Socialization and Inequality Quiz

Socialization and Social Interaction

• Sociologists study patterns of behavior and attitudes from infancy to old age.
• Socialization is a lifelong process where individuals learn cultural values and behaviors.
• Human interaction is central to this process.
• Socialization helps individuals understand appropriate social norms and expectations.

Self-Image

• Socialization shapes self-image.
• Experiences influence personalities.
• Personality encompasses typical attitudes, needs, characteristics and behaviors.
• The extent to which culture or innate traits shape personality remains a question.

Nurture

• Nurture is a significant factor in shaping personality.
• Children lacking sufficient attention may exhibit anxiety and unpredictable behavior.
• Studies on primates under isolation highlight the impact of social interaction.
• In one experiment, monkeys preferred cloth "mothers" over wire "mothers" with food.

Nature

• Both genetic factors and socialization experiences shape human development.
• Some traits can be inherited, while others are learned.
• Studies on identical twins separated at birth show the influence of social environment on personal traits.
• Identical twins raised differently still share similarities and exhibit considerable differences based on their upbringing.

The Self

• The self emerges through interactions with others.
• The self is a unique identity distinguishing oneself from others.
• Experiences, both positive and negative, shape the evolving self.
• Cooley's "looking-glass self" theory posits that our self-identity comes from how we imagine others perceive us.
• Mead's stages of self development (preparatory, play and game stages) highlight the process of self-formation through role-taking.

Mead's Theory

• The self develops through interaction.
• Young children focus on themselves, but develop a more nuanced understanding of others with maturity.
• Significant others, those most influential in our lives, impact the development of our self-conscious.

Cooley: Looking-Glass Self

• Cooley emphasizes that the self is a product of social interaction.
• The stages involved are: imagining how one presents oneself, imagining how others evaluate oneself, and forming a feeling about oneself based on the imagined perceptions.
• This process might build on inaccurate perceptions.

Mead: Stages of the Self

• Mead provides a model for how the self emerges through various stages.
• In the preparatory stage, children imitate those around them.
• In the play stage, children start to role-take and understand social relationships through pretending.
• In the game stage, children begin to consider multiple social roles and perspectives.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

• Each stage presents unconscious conflict between the id and external forces (parents, society).
• Conflicts arise over instinctual drives and desires.
• The superego, developed through interaction, mediates conflicts.
• Fixation during early stages may lead to personality issues.

Freud's Stages: Oral Stage

• Birth to 18 months
• Erogenous zone: Mouth
• Key events: Feeding, eating, chewing, biting
• Possible problems: Oral fixation- Issues with overeating, smoking, and dependence-related behaviors.

Freud's Stages: Anal Stage

• 18 months to 3 years
• Erogenous zone: Anus
• Key events: Toilet training
• Possible problems: Anal retentiveness – neat, stingy, rigid behavior or Anal expulsiveness – messy, disorganized behavior

Freud's Stages: Phallic Stage

• 3 to 6 years
• Erogenous Zone: Genitals
• Key Events: Oedipus/Electra complexes
• Possible problems: Gender identity Issues, sexual difficulties, or relationship conflicts

Freud's Stages: Latency Stage

• 6 to 12 years
• Erogenous zone: None
• Key Events: Repression of sexual feelings, focus on social and intellectual skills
• Possible Problems: Continued sexual repression, defense mechanisms like sublimations

Freud's Stages: Genital Stage

• 12 years and on
• Erogenous zone: Genitals
• Key Events: Seeking intimate relationships
• Possible problems: Issues with fixation

Socialization and Interaction

• Socialization shapes individuals.
• Sociological analysis of interactions is fundamental.
• Sociologists examine macro and micro social phenomena

The Individual and the Self

• Sociologists investigate the nature and nurture of the individual and self.
• The view that a person's identity emerges from a natural versus learned aspect of their development.
• Nature (inborn traits) and nurture (learned traits or experiences/socialization) are both significant to understanding someone's identity.

