Socialization Lecture
Summary
TLDRThis script delves into the concept of socialization, explaining how individuals learn societal norms and roles. It uses examples like 'man spreading' and 'prim and proper' sitting to illustrate learned behaviors. The role of family, peers, media, and institutions in shaping norms is discussed, along with the impact of positive and negative sanctions on behavior. The Looking Glass self theory is introduced, emphasizing how our self-image is influenced by perceived societal judgments.
Takeaways
- π Socialization is the process by which individuals learn skills, values, motives, and roles appropriate to their position or group in society.
- π¨βπ©βπ§βπ¦ Families play a significant role in our early socialization, teaching us how to behave and interact with others.
- π The world around us, including our peers and mass media, also contributes to our socialization, influencing our values and behaviors.
- π©βπ« Social norms are the unwritten rules that govern our behavior, and they are learned through observing and following the actions of others.
- π€ The concept of 'man spreading' and the more reserved posture of women illustrate how gender roles are learned and reinforced through socialization.
- π« Schools and workplaces act as agents of socialization, teaching us norms related to punctuality, hard work, and appropriate communication.
- π₯ Peer groups and mass media can sometimes teach conflicting norms, leading to a complex interplay of values and behaviors.
- π©βπ«π¨βπ« The Looking Glass self theory suggests that our self-image is formed by imagining what others think of us, highlighting the impact of social perceptions on self-esteem.
- π€ Positive and negative sanctions, such as compliments or social isolation, can reinforce or discourage certain behaviors based on social norms.
- 𧳠Social roles, such as being a parent, friend, or professional, involve different norms and expectations that we switch between in our daily lives.
- π Understanding and reflecting on the social norms and roles we follow can help us recognize and challenge any negative self-perceptions formed through the Looking Glass self.
Q & A
What is socialization?
-Socialization is the process through which individuals learn skills, values, motives, and roles that are considered appropriate for their position or group in society.
How do we learn social norms?
-We learn social norms by observing and following the behavior of others around us, such as family, peers, and society at large.
What is an example of how socialization affects the way women and men sit?
-Women are often socialized to sit with their knees together and in a more demure manner, while men might be socialized to sit with their legs spread, taking up more space, a behavior sometimes referred to as 'man spreading'.
What are social norms?
-Social norms are the usual, typical, standard group-held beliefs that govern our behavior. They are unwritten rules that dictate how we should act in various social situations.
Why is it uncomfortable when someone breaks a social norm?
-Breaking a social norm can make people feel uncomfortable because it disrupts the expected behavior and challenges the unwritten rules that govern social interactions.
What is the role of sanctions in social norms?
-Sanctions, both positive and negative, play a role in reinforcing social norms. Positive sanctions like approval and compliments encourage adherence to norms, while negative sanctions like disapproval or social isolation discourage norm-breaking behavior.
How do agents of socialization influence our behavior?
-Agents of socialization, such as family, peers, school, religion, workplace, and mass media, teach us the norms and values that are expected in different social contexts.
What is a social role?
-A social role refers to the specific set of behaviors, rights, and responsibilities that are associated with a particular social position or status, such as being a parent, a student, or an employee.
How does the Looking Glass self theory relate to socialization?
-The Looking Glass self theory suggests that our self-image is formed by imagining what others think of us. This perception of others' judgments influences our behavior and self-concept, which is a key aspect of how social norms and roles shape our identity.
Why is it important to be aware of the social norms we follow?
-Being aware of the social norms we follow helps us understand the expectations and behaviors that are considered appropriate in different social contexts, which can improve our interactions and relationships with others.
How can understanding social roles and norms empower individuals?
-Understanding social roles and norms can empower individuals by helping them recognize the expectations placed on them and allowing them to make informed choices about how they want to behave and present themselves in society.
Outlines
π§βπ« Socialization and Its Impact on Behavior
This paragraph discusses the concept of socialization, which is the process through which individuals learn the skills, values, motives, and roles appropriate for their position or group in society. The speaker uses the example of how women and men are socialized to sit differently, illustrating the values and roles learned from an early age. Social norms, which are the unwritten rules governing behavior, are also highlighted. The speaker shares an anecdote about starting a class by sitting silently in a student's desk to demonstrate the discomfort caused by breaking social norms. The paragraph concludes by discussing the positive and negative sanctions that can result from following or breaking social norms.
π₯ Agents of Socialization and Their Influence
The second paragraph delves into the agents of socialization, which are the sources from which individuals learn societal norms. These include family, peer groups, school, religion, workplace, and mass media. The speaker notes that these agents can sometimes teach conflicting norms, such as the differences between what family and peer groups might teach. The paragraph also touches on the idea of social roles, explaining how individuals play different roles in various social contexts, such as being a parent, a child, a friend, or a professional. The speaker uses personal examples to illustrate how these roles can influence behavior and expectations.
