What Is Socialization?
• Socialization is the
process by which a society
transmits its cultural
values to its members, and
the way in which
individuals internalize the
values, beliefs, and norms
of a given society and
learn to function as a
member of that society.
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Limits of Socialization
• However, socialization cannot explain
everything about a person’s development and
personality.
– Biology is also a very important component.
– It is a combination of biology and social
interactions that makes us who we are.
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Important Concepts in Socialization
• Anticipatory Socialization (rehearsals for
adult life).
• Play and roleplaying
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How does a small child playing peekaboo demonstrate the social process of creating the self?
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Norms and Values
• Values are moral beliefs.
• Norms are how values tell us to act.
• Socialization is the process by which a
person internalizes the values, beliefs, and
norms of society and learns to function as a
member of that society.
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Agents of Socialization
• Families, school, peers, the media, and total
institutions are all important socializing agents or
environments.
• A total institution is an institution in which one is
totally immersed that controls all the basics of
day-to-day life.
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Statuses and Roles
• A status is a position in society that comes
with a set of expectations.
– An ascribed status is one we are born with that
is unlikely to change.
– An achieved status is one we have earned
through individual effort or that is imposed by
others.
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Statuses and Roles
• One’s master status is a status that seems
to override all others and affects all other
statuses that one possesses.
• Roles are the behaviors expected from a
particular status.
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Statuses and Roles
• Role conflict occurs when the roles associated
with one status clash with the roles associated
with a different status.
• Role strain occurs when roles associated with a
single status clash.
• Either of these may lead to role exit.
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The Culture/Socialization
Connection
• Socialization is the process by which a
society transmits its cultural values to its
members, and the way in which individuals
internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of
a given society and learn to function as a
member of that society.
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The Culture/Socialization Connection
Contd.
• Example: Facebook
• Facebook is an artifact of our culture, and
has specific norms associated with it.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROYzrm
5SBM
• How do we know proper Facebook
etiquette? We learn through socialization.
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The Culture/Socialization Connection
Contd.
• Example: Going to the movies
• Going to the movies is an artifact of our
culture, and has specific norms associated
with it.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhFbVQ
xGqbU
• How do we know proper movie manners?
We learn through socialization.
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The Culture/Socialization Connection
Contd.
• School is an agent of socialization, but is
also specific to the culture in which it is
found, therefore transmitting norms and
values specific to that culture. This is
sometimes called the Hidden Curriculum.
• What are some parts of the hidden
curriculum, here in California?
• Do you think school socialization might be
different in other cultures?
• Ex. Malawi: attachment and sharing
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The Culture/Socialization Connection
Contd.
• Socialization may be thought of as the
mechanism by which we learn our culture.
• Socialization and culture are inextricably
linked. One cannot operate without the
other.
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Charles Horton Cooley
• Theorized that the “self”
emerges from our ability to
assume the point of view of
others and imagine how those
others see us.
• “Each to each a looking glass,
reflects the other that doth
pass.”
• We imagine how we appear to others.
• We interpret their reactions.
• We develop a self concept.
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George Herbert Mead
• Mead developed a theory about how the social
self develops over the course of childhood.
• Infants know only the “I,” but through social
interaction they learn about “me” and the
“other.”
• They develop a concept of the “generalized
other,” which allows them to apply norms and
behaviors learned in specific situations to new
situations.
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George Herbert Mead: Taking the Role of
the Other
• Similar to Cooley’s theory, with the addition
of “taking the role of the other.”
• Steps:
– We put ourselves in the role of the other.
– We try to understand how they feel and think.
– This helps us anticipate how they will act.
– We then modify our own behavior accordingly.
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Figure 4.1: Mead’s Stages of Social Development
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Resocialization
• Whenever we step into a new situation with
new norms and values, and where we will
have new roles, we go through the process
of resocialization.
• Examples: travel, new job, becoming a
parent
• For quiz: know Spencer Cahill,
resocialization for funeral directors (creating
a new relationship to death)
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Total Institutions
• Particularly intense and forceful resocialization often
occurs in total institutions.
• Total institutions are physical settings where groups of
individuals are separated from the broader society.
• Examples?
• In total institutions, previous socialization is systematically
destroyed, and new ones developed to enhance their
ability to function in their new environment.
• Stripped of old identities and markers, and forced to take
new ones that are without individuality.
• Conformity is mandatory.
• Purpose?
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Marines training at Parris Island. How is Marine boot camp an example of a total institution?
You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, 3rd Edition Copyright ©2013 W.W. Norton, Inc.
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Theories of Socialization
• Functionalism: What function does socialization
serve in society? It helps maintain the social order
by instilling cultural norms and values.
• Conflict Theory: Socialization is a process in which
individuals are assigned to different, unequal, and
competing groups. Socialization plays a key role in
maintaining the dominance of the powerful.
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