CLEP Introductory Sociology PDF

26 CLEP INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY 3.SOCIALIZATION THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION AND SELF-FORMATION Socialization is the process through which we learn or are trained to bemembers of society, to take part in new social situations, or to participate insocial groupings. In other words, it is the presc...

26 CLEP INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY 3.SOCIALIZATION THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION AND SELF-FORMATION Socialization is the process through which we learn or are trained to bemembers of society, to take part in new social situations, or to participate insocial groupings. In other words, it is the prescriptive term in sociology for theprocess of being "social." Generally,sociologists consider the process of socialization to be basedon social interaction,the ways in which we behave toward and respond toone another. Not all socologists agree on what is formed by such recipro-cal or mutual action. Does interaction imply society, social groups,socialstructure, or that human beings make the perpetuation and transformation ofa particular culture possible? Sociologists tend to differ in their opinion ofwhat is learned, produced, reproduced, or altered in the process of socializa-tion:(1) in their orientation toward society, social groups, socialstructure,orman-made culture; and (2) in their conception of the part, if any,human biologyand individual psychology play in socialization. Primary and Secondary Forms of Socialization Sociologists hold the view that the individual cannot develop in the absenceof the social environment-the groups within which interaction takes placeand socialization occurs. Within this context, primary socialization refers tothe initial socialization that a child receives through which he or she becomesa member of society (i.e.,learns and comes to sharethe social heritage or cul.ture of a socety through the groups into which he or she is born). Secondarysocialization refers to the subsequent experience of socialization into new sectors of society by an already socialized person. Personality Focused on society,socialization is the process through which personalityacquired,marked by the fairly consistent patterns shown in the thoughts,feeings,and activities representative of the individual.Socialization is the esseitial link between the individual and the social realms, without which neitherthought to be capable of surviving. CHAPTER 2: SOCIOLOGY REVIEW 27 Socialization not only makes it possible for society to reproduce itself,butfor society's continuity to be assured across generations as well as within gen-erations in the personalities that are its product. This is the biological and “his-torical" continuity of individual and social circumstances of the life course ofbirth,childhood, maturity, old age, and death, and in the cultural continuity insociety up to the present. Assuming that the content of socialization varies from one person to thenext as a consequence of being subject to the influence of various cultures andsubcultures including race, class, region, religion, and groups in society,thenevery person would be different. Most of the differences would be a product ofsocialization,with the remainder the result of the random impact of relativelydifferent social and cultural environments. The socialization process is thought to explain both the similarities in per-sonality and social behavior of the members of society and the differences thatexist in society between one person and the next. It does not matter then tat thetwo factors of nature and nurture are intimately related and cannot be separated,which is the view of most social scientists. Hence,the part that human biologyplays in socialization (i.e., of nature in nurture) cannot be accurately measured.Heredity represents a basic potential, the outlines and limits of which are bio-logically fixed,because the socialization process is thought to be all importantto the development of personality, the uniqueness, the similarities, and the dif-ferences of which are relative to society and, thereby, to the groups to whichpeople belong. Consistent with a view held by modern psychologists,it is argued that anyinstincts (unlearned,inherited behavior patterns that human beings once had)have been lost in the course of human evolution. There is no human natureoutside of what culture makes of us. Hence, the concern that children raised inisolation or in institutions, who have little or no opportunity to develop the sortsof emotional ties with adults that make socialization possible, will be devoid ofpersonality and will lack the social skills necessary to face even the simplest oflife's challenges. The process of becoming human in the sense of being able to participate insociety is understood to be the process of socialization.The self at the core ofpersonality, the individual's conscious experience of having a separate uniqueidentity,is thought to be a social product objectively created and transformedthroughout a person's life by interaction with others. 