Culture and Socialization

1. Culture and Socialization (Or how we know what we know)

2. Culture and Socialization • What is culture? • Development of culture • Cultural variation • Language and culture • Norms and values • Global culture wars • Culture and dominant ideologies • Culture and socialization • Socialization and the self • Agents of socialization • Aging and socialization

3. Culture and Socialization • Culture: totality of learned socially transmitted customs, knowledge, objects, and behavior • Culture includes language, values, norms, customs, artifacts, and even groups of people • Socialization: process by which people learn basic societal attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and values • Society: large number of people who live in the same territory, who are relatively independent of the people outside of that area, and who participate in a common culture • Common culture emphasizes day-to-day interaction

4. Cultural Universals • All societies develop common practices and beliefs • These are adaptations to meet essential human needs • Innovation • Diffusion • What are some examples of cultural universals? • Ethnocentrism: tendency to assume one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others

5. Cultural Relativism • Evaluation of a people’s behavior from the perspective of that culture • Tries to employ a type of value-neutral approach in scientific study • Requires a serious effort to be unbiased • Innovation: process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture • Discovery: making known or sharing the existence of some aspect of reality • Invention: results when existing cultural items are combined into something new

6. Development of Global Culture • Globalization: worldwide integration of government policies, banking systems, cultures, social movements, and financial systems through trade and the exchange of ideas • Diffusion: process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group • Exploration • Conquest • Missionary work • Mass media • Tourism • Internet

7. Development of Global Culture • McDonaldization: process through which the principles of the fast-food industry dominant certain sectors of society • Material culture: physical or technological aspects of our daily lives • Nonmaterial culture: ways of using material objects • Culture lag: period of maladjustment when nonmaterial culture struggles to adapt to material conditions

8. Cultural Variation • Each culture considers its own customs, rules, norms, and values as “natural” • Cultures adapt to meet specific sets of circumstances • Subcultures: segments of society that share distinct patterns of customs, rules, and traditions that differ from the larger society • Argot: specialized language that is developed that allows insiders to understand words with special meanings • Counterculture: when a subculture deliberately opposes or rejects aspects of the larger culture • Culture shock: feeling of disorientation, uncertainty, or being out of place when immersed in an unfamiliar culture

9. Culture and Language • Language: abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture • Includes speech, written language, numerals, gestures, and nonverbal communication • What we know is bounded by language • We need to know and understand a symbol to be able to express it • Miscommunication

10. Norms and Values • Norms: establish the rules and standards of behavior in a society • Formal norms: written down; specific punishments • Informal norms: generally understood but not recorded • Mores: norms determined as highly necessary for society • Folkways: norms of everyday behavior • Sanctions: the penalties and rewards for conduct concerning social norms • Sanctions are a form of social control

11. Norms and Values • Norms are collective expressions of what is good, bad, desirable, or undesirable in a society • Influence people’s conceptions of themselves • Influence people’s behavior • Criteria for evaluating others • May change over time or situationally

12. Culture Wars • Culture war: polarization of society over controversial elements of culture • National: abortion, health care, pensions/social security, debt, gun control, sexual expression, religious expression • Global: wars, nuclear programs, global economy, colonization

13. Culture and Dominant Ideologies • Dominant ideology: set of beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful interests • Social • Economic • Political • “If you work hard enough, you can succeed in life”

14. Perspectives on Culture (pg. 55)

15. Culture and Socialization • Nature vs. Nurture • Today’s scientists believe the two interact • Sociobiology: systematic study of the biological basis for human behavior • Began with Charles Darwin • Sociobiologists apply Darwin’s principle of natural selection to the study of human behavior • Isolation: interaction of heredity and environment shape development • Emphasize early socialization of children

16. Socialization and the Self • Self: distinct identity that sets us apart from others • Constantly changing • Develops throughout your life • Looking-glass self • Mead’s stages of the self: • Preparatory stage: children imitate people around them • Play stage: become more aware of social relationships and role taking occurs • Role taking: the process of mentally assuming another’s perspective and responding from that point of view • Game stage: children about 8-9 consider several actual tasks and relationships simultaneously • Generalized Other: attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account

17. Mead and Goffman • Mead: • The self begins as a privileged/central point in a person’s world • As a person matures, the self begins to change and reflect greater concern for the reactions of others • Significant others: individuals most important in the development of the self • Goffman: • Impression management

18. Agents of Socialization • Family • Gender roles: expectation regarding proper behavior, attitudes, and activities for men and women • School • Peer groups • Harassment and support • Mass media and technology • Workplace • Religion • State

19. Aging and Socialization • Rites of passage: means of dramatizing and recognizing changes in a person’s status • Life course approach: looking closely at the factors that influence people throughout their lives • Anticipatory socialization: person “rehearses” future occupations and social relationships • Resocialization: discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as you transition • Total institution: regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority • Degradation ceremony: ritual where the individual becomes secondary and invisible in an overbearing social environment