Socialization

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Socialization

• Theories of Socialization

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Theories

• Symbolic Interactionism the self
• Charles H. Cooley
• George H. Mead
• Cognitive Development - Piaget
• Personality Development - Freud

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Symbolic Interactionism

• Charles H. Cooley (1864-1929)
• Looking-glass self
• The self develops through social interaction
• 3 step process
• We imagine how we look to others
• We interpret others reactions
• We develop a self-concept
• Favorable reflection ? positive self-concept
• Unfavorable ? negative
• Continuous, life-long

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Symbolic Interactionism George Herbert Mead
(1863-1931)

• Role taking crucial in socialization
• Process of mentally assuming another persons
  viewpoint
• Put oneself in someone elses shoes
• Anticipate anothers thoughts, actions
• Significant others
• Persons whose judgments are most important to
  ones self-concept
• Who are yours?
• Generalized other
• Norms, values, beliefs of community or society

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George Herbert Mead

• Role taking process
• Imitation stage
• Play stage
• Game stage

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Role taking process

• Imitation stage
• Child imitates physical/verbal behavior
• Significant others
• Not comprehend meaning

• Play Stage
• Assume status (position) of an individual
• Act out behavior associated with position
• Example?

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Role taking process

• Game Stage
• Consider the roles of several people at same time
• Organized games
• Learn each positions role (play stage)
• Must interact with different positions
• Learn generalized other
• Self-concept based on g.o.

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Mead (cont.)

• Self 2 parts
• I self as subject, active, creative,
  spontaneous
• Me self as object, socialized, conforms
• The mind is social
• Need symbols to think
• Come from language
• Taught by societys institutions

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Jean Piaget (1896-1980)Theory of Cognitive
Development

• 4 stages
• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete operational
• Formal operational
• May not be generalizable to other cultures

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Piaget - Sensorimotor

• 0-2
• Learn to coordinate body movement with senses
• Gradually realize self separate
• Develop sense of object permanence

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Piaget - Preoperational

• 2-7
• Learn to think symbolically, use language
• At first hard to distinguish thing from symbol
• Self-centered

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Piaget Concrete Operational

• 7 11
• Increasingly abstract thinking
• Logic
• Arithmetic operations
• Still difficulty if concrete objects not involved

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Piaget Formal Operational

• 11
• Learn to think without the help of concrete
  operationsabstract ideas, principles
• Consider relationships that are logical, even if
  ridiculous

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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Theory of Personality
Development

• Developed psychoanalysis
• Treatment of emotional problems through
  subconscious mind
• Personality 3 parts
• Id
• Ego
• Superego

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Freud - Personality Development

• Personality 3 parts
• Id
• Focuses on self-gratification
• Basic needs food, sex, attention
• Superego
• Social conscience internalized from groups
• Feeling of guilt/shame pride
• Ego
• Balances id and superego
• 2 parts are in conflict for control

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Freud - Personality

• Sociologists reject basic assumption
• Subconscious controls our feelings/behavior
• Social factors basis for our behavior
• Feminists critical
• Assumes what is male is normal
• Females are inferior, castrated males

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Compare Mead Freud

• What similarities and differences are there in
  comparing their theories?
• Discuss with neighbor

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Concepts

• Resocialization
• Process of learning new norms, values,
  attitudes, behaviors (G-9)
• When take on new roles
• Total institution
• Erving Goffman Asylums
• Place where people cut off from society
• Officials have total control over members
• Degradation ceremony when enter
• E.g., ??

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Concepts

• Agents of socialization
• Family
• Schools
• Church
• Workplace
• Media