Sociology Socialization Resocialization, Anticipatory, Gender Socialization & Quick Review
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Resocialization
The primary socialization received in childhood is just one part of the lifelong socialization process. Adults go through a process of resocialization, which is the learning of new norms and values that occurs when they join a new group or when life circumstances change dramatically. Learning new norms and values enables people to adapt, though newly learned things may contradict what was previously learned.
Though senility and certain diseases associated with old age can impair a person’s ability to learn and adapt to new situations, many adults experience change throughout life. A new job, the loss of friends or a spouse, children leaving home, and retirement are all milestones that require resocialization.
Most instances of resocialization are mild modifications, such as adapting to a new work environment. Extreme forms of the process can include joining the military, going to prison, or otherwise separating from mainstream society.
The Social Construction of Life Stages
Sociologists generally divide a person’s life into five stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and dying. These stages are socially constructed, which means that different societies apply different definitions and assumptions to each stage. For example, in the United States, childhood is a relatively carefree time during which young people expect to have time to play and to receive care from adults. In other societies, income generated by the work children do is very important to the family, and childhood, like other life stages, is a time of work and struggle.
The Workplace
The workplace is an agent of socialization—in this case, resocialization. A new job brings with it new norms and values, including the following:
- What papers to fill out
- What equipment to use
- What tasks to complete and when to complete them
- When to arrive at work
- When to take a break
- When to leave
The employing organization also has its own values. The socialization process involves learning how strictly the company enforces work-related norms, such as whether it’s acceptable for people of different job levels to fraternize outside of working hours, or whether a very late arrival will incur some kind of punishment. During resocialization, people learn how to modify behavior to fit the new situation.
Total Institutions
Most Americans are socialized to think for themselves and make their own decisions about daily tasks. That changes when they are resocialized by what sociologist Erving Goffman labeled a total institution. A total institution is an organization or setting that has the following characteristics:
- Residents are not free to leave.
- All actions are determined and monitored by authority figures.
- Contact with outsiders is carefully controlled.
- The environment is highly standardized.
- Rules dictate when, where, and how members do things.
- Individuality is discouraged.
Examples of total institutions include prisons, mental hospitals, and the military. In these total institutions, part of the resocialization process includes the loss of some decision-making freedom. The military decides what its soldiers wear, how they spend their time, and when and what they eat. To be promoted to a higher rank, they must demonstrate that they have been resocialized and have successfully adapted to the military’s norms and values.
The Drama of Life
Goffman also developed the concept of dramaturgy, the idea that life is like a never-ending play in which people are actors. Goffman believed that when we are born, we are thrust onto a stage called everyday life, and that our socialization consists of learning how to play our assigned roles from other people. We enact our roles in the company of others, who are in turn enacting their roles in interaction with us. He believed that whatever we do, we are playing out a role on the stage of life.
Anticipatory Socialization
Anticipatory socialization occurs when we start learning new norms and values in anticipation of a role we’ll occupy in the future. Making necessary adjustments in advance makes the actual transition into the new role easier. Also, by adopting some of the norms and values of a future role, we can evaluate whether that role will be right for us when the time comes to assume it.
Example: A police officer who is about to begin working the night shift adjusts his sleeping habits several weeks before his start date. He goes to bed an hour later each evening, anticipating his new schedule of staying awake all night and sleeping during the day. Likewise, some couples live together before getting married to see whether they feel comfortable in that future role. They test the role of spouse before committing to it legally.
Gender Socialization
Society expects different attitudes and behaviors from boys and girls. Gender socialization is the tendency for boys and girls to be socialized differently. Boys are raised to conform to the male gender role, and girls are raised to conform to the female gender or role. A gender role is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and personality characteristics expected and encouraged of a person based on his or her sex.
Influence of Biology
Experts disagree on whether differences between males and females result from innate, biological differences or from differences in the ways that boys and girls are socialized. In other words, experts disagree on whether differences between men and women are due to nature, nurture, or some combination of both.
Example: There are some significant differences between female and male brains. The language center in the male brain is usually in the dominant (usually left) hemisphere, whereas females use both hemispheres of the brain to process language. This may explain why females seem to have stronger communication skills and relish interpersonal communication more than males and why, on average, girls learn to speak and read earlier than boys.
