Socialization – The Family

1. Socialization – The Family • Evolutionary origins of the family unit • The family unit • The functions of the family • The family as a social system • The social systems view • Why are social ties important? • Socialization within the family • Dimensions of parenting • Warmth • Positive and negative control • Involvement • Parent-child interactions • Authoritative • Authoritarian • Permissive • Uninvolved • Changing family structure • Large to small families • Family size and parent-child interaction • Growing up with siblings • Only children • Family mobility • Divorce

2. Five Functions Necessary for the Survival of Society • Reproduction: • Replacement for dying members. • Economic Services: • Goods and services must be produced and distributed for the support of members. • Societal Order: • Procedures for reducing conflict and maintaining orderly relations among members. • Socialization: • The young must be trained to become competent, participating members. • Emotional Support: • Binding individuals together, harmonizing goals, dealing with emotional crises, fostering a sense of community, and so on.

3. The Social Systems View ofFamily Socializaton • Bidirectional effects • Parents influence children and children influence parents • Bidirectional influences also effected by other family relationships • Mothers and fathers feel more competent as parents when the marital relationship is good • Forces within the family are dynamic • As child grows, nature of parental relation changes • Relationships within the family are viewed within the larger societal context • Interchanges occur between boundary of inner family and outer external world • Ex., Community connections are significant for the well-being of the family • Formal organizations – schools, daycares • Informal organizations – friends, neighbors • Strong ties between family and community serve as buffer for family stress

4. Why are social ties effective buffers against family stress? • Provide parents with interpersonal acceptance. • Provide opportunities to exchange information, goods, and services. • Provide child-rearing controls and/or models. • Provide secondary adult influences.

5. Warmth and Comforting/Reparation Behavior

6. Dimensions of Parenting:Aspects of Control • Positive aspects of control: • Parents exercise appropriate control over child’s behaviour when have high expectations and they train child to meet those expectations • Parents should enforce rules of behavior consistently • Open communication between parents and children • Situation management – anticipate problematic situations and arrange them so appropriate behaviour by children is more likely • Negative aspects of control: • Power assertion • Short term effects of power assertion • Long term effects of power assertion

7. Classification of Parenting Patterns (Baumrind, 1971, 1973) Authoritative: Children are buoyant, self-confident, and self-controlled Authoritarian: Preschoolers are unhappy and withdrawn, appear anxious in interactions with peers Permissive: Immature youngsters, overly demanding and dependent, explosive and disobediant when desires are thrwarted Uninvolved: By two years children show deficits in virtually all aspects of psychological functioning

8. Changing Family Structure: Large to Small Families • Family size and parent-child interaction: • Smaller families have favorable consequences for parent-child interaction • Increasing family size effects marital relation, discipline becomes more authoritarian • Growing up with siblings: • Sibling rivalry • Siblings as an interactional context for children • Only children: • Are only children disadvantaged socially and/or emotionally? • Advantages for only children