π‘ Navigating Social Roles and Their Intersections
In this paragraph, the speaker continues the discussion on social roles, emphasizing how individuals seamlessly transition between different roles in their lives. Examples include being a family member, a friend, a spouse, or a professional. The speaker also explores the intersection of social roles and norms, describing how the expectations and behaviors can change depending on the context. The Looking Glass self theory is introduced, explaining how individuals form their self-image based on their perceptions of what others think of them. The speaker encourages listeners to reflect on the impact of these perceptions on their self-confidence and to use this understanding to empower themselves.
π Reflecting on Socialization Through Assignments
The final paragraph is a brief mention of upcoming assignments, where the speaker hopes to engage students in further reflection on the concepts of socialization discussed in the video. This paragraph serves as a call to action, encouraging students to apply the theories and examples discussed to their own lives and experiences.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Socialization
π‘Social Norms
π‘Man Spreading
π‘Positive and Negative Sanctions
π‘Agents of Socialization
π‘Social Roles
π‘Looking Glass Self
π‘Self-Perception
π‘Compliments
π‘Social Isolation
Highlights
Socialization is defined as the process through which individuals learn skills, values, motives, and roles appropriate to their position or group in society.
Individuals are socialized from their earliest moments by their families and the world around them.
An example of socialization is the different ways women and men are taught to sit, reflecting societal norms and expectations.
Social norms are the unwritten rules that govern our behavior, often learned through observation and imitation.
Breaking social norms can lead to awkwardness or discomfort, as demonstrated by the classroom example where the teacher sits silently to challenge norms.
Positive sanctions, such as compliments, reinforce adherence to social norms, while negative sanctions can lead to social isolation.
Agents of socialization include family, peer groups, school, religion, workplace, and mass media, each teaching different norms.
Social roles are the different identities individuals play in various contexts, such as being a parent, friend, or employee.
The intersection of social roles can create conflict, as norms and expectations differ between roles.
The Looking Glass self theory posits that individuals form their self-image based on their imagined perceptions of others.
The three elements of the Looking Glass self are imagining how we appear to others, interpreting their judgment, and forming our self-concept based on these perceptions.
Negative self-talk often stems from imagined judgments, which can be challenged by questioning the basis of these perceptions.
Positive reinforcement from others can boost self-confidence and reinforce a positive self-image.
Socialization agents can sometimes teach conflicting norms, leading to internal conflict and the need to navigate different expectations.
The classroom example illustrates the power of social norms and the discomfort that arises when they are violated.
The Looking Glass self theory emphasizes the importance of self-perception and how it can be influenced by imagined social feedback.
Understanding socialization and its impact on behavior can help individuals navigate social roles and expectations more effectively.
Transcripts
socialization is one of my very favorite
topics to cover an introduction to
sociology so I want to give you a
definition socialization is the way in
which individuals can learn skills
values motives and roles appropriate to
their position or group in society so
we're all being socialized from our
earliest moments as a person our
families are socializing us our world
around us is socializing us and we learn
how we are supposed to act so here's my
little example of how we're supposed to
act two women sitting next to each other
sitting very very differently one woman
is sitting up straight with your knees
together and just kind of that idea of
prim and proper a lot of times the way
that women are socialized to be so cross
your legs cross your ankles but to sit
you know very carefully whereas the
other woman is sitting with their legs
spread and taking up a lot of room
that's actually now there's a term for
this in relation to men sitting this way
it's called man spreading the idea is
that men are socialized could you know
take up more room where women are
socialized to kind of make themselves
smaller so these are kind of the values
and even in some cases skills that we
learn the roles that we learn that are
appropriate for who we are as either
women or men as one example so the way
that this socialization process works is
that we learn how to do this by
following along with everyone else and
so part of it is a huge part of it is
social norms and social norms are the
usual typical standard group held
beliefs that govern our behavior so it's
all the stuff that we should be doing
and the most important one to remember
the one that I always refer to is that
it's unwritten rules we don't get a
handbook on how to act as a student we
don't well maybe we do as far as like
the rules but you know that you don't
just blurt out stuff in class or you
don't start hugging strangers like on
the first day of class when that would
be really breaking some social norms if
you just came in you're like hi I'm here
hugs for everyone right so those
unwritten rules and a lot of
times you don't realize how many rules
how many norms you're following until
somebody breaks them so here's what I do
if we were in an in-person class on like
the second or third day because
socialization is covered early what I
would do is as class started and I like
the class start class right on time as
opposed to starting to talk to them and
being up front like a teacher I actually
go sit down in one of the desks or in a
chair by all the students and I do
