Social Relationships: Self, Groups, and Socialization

Transcription

1 Social Relationships: Self, Groups, and Socialization Jessica L. Collett University of Notre Dame Suggested Citation: Collett, Jessica L. (2014). Social Relationships: Self, Groups, and Socialization. A presentation at the University of Pittsburgh s Sociology for Social Studies Fall Workshop. October, 21. Pittsburgh, PA.

2 Socialization: The Quadrant of Action Goal: To get students to consider the myriad influences on what they feel, do, and think in everyday life. Concept: The Quadrant of Action (Fine 1995), the source of all affect (what you feel), behavior (what you do), and cognition (what you think): Body, which we experience as physicality. Mind, which we experience as consciousness. Other, which we experience as sociality. Culture, which we experience as meaning.

3 Possible Assignments: Who are the others that influence us? What are the cultures that we belong to? What are the beliefs or values of those significant others or those cultures? What did you have for breakfast? How does your choice (that choice is an action, but you might also consider your thoughts and feelings about your choice) relate to the quadrant of action? Gary Alan Fine, a sociologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, says the examination of public life is to recognize in mundane behaviors social significance (1995:6). Choose a mundane behavior that you engage in and use the quadrant of action to show how it is socially significant. How do body, mind, other, and/or culture influence your behavior?

4 Socialization and the Self: The Looking Glass Self Goal: To recognize that our ideas about ourselves are not innate, but arise in interaction with others. Concept: The Looking Glass Self (Cooley 1902). Just as we don t know what we look like unless we look in a mirror, we don t know who we are without imagining ourselves from the perspective of others. We imagine how we appear to others. We interpret their responses to us. We form a self-concept, based on pride or shame, from their response.

5 Possible Activity: Freaks and Geeks: Looks and Books (I & II) Discuss the three components: Imagination of appearance, interpretation of responses, and a self-concept, formed from those responses Introduce other relevant concepts: Reflected appraisals It is not what other think of us that matters, but what we think that others think of us. Why is this? Significant others But Sam s teacher and the attendance lady liked his outfit! Not everyone s opinions matter equally. For example, peers influence teens self-conceptions related to attractiveness, parents influence self-conceptions related to intelligence.

6 The Self and Group Membership: Goals: Who Am I? Give students a visual rendering of their selfconcept. A hierarchy of identities. Introduce them to a methodological tool Kuhn s Twenty Statements Test, Concepts: The four types of identities people have (role, social, group, and person) and their influence on behavior.

7 Activity: Complete this statement 10 times: I am. Responses will fall predominantly into these groups: role identities: tied to a social position, come with expectations and a complementary role (student, teacher) social identities: member of a social category (race, gender) group identities: membership in discrete groups (John Adams High School student, member of soccer team) person identities: characteristics that influence behavior across situations (introverted, fun) However, there will also be situational states (tired, bored). You can engage those, too.

8 What identities are we likely to list and enact? Those that we derive the most self-esteem from, those that we have invested resources in, those that we get intrinsic or extrinsic rewards from. Also, those that our social networks share, those that need support or have recently been challenged, and those that fit the situation. What affects how we enact certain identities? The conventional role expectations, our audience, a desire for consistency, and personal characteristics or competencies.

9 Self and Groups: Labeling Goal: Demonstrate the power of interaction, stereotypes, and labeling on individual behavior. Concepts: stereotype: a simplistic, rigid perception of members of a group that are widely shared by others. subtyping: seeing members of a stereotyped group who disconfirm stereotypes as exceptions and placing them in a subcategory. confirmation bias: tendency to favor information that confirms beliefs and to disregard information that contradicts them. This is why there is belief perseverance. self-fulfilling prophecies: when persons behave toward another person according to a label and cause the person to respond in ways that confirm that label.

10 Possible Activity: Mocktail Party Talk about how your year is going, your classes, or what you plan to do over the upcoming weekend. Circulate around, talking to at least a few people. Treat people according to their labels, but DO NOT make obvious remarks about them. You wouldn t walk up to someone who you heard is racist and say, So, I hear you re racist or I bet you hate anyone who s not white. However, that label might influence the topic you choose or direction of the discussion. DO NOT obsess about your own labels. Talk to someone as you would normally thinking about their impressions of you (reflected appraisals), but not exclusively.

11 Possible Post-Exercise Writing Prompts Being Labeled What do you think your label is? How did the exercise make you feel? How were you treated by others? How did the treatment affect you? Did you feel yourself living up to the labels? Labeling Others How did the exercise make you feel? When stereotyping others, how easy was it to find confirming evidence? How did you react to disconfirming evidence? What was the most powerful label you encountered?

12 In-Groups, Out-Groups; Daily Experiences, Life Chances: Race Goal: Have students recognize that even a socially constructed reality can have profound effects. Concept: Social Construction Theory (Berger and Luckmann 1966), but also self-esteem, inequality Externalization We create cultural products through social interaction. Objectivation Products created take on a reality of their own, separate from their creator. Internalization We learn the supposedly objective facts about the categories created.

13 Social Construction in Action Heather s a slut. Did you see what she s wearing? She must have hooked up with a ton of guys

14 The Social Construction of Race Externalization: Black and white as identifiers came to the U.S. in the 17 th Century; hypo-descent Christian - English & Free - White Objectivation: Race as a biological concept, separate from this history. Internalization: Black as inferior, white as superior. White as beautiful, Black as unattractive. Black as dangerous, white as nice.

15 A Girl Like Me Kiri Davis. Producer: Reel Works Teen Filmmaking

16 We do not simply react to the things that exist in the world around us the world as it is. Instead we react to our interpretation of those things. Sandstrom, 2010

17 Thank You!