Socialization and Culture
by Loretta F. Kasper, Ph.D.
����������� The discipline of sociology can be defined as the scientific study of human social behavior and activities and of the results of these social activities.� Sociology is concerned with how human beings think and act as social creatures.� In fact, the basic premise of sociology is that human existence is social existence.� This means that people are linked to one another and depend on each other for their very existence.� In fact, our sense of individual identity, that is, our sense of who and what we are, depends on how we interact with other people.�
����������� We all enter this world as potentially social beings.� When we are born, we are essentially helpless and must depend upon others to fulfill our most basic physiological needs.� As we grow and mature, we experience an ongoing process of social interaction which enables us to develop the skills we will need to participate in human society.� This ongoing process is called socialization.� Socialization is critical for human society as a whole because it is the means of teaching culture to each new generation.
Social Experience and Human Development
����������� The importance of social experience is evident in the lack of human development characteristic of socially isolated children.� Specifically, if early childhood is devoid of social experience, the child may fail to develop normal language skills leading to limitations in other social learning.� Genie, the young girl who was shut away by her father, is a prime example of what can happen to a human child who is deprived of social contact.� Although Genie received intensive training after she was found, she never fully recovered from the effects of the lack of early social experiences.
����������� Many psychologists and sociologists have studied the process of socialization.� Sigmund Freud believed that people learn the cultural values and norms which make up a part of the personality which he called, the superego.� If the superego did not develop properly, the person would have a very difficult time functioning in society.� Jean Piaget believed that human development is the result of both biological maturation and increasing social experiences.� George Herbert Mead believed that an individual's social experience was the primary determinant of individual identity, which Mead called "the self."� To Mead, the self contained two dimensions: the "I," which was partly guided from within; and the "me," which was partly guided by the reactions of others.� Charles Horton Cooley also emphasized the importance of the reactions of others to the developing self-concept.� He used the term, "looking-glass self," to describe how our conception of ourselves is influenced by our perceptions of how others respond to us.
Agents of Socialization: Family, School, Peers, and the Mass Media
����������� We begin the process of socialization within the context of our family.� The family has primary importance in shaping a child's attitudes and behavior because it provides the context in which the first and most long-lasting intimate social relationships are formed.� In addition to representing the child's entire social world, the family also determines the child's initial social status and identity in terms of race, religion, social class, and gender.
����������� While the family offers the child intimate social relationships, the school offers more objective social relationships.� School is a social institution, and as such, has direct responsibility for instilling in, or teaching, the individual the information, skills, and values that society considers important for social life.� In school, children learn the skills of interpersonal interaction.� They learn to share, to take turns, and to compromise with their peers.�
����������� The peer group exerts a most powerful social influence on the child.� The peer group is composed of status equals; that is, all children within a given peer group are the same age and come from the same social status.� A child must earn his/her social position within the peer group; this position does not come naturally, as it does in the family.� Interaction with a peer group loosens the child's bonds to the family; it provides both an alternative model for behavior and new social norms and values.� To become fully socialized, children must learn how to deal with the conflicting views and values of all of the people who are important in their lives.� These people are called "significant others."
����������� The mass media includes television, newspapers, magazines; in fact, all means of communication which are directed toward a vast audience in society.� The mass media, especially television, have considerable influence on the process of socialization.� Children spend a great deal of their time watching television, and the violent content of many television programs is believed to be a contributing factor in aggressive behavior.
Culture
����������� Socialization helps to shape and define our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and it provides us with a model for our behavior.�� As children become socialized, they learn how to fit into and to function as productive members of human society.� Socialization teaches us the cultural values and norms that provide the guidelines for our everyday life.�
����������� Culture may be defined as the beliefs, values, behavior, and material objects shared by a particular group of people.� Culture is a way of life that a number of people have in common.� Our culture is reflected in what we wear to work, when and what we eat, and how we spend our leisure time.� Culture provides the framework within which our lives become meaningful, based on standards of success, beauty, and goodness.� Some cultures value competition, while others emphasize cooperation.� Our culture affects virtually every aspect of our lives.� Culture is not innate; human beings create culture.� Culture consists of a set of principles and traditions transmitted from generation to generation, yet because human beings have created it, culture is flexible and subject to change.
����������� Human culture is linked to the biological evolution of human beings.� The creation of culture became possible only after the brain size of our early ancestors increased, enabling humans to construct their natural environment for themselves.� Because human beings are creative by nature, they have developed diverse, or different, ways of life.
����������� Cultural diversity is the result of geographical location, religious beliefs, and lifestyles.� Culture is based on symbols, attaching significance to objects and patterns of behavior.� Language is the most important expression of cultural symbolism.� Sharing beliefs, thoughts, and feelings with others is the basis of culture, and language makes this possible.�� Language is also the most important means of cultural transmission.� Language enables human beings to transmit culture not only in the present, but also from past to future generations. � Language is probably the most powerful evidence of our humanity.� According to two linguistic anthropologists, Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, the language that we speak actually determines the reality that we experience.� This Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that we know the world only in terms of what our language provides, that language shapes culture as a whole.� For example, while the English language has only one word for "snow," the Inuit language has different words that describe different types of snow.� This occurs because distinguishing between, for example, falling snow and drifting snow is so important to the life of the Inuit.
����������� While it may be true that language shapes culture, it is probably equally true that culture shapes language.� For example, the increasing use of computers has led to new words and phrases in the language.� Words such as "gigabyte" and "RAM" (random access memory), while commonplace in English today, did not exist 50 years ago.� As more and more countries become technologically advanced, new words and phrases will also become part of their languages.� So language and culture are interrelated, and changes in either one are likely to result in changes in the other.
Vocabulary
Directions:� Using the context of the reading passage, write a definition for the following words and sociological terms.
����������� 1.� premise
����������� 2.� potentially
����������� 3.� ongoing
����������� 4.� socialization
����������� 5.� evident
����������� 6.� prime
����������� 7.� maturation
����������� 8.� determinant
����������� 9.� dimensions
����������� 10.� spontaneous
����������� 11.� "looking-glass self"
����������� 12.� intimate
����������� 13.� gender
����������� 14.� objective
����������� 15.� instilling
����������� 16.� interpersonal
����������� 17.� compromise
����������� 18.� exerts
����������� 19.� status equals
����������� 20.� conflicting
����������� 21.� "significant others"
����������� 22.� aggressive
����������� 23. culture
����������� 24.� framework
����������� 25.� diverse
����������� 26.� cultural transmission
����������� 27.� Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Comprehension Questions
Directions:� Using the information provided in the reading and your own words, write an answer to each of the following questions.
����������� 1.� Briefly describe the discipline of sociology.
����������� 2.� What is socialization, and why is it important for human society?�����
����������� 3.� What happens to children who are deprived of early social experience?
����������� 4.� What are some of the agents of socialization?
����������� 5.� In what way(s) are the social relationships formed in school different from those formed in the family?
����������� 6.� Why is the peer group such a powerful social influence on the child?
����������� 7.� Why are government officials trying to limit the violence shown on television programs?
����������� 8.� What are some of the indicators of our culture?
����������� 9.� What is the relationship between the development of culture and the size of the human brain?
����������� 10.� How is language related to culture?