nothing I just sit there I stare
straight ahead
I don't speak and I sit there for as
long as it takes
until somebody calls me on it and so
students kind of look at each other
quietly like what is she doing they kind
of ruffle around with all their papers
and everything like that really tries to
kind of stay busy then few more minutes
go by they're kind of laughing a little
awkwardly but nobody will ask me like
what the heck I'm doing if they ask me
are you okay I'll usually just say yeah
and then just keep going back to doing
nothing which unnerve them even more and
so it's not until somebody says is this
part of class why are you doing this
that kind of like really calls me on it
do I actually break and come back I have
sat in a class a kid you know for 15
minutes while they let me just sit there
doing nothing and the room got more and
more and more awkward mostly for me and
so the idea is the reason I wait until
somebody really calls me on it is
because quite awful when you think about
it that's also breaking a social norm
you don't call people on their peculiar
behavior so when somebody's breaking a
norm you don't say oh my gosh you're
being so weird maybe you would with a
family member a friend because that's
within the norm you can say that to
people you would not necessarily say
that to a teacher and so I want you to
kind of keep in mind what are the things
that you're doing constantly that if you
started doing something differently you
would make people feel really
uncomfortable chances are that's
actually a social norm so when you're
following and not following social norms
you can end up with
and negative sanctions which is approval
and disapproval so um a lot of times
approval let's see would look like if I
don't know every you know once a
semester maybe a student will be like oh
my gosh your glasses are so cute or look
at you know your skirt patterns really
cute something like that
and so that makes me feel good like oh
okay
so I'm like an old sappy factor that
frumpy professor kind of person but okay
I can dress a little bit cuter your hair
looks nice today um one of the biggest
sanctions like positive sanctions that I
can get as a teacher is if you're
laughing I mean granted laughing because
you think I'm funny not just laughing at
me because you think I'm weird but if I
say something in class that you know the
whole class laughs at that's pretty
awesome because when I feel like I'm a
stand-up comedian happens every once in
a while sometimes I say things I think
are funny and they're not so funny the
class is just kind of like yeah that
wasn't that wasn't good so that idea of
being told being getting positive
reinforcement like you're doing it right
that's a positive function negative
sanctions again remember because it
would be to break a norm to call someone
on their out of character behavior
a lot of times I think negative
sanctions are actually just people
ignoring you so and you've got to think
some people do not understand norms as
readily as others and so they probably
end up with a fair amount of it being
ignored and a fair amount of social
isolation which can be exceptionally
painful so if you were to think about a
student in elementary school or high
school that maybe wasn't necessarily
fitting in with all the social norms a
lot of times just everybody kind of
turns away from that person and so you
know we can make light of positive norms
but really honestly negative positive
sanctions rather but negative sanctions
I think can be excruciating ly painful
because you can really end up with a lot
of people turning away from you because
they're not going to say anything to you
and so instead they're just going to try
to avoid so the way that we learn all of
these norms comes from the agents of
socialization and I've already mentioned
a couple so that we have our family our
peer group which means our friends
school religion workplace and then mass
media
so our family and peer groups oftentimes
might teach us different things so peer
groups might teach us what's really cool
and when you think about it mass media
especially internet social media usage
probably going to teach us what's you
know really cool and trendy and the
things that we're supposed to want to be
family and religion a lot of times
socialize in the same manner that we
have morals we have things that we do to
fit the roles that we feel we need to
fit and then finally school in the
workplace you can actually end up being
agents of socialization that are very
similar that you know need to be on time
you need to be hard-working you need to
be quiet when you need to be quiet you
need to be able to speak when you need
to speak so agents of socialization
teach us the norms and we're going to
learn all different kinds of norms in
some cases like I just kind of linked
together some similarities but a lot of
times we've got all of this information
coming at us and when you think about it
you're a very different person with all
of these different groups not
necessarily to the point where you're
the entirely you know different
personality but there's little
intricacies there's little different
ways that you're going to have the norms
around your family versus your norms
with your friends or at school at work
and so this is called social roles and
so I want to take you through my social
roles and the only reason I'm doing it
it's that you can think of yours as I
kind of present to you the social roles
that I have going in life so I'm a
daughter and a sister so I'm the oldest
of three and I'm an adult with parents
who are aging and I am a big sister so
to pegan Rory my brother and sister and
so that kind of relationship can
sometimes be very different than Who I
am in other places because a lot of
times with your family you can kind of
revert back to you know the things that
you did as kids like oh well you'll
maybe appreciate this they all used to
call me princess putrid which
occasionally they still bring up and so
that idea of like rolling your eyes and
I'm too cool for school kind of stuff
like that's how I was growing up really
