Understanding Culture, Society and Politics

Quarter 1
Module 5: Becoming a Member of Society

The module is divided into two lessons, namely:

Lesson 1. Context and content of socialization
Lesson 2. Process and consequences of socialization

Lesson 1. Context and content of socialization

Society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social

interaction, or a large social group sharing the same special or social
territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant
cultural expectations. Culture provides everyone with norms, values,
expectations, and other information needed to live with other in the group.
Values and norms of a society are passed on to or acquired by its members
through the process of socialization or enculturation.
Socialization is the process through which we are taught the norms,
values, and customs of our society or social group. We can distinguish three
major aspects of socialization; the context in which it occurs, the actual
content and processes people use to socialize others, and the results arising
from those contexts and processes.

1. The Biological Context

Biological features are regularly suggested as sources of human
behavior. Sociobiologists suggest that some human capacities may
be "wired into" our biological makeup. For example, even newborn
babies seem to strive for maximum social interaction. They move
their heads back and forth in burrowing or "rooting" motions looking
for milk; they have powerful, grasping fingers that cling tightly to
other human fingers or bodies; and they move so as to maximize
body contact with their caregivers. These facts suggest that infants
are born wanting human contact.

2. The Psychological Context

Emotional States and the Unconscious

The primary factor in the psychological context of socialization is
the psychological state of the person being socialized. Psychological
states include feelings such as fear, anger, grief, love, and
happiness or a sense of emotional deprivation. Strongly feeling one
or more of these emotions might very well inhibit or promote
socialization of a particular kind. Fear may make it difficult for young
 children to be socialized in school, whereas people in love may leant
very quickly what makes their loved ones happy. Emotions can also
influence how individuals perceive the content of socialization,
whether in becoming a member of a family group or a religious sect.
Knowing something about the feelings of the people involved (the
psychological context) helps explain the results of the socialization
process.

Cognitive Development Theories

A number of psychologists emphasize the series of stages
through which humans progress. Although emotional concerns can
be involved, these theorists focus on cognitive (intellectual)
development, which occurs in a systematic, universal sequence
through a series of stages. The most influential theorist of
intellectual development was the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. A
sharp observer of children's development, Piaget stressed that
children need to master the skills and operations of one stage of
intellectual development before they are able to learn something at
the next stage.

Social contexts influence individual development. Culture exists

before the socialization of new members begins. Parents, for
example, do not need to decide alone what they arc going to teach
their children, since much of what they will pass along they have
themselves learned through socialization. Besides culture,
individuals are affected by social and historical events and by a
number of individuals who actively try to socialize them.

Social and Historical Events

Major social and historical events can be a force in socializing an
entire generation. Those suffering greater deprivation depended
less on formal education for their life achievements and more on
effort and accomplishment outside of education. Their health as
adults tended to be affected negatively by their economic
hardships. Finally, they tended to value marriage and family more
highly as a result of their economic deprivation (Elder, 1974). Thus
individuals who live in extraordinary times appear to be influenced
by the historical events around them.

3. Social Position as Part of the Context

Your family's social class, economic position, and ethnic
background--as well as your gender--can affect the ways in which
you will be socialized. People in more advantageous positions tend
to develop higher self-evaluations. As a result, they feel justified in
having more resources. Similarly, those in less desired positions
 tend to have lower self-evaluations and may feel that their lower
status is deserved (Della Fave, 1980).
Political structure may also be related to socialization practices.
Autocratic states tend to have more "severe" socialization, show
clear power and deference relationships, and stress obedience
(Stephens, 1963).

What is Socialization?
Have you ever entered in your classroom wearing a crown or an
evening gown? Or, did you ever expect your teacher to do his/her
laundry in front of the class? Funny isn’t it? Unless a person is put in his
mind, he/she could never do such strange actions. Most of us who are
conscious of the patterns of behaviour and code of dressing in the
society, would not dare act as such. How do we learn the appropriate
ways of behaving in our society?
What are the significant factors involved in the process of
learning? Sociologists have tries to answer these questions by
examining the various factors involved of socialization.
Socialization is the lifelong social experience by which people
develop their human potential and learn culture. Unlike other living
species, whose behavior is mostly or entirely set by biology, humans
need social experience to learn their culture and to survive. Social
experience is also the foundation of personality, a person’s fairly
consistent patterns of acting, thinking and feeling (Macionis 2012:
102).
Socialization is a central process in social life. Its importance has
been noted by sociologists for a long time, but their image of it has
shifted over the last hundred years.
Another term for socialization is enculturation.

