Soc Notes Ch 4 - Dr. Debjani Chakravarty, \"Introduction to Sociology\" textbook, 11th Edition PDF

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Dr. Debjani Chakravarty, "Introduction to Sociology" textbook, 11th Edition...

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“Intro to Sociology” 11th Edition Ch. 4 - Socialization BASIC CONCEPTS ● Socialization: the social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms/values and achieve a distinct sense of self ○ Significant in childhood, progresses throughout life ○ Social lessons appropriate to maturity level ● Life course: the various transitions and stages people experience throughout life ● Social reproduction: process of perpetuating values, norms, and practices through socialization ○ Leads to structural continuity over time ● Agents of socialization: groups or social contexts within which processes of socialization take place ○ Primary socialization - infancy and childhood, family as main agent ○ Secondary socialization - adolescence and adulthood, school, church, media, etc ● Resocialization: process whereby people learn new rules and norms upon entering a new social environment eg. new country, military, prison, etc. ● Anticipatory socialization: process of learning a new social rule in advance ● Hidden curriculum: behavior or attitudes learned at school but not included in formal curriculum eg. gender differences ● Peer group: friendship group composed of individuals of similar age and social status ● Age-grade: system found in small traditional cultures by which people in similar age groups are categorized together and hold similar rights and obligations ● Mass media: forms of communication such as newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV, designed to reach mass audiences ● Social roles: socially defined expectations of an individual in a given status or social position ● Identity: characteristics of a person’s or group’s character that relate to who they are and what they find meaningful ○ Gender class, sexual orientation, race, nationality, etc. ● Social identity: characteristics attributed to an individual by others ○ Exhibit multiple, sometimes seemingly conflicting social identities ● Master status: single identity/status that overpowers all other identities of a person ○ Race, sex, age, visible body features eg. deformity or obesity ● Self-identity: ongoing process of self development and definition of personal identity; form a unique sense of self and relationship to the world THEORIES

● Cognition: human thought processes involving perception, reasoning, and memory ● George Herbert Mead ○ Social self: basis of self-consciousness in individuals according to Mead’s theory; identity conferred upon an individual by the reactions of others ○ Self-consciousness: awareness of one’s distinct social identity as a person separate from others; acquired through socialization and learning language ○ Generalized other: an understanding of the general values of a given group or society in which one exists ● Charles Horton Cooley ○ Looking-glass self: the reactions we elicit in social situations create a mirror in which we see ourselves ■ Modern revision: we are active agents rather than passive recipients and consciously shape the way others perceive us ● Jean Piaget ○ Stages of cognitive development, acquisition of new skills ○ Sensorimotor stage (0-2): child’s awareness of environment dominated by perception and touch ■ Touching and manipulating objects, exploring environment ○ Preoperational stage (2-7): child has advanced sufficiently to master basic modes of logical thought ■ Language, using words as symbols to represent objects and ideas ○ Concrete operational stage (7-11): child's thinking based primarily on physical perception of the world; not yet capable of abstract thought or understanding hypothetical situations ○ Formal operational stage (11-15): child becomes capable of handling abstract thought and hypotheticals ■ 4th stage not universal in neurotypical adults. Depending on education, adults may retain concrete thought processes and some egocentrism ○ Egocentric: characteristic quality of a child during early years; understanding objects and events in environment solely in terms of one’s own position ● Sigmund Freud ○ Gender identity theory; presence or absence of penis (symbolic of masculinity aka power and femininity aka lack of power) ○ Highly controversial, critiqued as too tied to genital awareness and viewing penis as superior to vagina ● Nancy Chodorow ○ Gender identity theory; infant attachment to mother (most dominant influence in early life)

○ Girls remain close to mother and imitater her. Sense of self continuous with others (mother’s, then husband’s sense of self) fosters compassion ○ Boys reject their mothers and femininity to gain a sense of self, lack of emotional expression, emphasize tangible achievements ○ Theory criticized for narrow view of family and of inner emotions of men and women ● Carol Gilligan ○ Women base achievements on helping others, men base pride in individual achievement GENDER AND RACE SOCIALIZATION ● Race socialization: the specific verbal and nonverbal messages that older generations teach younger generations regarding the meaning and significance of race ○ Colorblindness (race doesn’t affect capability), individual and group pride, distrust of other races ● Gender roles: social roles assigned to each sex and labeled as masculine or feminine ● Gender role socialization: learning of gender roles through social factors eg. school, media, family...