SOC100H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter SP: CH 5, RS: CH 8,10,12: Cortisol, Problem Gambling, Parenting Styles
SP Chapter 5: Socialization and Culture
●Defining socialization
○Socialization: the lifelong social learning a person undergoes to become a capable
member of society, through social interaction with others, and in response to social
pressures
○The process of socialization is “social” because it’s through social interaction with others,
and in response to social pressures, that people learn the culture and internalize the
expectations of the community to which they belong
○Two major accomplishments of socialization:
■Internalization of social expectations (learning particular beliefs, norms, values,
scripts, etc)
■Developing a self-concept (identity)
●Defining culture
○Culture: our uniquely human environment, including all of the objects, artifacts,
institutions, organizations, ideas, and beliefs that make up the social environment of
human life
○Also a perceptual filter through which we view and judge other people’s actions
○Acculturation: the process of assimilating a culture other than the one a person was first
socialized into
■Important for studying the immigrant children who grow up as part of two different
cultures as a result
●The socialization process
○Agents of socialization: parents and close family members, teachers, sometimes peers,
to model success, teach skills, and reward good efforts
○Primary socialization: learning that takes place in the early years of a person’s life, and
that is crucial to the formation of an individual’s personality
■For macrosociologists: it’s viewed as a mechanism that integrates people into
society, teaching them how to fulfill socially required roles, such as teaching and
learning of language, etc.
■For microsociologists: it's the process by which an individual develops a social
view of her or his “self”
○Secondary socialization: learning that occurs after childhood, that usually involves
acquiring specific roles, norms, attitudes, or beliefs, and that sometimes involves self-
imposed learning
■Less fundamental than primary socialization, since it may have less of an effect
on self-image or sense of competence
■Much of this happens in adulthood, since we undergo secondary socialization
whenever we change jobs, get married have children, etc
■Usually occurs outside the family, and is often based on already accumulated
knowledge and previous socialization
○Anticipatory socialization: process of learning about and preparing for future roles
■Ex: medical students not only learn about health, disease, diagnosis, and
prevention, but they also learn how to be a doctor socially. For example, learning
to interact with patients and what to disclose about the results of tests, etc.
○Resocialization: learning that occurs within social institutions designed to retrain or
reprogram people
■Ex: job-training courses, grief counseling programs, support groups, etc
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●Functionalism
○Functionalist theory proposes that socialization normally occurs from top down, as
children internalize social norms and learn to conform to the expectations of society
○Gender socialization: social learning process a person goes through to acquire gender
roles and gender-based habits
○Views culture as having an integrative role in society
■Typically look at culture to explain consensus and stability
■Sees cultural elements as shared norms, values, and beliefs as rising naturally
out of the social structure
●Conflict theory
○False consciousness: belief in shared interests among classes in spite of real
differences of wealth and power that separate us; willingness to believe in ideologies that
support the ruling class but that are false and disadvantageous to working-class interests
○Rooted in the insights of Karl Marx, whose work is a response to philosophical arguments
that emphasized the role of culturally based ideas in shaping society
■Marx was critical of these arguments for ignoring the role of economic relations in
molding people’s thoughts and actions
■Marx proposed that it was not that culture and ideas were shaping society but
rather that society -- in particular, the material relationships between social
classes -- was shaping culture, including beliefs, values, art, and religion
○Capitalism gives rise to a dominant ideology: a system of thoughts and beliefs that
justify and perpetuate capitalism by limiting criticism and encouraging support of a
neoliberal consumer culture
■Dominant ideology: system of ideas that supports the status quo and the
interests of the ruling class
■Used to manipulate public opinion and public perception
●Symbolic interactionism
○Criticizes functional theory’s endorsement of the “top-down” model of socialization for its
failure to address the great deal of socialization that occurs from the bottom up, with
children teaching themselves and one another how to behave
○The looking-glass self: in learning about the world and ourselves, we change our
behaviors to increase the pride and decrease the embarrassment we feel. So, from a
very young age, the reaction of others is important for our own feelings about ourselves
○Mead proposed that the self-concept is made up of two components:
■The I: our spontaneous, creative, and unique inner self
■The Me: the self we develop for social purposes, by internalizing societal norms
and values through social interaction
○Child’s play is central to successful socialization
■Through play and early interaction, children develop a concept of the generalized
other: an idea of the attitudes and expectations of society as a large
●On reaching this stage, a child has developed a self-concept and the
ability to act in a socially approved manner by imagining how others --
the generalized other-- will respond to her behavior
○In terms of culture, the symbolic interactionist sees the world through the lense of
microsociology, in opposition to the macrosociological perspectives on the topic taken by
conflict theory and structural functionalism
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■Believes culture arises out of the individual, face-to-face interactions of social
actors and the symbols they use to communicate meanings
■Allows more room for social actors to shape their culture than either the
functional or conflict theorist
●Feminism
○Focuses on gender socialization, the process of becoming socialized to perform gender-
specific roles
●Postmodernism
○Argues that cultural “texts,” or products, must be viewed with the author's social context
and personal subjectivity in mind
○Emphasizes counterculture (anti-traditional) behavior
●Agents of socialization
○Parents and other close family
■Most of us are born into families, and from there, develop of an idea of what
“family life” means
■A child's first emotional ties are usually to family members, who teach the child
the language, norms, and values of their culture
○School
■Teachers exert control without delivering affection, so they are the first truly
impartial rule-enforces a child is likely to make, making school a child’s first
exposure to the “rule of law”
■Exposes children to inequality for the first time
■Powerlessness at school provides real-life training for the adult workplace, but
also undoes some of the good that socialization accomplished in the family home
●School setting typically reduces opportunities for control and makes
children feel “incompetent:
■Conflict theory argues that the most important part of formal education is the so-
called hidden curriculum, which consists of all that is presented informally to
pupils, including some of the “unwritten” rules that students must learn to survive
in the education system and afterward
●Ex: learning how to identify who holds power, how to know which
behaviors are rewarded, how to fake interest and ability, etc
●Prevents important social development by upholding the concept of
hierarchy and legitimized inequality
●Encourages a passive acceptance of authority, a belief in external
rewards, and a high valuing of conformity and competition; prepares then
for the reduction of experience into incompleteness
○Peers
■Also a part of the child’s reference group, consisting of people the child considers
when evaluating his or her own thoughts and behaviors
●A reference group provides the standards against which people and
behavior are evaluated
○The media
■Major type of secondary socialization, influencing people’s behavior through
modeling and imitation
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SOC100H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Socialization: the lifelong social learning a person undergoes to become a capable member of society, through social interaction with others, and in response to social pressures. The process of socialization is social because it"s through social interaction with others, and in response to social pressures, that people learn the culture and internalize the expectations of the community to which they belong. Internalization of social expectations (learning particular beliefs, norms, values, scripts, etc) Culture: our uniquely human environment, including all of the objects, artifacts, institutions, organizations, ideas, and beliefs that make up the social environment of human life. Also a perceptual filter through which we view and judge other people"s actions. Acculturation: the process of assimilating a culture other than the one a person was first socialized into. Important for studying the immigrant children who grow up as part of two different. The socialization process cultures as a result.