Symbolic Interaction and the Development of the Self

• Human development depends on interaction and the ability to use symbols.
• Individuals learn to use symbols and meanings to effectively communicate and transmit culture through interaction.
• Cooley's Looking-Glass Self explores how self-perception stems from reactions of others.
• Our sense of self is developed through interaction with others.

The Individual as Performer

• Goffman's dramaturgical approach: Social life mimics a theatrical performance.
• People manage impressions in interaction to project desired images.
• The front stage is for controlled performances, while the backstage reveals relaxed realities.

Goffman's Presentation of the Self

• Daily activities often involve attempts to convey impressions.
• Impression management: learning to direct one's presentation of self to different audiences.
• The Self is viewed as a performer.

Social Stratification

• Social stratification involves hierarchical differences related to economic, social, and political power.
• Inequality exists relating to how valuable resources are allocated within different social groups.
• Common stratification systems include class, caste, and estate/slavery.

Dimensions of Social Class

• Social class is a person's economic position, often measured by income or wealth.
• People with similar economic standing tend to cluster.
• Marx's concept of bourgeoisie (owner) and proletariat (worker).
• Status encompasses the prestige associated with a social position.
• Power refers to the ability to influence or control others within society.

Consistency Across Dimensions of Stratification

• Similar positions across social stratification usually coincide with similar economic status, prestige, and power.
• A manager in a corporation is likely to have a middle class position regarding salary, wealth, and societal prestige.

Economic Inequality

• Most societies stratify based on monetary value.
• The value placed on monetary resources affects the occupational structure and economic benefits that are allocated among individuals.

Economic Inequality: Income

• Income: The amount of money someone earns from work or investments.
• Measured over a period of time (usually annually).

Economic Inequality: Wealth

• Wealth: The total value of a person's assets minus their debts.

Income Inequality

• Income inequality is a prominent political issue.
• Substantial increases in income gaps have occurred since the 1970's in many countries, including the Americas.
• Income gaps have increased between the top 1% and other Americans.
• The Occupy Wall Street movement protested income disparity in the United States.

Reasons for Income Inequality

Some possible reasons for growing income inequality are the decline of manufacturing jobs, advancements in technology, shifts and changes in tax policies, cuts to public benefits, and the rise of superstar incomes, particularly in areas such as sports and entertainment.

Wealth Inequality

• Wealth inequality is greater than income inequality.
• Wealth is more likely generational.
• Wealth can be used to acquire more wealth, influencing positions in society.
• Wealthy individuals can influence charities, politics, and other areas.

Poverty

• Poverty is a societal concern due to its link to lower health outcomes, life expectancy.
• Different viewpoints exist regarding the causes of poverty in society

Analyzing Poverty

• Poverty in capitalist societies can arise from the power struggles and the competition among different social classes

Types of Poverty

• Absolute poverty: Absolute poverty is a measure of the minimum amount of resources or income necessary for basic survival.
• Relative poverty: Relative poverty is measured by comparing oneself to others.

Poverty in the United States

• Poverty lines are established by the Social Security Administration (SSA), based on the cost of a determined amount of food.
• These lines are applied for various family structures to meet the needs for a nutritious food plan (as an example).

The Feminization of Poverty

• Women are disproportionately affected by poverty compared to men.
• This phenomenon is partially explained by factors like lower average earnings and a higher prevalence of single-parent households headed by women.

Social Mobility

• Social mobility: The ability or inability of individuals or societies to move between different social positions in the hierarchy.
• Intergenerational mobility: examining the difference between the social class of parents and their offspring.
• Intra-generational mobility: the changes that someone has in their social class (e.g., work) over their lifetime
• Occupational mobility : Changes in work across or within generations
• Structural mobility : The changes that take place at a larger society level

Social Mobility: Positions Based on Achievement

• Open stratification systems typically grant mobility based on individual achievements and merits.