28 CLEP INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION The various agents of socialization are the individuals, groups, and institu-tions that supply the structure through which socialization takes place in mod-ern societies. Family Generally considered the most basic social institution, the family is aunion that is sanctioned by the state and often by a religious institution suchas a church. As such, the family provides continuity in such areas as language,personality traits, religion, and class. The family is generally believed to be themost important agent of sociaization in a child's social world, until schoolingbegins.Although the school and peer group become central to social experienceas the child grows older, the family remains central throughout the entire lifecourse. School As the social unit devoted to providing an education, the school providescontnuity both in cognitive skills and in the indoctrination of values.Manysubject areas of knowledge that may or may not be available at home,or thatthe modern home is ill-equipped to provide, are also provided by the school.Unlike the family,which is based on personal relationships, in school thechild's social experiences broaden to include people of a variety of differentsocial backgrounds. It is here where children learn the importance society givesto race and gender. Peer Groups As a primary group whose members are roughly equal in status,peergroups (such as play groups) provide continuity in lifestyles.Although firstpeer groups generally consist of a young child's neighborhood playmates, asthe child meets new people at school and becomes involved in other activities,his peer group expands. It is in the peer group where the child,free of directsupervision from adults, comes to define him or herself as independent fromhis family.During adolescence the peer group becomes particularly importantto the child and sometimes proves to be a more influential agent of socializationthan the family. CHAPTER 2: SOCIOLOGY REVIEW 29 Mass Media Instrumental in making communication with large numbers of people pos-sible, mass media provides continuty as far as knowledge or public informationabout the people, the events, and changes occurring in society and the threatthey sometimes pose to the existing social order. Among the various kinds ofmass media are books, radio, television, and motion pictures. RESOCIALIZATION AND THE ROLE OF TOTAL INSTITUTION Resocialization refers to the process of discarding behavioral practicesand adopting new ones as part of a transition in life. For example, when onebecomes a parent for the first time, he or she may have to perform new duties.Resocialization such as this occurs throughout our lives. Resocialization,how-ever, can be a much more dramatic process, especially when it takes place in atotal institution, such as a place of residence to where persons are confined fora period of time and cut off from the rest of society. This type of resocializa-tion involves a fundamental break with the past to allow for the rebuilding ofpersonality and the learning of norms and values of a new, unfamiliar socialenvironment. The environment of a total institution is deliberately controlledin order to achieve this end. Some examplesof total institutions include mentalhospitals,the military,and prisons. SIGMUND FREUD An Austrian physician and the founder of psychoanalysis,Sigmund Freudconsidered biological drives to be the primary source of human activity. Acti-vated by the pleasure principle to demand immediate and complete gratificationof biological needs, the id represents these unconscious strivings without spe-cific direction or purpose, which must be repressed and subsequently channeledin socially acceptable directions. Otherwise, without socialization the humanbeing would be a violent, amoral, predatory animal, and organized social lifewould be impossible. According to Freud, it is through the processes or mecha-nisms of identification and repression (the holding back and the hiding of one'sown feelings) that the human personality is formed-which is comprised of theid,the ego,and the superego. The ego represents the most conscious aspect ofpersonality. Defining opportunities,the goals one strives toward,and what is“real,”the ego controls and checks the id. Operating according to the pleasure 30 CLEP INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY principle, the ego deals with the world in terms of what is possible,providinglimits and direction. CHARLES HORTON COOLEY An economist turned social psychologist, Charles Horton Cooley (18641924) theorized that the self-concept,which is formed in childhood, is reevalu.ated every time the person enters a new social situation.There are three stagesin the process of self-formation, which Cooley referred to as "the looking.glass-self”:(1) we imagine how we appear to others;(2) we wonder whetherothers see us in the same way as we see ourselves, and in order to find out,weobserve how others react to us; and (3) we develop a conception of ourselvesthat is based on the judgments of others. Thus, we acquire a conception of our-selves from the “looking glass” or mirror of the reactions of others. GEORGE HERBERT MEAD An American philosopher and social psychologist,George Herbert Mead(1863-1931)is best known for his evolutionary social theory ofthe genesis ofthe mind and self. Mead's basic thesis-that a single act can best be understoodas a segment of a larger social act or communicative transaction between two ormore persons-made social psychology central to his philosophical approach.To describe the process whereby mind and self evolve through a continuousadjustment of the individual to himself and to others, Mead used several con-cepts: the “Me” is the image one forms of one's self from the standpoint of a“generalized others" and the “I" is the individual's reaction to a situation as hesees it from his unique standpoint. Mead pointed out that one outcome of socialization is the ability to antici-pate the reactions of others and to adjust our behavior accordingly. We do this,Mead argues,by role taking or learning to model the behavior of significantothers,such as our parents. For example, playing “house" allows children toview the world from their parents'perspective. ERVING GOFFMAN Like other sociologists,Erving Goffiman (1922-1983)considered the self tobe a reflection of others-the cluster of roles or expectations of the people with CHAPTER 2:SOCIOLOGY REVIEW 31 whom one is involved at that point in the life course. It is the product of a seriesof encounters in which we manage the impression that others receive to con-vince others that we are who we claim to be. In every role we undertake,thereis a virtual self waiting to be carried out. Goffman used the term role-distanceto describe the gap that exists between who we are and who we portray our-selves to be. JEAN PIAGET Based on