SORSOGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Sorsogon City Campus

College of Engineering and Architecture
Baribas, Bibinchan, Sorsogon City

GENDER AND SOCIALIZATION

Socialization
 Is the process of learning the statuses, roles, and values necessary for the individual’s participation in
society. It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to
accept society’s beliefs, and to be aware of societal values.
 Socialization is not the same as socializing (interacting with others, like family, friends, and coworkers);
to be precise, it is a sociological process that occurs through socializing.
 Children learn at a young age that there are distinct expectations for boys and girls. Cross-cultural
studies reveal that children are aware of gender roles by age two or three. At four or five, most
children are firmly entrenched in culturally appropriate gender roles (Kane 1996). Children acquire
these roles through socialization, a process in which people learn to behave in a particular way as
dictated by societal values, beliefs, and attitudes.

Why Socialization Matters?

 Socialization is critical both to individuals and to the societies in which they live. It illustrates how
completely intertwined human beings and their social worlds are. First, it is through teaching culture to
new members that a society perpetuates itself. If new generations of a society don’t learn its way of
life, it ceases to exist.
 Social interaction provides the means via which we gradually become able to see ourselves through the
eyes of others, learning who we are and how we fit into the world around us.

Key Concepts

Nature versus Nurture

 Some experts assert that who we are is a result of nurture—the relationships and caring that surround
us. Others argue that who we are is based entirely in genetics. According to this belief, our
temperaments, interests, and talents are set before birth. From this perspective, then, who we are
depends on nature.

Status – pertains to your position to the society in which you may occupy more than one position (e.g., being
a daughter, student, etc.)
1. Ascribed status – assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life, example: sex
2. Achieved status – social position that a person can acquire on the basis of merit and is earned or
through efforts, example: becoming an athlete
Gender roles – activities that a society link to being Male or Female. Just as gender affects how we think of
ourselves, so it teaches us how to behave. Gender role socialization begins at birth and continues throughout
the life course.

Agents of Socialization
 Agents of socialization are a combination of social groups and social institutions that provide the
first experiences of socialization.
 every human came out to this world a tabula rasa which means “blank tablet”. Tabula rasa is the
idea of individuals being born empty of any built-in mental content, so that all knowledge comes
from later perceptions or sensory experiences.

The Four Major Agents of Socialization

1. Family
2. School
3. Peers
4. Mass Media

Socialization at Home

 Family is the first agent of socialization. Mothers and fathers, siblings and grandparents, plus
members of an extended family, all teach a child what he or she needs to know. For example, they
show the child how to use objects (such as clothes, computers, eating utensils, books, bikes); how to
relate to others (some as “family,” others as “friends,” still others as “strangers” or “teachers” or
“neighbours”); and how the world works (what is “real” and what is “imagined”).
 It is important to keep in mind, however, that families do not socialize children in a vacuum. Many
social factors impact how a family raises its children.
 There is considerable evidence that parents socialize sons and daughters differently. Generally
speaking, girls are given more latitude to step outside of their prescribed gender role (Coltrane and
Adams 2004; Kimmel 2000; Raffaelli and Ontai 2004).
 Parents commonly describe their infant daughters as pretty, soft, and delicate and their infant sons as
strong, active, and alert, even though neutral observers find no such gender differences among infants
when they do not know the infants’ sex. From infancy on, parents play with and otherwise interact with
their daughters and sons differently.

Sociologist recognize that these FACTORS play an important role in socialization:

1. Race
2. Social Class
3. Religion
4. Other Societal Factors
Socialization at School

 Educational institutions, including teachers and peers, are significant agents of socialization. Schools
reinforce societal norms and values, teaching subjects and social behaviors that align with the culture.
 School and classroom rituals, led by teachers serving as role models and leaders, regularly reinforce
what society expects from children. Sociologists describe this aspect of schools as the hidden
curriculum, the informal teaching done by schools.
 The latent functions of competition, teamwork, classroom discipline, time awareness and dealing with
bureaucracy are features of the hidden curriculum.
 Teachers at all levels treat their female and male students differently in subtle ways of which they are
probably not aware. They tend to call on boys more often to answer questions in class and to praise
them more when they give the right answer. They also give boys more feedback about their
assignments and other school work (Sadker & Sadker, 1994)

Socialization at Peers

 A peer group is made up of people who are similar in age and social status and who share interests.
 Peer group socialization begins in the earliest years, such as when kids on a playground teach younger
children the norms about taking turns or the rules of a game or how to shoot a basket. As children
grow into teenagers, this process continues.
 As the children reach school age, they begin to play different games based on their gender. Boys tend
to play sports and other competitive team games governed by inflexible rules and relatively large
numbers of roles, while girls tend to play smaller, cooperative games such as hopscotch and jumping
rope with fewer and more flexible rules.
 Peer groups are important to adolescents in a new way, as they begin to develop an identity separate
from their parents and exert independence.

Socialization at Mass Media

 Mass media refers to the distribution of impersonal information to a wide audience, via television,
newspapers, radio, and the internet.
 Media contributes to socialization by inundating us with messages about norms and
expectations.
 With the average person spending over four hours a day in front of the TV (and children averaging
even more screen time), media greatly influences social norms (Roberts, Foehr, and Rideout 2005).
People learn about objects of material culture (like new technology and transportation options), as well
as nonmaterial culture—what is true (beliefs), what is important (values), and what is expected
(norms).

Conclusion
Our direct interactions with social groups, like families and peers, teach us how others expect us to behave.
Likewise, a society’s formal and informal institutions socialize its population. Schools, workplaces, and the
media communicate and reinforce cultural norms and values.

References:

 https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter5-socialization/#:~:text=Socialization
%20is%20the%20process%20through,be%20aware%20of%20societal%20values.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa
 https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/rothschildsintrotosociology/chapter/agents-of-socialization/
 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-introductiontosociology/chapter/gender-and-socialization/
 https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/
Child_Family_and_Community_(Laff_and_Ruiz)/
04%3A_How_Does_Gender_Influence_Children_Families_and_Communities/
4.03%3A_Socialization_and_Gender

ASSESSMENT 2. Explain the following questions: (Yellow paper) +Documentation TODAY for attendance.
1. How does school act as an agent of socialization?
2. Which agent of socialization has the most impact on our development?
3. Is the family sometimes negative agent of socialization? Why?
4. How social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram affected the presentation of self?