CHAPTER 4: SOCIALIZATION
Remember that Warm Up from
Yesterday? Here’s the Top Five.
#1: Nice (friendly/caring) 17%
(Family:20%, Friends: 25%, Other:54%)
#2: Athletic 12%
(Family: 61%, Friends: 0%, Other: 44%)
#3 and #4: Honest 8%
(Family: 36%, Friends: 0%, Other: 64%)
and Funny 8%
(Family: 18%, Friends: 64%, Other: 18%)
#5: Respectful 6%
(Family: 63%, Friends: 13%, Other: 24%)
Other Answers
3.4%: Confident
2.7%: Happy, Intelligence
2.1%: Determined, Organized, Hard working,
Helpful, Individualistic, Tolerant
1.3%: Musical, Outgoing, Self-reliant,Responsible,
Loyal, Laid back, Trusting, Modest, Good liar
0.6%: Loud, Imagination, Artistic, Insightful,
Persuasive, Observant, Passionate, Humble,
Quiet, Patriotic, Polite, Strength, Good grades,
Faith, Competitive, Understanding, Thoughtful,
Sassy, Forgiving, Patience
Values Activity
• Read through the values on the next
slide.
• Choose FIVE values that best represent
you. Write one value on each of the
five cards provided.
Freedom
Justice
Honesty
Fairness
Equality
Peace
Trust
Patience
Joy
American
Wealth
Competition Art
Passion
Energy
Family
Compassion
Education
Health
Athletics
Technology Academics
Children
Humor
Responsible
Literature
Pride
Religion
Stability
Wisdom
Safety
Environmen
t
Teamwork
Respect
Organized
Values Activity Cont.
• Identify which of you five chosen
values is the weakest, strongest, and
most important to you.
• Repeat the activity - choose the top
five values for your parent/guardian
/sibling/ cousin/friend/etc.
Gender Discussion
• Divide into two groups: girls and guys.
• Round One: discuss and describe according to
society “NORMAL girls” in the US - record
responses on the paper provided.
• Round Two: discuss and describe according to
society “NORMAL guys” in the US - record
responses on the paper provided.
• Round Three: discuss and theorize why gender
roles exists.
*Refer to your papers from yesterday.
What is your Sex?
• Look at your Bem Sex Role Inventory.
Make sure you have your scores for
each column.
• Column 1 = Masculine score
• Column 2 = Femininity score
• Column 3 = distractors
Scoring
M: 4.9+
M: 4.9-
F:
4.9+
Androginous
Feminine
F:
4.9-
Masculine
Undifferentiated
Bem Sex Inventory:
Valid?
• This was created by a female
psychologist in 1971 then re-analyzed
and republished in 1981.
• Class Discussion: Is it still valid today?
Why or Why not?
Normal…
• What is normal?
(Activity - Men’s room “normal”)
• How do we learn what is normal?
• Can normal change?
• Why would normal change?
Answer: SOCIALIZATION
Agree? Disagree?
• Proper Manners for Dating:
A man should not sit down at the table in a
restaurant until the woman is seated.
A man should always see that the woman is
served first.
A man should never let a woman carry
anything heavy; she should carry only a small
package and her coat.
A man should always open a door for a woman
and let her pass in front of him.
Ch. 4: Socialization
Section 1: The importance of socialization
Socialization and
Personality
• Almost all social behaviors that are considered
“normal” or “natural” are learned.
– Example - husbands and wives walking
• In the U.S. - walk side by side
• In India - husband walks slightly ahead of wife
• Socialization is the process of learning to
participate in a group
– Begins at birth, continues through life
– Without an infant cannot develop the attitudes,
beliefs, values, and behaviors associated with being
an individual
Nature vs. Nurture
• Nature theory - belief that the genes
we get from our biological parents at
conception are the primary causes of
human behavior
• Nurture theory - belief that our
environment influences the way we
think, feel, and behave
How Have You Been
Socialized?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sports?
