Chapter 5 - Understanding Socialization and Interaction

Question 1

Socialization

Answer 1

How you learn through social interaction to follow the social norms and expectations of society

Lifeline social experience by which individuals develop human potential and learn patterns of their culture

Question 2

Social Reproduction

Answer 2

How society’s norms and values are passed on from generation to generation

Although values and norms can change over time, many of the structural components of society remain the same across generations.

Socialization occurs throughout the life course, which refers to the various stages of one’s life from birth to death.

Question 3

Resocialization

Answer 3

Learning to adapt to new social norms and values

Question 4

George Herbert Mead

Answer 4

Because socialization is focused on the individual the sociological understanding of it is shaped by the micro-level symbolic interactionist approach particularly George Herbert Mead

Mead (1964) argued that through symbolic interactions with others we develop into social beings.

Influenced by Charles Horton Cooley’s concept of the looking glass self

Believed we are not born with a sense of self but rather learn self consciousness through social interactions

Question 5

Self-consciousness

Answer 5

An individuals’ awareness of how others see them. The individual develops a sense of self through the reactions and attitudes of others.

Question 6

Taking the role of the other

Answer 6

Mead maintained that children begin to develop into social beings who are aware of themselves by imitating those around them.

Ex. pushing a baby doll in a stroller

In taking the role of the other, children begin to see themselves the way others see them while starting to understand that they are separate individuals

What develops in these play and game stages in what Mead refers to as the “me”, which differs from the “I”. The “I” is the self’s unsocialized impulses and attitudes that respond to the reactions and attitudes of others in a creative and active way. The “me” part of the self internalized the generalized reactions and attitudes of other members of society often censors the “I”.

Question 7

Agents of socialization

Answer 7

People, groups, institutions, and social contexts that contribute to our socialization

Question 8

Family

Answer 8

Generally the first agent of socialization and interaction. Most influential agent as most infants and children undergo significant socialization from their family.

• Teach foundational skills, norms, and values
• Social class has strong influence
• Lower versus middle class differences

Question 9

School

Answer 9

Teach academic content, norms, and valuesInteraction with authority figures and peer

Social factors influence experience

Question 10

Peers

Answer 10

As children get older, they spend more time with their peers becoming an important agent of socialization that can both reinforce and challenge what children have learned from the family.

• Peers exert more influence
• Peer pressure to conform
• Peers challenge norms and values

Question 11

Peer pressure

Answer 11

Peers often expect conformity to a set of particular social norms relating to appearance, behavior, language, etc.

Question 12

Media

Answer 12

An increasingly influential agent of socialization. Books, radio, and TV have long been influential, but today in the information age there is unprecedented access to media from smartphones and tablets.

• Media consumption growing
• Media violence linked to aggression

Question 13

Agents of Socialization for Adults

Answer 13

We never stop being socialized. Work is often an important social context. Each new workplace constitutes a new set of agents of socialization.

Question 14

Total Institution

Answer 14

Closed to external influences in which a group of people live together, following a strict structured routine. Sleep, work and plat all occur within the confines of one institution rather than in different locations.

• Total institutions are regimented environments
• Closed to external influences
• Resocialization is important

Ex. prison, military

Question 15

Gender Socialization

Answer 15

We learn the particular expectations of our society as it relates to gender learning gender identity and roles through socialization

Starts at birth

Question 16

Self-identity

Answer 16

Our own understanding of who we are that is shaped by our interactions with others. Constantly being shaped and reshaped.

Question 17

Role strain

Answer 17

Competing demands within a particular social role and status

Ex. two exams on the same day

Question 18

Role Conflict

Answer 18

When our different social roles conflict with one another.

Ex. Mother and student

Question 19

Identity

Answer 19

The characteristics by which we are known

Question 20

Group

Answer 20

Any set of two or more people with whom you share a sense of belonging, purpose and identity.

Allow us to accomplish tasks we could not do alone.

Question 21

Types of Groups

Answer 21

Primary and secondary.

• Primary group: smaller, more intimate, and longer-lasting like family, close friends.
• Secondary group: less personal and some last just a short period of time.

Question 22

Elements of Social Interaction

Answer 22

• Status means recognized positions occupied by interacting people.
• Social interaction requires roles or sets of expected behaviors.
• Social interaction requires norms or generally accepted ways of doing things

Question 23

Status

Answer 23

A recognized social position that an individual occupies

Question 24

Front

Answer 24

Where we actively perform our roles

The “expressive equipment” the individual uses to define the situation and convince others of the sincerity of his or her performance.

Consists of the setting, appearance, and manner of the context in which a particular performance occurs.

The individual seeks to influence the perception others have of them.

Question 25

How status is obtained

Answer 25

Social Status: human created and defined position within a social structure

• ASCRIBED: INVOLUNTARY POSITIONS(result from chance)
• ACHIEVED: VOLUNTARY POSITIONS(result from choice or effort)

OFTEN THE TWO TYPES WORK TOGETHER, WHAT WE ARE ASCRIBED OFTEN HELPS US ACHIEVE OTHER STATUSES

Question 26

Master Status

Answer 26

THE STATUS THAT SEEMS TO DEFINE A PERSON

ALSO, A PERSON’S “MASTER STATUS” CAN EITHER WORK IN FAVOR, OR AGAINST A

PERSON.
EXAMPLE: PERSONS WHO ARE INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED

Question 27

Erving Goffman

Answer 27

Developed Dramatury approach to analyzing and explaining social interaction. Used the metaphor of the theater to describe how social lives are a kind of performance.

Considered the pioneer of the study of social interaction in everyday contexts

Question 28

Formal organizations

Answer 28

Planned secondary groups created to achieve a goal.

Allow us to accomplish even larger tasks

Follow a plan for dividing power, assign members to fill specific responsibilities, and have a system to replace individuals.

Question 29

Ideal Bureaucracy

Answer 29

Formal organizations designed to complete complex tasks rationally and with maximum efficiency.

Standard set of rules, clear hierarchy of status positions with specific roles, emplyeees hired on the basis of their qualifications, etc.

Vital to almost all large formal organizations.

Question 30

Back stage

Answer 30

Where we are “out of character” and no longer have to put on a performance.

Question 31

Ethnomethodology

Answer 31

Created by Harold Garfinkel

Study of the “ethno” - ordinary or everyday methods people use to make sense of their social interactions

Focused on language and the simplistic small talk that makes up many of our basic interactions with others.

Found that breaking the conventions of everyday small talk make people deeply uncomfortable and upset.

Question 32

Status Set

Answer 32

All the statuses held at one time

Ex. Dance partner, boss, friend, sports participant