SOC103H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Ruut Veenhoven, George Herbert Mead, Acculturation
Lecture 4: Culture and Socialization
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Why Socialization is Critical
Socialization: the life-long social learning a person undergoes to become a capable member of
society
• Mainly, this means the learning of one’s culture
• Socialization gives us conscience, character, and a desire to please others
Agents of socialization – families, schools, churches, and the mass media, among others –
transmit culture from one generation to the next
Culture: shared values and a variety of practices and performances
• A perceptual filter through which we view other people’s actions
Acculturation: a form of socialization (i.e. the learning of a culture by people who were
socialized first into another culture)
Adam’s Smith Theory of Moral Sentiments:
• Smith notes that conscience keeps us all in line – it is necessary for people to have a
conscience in a society
• Claims that we rely on guidance from something even more immediate than
punishment by others: namely our own self-criticism
• Believed that there was entire realm of things that went into making a society – moral
sentiments → part of being part of the society is learning and practicing these moral
sentiments
Learning a Conscience
• We watch and judge out on actions, thanks to conscience
• George Herbert Mead called this the generalized other: society’s way of reminding
us that other people are important too
*Culture is Learned
Drivers of Change
Differentiation (Durkheim)
• Refers to the increasing division of labor and specialization of tasks that occurs in all
social institutions alongside industrialization, urbanization, and increased social
diversity (ex. Education becoming secularized – religion and politics are not relevant)
• For the last two centuries, all human activities have specialized, with enormous
consequences for all of our lives
Commodification (Marx)
• Refers to the production of goods and services for exchange, not for subsistence
• It also refers to the rise of a mark society where virtually everything is for sale
o Leads to consumerism and the alienation of work under capitalism
Rationalization (Weber)
• Refers to:
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o An increase reliance on reason, law, and science in the everyday lives of
modern people
o A reduction in the social important of religion and traditional bases of
authority
o A “disenchantment of the world” in out thinking about life, society, and
nature
Are Modern People Less Happy?
• Happiness is a problematic concept
• Ruut Veenhoven and Maarten Bern investigated whether or not the aspects of
modernization are correlated with more or less happiness
o Considered industrialization, size of service sector, economic freedom, real
income per capita, globalization, etc..
o Measured happiness, emotions, contentment
** Showed that as societies become more modern, people become happier
The Socialization Process – living to learn in society
• Socialization is often defined as the social learning process a person goes through to
become a capable member of society and to develop a sense of “self”
• A social process that gives people basic resources include skills and values
Primary Socialization: learning that takes place in the early years of a person’s life and is crucial
to the shaping of an individuals character
Secondary Socialization: the socialization that occurs after childhood and adolescence
For Macro-sociologists, socialization is the mechanism that integrates people into society,
teaching them how to fulfill socially required roles – putting an operating system into the human
For Micro-sociologists, socialization is the process by which individuals develop a social view of
their “self” – people are active participants in their own learning
Culture: a source of stability
Functionalists - view culture as having an integrative role in society
• It creates social solidarity, provides stability and assurance, and unites the members
of a society
• The social structure uses cultural elements to perpetuate itself – like a genetic code
Conflict theorist – focus on disagreement
• From the conflict perspective, a culture and its elements are rooted in the economic
relations of capitalism – a way in which classes reproduce advantage/disadvantage;
people are imprinted with values that promote this
• Cultural values reflect and defend the underlying economic and power relations in a
society
Culture as a Source of Ideology
Ideology: a way of viewing the world
o A set of beliefs of assumptions
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Document Summary
Socialization: the life-long social learning a person undergoes to become a capable member of society: mainly, this means the learning of one"s culture, socialization gives us conscience, character, and a desire to please others. Agents of socialization families, schools, churches, and the mass media, among others transmit culture from one generation to the next. Culture: shared values and a variety of practices and performances: a perceptual filter through which we view other people"s actions. Acculturation: a form of socialization (i. e. the learning of a culture by people who were socialized first into another culture) Learning a conscience: we watch and judge out on actions, thanks to conscience, george herbert mead called this the generalized other: society"s way of reminding us that other people are important too. Differentiation (durkheim: refers to the increasing division of labor and specialization of tasks that occurs in all social institutions alongside industrialization, urbanization, and increased social diversity (ex.