Religion?
Food?
Dating?
Politics?
Table manners?
Cell phone manners?
Experimentation for
Socialization
•
•
•
•
Control group: normally socialized
Experimental group: isolated infants
WE DON’T DO THIS!
Non-experimental evidence does exist
– Studies of socially isolate children
(parental/guardian neglect)
– Studies done with monkeys
Negative Effects of Social
Isolation on Rhesus Monkeys
• Infant monkeys separate from their
mothers and give two artificial
mothers - one made of just wire,
the other wire covered in cloth
• Monkeys always preferred the
softer
• Results
– Infant monkeys need intimacy,
warmth, physical contact, and comfort
– Isolated monkeys became distressed,
apathetic, withdrawn, and hostile
Generalize from Monkeys
to Humans - how?
• Not saying that monkeys and humans are the
same
• Hypothesis developed - human babies need
affection, intimacy, and warmth as much as
they need food, water, and protection
• Human babies that had been denied close
contact (institutionalized, abandoned, or
confined) usually have difficulty forming
emotional ties with others
• Feral - wild
National Geographic –
Is It Real?: Feral Children
Stories of feral (wild) children have existed in folktales and
stories for centuries. Tarzan and The Jungle Book both
depict the tale of a little boy left in the wild to fend for
himself and through the help of animal friends like
gorillas or bears, the boy survives. In the tales the boy
does encounter humans and struggles to fit into a human
world. But what about actual feral children? Are they
real?
France - Victor
A boy of about 12 years of age, who later became
known as Victor, was found foraging for food in
the woods near Aveyron, southwestern France in
the winter of 1799-1800. He ate raw and rotten
food, sat rocking back and forth for hours, and
could not distinguish between hot and cold.
Despite intensive study by noted French Physician
Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard, it is reported that Victor
only ever learned to say two words, lait (milk)
and Oh Dieu (oh God). Dr. Itard eventually gave up
working with the boy had had him
institutionalized. Victor died in 1828 at the age of
40. A dramatization of his story was made into a
documentary called The Wild Child.
Uganda – John Ssebunya
In 1991, a woman, while searching for some food in the jungle, met a
young boy of 5 years. Immediately she returned to her village to
inform the rest of the tribe and then several who returned to the
scene, where they found not only a child reluctant to go with
them, but a whole family of monkeys fighting throwing sticks and
stones to prevent the child is carried.
It is unknown how long the child was alone in the jungle. Researchers
theorize it to have been six months to three years. It is believed
that the child witnessed his father murder his mother and then ran
to get away. He found shelter in the jungle and claims to have
lived with a family of monkeys.
The child was taken to a Christian orphanage and adopted. He
became known as John Ssebunya. John suffered from
hypertrichosis, a fairly common in feral children, his body was full
of scars and wounds, could not tolerate cooked food and had scars
on the knees which showed he had not yet learned to walk. Over
eight years, John has adapted to human customs, learning to walk
and disappearing further its hypertrichosis.
India – Amala & Kamala
In 1920, as the story goes, Reverend J. A. Singh saw a mother wolf and cubs, two
of whom had long matted hair and looked human. After considerable
preparations and difficulties, the two human creatures were captured. They
turned out to be two girls who ages were assessed by Singh at about eight
years and one and a half years. The girls were take to an orphanage in
Mindaore, India, where the Reverend and his wife were stationed. Singh
described them as “wolfish” in appearance and behavior. They walked on all
fours and had calluses on their knees and palms from doing so. They were
fond of raw meat and stole when the occasion offered. They licked all liquids
with their tongues and ate their food in a crouch position. The Reverend’s
journal articles described how they never slept after midnight and prowled
and howled at night. If approached, they made face and sometimes bared
their teeth. In 1921, both girls became ill and the younger girl, Amala, died.
