Sociology in Modules Chapter 4

1. Socialization and
the Life Course 4
3rd edition
Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Sociology in Modules
Richard T. Schaefer

2. Slide 2 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
The Role of Socialization
• Socialization: lifelong process in which
people learn appropriate attitudes, values,
and behaviors
• Personality: person’s typical patterns of
attitudes, needs, characteristics, and
behavior

3. Slide 3 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Social Environment:
The Impact of Isolation
• Interaction of heredity and environment
shape human development
• Extreme Isolation: Isabelle
• Extreme Neglect: Romanian Orphans
• Primate Studies
– Social attachments develop from need for
warmth, comfort, intimacy

4. Slide 4 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
The Influence of Heredity
• Minnesota twin family study
– Twins have similar intelligence test scores
when reared apart in roughly similar social
settings
– Different scores when reared
in different social settings

5. Slide 5 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
The Self and Socialization
through the Life Course
• View of ourselves comes from
contemplation of personal qualities and
impressions of how others perceive us
– Self: distinct identity that sets us apart
from others
• Not a static phenomenon
– Interest in how individual develops and
modifies sense of self as a result of social
interaction

6. Slide 6 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Sociological Approaches
to the Self
• Cooley: Looking-Glass Self
– View of ourselves comes from
contemplation of personal qualities
and impressions of how others perceive us
– Looking-glass self: the self is product
of social interactions with other people

7. Slide 7 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Sociological Approaches
to the Self
• Mead: Stages of the Self
– Preparatory stage: children imitate people
around them
• As they grow older, become more adept at using
symbols
– Play stage: children develop skill in
communicating through symbols, and role
taking occurs

8. Slide 8 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Sociological Approaches
to the Self
• Mead: Stages of the Self (continued)
– Game stage: children of about 8 or 9
consider several actual tasks and
relationships simultaneously
– Generalized other: attitudes, viewpoints, and
expectations of society as a whole that a
child takes into account in his or her behavior

9. Slide 9 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Table 14-1: Mead’s Stages of the Self

10. Slide 10 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Sociological Approaches
to the Self
• Mead: Theory of the Self
– Self begins as privileged, central
position in a person’s world
– As the person matures, the self
changes and begins to reflect
greater concern about reactions of others
– Significant others: individuals most
important in the development of the self

11. Slide 11 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Sociological Approaches
to the Self
• Goffman: Presentation of the Self
– Impression management: individual learns
to slant presentation of self to create
distinctive appearances and satisfy particular
audiences
• Also known as dramaturgical approach
– Face-work: need to maintain proper
image of self to continue social interaction

12. Slide 12 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Psychological Approaches
to the Self
• Freud
– Self is a social product
– Natural impulsive instincts in constant conflict
with societal constraints
– Personality influenced by others (especially
one’s parents)
– Self has components that work in opposition
to each other

13. Slide 13 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Psychological Approaches
to the Self
• Piaget
– Emphasized stages through which
human beings progress as the self develops
– Cognitive theory of development:
four stages in development
of children’s thought processes
• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete operational
• Formal operational

14. Slide 14 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Table 14-2: Theoretical Approaches to
Development of the Self

15. Slide 15 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Socialization throughout the
Life Course
• Rites of passage: means of dramatizing
and validating changes in status
• Life course approach: looking closely
at social factors that influence people
throughout their lives
– Terms youthhood, emerging adulthood, and
not quite adult coined to describe the
prolonged ambiguous status that young
people in their 20s experience

16. Slide 16 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Anticipatory Socialization
and Resocialization
• Anticipatory socialization: person
“rehearses” future occupations and social
relationships
• Resocialization: discarding former
behavior patterns and accepting new ones
during transitions in one’s life

17. Slide 17 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
• Total institution: regulates all aspects of
a person’s life under a single authority
• Degradation ceremony: ritual in which
individual becomes secondary and
rather invisible in overbearing social
environment
Anticipatory Socialization
and Resocialization

18. Slide 18 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Agents of Socialization
• Continuing and lifelong socialization
process involves many different social
forces
• Family
– Gender roles: expectations
regarding proper behavior, attitudes,
and activities of males and females

19. Slide 19 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Agents of Socialization
• School
– Teaches values and customs of larger society
– Can also reinforce divisive aspects of society

20. Slide 20 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Agents of Socialization
• Peer Group
– As children grow older, peer groups
increasingly assume role of Mead’s significant
others
– Gender differences are noteworthy among
adolescents

21. Slide 21 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Table 15-1: High School Popularity

22. Slide 22 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Agents of Socialization
• Mass Media and Technology
– Media innovations are important agents of
socialization
– Concerns about teen use of Internet;
however, use of technology not always
negative
– New communication technologies in
developing countries

23. Slide 23 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Agents of Socialization
• Workplace
– Learning to behave appropriately within
occupational setting is a fundamental
aspect of human socialization
• Religion and State
– Government and organized religion impact life
course by reinstituting some rites of passage

24. Slide 24 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Social Policy and Socialization:
Child Care around the World
• Looking at the Issue
– In the U.S., 73% of employed mothers
depend on others to care for their children
– 30% of mothers who aren’t employed
have regular care arrangements
– Researchers found high quality child-care
centers do not adversely affect socialization of
children
• Few can afford to have a parent stay at home

25. Slide 25 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Social Policy and Socialization:
Child Care around the World
• Applying Sociology
– Interactionists favor studies assessing quality
of child care outside of home; micro level of
analysis
– High-quality day care not equally available to
all families
• Conflict perspective notes child care
costs are burden for lower-class families
• Feminist perspective questions low
status and wages of day care workers

26. Slide 26 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Social Policy and Socialization:
Child Care around the World
• Initiating Policy
– Policies vary throughout the world
– When policymakers decide child care is
desirable, must determine degree to which
taxpayers subsidize it

27. Slide 27 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
14-1: Impression Management by
Students
– How do you react to those who
have received higher or lower grades
than you? Do you engage in
impression management?
How would you like others to react
to your grade?
– What social norms govern students’
impression management strategies?
Sociology on Campus

28. Slide 28 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
15-1: Rum Springa:
Raising Children Amish Style
– Do you or anyone you know come
from a subculture that rejects mainstream
American culture? If so, describe the
community’s norms and values. How do they
resemble and how do they differ from Amish
norms and values?
– Why do you think so many Amish
youths return to their families’ way
of life after rebelling against it?
Research Today

29. Slide 29 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
15-2: Unplugging the Media:
What Happens?
– Could you go without media for a day?
Get together with a group of friends or
classmates and try going media-free for
24 hours; then share your reactions.
– How well did students in the United
States react to a media-free day
compared to those in other countries?
What might explain the differences?
Sociology on Campus

30. Slide 30 Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Rakefet Avramovitz,
Program Administrator, Child Care Law
Center
– What might be some of the broad,
long-term effects of the center’s work
to expand child care options? Explain.
– Besides the law, what other professions
might benefit from the skills a sociology
major has to offer?
Taking Sociology to Work