I,Socialization
A,Its Meaning and Importance
B,Feral Children
C,Total Institutions and Resocialization
-video clip on military resocialization
D,Basic Research Findings
1,Human (Biophysical) Development
2,Cognitive Development
3,Emotional Development
II,Culture and Personality
III,Differential Socialization
lV,Role Performance
Characteristics of
Socialization
? process by which we become social
?lifelong
?based on social interaction
? necessary for being adequately human
? source of our sense of self
? how culture is transmitted
? source of both commonality and difference
? What are feral
children?
? What do they
teach us about the
importance of
socialization?
Total Institutions and Resocialization
Video Clip
Quick Survey of Research Findings
A,Human (Biophysical) Development
? Normal development can be suppressed
? Normal development cannot be
accelerated significantly
the,Mozart Effect” is unsupported
by replication research
Quick Survey of Research Findings
B,Cognitive Development
? the work of Jean Piaget
? a universal sequence of cognitive stages
? successively more sophisticated rules of
reasoning
? not everyone makes it through all stages
? the work of Noam Chomsky
? an inborn universal grammar (language
instinct)
Quick Survey of Research Findings
C,Emotional Development
? there are stages of emotional
development (Jerome Kagan)
? emotional expression is learned
Culture and Personality
Franz Boas,culture,not
biology,is what makes
people what they are and
explains differences
between groups
Margaret Mead,developed
and popularized these ideas
Basic Ideas of the Culture and
Personality School of Anthropology
1) Culture is personality writ large
2) Plasticity of culture
3) Cultural determinism
? A response to Social Darwinism
Mead,Sex and Temperament in
Three Primitive Societies (1935)
? Arapesh--both men and women were
“feminine”
? Mundugumor--both men and women were
“masculine”
? Tchambuli--men were,feminine” and
women,masculine”
? Biology irrelevant; only culture matters in
shaping sex roles and identities
Discussion Question,What is Stark’s
position on the culture and personality
school of thought?
? They overstated their case,Culture
doesn’t explain everything,
? Cultural differences can be explained by
geography,
? But the,enemy” for Boas and Mead was
biology,not geography
What is Stark trying to show in this table?
Race/Genes
(Social Darwinists)
Personality and
Behavior
Culture
(Boas,Mead)
Political
Geography
(Stark)
Differential Socialization,
Social Class
? Studies by Melvin Kohn in the 1950s
? Value clusters in socialization,
conformity vs,self-
expression/independence
? These value clusters correlated with
social class
? But nature of work experience proves to
be more important than social class
Differential Socialization,
Social Class
Working class occupation
with autonomy,self-
expression/independence
value cluster
But possibility of change
even late in life
Question
These studies of socialization and
social class were carried out in the
1950s and 1960s,Do you think that
they still hold true today? Are there
new dividing lines on the basis of
social class?
Differential Socialization,
Gender
?Conceptual Distinction,Sex
(biological) vs,Gender (socially
constructed)
? Research Findings,Pervasiveness
of gender socialization
Erving Goffman,Performing Social
Roles
? Every situation is new
? We have to improvise; there is no
script
? We can choose to perform roles in
different ways
Goffman,The Theatre Analogy
? people use props as part of impression
management
? people distinguish between front stage
and backstage
? teamwork is often involved
? the,audience” may collude,studied
non-observance
We are products of our socialization,
which extends through our whole lives
But beware of the,oversocialized
conception of human beings” (Dennis
Wrong)
Socialization is different for different
groups of people (differential
socialization)
Socialization leaves room for human
choice,We have to perform our roles