2-2 Richard T. Schaefer Chapter Two: Culture and Socialization Sociology Matters Fifth Edition McGraw-Hill/Irwin Culture and Socialization 2-3 Culture and Socialization 2-4 What is Culture? Around the World Language and Culture Norms and Values Global Cultural War Culture and the Dominant Ideology Culture and Socialization The Self and Socialization Agents of Socialization Socialization throughout the Life Course Socialization: process through which children learn basic attitudes, values, and behaviors Personality: individual characteristics, attitudes, needs, and behaviors that set one person apart from another What is Culture? 2-5 What is Culture? 2-6 Culture: totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior Culture includes ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people Society: large number of people who live in same territory, who are relatively independent of people outside that area, and who participate in a common culture Common culture simplifies day-to-day interactions Adorno: worldwide culture industry standardized the goods and services demanded by consumers 1
2-7 2-8 Cultural Universals All societies develop common practices and beliefs, known as cultural universals Adaptations to meet essential human needs Innovation Diffusion Ethnocentrism Tendency to assume that one s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others Have complicated U.S. efforts at democratic reform of the Iraqi government In Iraqi culture loyalty to the family and the extended clan comes before patriotism and the common good Cultural Relativism 2-9 2-10 Evaluation of a people s behavior from the perspective of their own culture Employs a kind of value neutrality in scientific study Requires a serious and unbiased effort to evaluate norms, values, and customs in light of their distinctive culture Innovation Process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture Discovery Making known or sharing the existence of some aspect of reality Invention Results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before 2-11 2-12 Globalization: worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas Diffusion: process by which cultural item spreads from group to group Can occur through Exploration Military conquest Missionary work Mass media Tourism Internet 2
McDonaldization: process through which principles of fast-food industry dominate certain sectors of society Technology: Cultural information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires (Nolan and Lenski) 2-13 Material culture: physical or technological aspects of daily lives Food items Houses Factories Raw materials Nonmaterial culture: ways of using material objects as well as: Customs Beliefs Philosophies Governments Patterns of communication 2-14 2-15 2-16 Culture Lag: period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture struggling to adapt to new material conditions Each culture considers its own ways of handling basic societal tasks as natural Cultures adapt to meet specific sets of circumstances Subcultures Segments of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differ from the pattern of the larger society Argot Specialized language that is developed that allows insiders to understand words with special meanings 2-17 Counterculture When a subculture conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture Thrive among the young Hippies, political radicals 2-18 3
2-19 2-20 Culture Shock Feeling of disorientation, uncertainty, being out of place, or fearful when immersed in an unfamiliar culture Language and Culture Language: abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture Includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and gestures and expressions of non verbal communication Figure 2-1: 2-21 Norms and Values 2-22 Norms Established standards of behavior maintained by a society Formal norms: generally written; specify strict punishments Informal norms: generally understood but not precisely recorded Mores: norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society Folkways: norms governing everyday behavior Norms and Values 2-23 Table 2-1: Norms and Sanctions 2-24 Sanctions Penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm The entire fabric of norms and sanctions in a culture reflects that culture s values and priorities 4
Norms and Values 2-25 2-26 Figure 2-2 Life Goals of First-Year College Students in the U.S. Collective conceptions of what is good, desirable, and proper or bad, undesirable, and improper Influence people s behavior Criteria for evaluating actions of others Values may change Global Culture War 2-27 Culture and Dominant Ideology 2-28 Culture war: polarization of society over controversial elements of culture National: In 1990s, referred to political debates over abortion, religious expression, gun control, and sexual orientation Global: By 2003, in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, foreign opinion of the United States has become quite negative Dominant ideology: set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests, including: Social interests Economic interests Political interests Table 2-2: Major Theoretical Perspectives on Culture 2-29 Culture and Socialization Nature versus Nurture Today s social scientists acknowledge the interaction of the two Sociobiology: systematic study of the biological bases of human social behavior Sociobiologists apply Darwin s principle of natural selection to the study of social behavior 2-30 5
Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation 2-31 Figure 2-3: Genie s Sketch 2-32 Interaction of heredity and environment shape human development Cases of Isabelle and Genie Importance of earliest socialization experiences for children Researchers increasingly emphasize importance of early socialization experiences who grow up in more normal environments 2-33 2-34 The Self and Socialization Cooley: Looking-Glass Self Self: distinct identity that sets us apart from others The self is not a static phenomenon View of ourselves comes from contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how others perceive us Continues to develop and change Looking-glass self: the self is product of social interactions with other people 2-35 2-36 Mead: Stages of the Self Mead: Stages of the Self Preparatory Stage: children imitate people around them Symbols: gestures, objects, and language that form basis of human communication Play Stage: become more aware of social relationships and role taking occurs Role Taking: process of mentally assuming perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint 6
2-37 2-38 Mead: Stages of the Self Mead: Theory of the Self Game Stage: children of about 8 or 9 consider several actual tasks and relationships simultaneously Generalized others: attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account Self begins as privileged, central position in a person s world As person matures, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern about reactions of others Significant others: individuals most important in the development of the self Table 2-3: Mead s Stages of the Self 2-39 Goffman: Presentation of the Self 2-40 Impression management: individual learns to slant presentation of self to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences Also known as dramaturgical approach 2-41 2-42 Psychological Approaches to the Self Psychological Approaches to the Self Freud Art to come Stressed role of inborn drives Natural impulsive instincts in constant conflict with societal constraints Personality influenced by others (especially one s parents) Self has components that work in opposition to each other Piaget Emphasized stages that humans progress through as the self develops Cognitive theory of development identified 4 stages in development of children s thought processes Social interaction key to development 7
Table 2-4: Theoretical Approaches to Development of the Self 2-43 Agents of Socialization Family Gender role Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males or females School Peer Group Harassment as well as support 2-44 Agents of Socialization 2-45 Figure 2-4: The New Normal: Internet at Home 2-46 Mass Media and Technology Online social media networks Workplace Religion and the State Impacting life by reinstituting rites of passage one observed in agricultural communities and early industrial societies 2-47 2-48 Socialization throughout the Life Course Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization Rites of passage: means of dramatizing and validating changes in a person s status Anticipatory socialization: person rehearses future occupations and social relationships Life course approach: looking closely at social factors that influence people throughout their lives Resocialization: discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as transition in one s life 8
Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization Total institution: regulates all aspects of a person s life under a single authority Degradation ceremony: ritual where individual becomes secondary and rather invisible in overbearing social environment 2-49 9