Values, norms, status, and roles

Socialization is also defined as the process of preparing members for
membership in a given group in society. Through socialization, individuals
learn the norms and values of their society. Values are culturally defined
standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good, and beautiful
and that serve as broad guidelines for social living. Norms are the rules and
expectations by which a society guides the behaviour of its members.
Socialization prepares individuals to occupy statuses and roles
(Macionis 2012: 127–128). Status refers a social position that a person holds.
An ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or takes on
involuntarily later in life. Examples of ascribed statuses include being a
daughter, a Filipino, a teenager, or a widower. Achieved status refers to a
social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and
effort. Achieved statuses include honors student, athlete, nurse, software
writer, and thief. Role refers to behavior expected of someone who holds a
particular status.

Concept of Socialization
Following are the socialism theories focused on how the self, as
product of socialization, is formed by famous researchers.

Freud’s model of personality. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

combined basic needs and the influence of society into a model of
personality with three parts: id, ego, and superego. The id represents the
human being’s basic drives, or biological and physical needs which are
unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction. In the human personality,
the superego refers to the cultural values and norms internalized by an
individual. Society, through its values and norms, opposes the self-centered
id. The ego is, thus, a person’s conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure-
seeking drives (id) with the demands of society (superego).

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. From his studies of

human cognition, or how people think and understand. Jean Piaget (1896–
1980) identified four stages of cognitive development. Stage one is the
sensorimotor stage (first two years of life), the level of human development
at which individuals know the world only through the five senses. Stage two
is the preoperational stage (about age two to seven) at which individuals first
use language and other symbols. Stage three is concrete operational stage
(between the ages of seven and eleven) at which individuals first see causal
connections in their surroundings. The last stage is the formal operational
stage (about age twelve) at which individuals think abstractly and critically.

Mead’s theory of the social self. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)

For Mead, the self is a part of our personality and includes self-awareness
and self-image. It is the product of social experience, and is not guided by
biological drives (see Freud) or biological maturation (see Piaget). According
to Mead, the key to developing the self is learning to take the role of the
other. Infants can do this only through imitation and, without understanding
underlying intentions, have no self. As children learn to use language and
other symbols, the self emerges in the form of play. Play involves assuming
roles modeled on significant others, or people, such as parents, who have
special importance for socialization. Then, children learn to take the roles of
several others at once, and move from simple play with one other to
complex games involving many others. The final stage in the development of
the self is when children are able to not only take the role of specific people
in just one situation, but that of many others in different situations. Mead
used the term generalized other to refer to widespread cultural norms and
values we use as references in evaluating ourselves.
Cooley’s Looking-glass Self. Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
used the phrase looking-glass self to mean a self-image based on how we
think others see us. As we interact with others, the people around us become
a mirror (an object that people used to call a “looking glass”) in which we can
see ourselves. What we think of ourselves, then, depends on how we think
others see us. For example, if we think others see us as clever, we will think
of ourselves in the same way. But if we feel they think of us as clumsy, then
that is how we will see ourselves.

Gender role socialization

Sex refers to the biological characteristics distinguishing male and
female (Macionis 2012: 169). Sex is based on chromosomes, anatomy,
hormones, reproductive systems, and other physiological components.
Gender refers to those social, cultural, and psychological traits linked to
males and females through particular social contexts. Sex makes us male or
female; gender makes us masculine or feminine. All the major agents of
socialization—family, peer groups, schools, and the mass media—reinforce
cultural definitions of what is feminine and masculine. (Dionisio 1992: 1-2;
Macionis 2012: 170).
Lesson 2. Process and consequences of socialization

How do children socialize?

