1. Socialization and the Life Cycle Chapter 4 Chapter Anthony Giddens
Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum

2. Culture, Society, and Child Socialization
What Is Socialization?
Through contact with others, infants gradually become self-aware, knowledgeable human beings, skilled in the ways of a given culture
Perpetuates values, norms, and social practices of culture
Connects generations to each other

3. Culture, Society, and Child Socialization
“Unsocialized Children”
Wild boy of Aveyron and Genie are examples of unsocialized children
Both retained “nonhuman” responses
Neither displayed lasting viciousness
Both acquired minimum level of human capabilities

4. Theories of Child Development
G. H. Mead
Children develop as social beings by imitating actions of those around them
Individuals develop self-consciousness by learning to see themselves as others see them
Later, by entering into and learning rules of play in organized games, children come to understand the general values and moral rules of culture

5. Theories of Child Development
Jean Piaget
Emphasized child’s active capability to make sense of the world
Stages of development:
Sensorimotor stage
Birth to age 2
Child learns by manipulating objects
Explores physical environment; understands it has distinct and stable properties
Learns to distinguish people from objects

6. Theories of Child Development
Jean Piaget (cont)
Preoperational stage
Age 2 to 7
Master language
Child is egocentric—unable to see the world from another’s point of view
Concrete operational stage
Age 7 to 11
Masters abstract, logical notions
Much less egocentric

7. Theories of Child Development
Jean Piaget (cont)
Formal operational stage
Age 11 to 15
Able to grasp highly abstract and hypothetical ideas
Problem solve and understand trick questions
Achieving this stage depends partly on schooling
Not all adults reach this stage

8. Socialization through the Life Course
What Are Agents of Socialization?
Agents of socialization are structured groups or contexts within which significant processes of socialization occur:
Family
Schools
Peers
Mass Media
Work

9. Socialization through the Life Course
The Family
Principal socializing agent during infancy
Family systems vary widely across cultures
In modern societies, social position is not inherited but the region and social class of family affects patterns of socialization

10. Socialization through the Life Course
Schools
Children obey rules
Must accept authority of teachers
Reactions of teachers affect expectations children have of themselves
Peer groups often formed at school

11. Socialization through the Life Course
Peer Relationships
Peer groups are increasingly important
Greatly influence gender socialization
Have significant effect beyond childhood

12. Socialization through the Life Course
Mass Media
Can be both positive and negative
Violence is promulgated on television
Video games may deflect from school work or other activities, become refuge from disliked school environment
But may also hone skills relevant to education and wider participation in society that depends on electronic communication

13. Socialization through the Life Course
Work
Important in all cultures
Only in industrial societies are worklife and homelife so separate
Can pose unfamiliar demands, calling for major adjustments in outlook or behavior

14. Socialization through the Life Course
Social Roles and Identity
Through socialization individuals learn about social roles—socially defined expectations for a person in a given social position

15. Socialization through the Life Course
Social Roles and Identity (cont)
This process leads to the development of a social identity, the characteristics that other people attribute to an individual
Social identity marks ways in which individuals are the same as others
Self-identity refers to the process of self-development through which we formulate a unique sense of ourselves and our relationship to the world
Self-identity sets us apart as distinct individuals

16. Socialization through the Life Course
Gender Socialization
Gender socialization begins as soon as an infant is born
Even parents who believe they treat children equally tend to produce different responses to boys and girls
Differences are reinforced by many cultural influences

17. Socialization through the Life Course
The Debate about Gender Socialization
Freud:
Children learning about gender differences based on the possession or absence of the penis
A boy feels threatened by his father and sees them as a rival for his mother’s affection
Gives up love for mother because he fears castration from father
A girl suffers from “penis envy”
Mother is devalued because she lacks a penis; girl takes on submissive role 
Major objections have been raised about Freud’s views

18. Socialization through the Life Course
The Debate about Gender Socialization
Chodorow:
Learning to feel male or female derives from infant’s attachment to parents at an early age
Emphasizes mother rather than the father
Girls remain closer to mother and develop sense of self that is more contiguous with others
Boys have sharp break from mother and, as a result, are unskilled in relating closely to others
Essentially reverses Freud’s emphasis
Chodorow’s work has met with various criticisms, though her work remains important

