The Family as a Primary Agent
of Socialization
LEARNING GOALS:
D E F I N I T I O N O F F A M I L Y
F U N C T I O N S O F T H E F A M I L Y
T Y P E S O F F A M I L I E S
C A S E S T U D I E S : W H A T H A P P E N S T O A P E R S O N
WHEN THE FAMILY DOES NOT SOCIALIZE
THEIR CHILDREN PROPERLY?
Genie
Harlow’s Monkey Experiment
2 Year Old Goes to the Hospital Experiment
Agents of Socialization
 Design a chart to record which “Agent” of Socialization is
responsible for teaching children the following behaviours or
ideas:
- Values
- Language
- Dating Practices
- Ethics
- Taste in Music
- Self Esteem
- Religion
- Sexuality
- Swearing
- Sex rules
- Prejudice
- Consideration
- Citizenship - Ethnic Identity
- Fashion Sense
- History
- Grammar
- Math
- Standard of Living Expectations - Educational Expectations
- Leisure Time Activities
- Manners
- Political Ideas
- Consideration
- What you like to eat
Analysis
 Do some behaviours have to be classified under more
than one heading? Which Ones? Why?
 Compare your classifications with your classmates.
Where do you disagree?
 Review your chart, what is the most important agent
of socialization.
Define Family
 What do you think the definition of “family” should
be?
Definitions of Family:
 Emily Nett (Canadian Sociologist): a family is “any group of people
considered to be related by blood or marriage.”
 Statistics Canada: The family is “a unit consisting of a married couple living
with or without never-married children, or a single parent living with nevermarried children.”
 The Vanier Institute of the Family (2011):
“Any combination of two or more persons who are bound together over time
by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or adoption or placement and who,
together, assume responsibilities for variant combinations of some of the
following:






Physical maintenance and care of group members
Addition of new members through procreation or adoption
Socialization of children
Social control of members
Production, consumption, distribution of goods and services, and
Affective nurturance — love.”
Evolving Legal Definition of Family
 Canadian legislation has extended the legal definition of
family from the original concept (based on heterosexual
marriage and biological links to children) to include:



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Step parents
Unwed fathers
Co-habitation
Unmarried and married homosexual partners
 Why is this significant?

These groups now have the same rights and responsibilities that
heterosexual couples (original definition) have – i.e. health benefits,
child custody, assets etc.
6 Universal Functions of the Family:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Addition of new members through reproduction
Provide physical care for their members
Socialize children by teaching them skills, knowledge, values
and attitudes of their society.
Controlling the behaviour of their families to maintain order in
society.
Motivate individuals to participate in society
Perform the economic function of producing and consuming
goods and services.
Types of Families:

Nuclear Family: a family structure in which the husband and wife live with their
children

Blended or Reconstituted Family: a family structure created when divorced partners
with children marry

Extended Family: a family consisting of all relatives (parents, children, grandparents,
aunts and uncles, cousins etc.) living under the same roof

Common-law Family: a family in which partners live together with or without children
but are not legally married.

Childless Family: a family in which partners are married but have no children.

Single-Parent Family: a family consisting of one parent (mother or father) and his/her
children.

Transitional family, in which the mother/father temporality leaves the work force to
look after the young children.

Dual-income family, in which both spouses work full-time, have emerged.
Case Studies:
 Feral Children - The Case of Genie - Mocking bird
Don’t Sing (movie)
 Harlow’s Monkey Experiment
 2 Year Old Goes to the Hospital
So…what happens when the
process of Socialization is absent or
abnormal in childhood?
• GENIE – WILD CHILD – FERAL AND
ISOLATED CHILDREN
• MODERN EXAMPLES OF ISOLATED
CHILDREN
• ATTACHMENT THEORY – HARLOW’S
MONKEY EXPERIMENT & A TWO YEAR
OLD GOES TO THE HOSPITAL
Feral Children
 A feral child is a human child who has lived away from
human contact from a very young age, and has little or no
experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and,
crucially, of human language. Feral children are confined
by humans (often parents), brought up by animals, or
live in the wild in isolation.
 Oxana Malaya (born November 1983) was found as an 8-
year-old feral child in Ukraine in 1991, having lived most
of her life in the company of dogs.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyqbnDjId7g
Feral/Isolated Children - The Case of Genie
 Genie was a feral child who spent nearly all of the first
thirteen years of her life locked inside a room. She was
discovered by authorities on November 4, 1970. Genie is the
fourth (and second surviving) child of unstable parents, Irene
and Clark. An elder brother also lived in the home.
 Psychologist, linguists and other scientists exhibited great
interest in the case due to its perceived ability to reveal
insights into the development of language and linguistic
critical periods.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thIDCL3NClQ&feature=r
elated
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWzO8DtRds&feature=related
Current Examples of Isolated Children –
abuse and neglect of parents
TORTURED BY HIS OWN FAMILY: THE SIX-YEAROLD CHAINED IN A CLOSET
 http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Tortured-By-His-
Own-Family-The-Six-Year-Old-Chained-in-a-Closet
A Two Year
Old Goes to
the Hospital
A film showing the
suffering of a little
girl in hospital
separated from her
mother
 If going to hospital means losing the care of the mother, the young child
will fret for her -- no matter how kind the doctors, nurses, and play ladies.
This film classic, made in 1952, drew attention to the plight of young
patients at a time when visiting by parents was severely restricted.
 Laura, aged 2, is in hospital for 8 days to have a minor operation. She is
too young to understand her mother's absence. Because her mother is not
there and the nurses change frequently, she has to face the fears, frights
and hurts with no familiar person to cling to. She is extremely upset and
becomes quiet. But at the end of her stay she is withdrawn from her
mother, shaken in her trust.
 In recent years there have been great changes in children's wards, partly
brought about by this film. But many young children still go to hospital
without the mother, and despite the play ladies and volunteers the depth
of their distress and the risks to later mental health remain an
insufficiently recognized problem.
Harry F. Harlow,
Monkey Love Experiments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrNBEhzjg8I&feature=related
Harlow’s Monkey Experiments
 In a well-known series of experiments conducted between 1957 and 1963,
researcher Harry Harlow removed baby rhesus monkeys from their
mothers, and offered them a choice between two surrogate mothers, one
made of terrycloth, the other of wire.
 In Harlow's classic experiment, two groups of baby rhesus monkeys were
removed from their mothers. In the first group, a terrycloth mother
provided no food, while a wire mother did, in the form of an attached baby
bottle containing milk. In the second group, a terrycloth mother provided
food; the wire mother did not. It was found that the young monkeys clung
to the terrycloth mother whether or not it provided them with food, and
that the young monkeys chose the wire surrogate only when it provided
food.
 Whenever a frightening stimulus was brought into the cage, the monkeys
ran to the cloth mother for protection and comfort, no matter which
mother provided them with food.
 How do Harlow’s experiment and the case of ‘A 2-
Year Old Goes to the Hospital” help us to
understand the importance of socialization?
 Nurturing
love and attachment is important from
birth
 We all have a need for love, belonging and safety
 The family’s role in primary socialization is
extremely important in the individuals future
development.
Attachment Theory – (John Bowlby):
• Attachment is an emotional bond to another
person.
• It is a "lasting psychological connectedness
between human beings"
• Earliest bonds formed by children with their
parents/family/caregivers have a tremendous
impact that continues throughout life.
• Attachment also serves to keep the infant close to
the mother, thus improving the child's chances of
survival.
MAKE A LIST OF WHAT YOU VALUE MOST
READ PAGES 380-383 IN TEXTBOOK
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