Mrs. Singh was able to win over the confidence and trust of the older girl,
Kamala, and the Reverend’s wife was about to teach the girl. After five years
of devoted contact and instruction, Kamala demonstrated some intellectual
functions such as recognizing names and the concept of color. She ate from a
plate and drank from a glass. She was able to speak about thirty words. News
of Kamala spread and in 1928 the Psychological Society of New York invited
the Singhs and Kamala to the United States. Kamala became sick and died
from cholera before a trip could be made.
Ukraine – Oxana Malaya
A girl from Ukraine named Oxana Malaya, who has spent some
early days of her childhood with her pet dogs, has been found
with some characteristics of dogs. Her alcoholic mother and
father were unable to take care of her and they completely
neglected her when she was 3 years old. She used to live in the
area where pets were kept. Because of her parents’ careless
nature, the street dogs of the area took care of her. Gradually
Oxana and the dogs developed a bond of attachment, as a
result of which, dogs attacked those who dared to take Oxana
back home.
With the time, Oxana was only human from her body. Her
characteristics were totally like dogs. She used to run on her
hands and legs, bared her teeth and barked like dogs. In the
year 2010, at the age of 26, Oxana was sent to the mental
asylum of Ukraine.
According to latest updates, she is progressing well and developing
a tendency to speak like humans
Case Study: Genie
Genie was discovered in 1970 at 13 years of age. She had been confined to a
small bedroom from the age of 20 months by her father, a man who
hated children. Genie spent her days tied to an infant’s potty chair and
her nights wrapped in a sleeping bag enclosed in a mesh-covered crib.
Her world was almost totally silent, and she was beaten when she made
noise. Whenever Genie’s father interacted with her, he acted like a wild
dog, barking, growling, and baring his teeth. Consequently, Genie did not
learn to talk.
The room in which Genie spent all of her time was bare except for the
potty chair, the crib, two partially covered windows, a bare light bulb,
and a closet. Sometimes two plastic raincoats hung outside the closet and
Genie was allowed to play with them. Her only other toys consisted of
things such as empty spools of thread and an empty cottage cheese
container.
When Genie was found, she could not stand straight and had the social
and psychological skills of a one-year-old child. Even after eight years of
training, Genie had not progressed past the level of a four-year-old child.
She eventually was placed in an institution.
Case Study: Anna
One of the earliest cases of child isolation investigated by a sociologist is
that of Anna. Anna was born to an unmarried woman, a fact that
enraged her mother’s father. At first forbidden to bring the child into
the house, Anna’s mother attempted to place her in a children’s home.
When this proved too expensive, Anna was moved to a series of foster
homes. Finally, at the age of six months, the child was returned to her
mother. Because of the grandfather’s hostility, Anna was confined to an
attic room where she was given only a minimum of care. She was fed
only enough milk to keep her alive and received almost no human
contact. She was not spoken to, held, bathed, or loved.
Anna finally was discovered by a social worker in 1938. At six years of age,
Anna was little more than a skeleton. She could not walk, talk, or feed
herself. Her face was expressionless, and she showed no interest in
other people. Over time, though, Anna made some progress. She
learned, for instance, to walk, feed herself, brush her teeth, and follow
simple directions. When she died at the age of 10, however, Anna had
just begun to show the first signs of using language and had only
reached the ability level of a toddler.
Case Study: Isabelle
The story of Isabelle has a somewhat happier ending. Isabelle, whose
mother also was unmarried, was found at about the same time as Anna.
The child’s grandfather kept her and her deaf-mute mother confined to
a dark room. Although deprived of a normal cultural environment,
Isabelle did have the advantage of her mother’s company. But because
she and her mother communicated only through gestures, Isabelle did
not learn to speak. When she was found at the age of six-and-a-half
years, she crawled around on her hands and knees making grunting,
animal-like sounds. She ate with her hands and behaved in many ways
like a six-month-old infant.
Isabelle was at first thought to be mentally retarded and mute. After
several months of intensive training, however, she began to speak.
