Lesson 4: Becoming a Member of a Society - Socialization

Socialization

• Lifelong process of social interaction through which people acquire their identities and necessary survival skills in society.
• Enables the person to gradually become a self-aware and knowledgeable human being, and learn the ways, values, rules, and culture of their society.
• Greatly influenced by the context of their respective society and the social groups they interact with.

Enculturation

• Process of being socialized into a specific culture.
• Individuals learn cultural symbols, norms, values, and language by observing and interacting with family, friends, and the rest of society.

Identity

• Cultural Identity: one's feeling of identity or affiliation with a group or culture.
• Ethnic Identity: identification with a certain ethnicity, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry.
• National Identity: an ethical and philosophical concept whereby all humans are divided into groups called nations.
• Religious Identity: the set of beliefs and practices generally held by an individual involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals.

Norms and Values

• Norms: rules that guide the behavior of members of a society or group.
• Normative: refers to what we perceive as normal, or what we think should be normal, regardless of whether it actually is.
• Values: culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good, and beautiful and that serve as broad guidelines for social living.
• Social Sanction: the act of abiding by rules, and facing sanctions if we break them.

Status and Roles

• Status: a social position that a person holds, which can be ascribed or achieved.
• Ascribed Status: a social position received at birth or taken on involuntarily later in life.
• Achieved Status: a social position taken on voluntarily that reflects personal identity and effort.
• Role: the behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status.
• Role Strain: conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses, resulting from competing demands of two or more roles that vie for our time and energy.

Conformity, Deviance, and Social Control

• Conformity: acceptance of cultural goals and means of attaining those goals.
• Deviance: behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of social norms of a group or society.
• Forms of Deviance:
  • Ritualism: going through the motions of daily life even though one does not accept the goals or values that align with those practices.
  • Retreatism: being resigned to the abandonment of an original goal or the means of attaining it.
  • Rebellion: a special case wherein the individual rejects the goals and means of attaining them, and replaces them with new ones.