Understanding Culture , Society, And Politics

BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY

Society – a part of a community that is unit distinguishable by a particular aims or standards of living or conduct; a
scocial circle or a group of social circles having a clearly marked identity.
Enculturation- a process which all individuals undergo throughout his whole life.Through this, a person would be able
to learn and understand social norms, values, languages, behaviour and other important things about the person’s
culture.
NORMS AND VALUES
Norms-the conceptions of appropriate and expected behaviour that are held by most members of the society.
Values-are set as to what the society wants to become.
STATUS AND ROLES
Social control is the process of creating and maintaining stability; in simplest terms, the power of society over
individuals.
Conformity-behavior which involve change in order to fit in; the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining
those goals.
Deviance-behavior that violates social norms; the fact or state diverging from usual or accepted standards, especially in
social or sexual behaviour.

I.Personality and Socialization

Socialization-lifelong process of human interaction by which human potential develops through the social learning of
culture.
Personality-can be best defined as a person’s fairly consistent pattern of acting, thinking and feeling.
Nature and Nurture
Nature-we mean to say that the biological factors that makes the human being influences how his personality will
develop.
Nurture-refers to the social environment of a person which influences him through the process of socialization.

II.THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
According to Sigmund Freud, there are two basic needs of human beings; the life instinct and the death instinct
Life instinct or eros pertains to the sexual and emotional needs of human while the Death instinct or thanatos refers to
the aggressive drive of human beings.

Parts of Personality
1.id-It is the Latin word for "it".It refers to the basic human drives that are present in all human beings from the moment
of birth.It is consider as the primordial needs of man.
2. Superego-Latin word for "above the ego".It pertains to the Cultural norms and standards that were internalized by
individuals.
3. ego-Latin word for the "I".It is the conscious effort of the individual to strike a balance between his primordial
instincts and the normatives demands of the society.

A.Theory of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget-Swiss psychologist who centered his thought about the child development to human cognition.The
development of the human cognition is said to be the crucial point in understanding of human personality.

Human cognition-refers to how man reacts, analyze and understand his social world.

There are 4 stages of Cognitive development;

1. Sensorimotor stage-start from the moment child is born until he turns two years old.During this stage the child merely
relies on his sense perception.
2. Preoperational stage-age two to six years old; during this stage the child begin to learn language and uses symbols.
3. Concrete Operational Stage-happens between age of seven to eleven; child starts to find causal connections among
different ideas and their surroundings.
4. Formal Operational Stage-child begins to understand abstract and numerical concepts and therefore begins to think
critically.
B.Stages of the Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg-a psychologist that centers his idea of personal development in moral reasoning.
Moral reasoning-refers to the ability of man to evaluate social situation to be right or wrong.
There are three stages of moral development;
1. Pre-conventional stage-similar to sensorimotor stage but children experience their social world in terms of what is
painful and pleasurable.
2. Conventional stage-begins in the child's teen years; the teenager begins to understand the social norms to be directed
what is good.
Postconventional stage-man begins to understand the abstract ethical principles behind the norms.They begin to
understand deep philosopical background that lies behind the ethical norms that they need to follow.

C.Gender and Moral Development

Carol Gilligan added a crucial factor of the personality which is gender issues to the equation.She found out that the
boys and girls have different perspectives in their moral reasoning.

Erikson's eight stages of development

-in this stages Erik Erikson had pointed out that each stage has a certain goal which must be achieved in order for man to
continue onto the next level smoothly.

Stage 1: Infancy (the challenge of trust versus mistrust)