experiments with children playing and responding to questions,Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) proposed a theory of cognitivedevelopment that describes the changes that occur over time in the ways chil-dren think, understand, and evaluate a situation. Piaget not only stressed thepart that social life plays in becoming conscious of one's own mind,but morebroadly speaking, he also observed that cognitive development does not occurautomatically. A given stage of cognitive development cannot be reached unlessthe individual is confronted with real life experiences that foster such develop-ment.In the sensorimotor stage, infants are unable to differentiate themselvesfrom their environment. They are unaware that their actions produce results,and they lack the understanding that objects exist separate from the direct andimmediate experienceof touching,looking, sucking,and listening. Through sensory experience and physical contact with their environment,the infant begins to experience his surroundings differently. The world becomesa relatively stable place, no longer simply the sifting chaos it is first perceivedto be. In the preoperational stage the child begins to use language and othersymbols. Not only do they begin to attach meaning to the world,they also areable to differentiate fantasy from reality. In the concrete operational stage, children make great strides in their use oflogic to understand the world and how it operates. They begin to think in logi-cal terms,to make the connection between cause and effect,and are capable ofattaching meaning or significance to a particular event.Although they cannotconceive of an idea beyond the concrete situation or event,they have begun toimagine themselves in the position of another and thus to grasp a situation fromthe other's point of view. In effect it is during this stage of cognitive develop-ment that the foundation for engaging in more complex activities with others(such as role taking) is laid. Finally, in the formal operational stage the childdevelops the capacity for thinking in highly abstract terms of metaphors andhypotheses which may or may not be based in reality. 32 CLEP INTRODUCTORY SOCIOLOGY ERIK ERIKSON Departing from Freud's emphasis on childhood and instinct, Erik Eriksondelineated eight stages of psychosocial development in which ego identity,that sense of continuity and sameness in the conception one has of one's selfthat does not change over time or situation, ego development,the potential forchange andgrowth that exists over the course of a person's life, and the socialenvironment are involved. They are: Stage 1-the nurturing stage,in which a child's sense of either basic trust ormistrust are established. Stage 2-there emerges the feeling of autonomy or feelings of doubt andshame from not being able to handle the situations one encounters in life. Stage 3-the child develops either a sense of initiatie and self-confidenceor feelings of guilt depending on how successful they are in exploring theirenvironment and in dealing with their peers. Stage 4 the focus shifts from family to school where the chil develops aconception of being either industrious or inferior. Stage 5-failure to establish a clear and firm sense of one's self results inthe person's becoming confused about their identity. Stage 6-one meets or fails to meet the challenge presented by young adult-hood of forming stable relationships, the outcome being “intimacy or isola-tion and loneliness.” Stage 7-a person's contribution to the well-being of others through citizen-ship, work,and family becomes self-generative,and hence, their fulfilling ofthe primary tasks of mature adulthood is complete. Stage 8 the developmental challenge posed by the knowledge that one isreaching the end is to find a sense of continuity and meaning and hence,tobreak the sense of isolation and self-absorption that the thought of one's im-pending death produces, thereby yielding to despair. LAWRENCE KOHLBERG Inspired by the work of Piaget to conduct a series of longitudinal and cross-cultural studies extending over several decades,Lawrence Kohlberg has con-cluded that given the proper experience and stimulation, children go through asequence of six stages of moral reasoning. At the earliest stage (between agesfour and ten), a child's sense of good and bad is connected with the fear of CHAPTER 2:SOCIOLOGY REVIEW 33 being punished for disobeying those in positions of power.During adolescence,a child's conformity to the rules is connected with the belief that the existingsocial order must ultimately be the right and true order and therefore ought tobe followed. Finally,there are several factors that serve as a guide to action and self-judg-ment among older children and young adults. These individuals have reachedthe highest of two stages of moral development, and are able to consider thewelfare of the community, the rights of the individual,and such universalethical principles as justice,equality,and individual dignity. Kohlberg has beencriticized for basing his model of human development on the male experience,having assumed that women and girls are incapable of reaching the higherstages of moral reasoning. CAROL GILLIGAN Taking Kohlberg to task on this point, Carol Gilligan found that womenbring a different set of values to their judgments of right and wrong. Forinstance, males approached the moral problem of whether or not it is wrongto steal to save a life in terms of the ethic of ultimate ends. However,femalesapproached the same problem from the standpoint of an ethic of responsibilityby wondering what the consequences of the moral decision to steal or not tosteal would be for the entire family-the goal beingto find the best solution foreveryone involved. In effect,these different approaches to resolving the problem can beexplained by the different roles women have in our society as compared withmen. Thus, Gilligan concludes there is no essential difference between the innerworkings of the psyches of boys and girls.