Process of Cultural Transmission

ëMYTH: The most positive psychological

and social development of children
occurs when they are raised in families
by their mothers and fathers.
ëFACT: Research shows that removal
from the family, at least for a time, may
not be detrimental to children. Children
who are sent to day-care settings seem
to develop as well as children rais ed
totally within their families.
ëMYTH: Entertaining TV shows and
movies that contain some violence do not
harm young people who watch them as
long as they are fictional and fanciful.
ëFACT: TV can be a powerful socializing
agent, teaching the young norms for
acceptable behavior. Overwhelming
research evidence concludes that young
people who watch violent shows on TV
are more likely to behave aggressively or
violently themselves, especially in
situations that are conducive to violence.
ëMYTH: The stages of the life cycle are
shaped by biological considerat ions,
particularly by what people are capable
of doing at a given chronological age.
ëFACT: Although biological limit ations
play a part in what society allows us to
do, particularly among the very young
and very old, the social structure is more
important than biology in shaping the life
cycle from childhood through adult hood.
What is socialization?
Human infants are born
without any culture. They
must be transformed by
their parents, teachers,
and others into cultural
and socially adept
human beings.
ëThe general process of acquiring cult ure is
referred to as socialization.
ëFrom the word ‘socialize’ which means ‘to render
social, to make fit for living in society’.
What is socialization?
ëSocialization—the life-
long proces s by which
society transmits—through
language and gestures—its
cultural values to
individuals so they can
function properly as its
members.
ëIt is the process of learning
one’s culture and how to
live within it.
What is socialization?
ëSullivan (2001): “Socialization is the
process by which people develop
personal identities and learn the ways
of a particular group or society.”
ëKendall (2002): “Socialization is the
lifelong process of social interaction
through which individuals acquire a self-
identity and the physical, mental, and
social skills needed for survival in
society.”
What is socialization?
ëWhile socialization refers to the
general process of acquiring culture,
anthropologists use the term
enculturation for the proces s of
being socialized to a particular
culture.
ëWe were enculturated to our
specific culture by our parents and
the other peopl e who raised us.
What is socialization?
ëSocialization is a the lifelong social
experience by which individuals
develop their human potentials
and learn patterns of their culture.
ëPrimary Goal: To help in
personality formation—through
inculcating cultural values and
elements.
What is socialization?

ëSocialization is the process by which

people acquire t he behavior and skills
essential for social living, learn the
rules and internalize the values of their
society.
ëIt is through socialization that we
become fully a human being.
What are the functions
of socialization?
ëFor individuals: To
develop the skills and
disciplines necessary
for surviving, acting
and participating
within their society.
What are the functions
of socialization?
ëFor the society, inducting
all individual members into
its “design for living” or the
moral norms , attitudes,
values, motives, social
roles, language and
symbols as the ‘means by
which social and cult ural
continuity are attained’
(Clausen, 1968)
 ë Socialization is vital to culture—
cultural transmission from one
generation to the next happen through
socialization.
ë Socialization is vital to personal ity—
the training of every person received
through socialization affect his
personality.
ë Socialization is vital to sex-role
differentiation—it provides every
individual the expected role he/she is to
play in society according to his/her sex.

Importance of Soci alization

 Primary
Socialization
ëPrimary socialization is the
process whereby people
learn the attitudes, values,
and actions appropriate to
individuals as members of
particular culture.
ë Example: A child sees the mother
expressing discriminatory opinion
about a minority group, then that
child may think this behavior is
acceptable and could continue to
have this opinion about minority
groups.
 ë Secondar y socialization refers to
process of learning what is
appropriate behavior as a member
of a smaller group within the larger
society. It involves smaller
changes than those occurring in
primary socialization.
ëExamples: entering a new
profession, relocating to a new
environment or society.

Secondary Socialization
ëAnticipator y
socialization refers to
the processes of
socialization in which a
person "rehearses" for
future positions,
occupations, and social
relationships.
ëIn anticipatory
socialization, knowledge
and skills are learned for
future roles.

