1. SOCIALIZATION

2. SOCIALIZATION
The general process of acquiring culture is referred to as socialization.
Culture are all the factors that shape who you are: language, religion, customs, background etc
It is the process whereby children are shaped into responsible members of society.
E.g. Human infants are born without any culture.
Transformed by socializing influences into cultural and socially well adjusted animals.

4. What is an Agent of Socialization?
People or INSTITUTIONS that guide or influence a person’s social development.
What or Who could these be?

5. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PRIMARY AGENT OF SOCIALIZATION AND A SECONDARY AGENT OF SOCIALIZATION?

6. Who influences/teaches us
Agents of Socialization (are the players)
Parents
Teachers
Media
Friends
Social Groups

8. What does socialization do for the individual?
Acquiring norms and values of culture
Norms? Values?– What are these– Give examples.
Role acquisition– Gender/”Positions”
Such as?
Learning to control impulses –Like?
Developing self-concept (identity)
For instance, gender identity is ones concept of maleness or femaleness.
Important because it is thought to be an organizing principle in one’s self image and construction of the world

9. SOCIALIZATION ROLES During socialization
we learn the language of the culture we are born into
Learn roles we are to play in life.
E.g. girls learn how to be daughters, sisters, friends, wives, and mothers. In addition, they learn about the occupational roles that their society has in store for them.
Problematic? How?
Euro American Sex System

10. SOCIALIZATION
NORMS
We also learn and usually adopt our culture's norms through the socialization process.
Norms are the conceptions of appropriate and expected behavior that are held by most members of the society.
Anthropologists use the term enculturation for the process of being socialized to a particular culture.
You were enculturated to your specific culture by your parents and the other people who raised you

11. When Does Socialization Begin?
Socialization is a learning process that begins shortly after birth.
Early childhood is the period of the most intense and the most crucial socialization.
Acquire language
Learn the fundamentals of our culture.
Time when much of our personality takes shape.

12. SOCIALIZATION Gender Issues
How does socialization impact us through the life cycle?
Nature versus Nurture debate
-What’s responsible? Biological or Environment?
As we age, we enter new statuses and need to learn the appropriate roles for them.
Socialization involves having experiences that teach us lessons and lead us to alter our beliefs and personality.
For instance, the experience of being raped is likely to cause a woman to be distrustful of others.