Lecture 4 Socialization and the Social Construction of Reality 02 28 2014 Social Interaction Example Genie AKA The Wild Child 13 year old who was isolated from any human interaction She lacked all of the sense customs values and beliefs of socialization Socialization the process through which individual internalize values beliefs and norms of a society and learn to functions as its members George Herbert Mead Generalized other one of the stages in our socialization process when we come to learn from the generalized other that represents wider society Internalized sense of the total expectations of other in a variety of settings Generalized rules we adjust our actions depending on the rules of society internalized from the generalized other Significant other main person when you are growing that we get a sense of rules and norms of society When you are born your significant other is either your father or mother a child has yet to meet the generalized other o I and Me first stage of socialization you only think about yourself and your needs like that of babies o Significant other second stage of socialization your mom or dad o Reference groups third stage of socialization your friends and peers o Generalized other last stage of socialization all of society Agents of Socialization Family Significant other School generalized other Peers reference groups Media generalized other Adult Socialization Re socialization relearn the things that you have already learned but according to new norms The process by which one s sense of social values beliefs and norm are reengineered often deliberately through an intense social process o Total institutions institutions that are meant to brain wash you An institution in which one is totally immerse that controls all the basics of day to day life no barriers exist between the usual spheres of daily life and all activity occurs in the same place and under the same single authority For example religious cults Role Theory by Merton Status recognizable social position Role behaviors associated with the status Lecture 4 Socialization and the Social Construction of Reality 02 28 2014 o Role strain conflict within the role E g college students should study and work hard but also party But if you have hangover in class coming from a party this weekend then it is difficult to perform o Role conflict conflict between different roles E g college student and being a daughter conflicts with one another You have to study for an upcoming quiz instead of spending time with your family o Ascribed vs Achieved status Achieved status status that is in your control and can strive Ascribed status status that is not in your control something you were born with gender race royalty o Master status one status among your many status that dominates toward all the other E g celebrity status like that of Brad Pitt dominates his other status as a philanthropist father and husband Master Status and being Gay Most commonly recognized Master Status is Gender Status It recognizes your names what color clothes to buy gender roles Being gay if you are an effeminate man o You get called a faggot only if you act effeminate not because of your sexual orientation But nowadays the status of being gay does not dictate a particular behavior but it doesn t mean a gendered behavior Breaching Harold Garfinkel Transgressing the rules and norms that we all have internalized through socialization Violating social expectations o E g Breaching experiment Freezing in place in Grand Central Station o E g Borat is a foreign journalist on manners This is what most comedies are about breaching makes us uncomfortable so we release it by laughing Ethnomethodology the study of methods of people methods by which people maintain social norms and social order in daily interaction We try to restore order when the norms are breached either by explaining the breach by another norm already known Brief review of Socialization Breaching and ethnomethodology Status and Role Merton o Status recognizable social positions Lecture 4 Socialization and the Social Construction of Reality 02 28 2014 o Role behaviors associated with the status i e the performance of the status Role Strain conflict or tension between the behavior or expected behaviors with the role or within any given status Book Example Professors both have to teach students but also have to do their research and writing books Role Conflict conflict or tension between statuses Discussion Example Teacher s assistant being an instructor versus being a mother Mead s Stages of Development Agents of Socialization