INTRODUCTION TO

SOCIOLOGY Week 4
Socialisation
and the Life
Course
Outline

1. The Role of Socialisation

2. The Self & Socialisation
3. Agents of Socialisation
 1
The Role of Socialisation
The Role of Socialisation
• Sociologists, in general, are interested in the patterns of behavior and
attitudes that emerge throughout the life course, from infancy to old
age.
• These patterns are part of the lifelong process of socialization, in
which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate
for members of a particular culture.
• We learn a great deal from people most closest to our lives – family,
friends, teachers, neighbors etc. We also learn from people we see on
the street, on television, on the Internet, and in films and magazines.
The Role of Socialisation
Consequences of Socialisation: Self-concepts

• Socialization also shapes our self-images and our personalities

• Self-image is a mental construct of an individual’s self. It is created by
how an individual sees him/herself and how an individual perceives
how others sees him/her
• Personality refers to a person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs,
characteristics, and behavior.
The Role of Socialisation
Consequences of Socialisation: Role-taking

• Socialization is fundamentally reflective; that is, it involves self-

conscious human beings seeing and reacting to the expectations of
others.
• As we encounter new situations in life, such as going away to college
or getting a new job, we are able to see what is expected.
• We adapt to the situation accordingly, becoming a young adult
student or an employee of a company.
The Role of Socialisation
Consequences of Socialisation: Social Behaviour

• Socialisation creates the tendency for people to act in socially

acceptable ways.
• Through socialization, people learn the normative expectations
attached to social situations and the expectations of society in
general.
• As a result, socialization creates some predictability in human
behavior and brings some order to what might otherwise be social
chaos.
The Role of Socialisation
Consequences of Socialisation: Transmission of Culture

• Socialization is the process by which people learn and internalize the

attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of their culture.
• A person is not only the recipient of culture but also is the transmitter
of culture, passing cultural expectations on to others.
• socialization provides for the transmission of a culture from one
generation to the next, to ensure the long-term continuity of a
society.
The Role of Socialisation
• Is socialization important to human development? Do we need it at all?
• Don’t we already have the genes to ‘be human’? Don’t genes also carry
an aspect of our social behavior?
• Most social scientists have moved beyond the nature (heredity) vs
nurture (environmental factors) debate, instead acknowledging the
interaction of these variables in shaping human development.
• Heredity and environmental factors interact in influencing the
socialization process.
• Let’s take a look at some cases.
The Role of Socialisation
• Group 1: Social isolation – COVID19 cases
• Group 2: Neglect – Romanian orphanages during communism
• Group 3: Harlow’s experiment
• Group 4: The Wolfpack
• Group 5: the Minnesota Twin Family Study
• Group 6: Feral children
The Role of Socialisation
The Role of Socialisation
 2
The Self & Socialisation
The Self & Socialisation
• We all have various perceptions, feelings, and beliefs about who we
are and what we are like.
• The self is a distinct identity that sets us apart from others.
• Sociologists recognize that the self emerges as we interact with others.
• It is not a static phenomenon, but continues to develop and change
throughout our lives.
• Sociologists and psychologists alike have expressed interest in how the
individual develops and modifies the sense of self as a result of social
interaction.
The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: Cooley

• In the early 1900s, Charles Horton Cooley advanced the belief that we
learn who we are by interacting with others.
• Cooley used the phrase looking-glass self to emphasize that the self is the
product of our social interactions.
• The process of developing a self-identity or self-concept has 3 phases:
1. we imagine how we present ourselves to others
2. Then we imagine how others evaluate us
3. we develop some sort of feeling about ourselves
The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: Mead

• George Herbert Mead continued Cooley’s exploration of interactionist

theory.
• Mead is best known for his theory of the self. According to Mead the
self begins at a privileged, central position in a person’s world
(egocentrism).
• He developed a useful model of the process by which the self
emerges, defined by three distinct stages: the preparatory stage, the
play stage, and the game stage
The Self & Socialisation
The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: Mead

• According to mead, the self is made of the interaction between I and

Me.
• I is the part of the self that is spontaneous, unpredictable, creative,
and independent of any particular situation
• Me is the part of the self that is organised so that it meets the
expectations of social norms, behaviours, and attitudes of a society
• Generalised other is anyone who represents a whole group of people
that has expectations of your behaviour, attitude, and personality.
The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: Mead
The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: Goffman

• How do we manage our “self”? How do we display to others who we

are?
• Erving Goffman suggested that many of our daily activities involve
attempts to convey impressions of who we are. He called this the
presentation of the self.
• His observations help us to understand the sometimes subtle yet
critical ways in which we learn to present ourselves socially.
 The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: Goffman

