PowerPoint Presentation
prepared by
Terri Petkau, Mohawk College
CHAPTER THREE
Socialization
William Shaffir
Michael Rosenberg
INTRODUCTION
• Will examine:
 Process of socialization
 Theoretical explanations for
development of the self
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
 Gender socialization
 Socialization through the life course
 Agents of socialization
 Resocialization*
3-3
SOCIALIZATION
• Socialization: Active process whereby
human beings 
 Learn how to become members of
society
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
 Develop a self or sense of individual
identity, and
 Learn to participate in social
relationships with others*
3-4
SOCIALIZATION: TWO TYPES
1. Primary socialization:
•
Occurs in childhood
•
Lays foundation that influences selfconcept and involvement in social life
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2. Secondary socialization:
•
Learning that occurs after people have
undergone primary socialization
•
Continues throughout life*
3-5
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
DEBATE
• Longstanding debate over whether human
behaviour is outcome of biological
inheritance (nature/instincts) or the social
environment (nurture)
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• Sociology emphasizes importance of
society and socialization (nurture) in
human behaviour*
3-6
EVIDENCE FOR NURTURE
• Studies of children raised in isolation:
Demonstrate importance of social
interaction in socialization process
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• Study on infants in orphanage and infants
in prison nursery: Demonstrates
importance of social contact in
development of human infants
• Socialization essential to physical
wellbeing, social competence of infants,
and development of self*
3-7
THE SELF AND
SOCIALIZATION
• Socialization involves not only learning about
others but developing sense of self
• The self:
 Is our sense of individual identity
 Allows us to understand ourselves
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 Allows us to differentiate ourselves from others
• Newborn unable to differentiate itself from
mother
 Differentiation occurs gradually through
interaction*
3-8
COOLEY’S LOOKING-GLASS
SELF
•



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•
Gestures and reactions of others are a mirror or
“looking glass” in which we see ourselves:
Attention is paid to others’ gestures and reactions
to us
We imagine how our appearance, manners, and
presentation of self are regarded by others
Our evaluation of how we believe ourselves
judged by others influences how we view our self
(e.g., with pride, embarrassment, etc.)
Our first images of self come from significant
others (e.g., parents) and the primary group (e.g.,
the family)*
3-9
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
• Theorized relationship between mind, self, and
society
• Key to process: Ability to communicate
symbolically through gestures, objects, or sounds
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• Through interaction with others, children learn to
take the role of the other and internalize values,
attitudes, and beliefs of society to which they
belong
• Process is central to developing sense of self…*
3-10
MEAD’S STAGES IN TAKING
THE ROLE OF THE OTHER
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1.
Imitative stage: Inability to take role of the other;
much of behaviour is imitative make-believe
2.
Play stage: Ability to adopt roles of significant
others (e.g., parents, storybook hero); play
shifts from imitative to imaginative
3.
Game stage: Ability to develop generalized
impression of behaviour people expect and
sense of one’s place in the group
Internalize the generalized other: Conception of
how people in general will respond in situation*

3-11
MEAD: THE “ME” AND THE “I”
• The “me”: Objective element of the self
 We first imagine ourselves from perspective of
others
 Makes us aware of ourselves as social objects
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• The “I”: Subjective or active part of the self
 Allows us to react to and assess ourselves
 Leads us to engage in internal conversation
• Our experience involves continuous
conversation between the “me” and the “I”*
3-12
WILLIS’S APPLICATION AND
EXTENSION OF MEAD’S THEORY
• Recognizes that socialization implies both
conformity and creativity
 Individual must deal with constraints and take
advantage of opportunities
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• Argues teens and young adults still engaged in
developing identity and sense of self:
 Example: E-mail user names invented by students
 Attempts at controlling how others respond to
user*
3-13
GENDER SOCIALIZATION
• Sex: Biological identity; i.e., male or female
• Gender: Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours
we associate with masculinity and
femininity
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• Gender socialization: Learning cultural
expectations of masculinity and femininity
• Children initially socialized into gender roles
by significant others (e.g., parents)
• Gender roles: Reinforced by mass media
and other institutions*
3-14
SOCIALIZATION THROUGH THE
LIFE COURSE
• Adolescent socialization  Adolescence:
Modern stage of life between childhood and
adulthood
 Product of industrialization and mass education
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
• Requires balance be found between autonomy
and conformity, and freedom and constraint
 Need for managing tension between parents’
expectations of maturity while simultaneously
being treated as a child
• Also involves anticipatory socialization:
Aspirants to particular social roles imagine what
it would be like to enact those roles*
3-15
ADULT SOCIALIZATION
• Adult socialization: Process by which
adults take on new statuses and acquire
new and different social identities
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• Can occur in new situations at work (e.g.,
new job) or in private life (e.g., new
married/divorced status)
• Involves more freedom of choice than
adolescent socialization (e.g., whether to
marry, have children; which career to
pursue, etc.)*
3-16
SOCIALIZATION AMONG
SENIORS
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• Challenges of later years of life:
 Decreased physical ability and prospect of death
in midst of Western society’s denial of death
 Negative media stereotypes of aging and seniors
 Lowered prestige through loss of useful roles and
valued statuses (e.g., worker and spouse)
• Challenges create status and identity problems
 Exacerbated by society’s lack of preparation and
guidance for new roles (e.g., retirement,
widowhood)*
3-17
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
• Agents of socialization: Individuals,
groups, and institutions that impart range
of information needed for individuals to
interact effectively and participate in
society
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
• Include families, schools, peer groups,
mass media, religious institutions, etc.
