Chapter 4

Copyright ©2013 W.W. Norton, Inc.

YouMay Ask YourselfCore Third EditionDalton Conley

YouMay Ask YourselfThird EditionDalton Conley

Chapter 4

Socialization and the Construction of Reality

2Copyright ©2013 W.W. Norton, Inc.

Paradox


What Is Socialization?

• Socialization is the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as a member of that society.


Limits of Socialization• However, socialization cannot explain

everything about a person’s development and personality. – Biology is also a very important

component.– It is a combination of biology and social

interactions that makes us who we are.


Charles Horton Cooley• Theorized that the “self”

emerges from our ability to assume the point of view of others and imagine how those others see us.


George Herbert Mead• Mead developed a theory about how the

social self develops over the course of childhood.

• Infants know only the “I,” but through social interaction they learn about “me” and the “other.”

• They develop a concept of the “generalized other,” which allows them to apply norms and behaviors learned in specific situations to new situations.


George Herbert Mead• Mead stressed the importance of imitation,

play, and games in helping children recognize one another, distinguish between self and other, and grasp the idea that other people can have multiple roles.


Eric Erikson

• Eric Erikson – He established a theory of

psychosocial development that identifies eight stages that span a person’s lifetime.

– Each stage involves a specific conflict that a person must resolve in order to move on to the next stage.


Interview

C.J. Pascoe


Agents of Socialization• Families, school, peers, the media, and total

institutions are all important socializing agents or environments.

• A total institution is an institution in which one is totally immersed that controls all the basics of day-to-day life.


Interview

Annette Lareau


Resocialization

• a change in values, beliefs, or norms through an intense social process


Social Interaction

• Robert Merton’s role theory provides a way to describe social interaction.


Statuses and Roles

• A status is a position in society that comes with a set of expectations. – An ascribed status is one we are born with

that is unlikely to change. – An achieved status is one we have earned

through individual effort or that is imposed by others.


Statuses and Roles

• One’s master status is a status that seems to override all others and affects all other statuses that one possesses.

• Roles are the behaviors expected from a particular status.


Statuses and Roles• Role conflict occurs when the roles associated

with one status clash with the roles associated with a different status.

• Role strain occurs when roles associated with a single status clash.

• Either of these may lead to role exit.


Gender Roles• set of behavioral norms associated primarily

with males or females in a given social group or system

• Gender theorists argue that gender roles can be more powerful and influential than other roles that people fill.


The Social Construction of Reality• Social construction

– People give meaning or value to ideas or objects through social interactions.

– It’s an ongoing process that is embedded in our everyday interactions.


The Social Construction of Reality• Symbolic interactionism is a micro-

level theory based on the idea that people act in accordance with shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions.

• Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory views social life as a theatrical performance in which we are all actors on metaphysical stages with roles, scripts, costumes, and sets.


The Social Construction of Reality• Ethnomethodology is an approach to

studying human interaction that focuses on the ways in which we make sense of our world, convey this understanding to others, and produce a mutually shared social order.


The Social Construction of Reality• Harold Garfinkel developed a method for

studying social interactions, called breaching experiments, which involved having collaborators exhibit “abnormal” or “atypical” behaviors in social interactions in order to see how people would react.


The Social Construction of Reality• The Internet has created new types of social

interaction that don’t incorporate verbal and visual cues people are accustomed to relying on. It has also changed society by creating new types of crimes and new ways of communicating.


The Social Construction of Reality• Because our reality is socially constructed,

an unexpected change in that reality can be upsetting, frustrating, or just plain incomprehensible.

• We all have a stake in maintaining consensus on shared meanings so that our society can continue to function smoothly.


Concept Quiz1. In social development theory, the “self” can

be defined as _______.a) the individual identity of a person as perceived by

that same personb) one’s sense of agency, action, or powerc) the identity of a person as perceived by othersd) all of the above


Concept Quiz2. According to George Herbert Mead’s stages

of development, children learn to recognize an “other” through _____.

a) formal gamesb) imitationc) playing informally with other childrend) none of the above


Concept Quiz3. ______ are common agents of socialization.

a) Siblingsb) Teachersc) Television programsd) all of the above e) none of the above


Concept Quiz4. Which of the following is an example of a total

institution?a) elementary schoolb) sports teamc) conventd) political party


Concept Quiz5. Which of the following theories argues that

people’s choices about how to act are based on shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions?

a) symbolic interactionismb) functionalismc) dramaturgical theoryd) postmodernism


Concept Quiz6. Harold Garfinkel is well known for _______.

a) developing the theory of impression management

b) creating breaching experimentsc) investigating the armed forces as a total

institutiond) his analysis of socialization agents


Discussion Questions1. Have you ever been told that you act like your

parents?a) yesb) no

2. Are you adopted?a) yesb) no


Discussion Questions3. Do you have siblings?

a) Yesb) no

4. Are you a twin?a) yesb) no

5. How similar do you think you are to your siblings?

a) very similarb) somewhat similarc) not similar

You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, 3rd Edition Copyright ©2013 W.W. Norton, Inc. 32

Chapter opener


Early in elementary school you were taught to raise your hand to speak in class. Can you think of other examples of internalized behavior?


How does a small child playing peekaboo demonstrate the social process of creating the self?


Figure 4.1: Mead’s Stages of Social Development


Why are games an important part of child development? What do team sports like soccerteach us about multiple roles?


According to Annette Lareau, how do working-class and middle-class families structure theirchildren’s free time differently? What are the results of these different socializing behaviors?



What advantages do students at elite private schools, such as the young men pictured above inthis 1964 Philips Academy yearbook photo, have over those who attend public schools?How do elite schools prepare students differently?


Research on television shows such as Sesame Street shows that they help children developmath and verbal skills.


Marines training at Parris Island. How is Marine boot camp an example of a total institution?


Who are you? What are the different roles in your status set? For example, singer Beyonce’sstatuses include mother, daughter, and partner.


How do the displays at this New York City toy store serve as an example of the ways that welearn gender roles through socialization?



Which one of these paintings is a “real” Jackson Pollock? Does it matter? (For the record,the real one is on the right.) How is the controversy over the Pollock paintings anexample of the social construction of reality?


Lunch? Cicadas, grasshoppers, and other insects on skewers for sale in DonghaumenNight Market in Beijing, China.


How does symbolic interactionism help us understand the differences in greetings amongvarious cultures? Pictured here are Bedouins touching noses, Malian men with theirarms around each other, and the Belgian royal family celebrating the prince’s 18th birthday.


Celebrities such as Tiger Woods suffer from tabloid scandals when their backstage livesbecome public, but we all make distinctions in our lives between front-stageand backstage behaviors.


A scene from the film Borat. What established scripts did Sacha Baron Cohen’s characterBorat violate by going on an elevator naked? How did the unsuspecting woman onthe elevator try to cope with the breach?


Two teachers work with students in a Harlem Children’s Zone program. The HCZ school day is1.5 hours longer than public-school days and includes many special activitiesand clubs that most impoverished schools cannot offer.


Paramedics try to resuscitate professional wrestler Owen Hart after a deadly fall inKansas City, Missouri.

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for:

YouMay Ask YourselfCore Third EditionDalton Conley

YouMay Ask YourselfThird EditionDalton Conley

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Chapter 4 Socialization and the Construction of Reality

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Chapter 4

Documents

particular status

status clash

different status

ascribed status

achieved status

roles ones master status

multiple roles

social self