Socialization ▪ The process of installing fundamental elements of culture to a society’s new member is called socialization Socialization ▪ Human child comes into this world with animal needs but molded in society to a social being, that is socialization ▪ Every society prescribes its own way and means of giving social training to new born so that they may develop own personality ▪ Each society shapes its children in the image of its own culture Aspects of socialization 1.The process whereby individuals are made to fit within the social order 2. Learn to live within a group (s) 3. Creates individuals who are part of human community 4.Learn to be competent members of the society in which we are born/live Aspects of socialization (con.) 5. Process whereby an individual internalizes the norms of the group and makes it part of their personality 6. Process whereby a society reproduces itself in a new generation 7.Values and traditions of the past are carried forward and perpetuated Agents of socialization (con.) ▪ Main agents of socialization are: family and parents, peers, school/teacher, mass media, religion, work place etc. ▪ Agents play different roles in children’s lives and have different goals, responsibilities, and impact on their development - Agents may reinforce or contradict in socialization Agents - Family/ Parents ▪ Why family is an important agent? - Introduces children to intimate personal relationship - Give them first experience of being treated as a distinct individual - First reference group for children - Introduces children to group life Agents – Family / Parents (con.) ▪ Parents introduce children to the culture of his/her family/groups ▪ Socialization Is blended with love/punishment ▪ Introduces children to intimate personal relationship ▪ Learning gender roles: Expectation regarding proper behaviour, attitudes, and activities of male and females Agents - Peers ▪ Provides children with first experience of egalitarian relationship ▪ Peer teaches new skills or help to solve problems ▪ Children can be selective in selecting peers ▪ Peers also teach one another taboo ▪ During adolescence influence of peers in great and parental influence declines Agents - School and Teacher ▪ Students are graded for what they do ▪ Children are expected to conform to certain rules and regulations ▪ Teaches culture, values and attitudes prepares them for the roles as adults ▪ Introduces students to impersonal bureaucratic organizations Agents - Mass Media ▪ Gives us their message - develops certain attitudes and ideologies in us ▪ Present days roles of television in the development of personality is great Agents-Work place ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Career plan and special training Rewards and punishments Corporate culture (IoT) Conflict management Negotiation and arbitration Cultural shock Work from home Theories of socialization Major theoretical perspectives of socialization: Looking-Glass self: Charles Horton Cooley Role Taking: George Herbert Mead Presentation of self: Erving Goffman Theories of socialization (con.) ▪ Characteristics of theoretical perspectives: - Not mutually exclusive - Complements each other - The theories together provide a full outline of socialization - Micro level analysis Looking-Glass Self ▪ Some definitions of Self: - The notion that we posses about self unique and distinct identity that we set apart from other things and people - Cluster of ideas that we employ in defining ourselves Looking-Glass Self (con.) ▪ How we develop self? - We acquire our sense of self by: - seeing ourselves reflected in other people’s attitudes, - behaviors toward us, and - by imagining what they think of us Looking-Glass Self (con.) ▪ Three parts of Looking-Glass Self - What we imagine of others see in us - What we imagine about the judgement they make out of what they see in us - How we feel about those judgements Looking-Glass Self Play a role contact Individual Individual thinks Kind of person s/he is; conceptualizes himself; develops self Primary group Development of attitude of group towards individual Consciousness/evaluation of individual about the attitude Feature of Looking-Glass Self ▪ Cooley in his book ‘Human nature and Social Order’ remarked: - I am not what I think I am - I am not what you think I am - I am what I think you think I am Feature (con.) ▪ Self and society are twin-born, we know one as immediately as we know the other ▪ Mixture of observation, imagination, and subjective interpretation ▪ It is also a social construction, involving influences such as values and social class ▪ The mind is social and society is mental George Herbert Mead (1856-1939) ▪ Symbolic interactionist ▪ Self arises as learn to interpret situations by “taking on the role of the other”. ▪ Children learn this in stages: -Preparatory stage: gestures, words, symbol, imitating parents -Play stage: specific roles -Games stage: multiple roles - Mead: Development of Self ▪ Generalized others: attitudes, viewpoints and expectations of society. ▪ Significant others: specialized person and their roles in a group. ▪ Self is an internal conversation between: - “I”: the self as subject. - “Me”: the self as object. - “Generalized other”: society. ▪ Each socialized person is a society in miniature. Goffman: Self theory ▪ Goffman: Dramaturgical approach of developing self ▪ Impression Management: individual learns to slant the presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. Ex: Students behaviours after receiving exam grades. ▪ Dramaturgical approach: society is like a stage and people are acting there. People resemble performers in action. Ex: office Clerk and supervisor. ▪ Face-work: another aspect of self. Goffman: Self theory con. ▪ Face work: need to maintain proper image of self to continue social interaction, Ex: How do we act (!) when we feel embarrassed or rejected in a situation. Ex: Interview: we say ‘It’s my pleasure to meet you sir’ . ▪ Culture and social construction of face work learning: Ex. of Japanese society.
