SOCIALIZATION

Lecture 4
 Socialization

• Socialization refer to the lifelong social experience

by which people develop their human potential and
learn culture.
• Unlike other living species, whose behavior is mostly
or entirely set by biology, humans need social
experience to learn their culture and to survive.
• Social experience is also the foundation of
personality, a person’s consistent patterns of acting,
thinking, and feeling.
• We build a personality by internalizing—taking in—our
surroundings.
 Human
Development:
Nature And Nurture

• The debate between nature and nurture

focuses on the extent of which biology and
genetics versus socialization shape human
behavior and development.
• The Biological Sciences: The Role of
Nature

• The Social Sciences: The Role of Nurture

 • Sigmund Freud’s Elements of
Personality:
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) lived in
Vienna at a time when most
Europeans considered human
Understandi behavior to be biologically fixed.
• Trained as a physician, Freud
ng gradually turned to the study of
personality and mental disorders and
Socializatio eventually developed the celebrated
n theory of psychoanalysis.
• Freud combined basic needs and the
influence of society into a model of
personality with three parts: id, ego,
and superego.
 Freud
Model of
Personali
ty
Jean Piaget’s Theory of
Cognitive Development
Piaget’s Stages of Development:
• Sensorimotor stage the level of human development at which
individuals experience the world only through their senses. (0-2)
• Example: Knows the world only through the five senses.
• Preoperational stage the level of human development at
which individuals first use language and other symbols. (2-7)
• Example: They can identify a toy as their “favorite”.
• Concrete operational stage the level of human development
at which individuals first see causal connections in their
surroundings.(7-11)
• Children focus on how and why things happen…
• Formal operational stage the level of human development at
which individuals think abstractly and critically. (12-..)
• Young, people begin to reason abstractly rather than thinking
only of concrete situations. If, for example, you were to ask a
seven-year-old, “What would you like to be when you grow up ?”
you might receive a concrete response such as “a teacher.”
 Lawrence
Kohlberg’s
Theory of
Moral
Developme
nt
Carol Gilligan’s Theory of gender and
Moral Development

• Gilligan (1990) has shown how gender guides social behavior.

• Her early work exposed the gender bias in studies by Kohlberg
and others who had used only male subjects.
• But as her research progressed, Gilligan made a major discovery:
Boys and girls use different standards in making moral decisions.
• Men’s morality is based on abstract principles of law and justice,
while women’s is based on principles of compassion and care.
• By ignoring gender, we end up with an incomplete view of human
behavior.
George Herbert Mead’s Theory of the
Social Self
• George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)
developed the theory of social
behaviorism to explain how social
experience develops an individual’s
personality.
• The Self
• The I and the ME
• Development of Self
The Looking-Glass Self
(Cooley)

• As we interact with others, the people

around us become a mirror in which we can
see ourselves.
• Cooley (1864–1929) used the phrase
looking-glass self to mean a self-image
based on how we think others see us.
• What we think of ourselves, then, depends
on how we think others see us.
• For example, if we think others see us as
clever, we will think of ourselves in the
same way. But if we feel they think of us as
clumsy, then that is how we will see
 Erik H. Erikson’s Eight Stages of
Development
Stage 2: Stage 4:
Stage 1: Infancy— Stage 3: Preschool—
Toddlerhood—the Preadolescence—
the challenge of the challenge of
1 challenge of 2 3 the challenge of
trust (versus initiative (versus
autonomy (versus industriousness
mistrust). guilt).
doubt and shame). (versus inferiority).

Stage 5: Stage 6:Young Stage 7: Middle

Stage 8: Old age—
Adolescence—the adulthood—the adulthood—the
the challenge of
challenge of gaining 5 challenge of 6 challenge of making 7
integrity (versus
identity (versus intimacy (versus a difference (versus
despair).
confusion). isolation). self-absorption).
 Agents of Socialization
• The Family
• Family is the first agent of socialization.
• Infants are totally dependent on others for care.
• The responsibility for providing a safe and caring environment
typically falls on parents and other family members.
• The School
• Schooling enlarges children’s social world to include people with
backgrounds different from their own.
• It is only as they encounter people who differ from themselves that
children come to understand the importance of factors such as race
and social position.
• As they do, they are likely to cluster in playgroups made up of one
class, race, and gender
 Agents of Socialization
• The Peer Group
• By the time they enter school, children have joined a peer group, a social
group whose members have interests, social position, and age in
common.
• Unlike the family and the school, the peer group lets children escape the
direct supervision of adults.
• Among their peers, children learn how to form relationships on their
own.
• The Mass Media
• The mass media, such as television, movies, social media, and
advertising, are important agents of socialization, as they provide
messages and images that shape individuals' attitudes, beliefs, and
values.
• In Pakistan, Mass Media might play role in shaping ideas about beauty,
gender roles, and cultural identity.
• Mass Media also provides information about social issues and can
influence public opinion and political attitudes.
Socialization and the Life Course

The Life
Course:
Patterns Childhood
and
Variations

Death and Adolescenc

Dying e

Old Age Adulthood

De-Socialization and Re-socialization:
Total Institutions (Goffman)
• Total Institutions are places where people are completely
immersed in the activities of the institution and cut off from the
outside world, such as prison, mental hospitals, and military
boot camps.
• The purpose of total institutions is to de-socialize individuals
from their previous identities and resocialize them with new
values, attitudes, and behaviors that are deemed appropriate
for the institution.
• De-socialization is the process of breaking down an individual's
previous identity by removing their personal possessions,
clothing, and hairstyle, and creating a standardized
environment where everyone is treated the same.
• Re-socialization is the process of building a new identity for an
individual by teaching them new norms, values, and behaviors
that are in line with the institutional culture. This can involve a
variety of techniques, including rewards and punishment
systems, peer pressure, and intense indoctrination.