• Provide both formal and informal
“training”*
3-18
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:
FAMILIES
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
• Through close interaction with parents and
small number of others, child:
 Learns to think and speak
 Internalizes norms, beliefs, and values
 Learns gender roles
 Develops capacity for intimate and
personal relationships
 Begins to develop a self image…*
3-19
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:
FAMILIES
Copyright © 2011 by Nelson Education Ltd
• Socialization affected by:
 Social class of parents
 Parenting style
 Preparedness of parents for parenting
role
 Psychological health of parents (e.g.,
neglect, abuse, or abandonment of child)
 Family type (e.g., single parent family,
blended family)*
3-20
TOP TWELVE CONCERNS
OF CANADIANS
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3-21
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:
SCHOOLS
• Teach children indirectly to be less
emotionally dependent
• Adjust children to their social order
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• Build character through formal curriculum
and “hidden curriculum”: Informal teaching
that helps ensure students’ integration into
society
• Reinforce gender roles*
3-22
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:
PEER GROUPS
• Peer group: Individuals usually of same
age who enjoy approximately equal
status
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• In childhood, formed largely by accident
of association
 Later in life, tend to choose peer groups
based on certain criteria
• Only agent of socialization in childhood
and youth not controlled mainly by
adults…*
3-23
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:
PEER GROUPS
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• Allow children and young people:
 Opportunities to engage in experiences
not provided in family, including
examining feelings, beliefs and ideas not
acceptable to family
 Opportunities for self-direction and selfexpression
• Can strongly shape individual’s
aspirations and behaviours through
stringent demands for conformity*
3-24
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION:
THE MASS MEDIA
• Create, manage, and control impressions of what is
deemed important and real
• May inadvertently perpetuate stereotypes
• May teach individuals to become obedient
consumers
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• Exert powerful socializing influence but effects
difficult to measure
 Most effects impersonal and transmitted in one
direction
 Research on effects of violence in mass media
debated*
3-25
OTHER SOCIALIZING
AGENTS
• Religious institutions: May have effect on moral
outlook
• Athletic teams: May teach young people about
cooperation, competition, following rules, and
establishing friendships
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• Youth groups: May be instrumental in teaching
about group rules and expectations about
conformity and deviance
 Conflict both among and within agencies of
socialization inevitable in complex societies*
3-26
IDENTITY AND SOCIAL
CHANGE
• Social circumstances of life powerfully
influence identity
• Today more autonomy but less sense of
purpose and fewer enduring social ties
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• Difficulty in establishing stable and
coherent identity
• Voluntary and sometimes forcible shifting
in identity (e.g. cult member, lifethreatening illness, imprisonment)*
3-27
RESOCIALIZATION
• Resocialization: Deliberate attempt to
correct or instill particular values and
behaviours in individual or group
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• Occurs in total institutions:
 Settings in which people are isolated from
rest of society for set period
 Where all aspects of person’s life are
regulated under one authority
Examples: The military, convents, prisons,
boarding schools, psychiatric hospitals*
3-28
GOFFMAN:
RESOCIALIZATION
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• Total institution resocializes inmate into new identity
by:
 Completely controlling and manipulating
environment
 Stripping away established identity
 Subjecting inmate to mortification rituals
(e.g., humiliations, degradations, physical pain)
 Reconstituting inmate’s sense of self by imposing
new identity and new way of life
• Process likened to symbolic ritual death and
rebirth**
3-29