1.This module is about socialization. What do you believe were the most powerful socializing agents in your life? Which theory on socialization most matches your perspective? Do you believe brainwas

SOC 101 Ch. 4 Socialization

Socialization- the process of learning the roles, statuses, and values necessary for participation in social institutions.
1. Internalization occurs when behaviors and assumptions are learned so thoroughly that people no longer question them, but simply accept them as correct.
2. Freud- Id, ego, superego
  1. psychoanalytic theory places great importance on the internal unconscious processes of the human mind.
3. Social learning theory- considers the formation of identity to be a learned response to external social stimuli.
4. Structural Functionalism- Socialization benefits everyone and society.
5. Conflict theory- Socialization benefits those in power.
6. Symbolic Interaction theory-individuals construct self-concept within limits imposed by social structures and social relationships.
  1. Looking glass self (Charles Horton Cooley)- is the process of learning to view ourselves as we think others view us.
    1. We imagine how we appear to others
    2. We imagine how others judge us based on those appearances
    3. We ponder, internalize or reject those judgments
  2. Role taking (George Herbert Mead) – is the process of putting oneself into the point of view of another.
    1. Imitation stage- children merely copy the behavior of those around them.
    2. Play stage - children begin to take on the roles of significant people in their environment, not just imitating but incorporating their relationship to the other.
    3. Game stage- children begin to comprehend the system of social relationships in which they are located. The children not only see themselves from the perspective of a significant other, but also understand how people are related to each other and how others are related to them. Internalization takes place.
  3. Generalized other – the abstract composite of social roles and social expectations.
    1. example of community values and general social expectations that adds to their understanding of self.
    2. Different for everyone depending on class, ethnicity, gender etc.
Social Interaction
1. Status-a recognizable social position that an individual occupies
  1. Status set
  2. Ascribed status
  3. Achieved status
  4. Master status
2. Role- the duties and behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status
  1. Role strain- the incompatibility among roles corresponding to a single status
  2. Role conflict-the tension caused by competing demands between 2 or more roles pertaining to different statuses.
Social Control- the process by which groups and individuals within those groups are brought into conformity with dominant social expectations.
1. Agents of Socialization
  1. Family
  2. Peers
  3. Schools
  4. Mass media
  5. Religion
Socialization through the life course
1. Primary Socialization
2. Anticipatory Socialization
3. Professional Socialization
4. Resocialization
  1. Total institutions
5. Ageism- institutionalized practice of age prejudice and discrimination.
  1. Age stratification
    1. Disengagement theory, drawn from functionalism, predicts that as people age, they gradually withdraw from participation
    2. Competition over scarce jobs (conflict)
    3. Values and meanings assigned to different age groups
Social Construction of reality
1. Dramaturgical theory- the view of social life as a theatrical performance where we are actors on a stage with roles, scripts, costumes and sets.
2. Face- the esteem in which an individual is held by others
3. Ethnomethodology –(Harold Garfinkel)