September 29 th Sign in and participation cards Quick Research Paper Discussion Finish Lecture 3: Culture Lecture 4: Socialization Homework:  Read: Chapter 5 of Introduction…  Homework #2

Overspent American Cultural Forces:  Upscale emulation: Joneses → Gates’  Stretching of reference groups  Mass Media Consumption Competition: social status is achieved thru the consumption of goods Brands act as symbols of social status in consumption competition

Consumer Society Consumption Competition Consumption Based Economy Consumer Culture

Role of Mass Media Mass Media plays a central role in the consumer culture  Increases the symbolic value of “Brands”  Stretches our reference groups How much influence?  Adults see an average of 2000 advertisements a day  Children see an average of 40,000 commercials a year  We use 6.5 hours of mass media a day

Marketing Culture Mass media shapes the public sphere and directs cultural flows in our modern society  “Culture Industries” : The Big TenThe Big Ten With the Internet, Satellite TV, radio, and film, cultural practices are not longer fixed to locality  Speed up of cultural flows  Unified global market of consumers

Lecture Four Socialization: Society, the Self, and Identity

Why do we act the way we do? Nature? Are we born this way? Nurture? Are we shaped by our social environment? Example: Are women naturally more nurturing? Interaction between the two: both nature and nurture shape who we are

Socialization Socialization: the lifelong process of social interaction through which individuals acquire self identity and the social skills needed for survival in society Why is it important?  No socialization = no society  How society reproduces itself

Agents of Socialization Individuals Family Religion Work Education Mass Media

Mass Media and Gender Socialization Mass media reinforces gender roles/norms  Television and movies  Video Games  Advertising We live in an “advertising environment”  Ads occupy a vast cultural space

Goffman: Gender Advertisements Presentations of social interaction are equally important as the actual events in studying society  Models are posed so that when we see their ads we interpret them as we would glimpses of social behavior Symbolic representations of behavior  Functional ranking  Relative size  Ritualization of subordination  The Feminine Touch  Family

Magazine Ads and Gender

What is the focus?

Commercialization of Gender Ideals Women “defend” Men “protect”

TV Ads and Gender Coors “Wingman”  Heineken Keg 

Prisoners of Socialization? Socialization is powerful, but we have a ‘self’ Unique individuals  Actively involved in construction of the ‘self’ Society shapes individuals…but we also shape society