Sociology 101

Front 1

Socialization

Back 1

the lifelong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture

Front 2

Mead: The Social Self—Stages of Personality Development –

Back 2

 Infants – have no self
 Toddlers – internalized the feelings of significant others
-Ages 4-7 – play a variety of social roles
o Informs them as to who they are
o Prepares them for later life
- Age 8 – game stage = structured activities w/ rule --> baseball

Front 3

Society's Socialization Agents
family

Back 3

o Primary agent of socialization
o Imparts the ways of society
o E.g. what is/is not important, appropriate, moral, beautiful, correct
o The child learns
-the meaning of objects – bible, poison, police officer’s badge
-relative worth of different groups

Front 4

Society's Socialization Agents
Schools

Back 4

o Prep for adult roles
o Teach appropriate skills, traits, and attitudes
o Impersonal
o Emphasis on order and control

Front 5

Society's Socialization Agents
Peer Groups

Back 5

members have interests, social, position, and age in common
o Escape adult supervision
o Learn to form social relationships
o Influences behavior

Front 6

Media and socialization

Back 6

helps to define sociopolitical reality

Front 7

Ideological Social Control

Back 7

- Control our ways of thinking, feeling
- Control of what we know and don’t know
- Individuals impose controls upon themselves (most effective)
o Family, education, religion, sports, media, government
o John Lennon – Imagine

Front 8

Direct Social Control

Back 8

- Control of physical behavior
o Historically:
- Forced sterilization of women (poor, of color, mentally disabled)
- Tuskegee Syphilis Studies
- Forced institution of women
o Recently:
- Drugs – to control children, folks in mental institutions, the elderly in nursing homes
o Welfare, government, science, and medicine

Front 9

Social Foundations of Deviance

Back 9

- No thought or action is inherently deviant
o E.g. prostitution, bee keeping
- People become deviant as others define them that way
o E.g. talking to yourself
- The definition and application of norms reflect social inequality
o E.g. public speech: mayoral candidate vs. homeless person

Front 10

Deviance--A Relative

Back 10

relative to what you are applying it to and where
- No one is always and everywhere deviant
- Deviance is socially created