19. Socialization through the Life Course
The Debate about Gender Socialization
Gilligan
Further developed Chodorow’s analysis, concentrating on images adult women and men have of themselves
Women define themselves in terms of personal relationships and caring for others
Qualities developed by women are devalued by men, whose focus is individual achievement

20. Socialization through the Life Cycle
Socialization and the Life Course
Socialization continues throughout the life cycle
At each phase of life there are transitions to be made or crises to be overcome
Five stages of the life course are:
Childhood
Teenager
Young adulthood
Mature adulthood
Old age

21. Socialization through the Life Cycle
Socialization and the Life Course
Stages of human life course are both biological and social, influenced by cultural differences and material circumstances

22. Socialization through the Life Cycle
Socialization and the Life Course
Life course has changed over time
Concept of childhood and teenager didn’t exist until recently
Young adulthood is increasingly about personal and sexual development
Mature adulthood is more uncertain than in the past; the midlife crisis is real for many people
While elders were accorded great respect in traditional societies, older people lack authority in industrialized societies

23. Review Questions
1. From a sociological perspective, what is the characteristic of human beings that most distinguishes us from other animals?
Human beings go through a process of socialization, which begins in infancy.
Human beings tend to pick mates for life, a practice that does not exist among any other animals.
Human beings are aware that they have a distinct identity that is separate from others.
Human beings have social roles, a concept that does not exist in the animal kingdom.
Answer: C
Reference: Culture, Society, and Child Socialization (Theories of Child Development)
Type: Factual

24. Review Questions 2. Which of the following types of games
or playing is most likely to help children learn the values and morality that govern social life?
Two five-year-old friends like to pretend that one of them is the mommy and the other the baby or child and they act out different everyday scenes or activities.
A group of eight- to ten-year-olds organize regular games of capture the flag, taking turns being team captain and switching team members around from game to game.
A group of teenagers goes regularly to a skate park to practice new moves and see what other skaters are trying out.
Three-year-old twins want to help their parents cook dinner so they are given wooden spoons and bowls filled with “ingredients” to stir.
Answer: B
Reference: Culture, Society, and Child Socialization (Theories of Child Development)
Type: Conceptual

25. Review Questions
3. Which of the following statements is central to Jean Piaget’s ideas about child development?
Children select and interpret what they see, hear, and feel.
Each stage of development is focused on overcoming a conflict.
Development is considered a reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli, and reinforcement.
Children passively absorb information from their surroundings.
Answer: A
Reference: Culture, Society, and Child Socialization (Theories of Child Development)
Type: Factual

26. Review Questions
4. A/An _________ can be defined as a set of socially defined expectations for a person in a given social position.
social identity
social role
life course
status set
Answer: B
Reference: Culture, Society, and Child Socialization (Social Roles)
Type: Vocabulary

27. Review Questions
5. How are social identity and self-identity different?
Self-identity is shaped more by individual agency and choice, while social identity is subject to the influence of a person’s social and cultural environment.
Social identity is more likely to change over the course of one’s life while self-identity is more likely to remain static.
Social identity can be multi-faceted while self-identity tends to develop around a single, dominant factor.
A social identity emphasizes a person’s similarity to and connection with others, while self-identity demonstrates that a person is a distinct individual.
Answer: D
Reference: Culture, Society, and Child Socialization (Identity)
Type: Conceptual

28. Review Questions
6. Who advanced the argument that male identity is marked most strongly by a rejection of closeness with the mother, which leads to feeling threatened by close emotional relationships later in life?
Carol Gilligan
June Statham
Nancy Chodorow
Lenore Weitzman
Answer: C
Reference: Culture, Society, and Child Socialization (The Debate about Gender Socialization)
Type: Factual

29. Review Questions
7. Which of the following life stages have emerged largely in connection with the development of modern societies?
childhood
adolescence
mature adulthood
Both A and B
Both B and C
Both A and C
Answer: D
Reference: Socialization through the Life Course
Type: Factual