Chapter 4 - Rita Hamoline PDF

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Chapter 4: Culture and Socialization   What is Culture? o Culture is a complex collection of values, beliefs, behaviours, and material objects shared by a group passed on from one generation to the next  How when and why humans communicate and with whom  Ie) who to date and when to ask them out ...

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Chapter 4: Culture and Socialization

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What is Culture? o Culture is a complex collection of values, beliefs, behaviours, and material objects shared by a group passed on from one generation to the next  How when and why humans communicate and with whom  Ie) who to date and when to ask them out o Five defining features 1) Culture is learned  not born with culture 2) Culture is shared  develops as people interact with one another 3) Culture is transmitted  passed from generation to generation 4) Culture is cumulative  build upon from ancestors and changed 5) Culture is human  not in animals as they communicate by instinct Culture divided into two Major Segments: o Material Culture  Tangible artifacts and physical objects found in a given culture o Non-material Culture  Intangible and abstract components of a society, including values and norms o Values: beliefs about ideal goals and behaviors ( good or bad, valuable or not) o Norms: rules that outline appropriate behavior (how to act) o Folkways: informal norms that suggest customary ways of behaving (left side of hallway) o Mores: norms that carry a strong sense of social importance ( cheating on wife) o Laws: norms that are formally defined and enacted in legislation o Sanction: a penalty for norm violation or reward for norm adherence  Getting either an A+ or F- on an exam

2) Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism o Ethnocentrism  The tendency to view one’s own culture as superior to others  Restrictive one to not appreciate cultural diversity o Cultural Relativism  Appreciating that all cultures have intrinsic worth and need to be evaluated and understood on their own terms  Avoid judging other cultures’ customs and traditions before trying to understand them  Culture Shock: alienation, disorientation, or depression when entering a different culture o Being aware of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism helps you become a more informed and critical thinker  Similarities in other customs, but some do not recognize them  Ie) Celebration of weddings  Ie) Treatment of children  “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”

3) Language and Culture o Symbol is something that stands for or represents something else o Language is a shared symbol system of rules and meaning (symbol for communication)

Shared cultural symbols allow us to interact, language is a key identifier of cultural boundaries Does Language Define Thought? o Linguistic determinism Sapir-Whorf hypothesis  language influences how we perceive the world  Language does in fact determine thought (language determinism)  Perceptions of the world are influenced by the limitations of our thought  Language Relativism: language reflects how we see the world  Contemporary research shows little support o Non-verbal communication includes a whole spectrum of body language  Complex system of body language: Facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, proximity  Can be unconscious  Ie) Micro-expressions are largely uncontrollable instantaneous emotional reactions o

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4) Cultural Diversity o

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Subculture  A group within a population whose values, norms, folkways or mores set them apart from the mainstream culture  Often based on race, ethnicity and religion  Ie) Mennonite and Amish communities A Counterculture (inspired by students opposing the Vietnam War)  A type of subculture that strongly opposes the widely held cultural patterns of the larger population  Ie) Hippies, Sons of Freedom, Hells Angels

5) Canadian Culture o

Canadian Values  Belief in equality and fairness in a democratic society  Belief in consultation and dialogue  Importance of accommodation and tolerance  Support for diversity  Compassion and generosity  Attachment to Canada’s natural beauty  Commitment to freedom, peace and non-violent change

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 America: Frontier  Canada: Survival Above highlighted because could be an aspect of the essay writing portion of the final

6) Cultural Change o o

Cultures are constantly changing to adapt to new social and technological changes Three sources inspire cultural change: 1) Discovery  Something previously unrecognized or understood is found to have social or cultural applications (fire and gravity) 2) Invention/innovation  Existing cultural items are manipulated or modified to produce something new and socially valuable (invention= creating something new) 3) Diffusion  Cultural items or practices are transmitted from one group to another (American media)

7) Sociological Approaches to Culture o

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Functionalism  Culture plays a part in helping people to meet needs (water, food, shelter)  Cultural universals (common features within all cultures) (Murdock)  Cultural Adaptation: Environmental pressures are addressed through changes in practices, traditions and behaviors as a way of maintaining stability and equilibrium  Does not take into account sub/counter cultures and negative views like how slavery was once considered “good” Conflict Theory  Views society as based on tension and conflict over scarce resources  Those who hold power define and perpetuate a culture’s ideology  Ie) slavery around as it benefitted rich white people  Residential school  people feeling inferior (Marx) Symbolic Interactionalism  How culture is created and recreated through social interaction  Culture is modified according to the negotiation of reality  Minority status is a social category created by interacting individuals  Culture is the set of symbols to which we collectively assign values  Cant explain large cultural manifestations

8) Nature VS Nurture 

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Two basic approaches to understanding personality development 1) The Biological Approach (Nature)  Our actions stem from our biological roots 2) Environmental Approach (Nurture)  We are the products of our socialization  Social forces and the social environment create human experience