• Impression management and face-

work
• In analyzing such everyday social
interactions, Goffman makes so many
explicit parallels to the theater that
his view has been termed the
dramaturgical approach
The Self & Socialisation
Sociological Approaches to the Self: In Summary

• Cooley stressed the process by which we create a self;

• Mead focused on how the self develops as we learn to interact with
others;
• Goffman emphasized the ways in which we consciously create images
of ourselves for others.
The Self & Socialisation
Anticipatory Socialisation and Resocialisation

• The development of a social self is literally a lifelong transformation

that begins in the crib and continues as one prepares for death.
• Two types of socialization occur at many points throughout the life
course: anticipatory socialization and resocialization
The Self & Socialisation
Anticipatory Socialisation and Resocialisation

• Anticipatory socialisation refers to processes of socialisation in which a

person rehearses for future positions, occupations, and social
relationships.
• Think about what do you do to prepare for: joining a new university,
getting married, joining a new job, having a baby, moving to another
country, being promoted etc.
• A culture can function more efficiently and smoothly if members become
acquainted with the norms, values, and behavior associated with a social
position before actually assuming that status
The Self & Socialisation
Anticipatory Socialisation and Resocialisation

• Occasionally, assuming a new social or occupational position requires

us to unlearn an established orientation
• Resocialisation refers to the process of discarding former behavior
patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life
• The process of resocialisation typically involves considerable stress for
the individual
The Self & Socialisation
Anticipatory Socialisation and Resocialisation

• Resocialization is particularly effective when it occurs within a total

institution
• Erving Goffman coined the term total institution to refer to an
institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single
authority, such as a prison, the military, a mental hospital, or a
boarding school.
• Because the total institution is generally cut off from the rest of
society, it provides for all the needs of its members.
The Self & Socialisation
Anticipatory Socialisation and Resocialisation

Goffman (1961) identified four common traits of total institutions:

1. All aspects of life are conducted in the same place under the control of a
single authority.
2. Any activities within the institution are conducted in the company of others
in the same circumstances
3. The authorities devise rules and schedule activities without consulting the
participants.
4. All aspects of life within a total institution are designed to fulfill the
purpose of the organization
 3
Agents of Socialisation
Socialisation through the Life Course
• The continuing and lifelong socialization process involves many
different social forces that influence our lives
• Let's discuss the following agents:
1. Family
2. School
3. Peers
4. Mass media
5. Workplace
6. The State
Socialisation through the Life Course
FAMILY
• Through families, children are introduced to the expectations, norms, values,
and language of a society
• How parents define and treat a child is crucial to the social development of the
child
• Some families may emphasize educational achievement over physical activity;
some may be more permissive, whereas others emphasize strict obedience
and discipline.
• Even within families, children may experience different expectations based on
gender or birth order
Socialisation through the Life Course
SCHOOL
• Like the family, schools have an explicit mandate to socialize people
—especially children—into the norms and values of a society’s culture
• Functionalists point out that schools, as agents of socialization, fulfill
the function of teaching children the values and customs of the larger
society
• Conflict theorists have observed that school fosters competition
through built-in systems of reward and punishment, such as grades
and evaluations by teachers
Socialisation through the Life Course
PEERS
• Examples of peer groups: classmates, neighbors, friends, coworkers,
sports team etc.
• As a child grows older, peer groups increasingly assume the role of
Mead’s significant other (individuals who are most important in the
development of the self)
• Within the peer group, young people associate with others who are
approximately their age, and who often enjoy a similar social status
Socialisation through the Life Course
MASS MEDIA
• In the past century, media innovations—radio, motion pictures,
recorded music, television, social media, video games, magazines and
the Internet—have become important agents of socialization
• The media expose us to numerous images that shape our definitions
of ourselves and the world around us.
• What we think of as beautiful, politically acceptable, or materially
necessary is strongly influenced by the media.
Socialisation through the Life Course
WORKPLACE
• Learning to behave appropriately in an occupation is a fundamental
aspect of human social
• Workplace culture: leadership, professionalism, motivation,
teamwork, initiative, diversity, competition etc.
• College students today recognize that occupational socialization is not
socialization into one lifetime occupation. They anticipate going
through a number of jobs.
Socialisation through the Life Course
THE STATE
• Increasingly, social scientists are recognizing the importance of
government (“the state”) as agents of socialization, because of their
impact on the life course
• Traditionally, family members have served as the primary caregivers in
our culture, but in the 20th century, the family’s protective function
was steadily transferred to outside agencies such as hospitals, mental
health clinics, and childcare centers