Anticipatory
Socialization
 Resocialization
Resocialization
Resocialization refers to
the process of
discarding former
behavior patterns and
accepting new ones as
part of a transition in
one's life. It involves
learning a new and
different sets of
attitudes, values and
behaviors different from
previous experience.
Resocialization occurs throughout the human life
cycle and can be an intense experience, with the
individual experiencing a sharp break wit h their
past, and needing to learn and be exposed to
values —hence,
radically different norms and values—
involving a complete change of personality.
Resocialization
Resocialization
deals with the
process of mentally
and emotionally
"re-training" a
person so that he
or she can operate
in an environment
other than that
which he or she is
accustomed to.
What are the tw o types of
social groups?
ëPrimary group—have small
membership, has close, intimate
end emotional relations, whose
primary goal is the relationship
itself.
ëSecondary groups—those that are
big in membership, with distant and
temporary relations, created for a
special purpose or goal.
ë Agents of socialization
are the people, groups
and institutions that
influence our self-
concept, emotions,
attitudes, and behavior
(Henslin, 2006) and
teach us what we
need to know in order
to participate in
society.
 The Family
1. The family—
family—the basic
unit of society and
primary agency for
socialization through
which the child learns
the expectations of
society and other
fundamental social
values by internalizing
their parents’ values and
incorporating these in
their own personalities.
The Peer Group
2. The peer group—
usually based on age,
rank, sex or interest,
affecting our attitudes
towards others; it is
the most influential
among the young and
have the greatest
impact on their lives.
 3. The school—
school —represents
the formal proces s of
transmitting the culture of
the society, preparing
individuals for adult roles
and for them to perform
successfully as members
of society. Socialization
in school aims to ensure
social order,
emphasizing conformity
to rules.

The School
 4. The mass
media—both
broadcast and
print media
exert powerful
influence in
socializing
individuals.

Mass Media
 The Church
5. The church—
provides for the moral
and spiritual needs of
the people,
introducing children t o
various tenets and
dogmas that influence
behavior and outlook
in life.
The Workplace
6. The workplace—
workplace —as
agent of socialization for
workers, the focus is to
introduce the
organization’s values
and to learn the skills to
one’s job.
 The Neighborhood
7. The neighborhood/community—where the
child is introduced to the realities of life.
 Socialization and
Personality Formation
ëSocialization is important in the
process of personality formation.
ëWhile much of human personality
is the result of our genes , the
socialization process can mold it
in particular directions by
encouraging specific beliefs and
attitudes as well as selectively
providing experiences .
ë The Semai tribesmen of the central
Malay Peninsula of Malaysia typically
are gentle people who do not like
violent, aggressive individuals. In fact,
they avoid them whenever possible.
ë In contrast, the Yanomamö I ndians on
the border area between Venezuela
and Brazil usually train their boys to be
tough and aggressive. The ideal
Yanomamö man does not shrink from
violence and strong emotions. In fact,
he seeks them out.
ë Likewise, Shiite Muslim men of Iran are
expected at times to publicly express
their religious faith through the
emotionally powerful act of self-inflicted
pain.
 Socialization and
Personality Formation
ëSuccessful socialization can
result in uniformity within a
society.
ëGovernments around the world
standardize education and make
it compulsory for all children
because education, as a
socializing agent, is a powerful
political tool for controlling
people.
How are children socialized?
ëSocialization is a learning
process that begins shortly after
birth.
ëEarly childhood is the period of
the most intense and the most
crucial socialization because it is
then that we acquire language
and learn the fundamentals of
our culture.
ëIt is also when much of our
personality takes shape.
Personality Development
ëAn individual's personality is the
complex of mental
characteristics that makes them
unique from other people.
ëIt includes all of the patterns of
thought and emotions that cause
us to do and say things in
particular ways.
ëPersonality colors our values,
beliefs, and expectations.
Personality Development
ëMany potential factors are
involved in shaping a
personality—these factors are
coming from heredity and the
environment.
ëExample: genetically inherited
physical and ment al capabilities
have an impact on how others
see us and, subsequently, how
we see ourselves.
ëPeople adapt the attitudes
of others, conform to role
expectations and
internalize the norms and
values of society.
ëThe object of socialization
is to pass on the cultural
patterns of society so that
new members can function
effectively.
 ëThrough the proces s of
socialization, people develop
their “social self ” that
reflects the society in which
they live.
ëPeople employ symbols to convey meanings to
one another, defining situations, negotiating
interaction and order and constructing reality
according to attributed meanings.
Symbolic Interaction Approach
ëOur distinct self-image
and self-concept—or
our personality—are
derived from our
interaction with other
people.
ëCooley (1902): “Self
and society are twin -
born”
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë A person's self grows out of
society's interpersonal
interactions and the
perceptions of others.
ë A person views himself
through others' perceptions
in society and in turn gains
identity.
ë Identity, or self, is the result
of the concept in which we
learn to see ourselves as
others do (Yeung & Martin
2003).
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë We acquire our sense of
self by seeing ourselves
reflected in the behavior of
others and their attitudes
toward us.
ë The way others treat us is
like a mirror reflecting our
personal qualities.
ë We imagine how we appear
to other persons and based
on that imagination, we
judge our appearance to
others.
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)

