1. Sociology Chapter 4 Socialization

2. Socialization and Personality nearly all aspects of social life (including walking patterns) are not natural but learned through the process of socialization. Socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life. Successful socialization enables people to fit into all kinds of social groups Without prolonged and intensive social contact, children do not learn such basics as walking, talking, and loving Without socialization, a human infant cannot develop the set of attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors associated with being an individual in society

3. Researching the Effects of Social Isolation Harry Harlow and Margaret Harlow the Harlow's isolated infant monkeys for different lengths of time before introducing them to group life found that monkeys that had been isolated for around three months were able to learn to play and to adjust to group life monkeys that had been isolated for six months or more never adjusted to group life and were rejected by the other monkeys. The Harlow's reported that infant monkeys raised in isolation became withdrawn, hostile adults.

4. As mothers, they either rejected or ignored their babies. Sometimes, they even physically abused them human infants have emotional needs for affection, intimacy, and warmth that are as important as their physiological needs for food, water, and protection Contact and communication appear to be essential to normal human development René Spitz and Lawrence Casler, the developmental growth rate of institutionalized children—who generally receive less physical contact than children raised in family settings—can be improved with only twenty minutes of extra touching a day.

5. Case Studies on Isolated Children: Anna, Isabelle, and Genie Anna Anna was found tied to a small chair in a second-floor storage room on a farm in Pennsylvania in 1938 Anna’s mother feared that the sight of the child would anger her father, so she kept Anna confined to a small upstairs room in the family farmhouse

6. Isabelle Isabelle, like Anna, had been hidden away because her mother was unmarried. Isabelle’s mother had been deaf since the age of two and did not speak She stayed with her child in a dark room, secluded from the rest of the family.

7. Genie From the time she was nearly two, Genie’s father had kept her in a locked room, believing that she was mentally disabled She was tied to a potty chair and forced to sit alone with no one to talk to and little to look at. When Genie was discovered, she weighed only 59 pounds. Her mental capacity was that of a one-year-old. Much of her behavior was subhuman The implication of the cases of Anna, Isabelle, and Genie is unmistakable The personal and social development associated with being human is acquired through intensive and prolonged social contact with others.

8. All three theoretical perspectives agree that socialization is needed if cultural and societal values are to be learned Functionalism stresses the ways groups work together to create a stable society Schools and families, socialize children by teaching the same basic norms, beliefs, and values conflict perspective views socialization as a way of perpetuating the status quo When people are socialized to accept their family’s social class, they help preserve the current class system People learn to accept their social status before they have enough self-awareness to realize what is happening

9. Symbolic Interactionism and Socialization Symbolic interactionism, the self-concept is developed by using other people as mirrors for learning about ourselves. Charles Horton Cooley developed the idea of the self-concept from watching his own children at play Your self-concept is your image of yourself as having an identity separate from other people children learn to judge themselves in terms of how they imagine others will react to them - people serve as mirrors for the development of the self

10. Looking-Glass Self According to Cooley, we use other people as mirrors to reflect back what we imagine they think of us We imagine how we appear to others (our perception of how others see us). We imagine the reactions of others to our (imagined) appearance We evaluate ourselves according to how we imagine others have judged us

11. Significant Others George Herbert Mead pointed out that some people are more important to us than others The people whose judgments are most important to our self-concepts are called significant others

12. Role Taking Role taking allows us to see ourselves through the eyes of someone else allows us to take the viewpoint of another person and then respond to ourselves from that imagined viewpoint the ability for role taking is the product of a three-stage process imitation stage, which begins at around one and a half to two years, the child imitates (without understanding) the physical and verbal behavior of a significant other At the age of three or four, a young child can be seen playing at being mother, father, police officer, teacher, or astronaut

13. This is what Mead called the play stage—the stage during which children take on roles of others one at a time. game stage, (about age 7) children learn to engage in more sophisticated role taking as they become able to consider the roles of several people simultaneously

14. Generalized Other During the game stage, a child’s self-concept, attitudes, beliefs, and values gradually come to depend less on individuals and more on general concepts an integrated conception of the norms, values, and beliefs of one’s community or society

15. The Family and Socialization The child’s first exposure to the world occurs within the family, which is the primary agent of childhood socialization Within the family the child learns to think and speak; internalize norms, beliefs, and values; form some basic attitudes; develop a capacity for intimate and personal relationships; and acquire a self- image

16. Socialization in Schools Rewards and punishments are based on performance rather than affection. Hidden Curriculum- the informal and unofficial aspects of culture that children are taught in preparation for life. Peer Group- composed of individuals of roughly the same age and interests. -Promote independence from adults

17. Mass Media and Socialization Mass Media- are means of communication designed to reach the general population. -Provide images of achievement and success. - Popular images are highly distorted. - aggression leads to aggression Propaganda- is the use of ideas, information, or rumors to influence opinion.

18. Socialization Through the Life Cycle childhood is a socially constructed concept depending on location, culture, and time in history, people have held quite different notions of childhood Adolescence is the stage between childhood and adulthood universal education system, the gradual exclusion of children and teenagers from the labor force, the emergence of a juvenile justice system, and the decline of the apprentice system

19. transitional adulthood, period where young people live apart from parental control, but they are not financially independent the early middle years (30–49), most adults become more confident of their life goals- family and employment later middle years (50–64), a reorientation often occurs, emphasis shifts from how far he or she has come to how much time may be left the period from age 65 to age 75 is sometimes referred to as “the transitional older years” women typically outlive men by four to five years in the United States

20. Death and Dying Elisabeth Kübler-Ross- Had a 5 stage theory over the process of death and dying. 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance