Sociology on Socialization and Personality

Socialization

• A lifelong process of developing human potential and learning culture
• Outcomes: Knowledge, Skills, Norms, Values, Developing self and personality

Self and Personality

• Self: Awareness of the self as distinct from others
• Personality: Consistent patterns of behavior, thinking, and feeling
• Looking Glass Self (Cooley): Self-image is shaped by how we think others perceive us.

Agents of Socialization

• Family
• School
• Peer Groups
• Mass Media
• Workplace
• Religion
• Social Media - competing theories of enhancement vs. compensation

Differing Socialization

• Agents of Socialization vary
• Beyond the listed agents, other influences exist (e.g., community, culture)
• Social location impacts socialization (e.g., socioeconomic status, race)
• Generation cohorts experience different socializing influences
• Interaction with agents of socialization can vary (e.g., quality and intensity)
• Nature vs. Nurture debate: How much of our personality is innate vs. learned?

Theoretical Explanations of Socialization

• Freud focused on personality development:
  • Basic Drives: Eros (life instinct) and Thanatos (aggression)
  • Three Parts of Personality: Id, Ego, Superego
• Mead focused on self development:
  • Two Parts of Self: "I" (biological impulses) and "Me" (socialized self)
  • Three Stages of Socialization: Preparatory, Play, Game

Social Interaction in Everyday Life

• Social Interaction: How people act and react in relation to others.
• Social Structure: Stable patterns of social behavior, how society organises itself.

Social Structure: Statuses and Roles

• Status: A social position a person holds.
• Status Set: All the statuses a person holds at a given time.
• Ascribed Status: Assigned at birth or involuntarily acquired.
• Achieved Status: Earned or chosen through effort.
• Master Status: Defines a person's social identity, often influencing every aspect of their life.
• Role: Expected behavior associated with a particular status.
• Role Conflict: Conflicting expectations arising from two or more statuses.
• Role Strain: Difficulties arising from conflicting demands within a single status.

Strategies for Reducing Role Strain & Conflict (Goode)

• Compartmentalization: Separating aspects of different roles.
• Delegation: Assigning tasks to subordinates.
• Elimination: Passing on role obligations to peers.
• Extension: Expanding role set obligations to lessen involvement in difficult areas.
• Establishing Barriers: Creating obstacles for those seeking your time and energy.

Social Construction of Reality

• Reality is socially constructed through interaction.
• Definition of the Situation: Our individual perception of what is happening.
• Aligning Actions: Verbal efforts to create congruence between actions, self-perception, and shared culture.

Types of Aligning Actions

• Motive Talk: Explaining actions or intentions.
• Disclaimers: Verbal devices to ward off negative implications of actions.
• Accounts: Explanations for unacceptable behavior:
  • Excuses: Denying responsibility.
  • Justifications: Accepting responsibility but denying wrongness.
• Apologies: Acknowledging wrongness and expressing remorse.

Groups and Organizations

• Category: People sharing a common status (e.g., students).
• Aggregate: People in the same place at the same time (e.g., crowd).
• Crowd: Loosely formed collection of people with little shared identity.
• Social Group: Two or more people with shared identity and interactions.

Primary vs. Secondary Social Groups

• Primary Group: Small, intimate, lasting relationships (e.g., family).
• Secondary Group: Large, impersonal, goal-oriented (e.g., workplace).

The Twenty-Statements Test

• A measure of self-concept.
• Identifies "self-themes": Physical characteristics, social status, abstract characteristics, global/vague characteristics.
• Possible research questions: Changes in self-concept over time, perception of self by others, differences in "self" across groups.

Group Leadership

• Leader: Influences the behavior of group members.
• Instrumental Leader: Focuses on task completion (e.g., manager).
• Expressive Leader: Emphasizes group well-being (e.g., therapist).
• Transactional Leader: Focuses on achieving group goals (e.g., coach).
• Transformational Leader: Inspires group members with a sense of mission (e.g., religious leader).

Leadership Styles

• Authoritarian: Instrumental, makes decisions independently, demands obedience.
• Democratic: Expressive, includes others in decisions, encourages participation.
• Laissez-Faire: Downplays power, allows group self-governance.

Power of Group Leaders

• Power: Ability to control and influence others.
• Types of Power: Reward, Coercive, Legitimate, Expert, Referent, Information.

Formal Organizations

• Large, secondary groups organized to achieve specific goals.
• Types of Formal Organizations (Etzioni):
  • Normative (voluntary): Members pursue goals they consider morally worthwhile, offer personal satisfaction, or social prestige.
  • Coercive: Members are enrolled involuntarily, often subjected to punishment (e.g., prison).
  • Utilitarian: Pursue income, profit, or wages (e.g., companies).

Voluntary Organizations (Tokufo)

• Instrumental: Focus on goals external to the organization (e.g., charitable organization).
• Expressive: Concerned with internal life and emotions of members (e.g., support group).
• Mixed: Combine instrumental and expressive concerns (e.g., social clubs).

Explore the complex processes of socialization and the development of self and personality. This quiz covers key agents of socialization, differing influences, and how factors like socioeconomic status affect our development. Test your knowledge on the theories and concepts surrounding socialization.