Social Mobility: Positions Based on Ascription

• Closed stratification systems grant social mobility based on factors like race, gender, caste, or wealth.

Social Mobility: Caste and Slavery

• Caste systems offer limited avenues for social mobility.
• Slavery's inherent structural features severely limit social mobility opportunities.

Theories of Social Stratification: Structural/Functional

• Stratification is necessary within all societies to motivate individuals to pursue more difficult educational and expertise jobs and responsibilities.
• Higher rewards are needed in a societal system to attract qualified candidates to take a role in the job positions or positions that require certain expertise. (or to fill certain jobs or positions in society); this higher rewards can mean higher wealth or prestige

Theories of Social Stratification: Conflict/Critical

• Stratification creates or perpetuates inequality in societies.
• Cultural ideals in some systems can perpetuate inequality.
• The usefulness or importance of higher class positions compared to lower class positions may be questioned

Theories of Social Stratification: Colonialism

• Colonialism creates stratification between indigenous residents and settlers, typically with the goal of gaining political control and/or obtaining resources.

Theories of Social Stratification: Imperialism

• Imperialism entails control without the creation of colonies; this type of control typically involves economic control and exploitation.

Theories of Social Stratification: Post- and Neo-colonialism

• Post/Neo-colonialism is characterized by continuing dependency and economic subservience, following the departure of the original colonial power.

Theories of Social Stratification: Symbolic Interactionist

• Symbolic interactionism focuses on micro-level exchanges between people at different social positions, recognizing a struggle over symbolically significant things.

Consumption and Social Stratification

• Stratification involves differences in consumer behaviour.
• Higher social classes often seek to differentiate through consumption (e.g., fashion).
• Conspicuous consumption often entails displaying goods or services to convey one's social standing to others

Globalization and Stratification

• Global north (northern hemisphere) countries are generally wealthier and wield significant power than those in global south (southern hemisphere).
• The "bottom billion" refers to those in other developing countries with lower income than their counterparts in higher economic countries who have lower life expectancies, high rates of infant mortality, and malnutrition

Globalization and Stratification: The Race to the Bottom

• Lower costs are used to acquire a more economic advantage—in some ways, to compete with other businesses in the competition—in order to potentially gain a position ahead of competitors.
• Lowering cost often have negative consequences for the workers.

Globalization and Stratification: The Global Digital Divide

• Many people worldwide lack access to computers, PDAs, high-speed internet, and the English language.

Interaction

• Social interaction involves the engagement of two or more individuals.
• Superordinate-subordinate: a key type of interaction, with examples including teachers and students, judges and defendants, or guards and prisoners.

Interaction: Reciprocity and Exchange

• Interaction involves a rational process where individuals seek to maximize rewards or benefits and minimize costs.
• Different ways of interacting: Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis are example approaches

Interaction: Interaction Order

• Interaction order is the organized and orderly structure of a particular type of social interaction, built by the interaction participants.
• Status can include ascribed statuses and achieved statuses.
• Master status is one overarching status that shapes all of the others.

Interaction: A Role

• A role encompasses the behaviors or actions expected of a person that meets a given status.
• Role conflict or role overload is possible due to various conflicts that someone may have within their personal or work life.

Micro-Level Social Structures

• Human relationships and interactions are key to forming social structures, defining long-lasting social arrangements.
• Dyads and triads form the basis of social network groups and the different sizes within groups, organizations, and even societies.
• Larger networks can emerge from the relationships within the smaller groups

Micro-Level Social Structures: Groups

• Groups are composed of a small number of individuals with patterned relationships.
• Different groups exist in society (e.g., primary, secondary, reference, in-groups, and out-groups).
• Conformity is sometimes needed for a group to function successfully.

Test your knowledge on the role of parents and peers in the socialization process, as well as the implications of income and wealth inequality. Explore concepts such as gender socialization and anticipatory socialization while considering social movements and class status perpetuation.