Influence of Family
Every culture has different guidelines about what is appropriate for males and females, and family members may socialize babies in gendered ways without consciously following that path. For example, in American society, the color pink is associated with girls and the color blue with boys. Even as tiny babies, boys and girls are dressed differently, according to what is considered “appropriate” for their respective sexes. Even parents who strive to achieve a less “gendered” parenting style unconsciously reinforce gender roles.
Example: The toys and games parents select for children are often unconsciously intended to socialize them into the appropriate gender roles. Girls receive dolls in an attempt to socialize them into future roles as mothers. Since women are expected to be more nurturing than men, giving a girl a doll teaches her to care for it and fosters the value of caring for others. When boys receive dolls, they are likely to be action figures designed to bring out the alleged aggressive tendencies in boys.
Influence in Education
As children enter the educational system, traditional expectations for boys and girls continue. In the past, much research focused on how teachers were shortchanging girls in the classroom. Teachers would focus on boys, calling on them more and challenging them. Because boys were believed to be more analytical, teachers assumed they would excel in math and science. Teachers encouraged them to go into careers that require a lot of math and science, such as computer science or engineering.
Research from the late 1990s, however, indicates that the current educational climate is failing boys. Boys are falling behind girls in school. The dropout rate for boys is rising. More boys are being diagnosed as learning disabled. The number of boys applying to college has declined. Some sociologists argue that current teaching methods favor girls’ learning styles. Girls mature more quickly than boys and are able to focus and concentrate in class more easily.
Example: Studies show that boys are more physically active than girls. This difference is greater when children are in elementary school. Boys may be less able to sit still during a lesson. They are often sent out of class as disruptive, which puts them behind in the schoolwork and can reinforce their problems in the classroom.
What’s So Funny About Male Nurses?
Meet the Parents (2000), a movie starring Ben Stiller, got laughs nationwide for presenting a main character who was a male nurse. The fact that a male pursuing a career in nursing still seems laughable shows how ingrained some gender roles still are.
Influence on Career Choice
If cultural expectations dictate that girls are more compassionate and nurturing than boys, then parents, teachers, and counselors will steer them toward fields that require patience and concern for other people, such as nursing, social work, or elementary school teaching. Though a girl who expresses a desire to become a nuclear engineer would probably no longer be explicitly discouraged, a boy with a similar goal would probably encounter more encouragement.
Example: Women working in traditionally male occupations often hit a glass ceiling, an invisible barrier that keeps women from reaching executive positions. Men who work in traditionally female occupations, such as nursing, social work, or elementary school teaching, are often viewed as more qualified than women. These men often benefit from a glass escalator; they are paid more and promoted more quickly than their female counterparts.
Quick Review
Primary Socialization
- Socialization is the process whereby we learn to become competent members of a group. Primary socialization is the learning we experience from the people who raise us.
- Researchers have many theories about the developmental stages that children experience.
- Freud theorized that the development of the id, ego, and superego occurs over time and that the three must be in balance.
- Mead developed a theory which posited that “self” is a product of social experience.
- Cooley developed the notion of the looking-glass self.
- Piaget posited four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
- Kohlberg developed a theory of moral development with three levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.
- Agents of socialization are people, groups, and experiences that influence behavior and self-image. They include family, school, peer groups, and the mass media.
- Isolated or institutionalized children may not experience primary socialization and can suffer many social and psychological defects as a result.
Resocialization
- Primary socialization occurs in childhood. Resocialization, the learning of new norms and values, occurs later in life, when life circumstances change or when people join a new group.
- The workplace is an agent of resocialization.
- Total institutions are environments in which people are isolated from mainstream society and expected to adhere to rigid rules. They demand resocialization. Some examples of total institutions are prisons, mental institutions, and the military.
Anticipatory Socialization
- When we learn new norms and values in anticipation of a future role, we are practicing anticipatory socialization.
- Practicing new norms in advance makes the transition easier and lets us know whether the role is right for us.
Gender Socialization
- Gender socialization is the tendency for boys and girls to be socialized differently. The impact of gender socialization can be seen in family, education, and career choice.
