dominate our lives – think of your favorite music, style of dress, language, what is valued… in comparison to parents, teachers, other adults. In our peer group, we will tend to imitate each other (hence, learning their culture)

15
Groups (more specifically)
Group: set of two or more people who interact on the basis of shared expectations and who posses some degree of common identity. Aggregate: when people gather in the same place at the same time but lack organization or lasting patterns of interaction. Social Category: interaction isn’t necessary – a means of classifying people according to a shared trait/common status. Easiest to classify groups on the basis of degree of intimacy among its members Primary Group: interact over a relatively long period of time on a direct and personal basis. Secondary Group: interaction is impersonal and temporary in nature. Reference Group: an individual identifies with and whose attitudes and values they often adopt. Perform particular social roles and judge their own behaviors with reference to the standards set by a particular group. In-group vs. Out-group Groups can be small (two people on a date or best friends) or large (500 soldiers at boot camp) Groups can be intimate (family) or formal (people attending a conference) Aggregate EX: people waiting to board a plane, a school pep rally Social Category EX: women, students, elderly Primary EX: family, best friends, classmates Secondary EX: work relationships, “Facebook Friends” Reference EX: friendship, school clubs, teams, members of a particular occupation In-group: the group that a person belongs to and identifies with Members separate themselves from other groups (through use of symbols) and view themselves in terms of positive images, while out-groups are viewed in terms of negative images. Out-group: any group that the person does not belong to or identify with.

16
school Transmit knowledge and skills while also earning a broader perspective of the world Rules apply to everyone regardless of parenting types, peer groups, etc. Social Integration: allows all societal members to take advantage of occupational, economic, and political opportunities. Hidden Curriculum: unwritten rules and expectations of behavior, which are not explicitly taught. Occupational Placement: identify talents and abilities and train people to occupy certain positions in society. Negative – tracking (different types of education) Corridor Curriculum: what students teach one another (peer group or class pairings) Part of the continuous socialization (things that might not be learned in home-schooling or without an education) Significance of social class Manifest Function – knowledge and skills (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.) Latent Function – allows students to be exposed to more of the world than what they see at home (positive) – dysfunctional if that has a negative affect on students (drugs, vandalism, etc.) These are often times in the form of values we instill in the individuals – some can be positive other can be negative (sometimes they are taught accidentally as teachers – contrary to popular belief – are human too) Unfortunately they tend to center on racism, sexism, popularity, or illicit ways to make money Politeness, finding ways to understand “the system” outside of high school Wealthy children have more of an opportunity to attend private schools, where they learn skills and values that match their higher social position and continue to engrain the idea of their status. Children from poorer homes go to public schools, which are dependent on taxpayers money, where they might inherently learn that not all of them will become high professionals or social leaders – or at least the road will not be easy. In school, students in different social classes might also tend to take particular classes that continue that separation. Education is the key to social mobility (the more education, usually the more income).

17
Sports and competition
Teach physical skills and values (team-player and student-athlete) Effects of sports on our self-image: Boys learn that to achieve in sports equates to gaining stature in masculinity Instrumental Relationships Girls are socialized to construct more meaningful relationships. Where sports and competition fit on our values list, plays a big part into it as a socialization agent (makes it much stronger of an agent than in the past) – think of how much rides on sports and competition in our society… The more successful a boy is in sports usually means that they will be considered more masculine and in turn, gains prestige amongst others (think of how that concept is being challenged now with the amount of athletes who are coming out as homosexual). Instrumental Relationships – those based on what you can get out of them (carried into other aspects of life – i.e. girls) It can be argued that gender equality has changed this socialization agent – girls are also “learning” to construct instrumental relationships as society as a whole is more competitive and women in sports and competitive activities like boys. People become friends with certain people in order to gain a particular status (popularity)

18
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 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. A new/added peer group in our lives Before you do something for the rest of your life you get to practice what you’re going to do – student teaching, co-op, Explorer program

19
Media Mass media—newspapers, magazines, comic books, radio, video games, movies, and especially television—present a very different form of socialization than any other, because they offer no opportunity for interaction. Aside from “interaction” with that medium. Mass media can affect the development of children’s self-image, attitudes towards others, and interpersonal behaviors. Doesn’t give children social skills or the real-life practice Form “connections” or “disconnections among different groups of people Continuously has us revaluate our idea of “normal” based on what we see and hear. Think about some of these forms of mass media and specific examples (TV shows, movies, video games, music/music videos, books, magazines, etc.) that parents might have some real issues with in regards to what they “teach” their children. EX: Modern Family, Grand Theft Auto, 50 Shades of Grey Compare themselves to characters and situations and form assessments of themselves (usually their self-image is negative) EX: Children from low-income families who view advertisements tend to have a lower self-esteem and face depression, likely because they feel bad that they cannot have those products advertised.

20
Social Network Web of relationships formed by a sum total of a person’s interactions with other people We all belong to more than one group and interact with more than one set of people These various interactions each “teach” different self- concepts, ideas of right and wrong (socialize us differently) Direct and Indirect relationships (all of which socialize us) Don’t always have clear boundaries between various groups but all them provide us with a feeling of community. Direct EX: parents, friends Indirect EX: congregation, republicans/democrats

21
NATURE VS. NURTURE Nature – centered around heredity (transmission of genetic characteristics from birth parents to children) Instinct: unchanging, biologically inherited behavior pattern Nurture – environmental factors and social learning determine our behavior “Taught” particular ways of thinking and acting – most of which is learned from observation and becomes inherent. Journal Journal: based on the reading presenting both perspectives on homosexual parenting and after having watched the “Zach Wahls” Youtube clip (3) posted on my webpage under “Breitzman’s Findings”… what is your evaluation/opinion on same-sex parenting based on the ideas of nature and nurture?

22
Personality CD Through the process of socialization, a person’s personality (the complex set of characteristics that distinguish an individual, a nation or group) starts to develop. Many people say that our personality comes from our social environment or contact with others – it shapes us, or molds us into who we are over time (“nurture”). Here people might point to specific instances in life that influence a person’s character – traumatic event, home pressures, etc. Others say that we are born with a distinct personality – it is our genes that make us who we are (“nature”). Still, many say it is a combination of nature and nurture. So how has your personality developed to make you who we are today?

23
Personality CD Continued
Directions: There are so many songs out there that many of us can relate to, and in my mind you can tell a lot about a person based on the music they listen to (often times it tells a story). Think of the music you listen to or have and find the songs that will tell a story about you. Task: Once you have your songs picked out, you will be asked to make a “Album Insert” of the playlist you created with a description of how that song tells of your personality and how your personality has developed over time. If you want to, you can actually make a CD of your personality! If nothing else, bring your iPod the day this is due in order to share some of your music. Think of events or experiences in your life that have impacted your personality, beliefs, values, etc. If there is only one part of the song that describes you, add that – each song doesn’t necessarily have to tell about you entirely. Think about the lyrics, the artist, the genre, etc. in how you can use these songs to describe you (some of the songs you pick might be more symbolic in telling about yourself). You must include a minimum of 12 songs in your insert and make it creative MUST BE TYPED IF NOTHING ELSE

Similar presentations

© 2023 SlidePlayer.com Inc.
All rights reserved.