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Intro to Sociology Ch 5 Notes
Introduction to Sociology (SOC 110)
Des Moines Area Community College
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Chapter 5: Understanding
Socialization and Interaction
5 What Is Socialization?
Socialization is the social process through which individuals learn the norms of the culture and society that they live in. Through the process of socialization, individuals become functioning members of their society. It is a lifelong process that begins when we are born and continues through our many stages. As we age, we may undergo resocialization as we enter different social contexts and learn new sets of social norms and expectations. Socialization contributes to social reproduction, the continuation of a society’s culture across generations.
5 Key Terms
socialization: Learning through social interaction how to follow the social norms and expectations of your society social reproduction: The continuation of society’s culture across generations resocialization: Learning to adapt to new social norms and values nature: Biology, how we are born nurture: Our cultural and social learning
5 Understanding Theories of Socialization
Mead’s theory of child development was inspired by another social psychologist, Charles Cooley, who argued that individuals develop a sense of self, what he termed the looking glass self, by imagining how others see us. Mead similarly believed that individuals develop into social beings through their interactions with others. This begins when very young children engage in what Mead called taking the role of
the other, or imitating those around them, putting themselves in someone else’s shoes and seeing what kind of reaction they get. As they get older and engage in more organized games, like sports, they develop an understanding of the generalized other that represents society as a whole, with all of its norms and values.
5 Key Terms
self-consciousness: An individual’s awareness of how others see her or him taking the role of the other: Imitating those around them
5 Agents of Socialization
Socialization occurs with individuals and within groups and social contexts, which are referred to as agents of socialization. Family is the primary agent of socialization, because it is generally the first group and sometimes only group an individual is exposed to in his or her earliest years. From our families, we learn many fundamental skills for life in society, such as language and how to feed and dress ourselves, as well as many other norms and values. As we age, we encounter different agents of socialization like peers, schools, the media, work, and so on, learning from each different norms and values. Some adults end up in total institutions, where they must be resocialized into an entirely new culture and context.
5 Key Terms
agents of socialization: People, groups, institutions, and social contexts that contribute to our socialization peers: Others in one’s age group peer pressure: Pressure to conform to the norms of one’s peers
5 Groups, Organizations, and Bureaucracies
Groups give us a sense of identity and allow us to complete tasks that are difficult or impossible to do alone. We create planned groups called formal organizations (e., a youth soccer league, regional hospitals, multinational organizations, public school systems) to help us achieve complex goals in a deliberate way. Bureaucracies allow formal organizations to carry out multilayered tasks rationally and efficiently.
5 Key Terms
group: Any set of two or more people with whom you share a sense of belonging, purpose, and identity formal organizations: A planned secondary group created to achieve a goal ideal bureaucracy: A formal organization designed to complete complex tasks rationally and with maximum efficiency
5 Social Interaction
Sociologists Erving Goffman and Harold Garfinkel both believed that our everyday interactions with others were important to analyze sociologically because this kind of microsociology gives us great insight into our experiences as social beings. Goffman used a dramaturgical approach to argue that individuals’ social lives are a series of performances; we use impression management to perform our social roles in a way that compels others to see us the way we want to be seen. Garfinkel was especially concerned with how individuals make sense of what others say and do in everyday interactions. He created ethnomethodology as a field that could study how regular people make sense of the interactions that structure our social lives.
5. 7 Key Terms
social interactions: The way individuals behave and interact with other people
define the situation: Making meaning of what is going on by using cues and clues from the individuals and objects around us
front: The “expressive equipment” an individual uses to define the situation and convince others of the sincerity of his or her performance
setting: Location of the “performance” or social interaction
appearance: Consists of everything from dress to age, sex, and race to ethnicity, to nonverbal forms of communication like body language and gestures
manner: The attitude conveyed by an individual in his or her particular social role
ethnomethodology: The study of the “ethno” (meaning ordinary or everyday) methods people use to make sense of their social interactions
Intro to Sociology Ch 5 Notes
Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 110)
University: Des Moines Area Community College
