Analyzing Erikson's Eight Stages Of Socialization

Great Essays
Socialization is the process through which people are taught to be accomplished members of a society. It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society’s beliefs, and to be aware of societal values. Socialization is a sociological process that occurs through socializing, and it happens over a period of time. Sociologists believe that socialization develops across the life course because we continue to encounter age related transition points or milestones, which require socialization into a different role. Examples of milestones include entering the workforce, getting married, having children, and retiring. Socialization teaches us from a tender age, what is expected from us as we mature …show more content…
Research conducted by Gilligan, demonstrated that males and females do, in fact, have different understandings of morality. Males tend to have a justice perspective, by placing emphasis on rules and laws. Females, on the other hand, have a care and responsibility perspective; they consider people’s reasons behind behavior that seems morally wrong.
Finally, psychologist Erik Erikson believed the personality continued to change over time and was never truly finished. Erikson’s theory includes eight stages of development, beginning with birth and ending with death. According to Erikson, people move through these stages throughout their lives. Erikson’s view of self-development gave credit to more social aspects, like the way we negotiate between our own wants and needs, and what is socially accepted.
I strongly believe that Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of self-development best describes my socialization. As we age from toddlers to teenagers to adults, our understanding of how our actions may affect people alter. As we progress, our experiences and acquired knowledge help us to understand what is morally accepted, and what is not.
Socializing and Institutional
…show more content…
This group is usually made up of significant others, those individuals who have the greatest impact on our socialization. Family is a major primary group. On the other hand, secondary groups are often larger and indifferent. The function of the secondary group is instrumental. The role of the secondary group is usually goal or task-oriented. Examples of secondary groups include school committees, and graduate seminars.
In sociology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. For example, a fraternity or sorority would be considered an in-group. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify. For example, a person would possibly not identify with a group if he or she is not of the same culture or age as the others in the group.
Finally, a reference group is a group that people compare themselves to. It provides a standard of measurement. For instance, athletes are often used as a reference group for young people because athletes are usually more physically appealing and financially

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Charles Cooley starts this chapter of by talking about our primary groups and how they affect the person one is and why they are that way. Primary groups are the people you are around and are extremely fundamental in an individuals social being. Primary groups are generally close family, friends, play groups, and neighborhoods. Primary groups are not limited to those specific groups. Cooley elaborates on play groups and how this group is pivotal in forming all young children.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Primary group is like family or friends that give us identity, a feeling of who we are, and intimate, face to face interactions. The ant colony view themselves as a family, and work together to achieve set goals and norms. They have a hierarchy structure, where the queen is the leader and Atta is in line to take over. In-group is groups we feel loyal to, the ant colony have formed loyalty with the circus bugs after they help them defeat the grasshoppers. Reference group can be group standards we can refer to evaluate ourselves.…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Groups and Conformity” Michael R. Solomon author of “Groups and Conformity” talks about in one of his headings how people try to fit in just to be cool. Michael R. Solomon gives an example about a guy with a motorcycle trying to fit in. The guy would have tattoos and would smoke just so he could be like the other motorcycle men. Solomon says, “Reference groups are actual or imaginary individual groups conceived.” (Solomon 591)…

    • 122 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In Primary Groups by Charles Cooley he explains how primary groups are necessary for an individuals existence and development. It is the base of the formation of ones social nature. He believes that they have helped to build human society. Primary groups may change from year to year but normally include family, neighborhood friends, school social groups; children’s play groups or just a group of friends. These groups may be either a positive or negative experience as result of natural competition and hierarchies.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    The purpose of this paper is to provide an explanation of the three major groups in the Hard of Hearing community. This paper is not intended to support or deny the existence and importance of these groups instead to compare and contrast this group among each other. It rather seeks to examine each group diversity within the community and provide an explanation of the factors that identified each group within the Hard of Hearing community. By focusing on three major groups of the Hard of Hearing community. These groups are called minority groups that are subordinates of majority groups in the United States.…