-starts from the child is born until 18 months;In this stage,the child thus learns to trust that he can do anything but to
rely on his family for support.
Stage 2: Toddlerhood (the challenge of autonomy versus doubt and shame)
-start from the first 18 months until 3 years old; the child try to do things on his own with the process develops
confidence.
Stage 3: Preschool (the challenge of initiative versus guilt)
-3 to 4 years old; the child must learn how to socialize with other people outside of the family.
Stage 4: Preadolescence (the challenge of industriousness versus inferiority)
-6 to 13 years old;children stirve to achieve and accomplish certain goals which can make him and people around
him proud.If things become mess he would feel inferiority instead of indutriousness.
Stage 5: Adolescence (the challenge gaining identity versus confusion)
-covers the teenage of man; serves as the transition from childhood to adulthood.Man tries to establish his own
identitg as a person distinct from everyone else.Because of this some teens experience confusion because their
identities were not yet shaped.
Stage 6: Young adulthood (the challenge of intimacy versus isolation)
-young adults tend to form relationship with friends and lovers.Intimacy is developed because they are maturing
not only in age but also in intellect and emotions.If intimacy is not met it could turn into a bitter isolation.
Stage 7: Middle adulthood (the challenge of making a difference versus absorption)
-a man wants to make difference on his society.He strives to make a name for his community and career
environment. If man fail to fulfil his goals, it could lead to self-centeredness.
Stage 8: Old age (the challenge of integrity vesrus despair)
-man in this stage has done already most of the things he can do.He knows that he has a little time and his strength
is failing.He feels integrity for the fulfillment or despair if he thinks that what was he had done is not enough.

Mead's theory of the Self

George Herbert Mead theorize that the self just like personality is very much influenced by socialization.He viewed the
self as part of an individual's personality composed of self-awareness and self image.The self according to Mead is only
made possible through man's social experiences.Mead utilize the idea of role-taking in order to fully grasp the
development of the self.Mead also believe that it has three stages.
Preparatory Stage
-a child is less than two years old.During this stage the child slowly understand meanings through the use of
symbols.This can be seen if a child mimics or imitate someone's action and behaviors.
Play stage
-it is significant in the development of the self.It begins at 2 years old to 6 years old.During this period ,the child will
slowly gain a concept of himself through playing.When a child plays he assumes and role taking begins.
Game Stage
-it comes after the play stage.The game stage is composed of strict and hard and fast rules.Man through the game stage
learns hoq to follow established rulea, imaginatively take roles of other participant's and see how their role fits in
established system of expectations.(Ferrante 2014).
III.Agents of Socialization

According to Joan Ferrante,agent of socialization referring to the "significant people, groups and institutions that shape
our sense of self and social identity,helps us realize our human capacities,and teach us to negotiate the world which we
live
Family-basic unit of the society which composed of a mother father and children.It is where all individuals started their
social lives.One thing is for sure the basics concepts such as religion,morality norms and costums are first introduced in
family.
Religion-it contains all the faculties present within one's conscience.There will be always a room for religiosity in human
life and culture.It affects our judgments on what is moral and immoral,good or evil.
School-is a community of academicans students and teachers alike united in the pursuits of intellectual endeavors.The
school is composed of heterogenous mixture of people having different personalities and cultural orientation.

Peer Group-a group of people more or less the same age and status in life who are together in a particular activity and
such activity creates a social bonding among them.

Government-is the instrumentality by which the will of the sovereign state is formalized and realized.It influences the
conduct of a people through the enactment and the enforcement of law.

Mass Media-means for delivering impersonal communications to a vast audience(Macionis 2007).It helps connect many
people in many ways even people in a far flung places could be informed.Media is from a Latin word means middle or
middle groud.Mass media is the common groud for all.
IV.Socialization through the Life Course
Childhood-regarded as biologically and intellectually immature and hence incapable of social responsibilities.It is a time
devoted for learning the social skills which will later on be applied to real life situations when the time comes.

Adolescence- generally refers to the teenage years of man which is also associated with puberty.He struggles to his life
to come up with a personal identity which he will identify himself with.

Adulthood- it signals the time for an individual to form a family,make career and make a name for himself.It can be
classified to an early adulthood and late adulthood.
Early adulthood- 20 -40 years old.A man learns to manage his responsibilities such as rearing children and taking care of
family.
Late adulthood- from 40-60 years old.It is the time when the man become absorbed with his career.

Old Age-time for reaping the labors of the past.Starts middle sixties.The preparation for dying also exist in this stage.
V.Human Dignity,Rights and the Common Good

Human dignity can be defined as the kind of respect and emulation accorded to man because of his ability to govern his
own actions through his rationality.

Rights-the idea of rights can be considered as a natural consequence of human dignity.It can be generally defined as
norms that protects an individual's dignity which should not be violated by other people.

Common good-can be simply defined as the situation where the people's rights and welfare is protected and promoted.