Nurture o Social isolation and Feral Children  Children deprived of human contact have limited intellectual capacities, have no or limited experience with love or human interaction, and do not grasp language o Sociologists believe that social reality is constructed by people every time they interact with others o Socialization is the process by which people learn culture, develop personalities, and become members of society (Berger, 1975)  Process starts at birth and continues throughout life  Most intense period is infancy and early childhood  Our sense of the world and of ourselves is the result of social interaction o Social interaction includes all of the ways that people interact in social settings while recognizing each person’s experiences and intentions o The Self is comprised of a set of learned values and attitudes which develop through social interaction o Self-image is the introspective composition that one has of oneself  Cooley’s looking-glass self  What we think of ourselves is how others see us Symbolic Interactionism and the development of Self o George Herbert Mead  I  self that is spontaneous (impulsive)  Me  controls the “I”, self-reflective, thinks consciously o Significant others those around us from which we want approval  Ie) Parents, friends, etc. o Generalized others  attitudes, view points and expectations of society that are internalized o Role-Taking  process of mentally assuming the perspective of the other Mead’s Development of Self 1) Preparatory Stage o Birth to Age 3  Imitate what others do  Develop mostly “I” with me in the background as well 2) Play Stage o Ages 3-5

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 Developing language and assuming the roles of others  Me develops greater 3) Game Stage o elementary school years  Primary Socialization: Begins in Game Stage (children learn attitudes, values, and behaviors for individuals in their culture)  Secondary Socialization: Occurs in early adolescence and so on by participation in groups that have defined roles and different expectations o Ie) Jobs, Sports teams, clubs, organizations Double Consciousness  Du Bois o Refers to a sense of self that is, in part, defined by others o Du Bois applied this term to African Americans specifically but it can be used in other social realities  Both good and bad

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Agents of Socialization Individuals, groups, and social institutions that work together to help people become functioning members of society o Four Principles Agents of Socialization 1) Family  gender stereotyping, socioeconomic status, cultural capitol 2) Peers  closely related in age and share similar interests 3) Education 4) Mass Media The Family o Families responsible for socialization during formative years o Learn values and attitudes, gender roles, social classes, and ethnic identities o Social Learn Theory  Emphasizes importance of observing and imitation the behaviors of others o Gender Stereotyping  Includes the assignment of beliefs to men and women that are not based on fact  Accomplished through modeling of gender appropriate behavior Peers o Importance of peers increases in adolescence o Teens imitate friends as they receive rewards for likeness o Peers may encourage a teen to pursue activities that society views as admirable  Ie) Volunteer work, participation in school clubs o Peer groups may also encourage a teen to violate norms of society  Ie) Through dress, drug use, crime, etc. Education o

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Individuals spend a great deal of time in educational institutions Learn knowledge and skill but also social roles through interactions with other children and with teachers o Hidden Curriculum  Includes the informal and unwritten rules that reinforce and maintain social conventions  Gender Socialization  Reinforces roles that are appropriate for boys and for girls  Mass Media o Communication produced by few people for consumption of the masses o Provides unconscious and subtle socialization 11) Socialization Across the Life Course  Birth Cohort: people born during a given time experience historical events at same time as others that influence their lives Ie) Great Depression  saving for a rainy day  Life Course: socialization that occurs through ones adult life  Young adults are those who have completed school o Today, many marry later or not at all and have children later in life  Later adulthood occurs between 40 and 60 o Focus on career achievement, children leaving home and preparation for retirement o Experience Empty Nest Syndrome: mothers experience it when child leaves home  Later adulthood and “old” age (age differs dependent upon definition, functional vs chronological)  May entail a loss of identity  Learning of new roles and unlearning of others\ o Means Tested Programs: based on need o Universal plans: provided to everyone  Death and the Final Stage o Gerontology: study of old age and aging o Final stage includes realization of approaching death o Kubler Ross (1969) Death Course 1) Denial shock, and disbelief 2) Anger hostility, and resentment 3) Bargaining  pleading with God 4) Depressionsorrow, guilt and shame 5) Acceptance discussing their feelings openly o According to Kubler-Ross socialization into death is similar to other socialization processes o Dying Trajectories: courses that dying takes in social and psychological senses o Euthanasia: deliberate ending of life of person who has terminal illness o

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12) Resocialization

Process of learning new norms and attitudes Complete transformation of a person’s personality o Usually result of being institutionalized o Total Institutions:  Settings in which people are isolated from society and are supervised  Resocialization occurs: profound change in personality due to change in environment Goffman (1961) Asylums o 5 types of institutions o o

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1. Help people who can’t take care of themselves (homes for the blind, aged, orphaned) 2. Help people who are incapable of taking care of themselves and pose an unintended threat to the community (mental institutions) 3. Protect community from those that would cause harm (prison) 4. Perform instrumental tasks requiring unique work arrangements (army camps, boarding schools) 5. Retreats from the rest of the world (monasteries and convents) 

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Institutions defined by 3 characteristics 1) Administrative staff supervision 2) Every activity controlled and standardized by schedules 3) Formal rules and policies define everything of inmates daily lives Occur in 2 stages 1) Mortifications of the self o First stage of resocialization where identity is stripped away 2) Second Stage o Build up inmates through system of rewards and punishments...