Eventually she developed a considerable vocabulary. After about two
years of training, Isabelle reached a level of social and mental
development consistent with her age group. Kingsley Davis, the
sociologist who studied both Anna and Isabelle, concluded that
Isabelle’s constant contact with her mother and her training by
specialists allowed her to overcome her early social deprivation.
One more: Oxana
Malaya
• http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x
8g9xa_oxana-malaya-ukranian-girlraised-b_webcam
• http://www.youtube.com/user/Sixlets
69#p/u/3/hKVYaOI-6RY
(watch if time permits…)
More Recently: Fritzl Children
In 1984, Josef Fritzel locked his 18-year-old
daughter, Elizabeth, in the basement of his
Austrian home where he kept her prisoner and
raped her for almot 25 years. During that time
she gave birth to seven children. One child died.
Three children were adopted by Josef and his
wife and the other three were kept isolated in
the basement with Elizabeth. In 2008, the
eldest of children/grandchildren became ill and
Elizabeth convinced Josef to take the girl to the
hospital where the staff realized something was
wrong and notified the police.
What Do You Think?
• Does the internet stunt your social
growth?
Read the article included in the notes.
Ch. 4: Socialization
Section 2: Socialization and the Self
Personal Response
• How has my family socialized me?
• How has high school socialized me?
Functionalist and Conflict
Perspectives on Socialization
• Refresher information
– Functionalist: each member of a society
contributes to the culture; action > function
• Manifest (intended), latent (unintended), and
dysfunction (negative)
– Conflict: conflict, competition, change, and
constraint - all about power
– Symbolic interactionalism: interactions between
people are mutually understood due to symbols
Functionalist explains
socialization
• Groups work together to create a
stable society
• Schools & families teach norms,
beliefs, and values
• Without socialization, societies would
be fragmented and chaotic
Conflict explains
socialization
• Socialization continues the status quo
• People learn to accept their social
status before they have enough selfawareness to realize what is happening
• Socialization maintains the social,
political, and economic advantages of
the higher social classes
Socialization and Mass Media
Theoretical View of
Perspective Socialization
Function.
Contributes to a
stable society
Conflict
A way for the
powerful to stay
powerful
Symbolic
Interaction.
Major determinant
of human nature
How the Media
Influences Socialization
TV encourages social
interaction - shared
beliefs, norms, values
News exercises power
by setting the political
agenda
Children’s books expose
the young to the
meanings of values
Symbolic Interactionism
explains socialization “Self Concept”
• Definition: an image of yourself as having an
identity separate from other people
• Leads to “Looking-glass self”
Symbolic Interactionism explains
socialization - “Looking-glass Self”
• Definition: an image of yourself based on what
you believe others think of you
• It’s an unconscious process
– Imagine appearance to others
– Imagine the reaction of others to the (imagined)
appearance
– Evaluate according to how (imagined) others judge
• It may be distorted
• Some people are used as mirrors more than
others - “significant others”
Symbolic Interactionism
explains socialization “Significant Others”
• Definition: people whose reactions are
most important to your self-concept
• Often includes parents, grandparents,
teachers, friends
• As people age peers can become more
significant than previously
Symbolic Interactionism explains
socialization - “Role Taking”
• Definition: assuming the viewpoint of
another person and using that viewpoint to
shape the self-concept
• Everyone “talks” to themselves - we think
something and respond internally
• We also imagine the thoughts, emotions, and
behavior of others - anticipate what others
will say or do
• Three stage process
Role Taking Process
• Imitation stage
– Starts at age 1 1/2 - 2 years-old
– Imitate behaviors without understanding - don’t attribute
meaning to the behaviors or the implications of those
behaviors (i.e. a baby clapping)
• Play stage
– Starts at age 3 or 4 years-old
– Act in ways imagined others would - see themselves as
separate from others - see how to best interact with
others (i.e. little boy being Superman)
• Game stage
– Starts around age 5 and never really ends
– Children anticipate the actions of others based on social consider roles of several people simultaneously
What is the self? -two parts• “Me” - created through socialization
– Predictability
– Conformity
• “I” - spontaneous, unpredictable, creative
– Where your initial reaction to a situation comes
from
– Often overruled by the “me” part
*THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS FREUD’S CONCEPTS OF
THE ID & THE SUPEREGO*
So much of life is about
rules
• Be honest - if not for rules and
expectations, would you dress yourself
differently?