While context sets the stage for socialization, the content and
process of socialization constitute the work of this undertaking. How
parents assign chores or tell their kids to interact with police are
examples of content and process, which are also defined by the
duration of socialization, those involved, the methods used, and the
type of experience. The process of socialization entails learning the
various elements of a society’s culture as well as its social structure.
The discussion focuses on values, norms, status, and roles, as well as
gender role socialization.
Socialization is a learning process that begins shortly after birth.
Early childhood is the period of the most intense and the most crucial
socialization. It is then that we acquire language and learn the
fundamentals of our culture. It is also when much of our personality
takes shape. However, we continue to be socialized throughout our
lives. As we age, we enter new statuses and need to learn the
appropriate roles for them. We also have experiences that teach us
lessons and potentially lead us to alter our expectations, beliefs, and
personality. For instance, the experience of being raped is likely to
cause a woman to be distrustful of others.
Looking around the world, we see that different cultures use
different techniques to socialize their children. There are two broad
types of teaching methods--formal and informal. Formal education is
what primarily happens in a classroom. It usually is structured,
controlled, and directed primarily by adult teachers who are
professional "knowers." In contrast, informal education can occur
anywhere. It involves imitation of what others do and say as well as
 experimentation and repetitive practice of basic skills. This is what
happens when children role-play adult interactions in their games.
Most of the crucial early socialization throughout the world is
done informally under the supervision of women and girls. Initially,
mothers and their female relatives are primarily responsible for
socialization. Later, when children enter the lower school grades, they
are usually under the control of women teachers. In North America and
some other industrialized nations, baby-sitters are most often teenage
girls who live in the neighborhood. In other societies, they are likely to
be older sisters or grandmothers

Agents of Socialization
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 “neighbors”); and how the world works (what is
“real” and what is “imagined”). As you are aware, either from your own
experience as a child or from your role in helping to raise one, socialization
includes teaching and learning about an unending array of objects and ideas.
Keep in mind, however, that families do not socialize children in a
vacuum. Many social factors affect the way a family raises its children. For
example, we can use sociological imagination to recognize that individual
behaviors are affected by the historical period in which they take place. Sixty
years ago, it would not have been considered especially strict for a father to
hit his son with a wooden spoon or a belt if he misbehaved, but today that
same action might be considered child abuse.
Sociologists recognize that race, social class, religion, and other
societal factors play an important role in socialization. For example, poor
families usually emphasize obedience and conformity when raising their
children, while wealthy families emphasize judgment and creativity (National
Opinion Research Center 2008). This may occur because working-class
parents have less education and more repetitive-task jobs for which it is
helpful to be able to follow rules and conform. Wealthy parents tend to have
better educations and often work in managerial positions or careers that
require creative problem solving, so they teach their children behaviors that
are beneficial in these positions. This means children are effectively
socialized and raised to take the types of jobs their parents already have,
thus reproducing the class system (Kohn 1977). Likewise, children are
socialized to abide by gender norms, perceptions of race, and class-related
behaviors.

Schools
The next important agent of childhood socialization is the school. Of
course, the official purpose of school is to transfer subject knowledge and
teach life skills, such as following directions and meeting deadlines. But,
students don't just learn from the academic curriculum prepared by teachers
and school administrators. In school, we also learn social skills through our
interactions with teachers, staff, and other students. For example, we learn
the importance of obeying authority and that to be successful, we must learn
to be quiet, to wait, and sometimes to act interested even when we're not.

Peer Groups
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, the rules of a game, or how to shoot a basket. As children
grow into teenagers, this process continues. Peer groups are important to
adolescents in a new way, as they begin to develop an identity separate
from their parents and exert independence. Additionally, peer groups provide
their own opportunities for socialization since kids usually engage in different
types of activities with their peers than they do with their families. Peer
groups provide adolescents’ first major socialization experience outside the
realm of their families. Interestingly, studies have shown that although
friendships rank high in adolescents’ priorities, this is balanced by parental
influence.

Mass Media
Mass media distribute impersonal information to a wide audience, via
television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet. With the average person
spending over four hours a day in front of the television (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).
Results are the outcome of socialization and refer to the way a person
thinks and behaves after undergoing this process. For example, with small
children, socialization tends to focus on control of biological and emotional
impulses, such as drinking from a cup rather than from a bottle or asking
permission before picking something up. As children mature, the results of
socialization include knowing how to wait their turn, obey rules, or organize
their days around a school or work schedule. We can see the results of
socialization in just about everything, from men shaving their faces to
women shaving their legs and armpits.