pleasant I'm sure I earned that nickname
Prince of putrid but that idea is you
can fall back into kind of some of those
snotty bickering behaviors if you have
them in your family no matter how old
you are so I am a mom I'm a mom to a
young adult at this point and so Who I
am as a mom can be very different than
Who I am as a daughter and sister I am a
wife I've been married for to think
about it for a second
thank 17 years or so and so Who I am as
a mom and wife is also going to
sometimes be similar sometimes be
different but there are different roles
I'm playing all these different roles
I'm a friend I think I'm a good friend
my friends seem to like me
I'm a caring friend I love my friends
and so I mean I love my family and I
love my son and my husband too but
there's something extra extra fun about
getting to be with your good friends the
laughter and the inside jokes and all
these things but yes you can have with
everybody else to you but I I'm a friend
a lot of times I'm a lot more relaxed
right think about that but you don't
have expectations in your friends that
you might in your parents or your
children or in somebody that you're in a
long-term relationship with and then
finally I'm a college instructor so I am
going to be a very different person in
some ways as a college instructor than I
am as a daughter or that I am as a
friend I certainly try to be outgoing
and friendly with my students I adore
them most of the time and love getting
the chance to talk to them but the power
dynamic is different and I have to of
course act in a professional manner and
so think about who you are at work
versus who you are at home versus who
you are with your significant other and
so these are social roles and you go
through them impeccably you go from one
to the next without even necessarily
thinking about it but here's a place
where social roles and norms can
intersect think about this so have you
ever been maybe as depending on how old
you are but maybe at a point when you
were a teenager something in your with
your friends right and so you're with
friend friends are so cool you're so
cool you're that age at that age where
everybody's cool and then all of a
sudden like your little brother or
sister comes in or your mom is bugging
you're like mom for that like moment an
intersection of your social role as a
family member versus a friend kind of
like the norms are different who you are
in what the unwritten rules are can be
different and so you can have those
kinds of lines across if you have you
know some kind of boyfriend or
girlfriend a significant other versus
being a student you know and you've got
to think about how the fact you have
different norms you have different rules
and you switch back and forth to them a
lot so the other thing I want to present
to you is just one more theory called
the Looking Glass self and so the
Looking Glass self is the self image in
individual forms by imagining what
others think of his or her behavior in
appearance this was written by Charles
Horton Cooley at some point I don't
remember the year and when it's a while
ago because the looking-glass what he's
referring to who is referring to is a
mirror so the looking-glass was what and
was a mirror at some days gone by and so
what Cooley is saying is we form what we
think of ourselves based on what we
think other people think you following
that so here's the three elements of a
Looking Glass self we imagine how we
must appear to others so I just said I
think it tripped over it too and made up
a new word like frappe or something do
you know I think I'm old and fat and
frumpy and all the disparaging terrible
things that we say to ourselves but you
know I'm going to think this because I'm
going to imagine that's what people
think when I see me right nobody has
ever come and said oh wow you know
you're really old fat frumpy because
that would certainly be breaking a
social norm right but we do this to
ourselves where we look at the world
around us and we use it as a mirror
that's why it's called the Looking Glass
self we use the world as a mirror to
measure ourselves and so we interpret
the judgment of others even if they're
not necessarily giving us active
feedback we're going to think that we
know
they're sinking and then we use these
perceptions that we have to lead us to
our sense of self so it could either be
that we feel good about ourselves or
that we're really struggling with
ourselves and so that's what I really
want to concentrate on it's the fact
that really when you look at the Looking
Glass self as a theory and you utilize
it to understand your own behaviors
here's the deal you have been telling
yourself I mean I just shared like
disparaging insulting things we tell our
selfies when we really have no basis to
tell our self these things now granted
we can flip it - and maybe you tell
yourself all the time I'm amazing I'm as
smart as I'm the most beautiful and I
mean that's much more productive because
you're going to feel like a much better
person a lot of times but again maybe
you're hearing that because when you
think about it hearing oh my gosh you're
so smart oh my goodness your hair is
gorgeous when you hear those things
that's something that is a norm in our
society to compliment people to tell
them what you like and so we don't
necessarily insult people certainly
certainly certainly to their face and so
think about all the things that you
think people are thinking about you that
really impact your self-confidence and
kind of just get rid of it because you
have to remind yourself wait a second
where am I getting these ideas has
anybody ever actually given me feedback
that makes me think I should think this
fast about myself and so use it as a
tool to empower yourself to realize that
with your social role your impeccable
following of norms and everything else
that you're an awesome person so thanks
for listening to all of this about
socialization and hopefully you can see
where this is really coming alive in
your life and I'm eager to hear more of
your thoughts on it in your upcoming
assignments
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