Socialization

1
Socialization The Family

• Evolutionary origins of the family unit
• The family unit
• The functions of the family
• The family as a social system
• The social systems view
• Why are social ties important?
• Socialization within the family
• Dimensions of parenting
• Warmth
• Positive and negative control
• Involvement
• Parent-child interactions
• Authoritative
• Authoritarian
• Permissive
• Uninvolved

2
Five Functions Necessary for the Survival of
Society

• Reproduction
• Replacement for dying members.
• Economic Services
• Goods and services must be produced and
  distributed for the support of members.
• Societal Order
• Procedures for reducing conflict and maintaining
  orderly relations among members.
• Socialization
• The young must be trained to become competent,
  participating members.
• Emotional Support
• Binding individuals together, harmonizing goals,
  dealing with emotional crises, fostering a sense
  of community, and so on.

3
The Social Systems View ofFamily Socializaton

• Bidirectional effects
• Parents influence children and children influence
  parents
• Bidirectional influences also effected by other
  family relationships
• Mothers and fathers feel more competent as
  parents when the marital relationship is good
• Forces within the family are dynamic
• As child grows, nature of parental relation
  changes
• Relationships within the family are viewed within
  the larger societal context
• Interchanges occur between boundary of inner
  family and outer external world
• Ex., Community connections are significant for
  the well-being of the family
• Formal organizations schools, daycares
• Informal organizations friends, neighbors
• Strong ties between family and community serve as
  buffer for family stress

4
Why are social ties effective buffers against
family stress?

1. Provide parents with interpersonal acceptance.
2. Provide opportunities to exchange information,
   goods, and services.
3. Provide child-rearing controls and/or models.
4. Provide secondary adult influences.

5
Warmth and Comforting/Reparation Behavior
6
Dimensions of ParentingAspects of Control

• Positive aspects of control
• Parents exercise appropriate control over childs
  behaviour when have high expectations and they
  train child to meet those expectations
• Parents should enforce rules of behavior
  consistently
• Open communication between parents and children
• Situation management anticipate problematic
  situations and arrange them so appropriate
  behaviour by children is more likely
• Negative aspects of control
• Power assertion
• Short term effects of power assertion
• Long term effects of power assertion

7
Classification of Parenting Patterns (Baumrind,
1971, 1973)
Control Warmth Warmth
High Low
High Authoritative Authoritarian
Low Permissive Indifferent Uninvolved
Authoritative Children are buoyant,
self-confident, and self-controlled Authoritarian
Preschoolers are unhappy and withdrawn, appear
anxious in interactions with peers Permissive
Immature youngsters, overly demanding and
dependent, explosive and disobediant when desires
are thrwarted Uninvolved By two years children
show deficits in virtually all aspects of
psychological functioning
8
Changing Family Structure Large to Small
Families

• Family size and parent-child interaction
• Smaller families have favorable consequences for
  parent-child interaction
• Increasing family size effects marital relation,
  discipline becomes more authoritarian
• Growing up with siblings
• Sibling rivalry
• Siblings as an interactional context for children
• Only children
• Are only children disadvantaged socially and/or
  emotionally?
• Advantages for only children