SOC100H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Tabula Rasa, Pierre Bourdieu, Epigenetics
CHAPTER 5 SOCIALIZATION AND CULTURE
STARTING OFF – CHINA LINES UP FOR QUEUING DAY
- To prepare for the 1008 Olympics, the Chinese government civilized their residents of
Beijing:
oEvery 11th of the month was queuing practicing days: new standards for lining up
oEvery 22nd of the month was give up your seat day
- 100 days leading up to China’s national celebration (Oct. 2009) orange-vested volunteers
were stationed at bus stops to overlook queuing practice
o80% lined up where there were volunteers
o30% lined up in the absence of volunteers
- overall, the civilization index improved by all of this (in terms of line-jumping, spitting,
littering, etc)
INTRODUCTION: THERE’S NOTHING “NATURAL” ABOUT GOOD MANNERS
- etiquette, good manners, and other social scripts were learned over time
- what is considered good manners here in North America might not be seen the same in
another continent
DEFINING SOCIALIZATION
- how we act, talk, and think (what we believe in) is shaped by society – the norms and
values
- but we are free to create ourselves: a lot of who we are is a result of our activity
- freedom + determinism, transformation + constraint = central features of social life
- socialization is central to determine what kind of person we become
-socialization: the lifelong social learning a person undergoes to become a capable
member of society, through social interaction with others, and in response to social
pressures – especially leaning of one’s culture
othrough social interaction with others and in response to social pressures people
learn he culture and internalize the expectations of the community to which they
belong
osocialization is an important process that shapes, constrains, and transforms us
oaccomplishments of socializations
internalization of social expectations (beliefs, norms, values, scripts)
developing a self-concept (identity)
DEFINING CULTURE
-culture: our uniquely human environment, including all of the objects, artifacts,
institutions, organizations, ideas, and beliefs that make up the social environment of
human life
oa perceptual filter through which we view (and judge) other people’s actions
- the values and beliefs (and we) are shaped and framed at a level that is very hard to see
because it’s what we see through, the essence of what we are, and the way we enact
worlds and selves
-acculturation: the process of assimilating a culture other than the one a person was first
socialized into
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oa form of socialization
oimportant for people who migrate from one society to another
THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
- people do not pre-exist the socialization process, socialization makes us into people
- the socialization process gives people the resources (including skills like speaking,
reading, counting) and values (i.e. aspiration to do well in school)
- socialization relies on agents of socialization to model success, teach skills, and reward
good efforts
- the success of socialization also requires the person to be ready to be socialized (relies on
age or life cycle position)
oalso depends on social structure factors (socioeconomic status, cultural resources)
that influence engagement of socializer and person to be socialized
-primary socialization: learning that takes place in the early years of a person’s life, and
that is crucial to the formation of an individual’s personality
oshapes character, determines future development
oagents of socialization = parents; shape character + identity of child
omacrosociologists: primary socialization is the mechanism that integrates people
into society, teaches how to fulfill socially required roles
through this social imprinting, society reproduces itself into the future
also reproduces and perpetuates social inequality (through schooling and
mass media); dominant social classes influence socialization, teach people
their place in society and that it’s indisputable
omicrosociologists: individual develops social view of them self through
socialization
view themselves as good or bad, competent or inept, normal or deviant,
etc.
-secondary socialization: learning that occurs after childhood, and that usually involves
acquiring specific roles, norms, attitudes, or beliefs, and that sometimes involves self-
imposed learning
omay have less of an effect on self-image or sense of competence than primary
omuch of this occurs in adulthood
owe undergo secondary socialization whenever we change jobs, get married, have
children; most people learn how to parent when they become one
ochildren and parents socialized and learning about their respective roles from one
another – through social interaction
ooccurs outside of the family – what makes it different from primary socialization
often based on accumulated knowledge and previous socialization
-anticipatory socialization: the process of learning about and preparing for future roles
oprepare to play a social role we have not yet entered
ocommon form: in medical school where med students learn how to be a doctor
socially – about doctor-patient interactions, how to disclose test results etc.
-resocialization: the learning that occurs within social institutions designed to retrain or
reprogram people
ojob training, counselling program, support group
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ototal institutions (Goffman) – social institutions that resocialize their clients,
customers, inmates
oconvents, prisons, mental hospitals
- institutions that socialize us adopt similar practices
oelementary schools teach us reading, writing, arithmetic BUT also teach us how to
master new material, do homework, take tests life skills
WAYS OF LOOKING AT… SOCIALIZATION AND CULTURE
FUNCTIONALISM
- proposes that socialization occurs top down:
oas children internalize social norms and learn to conform to the expectations of
society
- according to Talcott Parsons, Robert Bales, and James Olds: the top-down learning is
commendable for the way it produces social conformity and consensus
osociety will function more smoothly the more thoroughly members of society
accept the norms and values handed down from older generations
othe ideal society is thus characterized by social integration: the outcome produced
when behaviors expectations are properly internalized
- criticisms:
opeople are incompletely shaped by the norms and expectations of their society
Dennis Wrong: to imagine that socialization is ever complete and
thorough is to hold an “over-socialized” view of human beings
oFeminists: this approach implies that gender socialization is natural and inevitable
result of differences between men and women
Gender socialization: the social learning process a person goes through to
acquire gender roles and gender-based habits
This approach implies that society requires socialization along gnder lines
even though this kind of socialization justifies and maintains gender
inequality
Theodor Adorno (and collaborators): while a strict top-down socialization
produces conformity and conventionality, at extremes it produces
undesirable by-products as anger, superstition, prejudice, racism, sexism,
and homophobia
- Views culture having an integrative role in society
oCulture organizes behavior and gives us symbols to share, thus functionalist
sociologists look to culture to explain consensus and stability
o“civic culture” – a culture of participation in everyday social and political life by
ordinary citizens – is functional to the survival of democracy
oeg. In societies where people hold ‘modern’ values, people tend to express trust in
others and confidence in social institutions, with the result that they have more
stable democratic governments than do other societies
- critics: look at the role of culture in creating tensions, pitting one social group against
another
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Document Summary
Starting off china lines up for queuing day. To prepare for the 1008 olympics, the chinese government civilized their residents of. Beijing: every 11th of the month was queuing practicing days: new standards for lining up, every 22nd of the month was give up your seat day. Introduction: there"s nothing natural about good manners etiquette, good manners, and other social scripts were learned over time. What is considered good manners here in north america might not be seen the same in another continent. Gender socialization: the social learning process a person goes through to acquire gender roles and gender-based habits. This approach implies that society requires socialization along gnder lines even though this kind of socialization justifies and maintains gender inequality. Theodor adorno (and collaborators): while a strict top-down socialization produces conformity and conventionality, at extremes it produces undesirable by-products as anger, superstition, prejudice, racism, sexism, and homophobia.