What Rules Should
There Be?
• With a partner create a list of rules that
would exist if you controlled society
• Categories (min. two rules each)
–
–
–
–
School
Home
Political
Work
Ch. 4: Socialization
Section 3: Agents of Socialization
The Family and
Socialization
• A child’s first exposure of socialization
occurs within the family
– Think and speak
– Internalize norms, beliefs, and values
– Capacity for relationships
• Shapes how we think of ourselves
Socialization in Schools
• For the first time, a child’s relationships
with other people are impersonal
• Rewards and punishments are based on
performance instead of affection
• Children are taught to be less dependent
emotionally on their parents
• School creates feelings of loyalty and
allegiance outside of the family
How do schools socialize
students?
• Hidden curriculum: informal/unofficial
aspects of culture that children are taught in
preparation for life - teaches discipline,
order, cooperation, and conformity
• Experience time in the real world: schools
are run by the clock, like the working world
• Separated from the adult world - students
must depend on one another for their social
life
Peer Group
Socialization
• Peer group: set of individuals of
roughly the same age and interests
• Only agency of socialization that is not
controlled primarily by adults
How do peer groups
contribute to socialization?
• Give-and-take relationships
• Experience conflict, competition, and
cooperation
• Self-direction
– Make their own decisions
– Experiment with new ways of thinking, feeling, and
behaving
– Engage in activities that involve self-expression
– Social flexibility
Do friends or family
have more influence on
young people?
• Your thoughts?
• Class discussion.
The Mass Media and
Socialization
• Mass Media: means of communication
designed to reach the general population
• Includes:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Television
Radio
Newspapers
Magazines
Movies
Books
The Internet
Music
What role does mass media
play in socialization?
•
•
•
•
Role models for children to imitate
The ways and values of society
Behaviors of individuals and groups
Images of achievement, success,
activity, works, equality, and
democracy
What about violence in
mass media?
• By the age 16, the average American child
will have seen 20,000 homicides on
television
• In the past, social scientist have been
reluctant to recognize a casual connection
between TV violence and real-life violence
• More recently studies are showing that
watching aggressive behavior on TV
significantly increases aggression
Gender socialization
– the expectations of behavior and
attitude that a society considers
proper for males and females
Fictional Tales and Gender
From Aesop’s Fables to the Brothers Grimm, folktales symbolize the
innocence of childhood. But a closer analysis shows how these folktales
shape how children perceive gender. Most folktales follow a typical
pattern in which a dependent woman relies exclusively on a strong man to
save her from harm. Think about the Disney Princess stories before Tiana
in The Princess and the Frog. Princesses like Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel
need to be rescued by the Prince and then they lived “happily ever
after.” Recent Princesses like Tatiana and Merida from Brave are breaking
the pattern. TV is also starting to change but these stereotypes do still
exist. Television programs like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives
feature female characters who reinforce generalizations about gender
roles. That said, there are a number of stereotype-breaking characters
like those feature on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost. Even in the
Harry Potter series, Hermione Granger, Harry’s sidekick, is a secondary
character and yet she is always saving the day. Real life does not work as
it does in fiction. Not all men can be heroes and passivity and dependency
rarely bring women success in the modern world.
Homework assignment:
Think about movies and TV shows you’ve
seen or a book you’ve read recently.
What gender stereotypes, if any, are
depicted? Does the work defy any
traditional gender stereotypes? Write a
paragraph analyzing the work you
chose. Be prepared to share your
paragraph in class.