CHST 1002 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Erik Erikson, Twin, Albert Bandura

CHST 1002

Hannah Dyer

January 27, 2017

READINGS – Social Theories of Childhood

 Leena Alanen wrote that the study of children is either totally absent in sociology or is treated

within very limited contexts which are considered marginal for sociological theory and research

 Children were mentioned in chapters and courses on socialization, gender, families and

education  but rarely in their own right, as the main focus of attention

 Charles Darwin sought into account for why animals look and act they way that they do

o His theory notes that the blueprint for behaviour and appearance lies in genes, that

genes, very randomly, that some traits and characteristics are better suited to certain

environments and that over time, certain kinds of traits come to be seen as normal in

that species

 Social Darwinists  also called biologists or biological determinists by some, have worked to

explain human behaviour, but looking within individuals to their biological and genetic makeup

to understand why they do the thing that they do

 This body of thinking falls on the nature side of the nature-nurture debate and has argued that

children are born with a set of prescribed characteristics that results in specific personality

 Twin studies have often been used to try to prove the importance of genetic influences on

behavioural differences.

 Most of these studies compare identical and fraternal twins to look for similarities and

differences

Psychoanalytic Viewpoints

 “igud Freud as see i his assuptio that oral hildre aross time and space) move

through a series of relatively fixed stages of psychosocial development in their development of

personality