    • 1716 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Groupthink Example

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Groupthink Viewing and separating different groups defines them to be significant when managing small groups, or a multiple amount. In class it was discussed the different kind of group behaviors; This groups were Social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, group polarization, group think, prejudice, stereotype, and discrimination. Each one of these groups is what in others words describes people who they are and how well they can learn from each other. First is, Social facilitation is described as the stronger response in the presence of others. In the book it said "people perform worse when observes or others working on the same task are present.…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Forsyth: Group Analysis

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There is not one definition which could encompass all of the different types of groups in the world today, and the definition of a group provided by Forsyth (2009) merely scratches the surface of what encompasses a group. When looking at the definition of a group, my initial thoughts focused in on part of the definition in which a group is defined as two or more individuals. In my initial thoughts about groups, it seemed to me that more than two people would be needed to create a group. Instead, I tend to think of two people of a partnership, and three or more people make up a group. The dynamics of a dyad are much more intense than a triad or quad (Forsyth, 2009).…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The reference groups which we may or may not indeed help us find our place in society. This helps us understand where we would like to be within the society we live in and impacts of these groups. These groups are those we look to for guidance to our own lives. A real life reference group which has impacted how I view myself is the older college student, as an older college student I look to the older students within my classes to observe how they function and adjust to college. I sometime ask those older students what they think of classes and homework.…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While children started to show the signs of separations from the beliefs, it will effects to get less support from families and friends. Adolescents’ need emotional attachments to one another. Without this bond, socialization is reduced and permanent damage may arise with the personality. When a person interaction with others is vital to develop a child’s self-esteem (Blakesley). Socialization occurs early in a child 's life is when parents adhere to the life style of one culture at home and when teachers and other childcare takers practice another culture at school (Padilla, 2014).…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Social groups are everywhere and a basic part of human life; anywhere you look there are social groups. There are two types of social groups. One type of those social groups is primary group. Primary groups have a great amount of closeness between the members belonging to the group. The group is typically long lasting, scaled down, and hold close/ cherished relationships.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development Developmental psychology is an area of research dedicated to the understanding of child-development. Throughout history many theories have been formulated to attempt to explain this process. Two of the most important theorists were Sigmund…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Socialization is the first means of communication among humans, ‘it is the process by which individuals learn the culture of their society’. There are four agents of socialization; Norm, values, language and culture. A norm is a guide to actions society defines as acceptable and appropriate in certain situations for example young men should not wear a head covering in church or other buildings, this is considered disrespectful in Jamaica. Values is a belief that something is good, it explains what is worth striving for, for example in Jamaica passing G.S.A.T is an achievement at the primary level to get into a traditional or renowned secondary institution, but when looking deeper you would see that certain lessons taught in the primary level is not needed in the high schools nor…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    INTRODUCTION Group is a collection of people who share definable membership, group consciousness, a sense of shared purpose, interdependence and interaction. (Mullins, 2005) According to Robin and Judge (2013), defined group as two or more individual interacting and interdependent who have come together to achieve a common set of goals. Mullins (2013), explains two types of groups which are formal and informal groups. Formal groups are deliberately planned and created by management as part of the formal organisation structure.…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout this semester we discussed multiple theories that help individuals in the field of sociology understand how our society is constructed. Theories are developed through observations of society. Theories provides basic assumption of how our world interacts and attempts to provide a rational explanation of cause-and-effect relationships of a phenomenon. Theories such as Social Learning, Conflict, and Role-Taking, play a role within our society. Social Learning theory is an ongoing development that effects the individual.…

    • 1858 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Socialization is the problem of learning the behaviors of a given society. During socialization one will be assigned a role, and be continuously expected to fulfill that role. Individuals will also form an identity based on their role, social norms, and other aspects about their life, and this identity will eventually lead to a personality. This personality will be a pattern of behaviors that someone constructs due to their identity. Functionalists view the point of socialization as the creation of cohesion through conformity.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays