SN - Socialization Overview

Socialization Overview

Socialization Word Cloud Socialization is the process whereby people learn the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. Socialization occurs through human interaction. We will learn the most from important people in our lives, our family and friends, as well as teachers and religious leaders. We also learn from people we see on the street, on TV, and in books and magazines. Through interacting with people as well as our own observations of the world around us, we learn how to behave in an appropriate manner. We also learn rewards and consequences to the behaviors that we choose and help us to learn the values and beliefs that not only run our society but will change the way in which we determine to live our lives.

Essential Questions

What is socialization and what role does it play in societies?
What are the main agents of socialization?
What is more important to socialization; nature (genetics) or nurture (environment)?
What are the processes of socialization?
How do humans experience the processes of socialization at various stages of their lives?
What do the various theories on development reveal about socialization?
What is Sociocultural Evolution and how has Gerhard Lenski impacted the way, sociologists, study society?
How do various theoretical perspectives measure society and how do these differences affect their views on socialization?

Key Terms

Agents of Socialization - the individuals, groups, and institutions that create the social context in which socialization takes place; i.e. Family, Peer Group, School, and Mass Media (some sociologists include religion in this list)
Anticipatory Socialization - process of socialization in which a person prepares to be something else for future positions, occupations, and social relationships
Carol Gilligan - (1936- ) an American psychologist known for her work on gender roles; she determined in her work that gender does play a role in individual development with males relying on abstract standards of rightness and females relying on the effects of actions on relationships
Charles Horton Cooley - (1864-1929) an American Sociologist best known for his concept of the "looking glass self"
Concrete Operational Stage - third stage of Piaget's Theory on cognitive development; involves individuals understanding causal connections
Correlation - a relationship in which two (or more) variables change together; correlation does not indicate causation
Cultural Particulars - the ways in which a culture expresses universal traits
Cultural Universals - general culture traits that exist in all cultures
Desocialization - process of socialization where a person gives up old norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors
Dramaturgical Approach - a view of social interaction, in which people are looked at as if they were actors in a theater; Erving Goffman
Drive - impulse to reduce discomfort
Education - a social institution and agent of socialization through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills and cultural norms and values
Ego - the part of the human that experiences and reacts to the outside world and acts as a go-between for the id and the outside world; Latin for "I;" Sigmund Freud
Emile Durkheim - (1858-1917) a French sociologist whose study of suicide rates in the late 1800s helped propel the field of sociology as a scientific academic discipline separate from psychology and political science; considered as one of the founding fathers of sociology
Erik H. Erikson - (1902-1994) an American psychologist known for his theory on psychosocial development that argued that personality development was a lifelong process with the agents of socialization playing an important role
Erving Goffman - (1922-1982) was a Canadian sociologist who developed the term "dramaturgical approach" due to his belief that individuals "present" themselves in a certain way in public but act in another when "hiding" from the "audience
Family - a social institution and agent of socialization found in all societies that unite people in cooperative groups to care for one another
Formal Operational Stage - the fourth stage of Piaget's Theory on cognitive development; involves abstract and critical thought
Gender Roles - expectations of the separate genders regarding proper behavior attitudes and activities
Generalized Other - the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society (cultural norms) as a whole used in evaluating ourselves
George Herbert Mead - (1863-1931) an American sociologist who argued that social experience develops an individual's personality; instrumental in the development of sociology in the United States while working as a professor at the University of Chicago
Gerhard Lenski - (1924- ) an American sociologist noted for studying social inequality and developing the Theory of Sociocultural Evolution
Id - the part of the human that is the source of a human's instinctive energy or basic drives; modified by the ego and the superego; Latin for "it"; Sigmund Freud
Instinct - innate patterns of behavior
Jean Piaget - (1896-1990) a Swiss developmental psychologist who developed a theory on the stages of cognitive development known as Piaget's Theory that include sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage and formal operational stage
Karl Marx - (1818-1883) a German sociologist best known for his books The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital; argued that societies progress through class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a victimized laboring class that provides the labor for production; considered as one of the founding fathers of sociology
Lawrence Kohlberg - (1927-1987) was an American psychologist who developed a theory on individual Moral Development that includes the pre-conventional level, the conventional level and the post-conventional level
Looking-Glass Self - a self-image based on how we think others see us; Charles Horton Cooley
Mass Media - the means for delivering impersonal communications to a vast audience; one of the Agents of Socialization
Max Weber - (1864-1920) a German sociologist who argued against Auguste Comte's approach of positivism and claimed that people's beliefs and values shaped society; considered as one of the founding fathers of sociology
Natural Socialization - the process of socialization that occurs when infants and youngsters explore, play and discover the social world around them
Norms - rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members
Peer Group - a social group whose members have interests, social position and age in common; one of the Agents of Socialization
Personality - a person's typical attitudes, needs, characteristics and behavior
Preoperational Stage - second stage of Piaget's Theory on cognitive development; involves starting to use language and other symbols
Reciprocal Role - a corresponding role that is necessary for the existence of another role; for example, parent and son or daughter (cannot have one without the other)
Reflex - automatic reaction to physical stimulus
Religion - a social institution considered by some sociologists as an Agent of Socialization involving beliefs and practices based on recognizing the sacred
Resocialization - process of socialization discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a change in your life; often done under carefully controlled circumstances
Rites of Passage - rituals making the symbolic transition from one stage in life to another
Role Expectations - socially determined behaviors expected of a person performing a role; explains the behaviors of roles
Role Performance - the actual behavior of an individual in a role
Role Set - a number of roles attached to a single status
Roles - behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status
Self - the part of an individual's personality composed of self-awareness and self-image; George Herbert Mead argued that the self was the product of social experience
Sensorimotor Stage - first stage of Piaget's Theory on cognitive development; involves knowing the world through the senses
Sigmund Freud - (1856-1939) an Austrian neurologist who founded the field of psychoanalysis; developed a model of the human personality that consisted of three parts: id, superego and ego
Significant Other - an individual who is most important in the development of the self, such as parents; George Herbert Mead
Social Category - a collection of people who share a similar status but do not necessarily interact
Social Conflict Theory - the major sociological theoretical perspective that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change; Karl Marx
Social Institutions - the major spheres of social life or social subsystems, organized to meet human needs; includes Family, Education, Religion, Politics, Economy and Health and Welfare
Social Institutions - the major spheres of social life, or social subsystems, organized to meet human needs; family, education, religion, economy, government, health and welfare
Socialization - the lifelong social experience by which people develop their human potential and learn culture
Society - a body of individuals living as members of a community; an organized interaction of people who typically live in a nation or some other specific territory
Sociobiology - the systematic study of the biological basis of social behavior
Sociocultural Evolution - the changes that happen as society acquires new technology; Gerhard Lenski
Status - a social position a person holds
Structural-Functionalist Theory - the major sociological theoretical perspective that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability; Emile Durkheim
Superego - the part of the human that functions like the conscience and acts as the go-between for the id and cultural norms and values; Sigmund Freud
Symbolic Interactionist Theory - the major sociological theoretical perspective that society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals; Max Weber
Symbols - anything that carries a particular meaning recognized within a society
Technology - the branch of knowledge that deals with industrial arts, applied science, engineering, etc.
Values - broad ideas about what is good or desirable shared by people in a society

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