ë Our sense of self is derived from

the perception of others.
ë Our looking glass self is not who
we actually are or what people
us—it is
actually think about us—
based on our perception of HOW
other people think of us (Cooley,
1998)
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë The looking-glass self
begins at an early age and
continues throughout the
entirety of a person’s life.
ë Beginning as children,
humans begin to def ine
themselves within the
context of their
socializations.
ë Example: The child learns
that the symbol of his crying
will elicit a response from
his/her parents.
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë This development is a
necessary prerequisite f or
the child's ability to adopt
the perspectives of other
participants in social
relationships and, thus, for
the child's capacity to
develop a “social self.“
ë The words "good" or "bad"
only hold relevance af ter
one learns the connotation
and societal meaning of the
words.
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë Three main components:
1. Presentati on—we imagine
the way we appear to others
2. Identification—we imagine
the judgment of that
appearance.
3. Subjective interpretati on—
we interpret those judgments
and form our own self -
concept.
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë Cooley argued that a
person's self grows
out of a person's
commerce with others.
ë "The social origin of
his life comes by t he
pathway of intercourse
with other persons. ”
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë The self, to Cooley, is not f irst
individual and then social; it
arises dialectically through
communication.
ë One's consciousness of himself
is a reflection of the ideas about
himself that he attributes to
other minds; thus, there can be
no isolated selves.
ë "There is no sense of 'I' w ithout
its correlative sense of you, or
he, or they. "
 The Looking Glass Self
(Charles Horton Cooley)
ë "Society is an interweaving and interworking of
mental selves. I imagine your mind, and
especially what your mind thinks about my
mind, and what your mind thinks about what my
mind thinks about your mind. Whoever cannot
or will not perform these feats is not properly in
the game. Multiple perspectives are brought into
congruence through continued multi-lateral
exchanges of impressions and evaluations
between our minds and those of others. Society
is internalized in the individual psyche; it
becomes part of the individual self through the
interaction of many; individuals, which links and
fuses them into an organic whole.”—Cooley,
Human Nature and the Social Order
The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë In Mind, Self and
Society (1934), Mead
describes how the
individual mind and self
arises out of the social
process.
ë The "developme nt of the
individual's self, and of
his self- consciousness
within the field of his
experience" is
preeminently social.
The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë The self, like the mind,
is a social emergent.
ë This social concept ion
of the self entails that
individual selves are
the products of
social interaction and
not the (logical or
biological)
preconditions of that
interaction.
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)

ë "The self is something which has a

development; it is not initially there, at
birth, but arises in the process of social
experience and activity, that is, develops
in the given individual as a result of his
relations to that process as a whole and
to other individuals within that process"
(Mind, Self and Society, 135).
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë The self is a reflective process — i.e., "it is an
object to itself.“
ë This reflexivity of the self distinguishes human
from animal consciousness.
ë Two uses of the term "consciousness" : (1)
"consciousness" may denote "a certain feeling
consciousness" (i.e., organism's sensitivity to its
environment); and (2) "consciousness" may refer
to a form of awareness " which always has,
implicitly at least, the ref erence to an 'I' in it" (i.e.,
the term "consciousness" may mean self-
consciousness) (Mind, Self and Society 165).
The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)

ë It is the second use of the term

"consciousness" that is appropriate
to the discussion of human
consciousness.
ë It is reflective (or self-)
consciousness that characterizes
human awarenes s.
ë Self-consciousness, then, involves
the objectification of the self.
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë Two Parts of the Self:
» The subjective “I”—
the active, unique,
spontaneous ,
idiosyncratic self; the
product of individual
distinctiveness
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)

ë Two Parts of the Self:

» The objective
“me”—the social
self—the internalized
social expectations
and demands ; the
product of
socialization
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)

ë How is this objectification of the self

possible? The individual can enter as
an object [to himself] only on the basis
of social relations and interactions,
only by means of his experiential
transactions with other individuals in an
organized social environment .
The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)

• Internalization —
we enact the
behavior and
incorporate the
standards, attitudes
and beliefs of
significant others
into our own
personalities.
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë Self-consciousness is the result of a
process in which the individual takes the
attitudes of others toward herself, in which
she attempts to view herself from the
standpoint of others.
ë The self-as-object arises out of the
individual's experience of other selves
outside of herself.
ë The objectified self is an emergent within
the social structures and processes of
human inter-subjectivity.
The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë Mead described the
self as "taking the
role of the other," the
premise for which the
self is actualized.
ë Through interaction
with others, we begin
to develop an identity
about who we are, as
well as empathy for
others.
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
Role -taking
Role- taking——the
process by which
a person mentally
assumes the role
of another pers on
or group in order
to understand the
world from that
person’s point of
view.
 Processes in Role-
Role -Taking
1. Role-taking
Role- taking— —the
individual take the role
of the other in hopes of
ascertaining the acts of
others.
2. Role--making
Role making— —the
person constructs his
own roles and
anticipate others’
responses.
3. Role--playing
Role playing— —the
person plays his
particular role.
The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)
ë The development of self-
self-
awareness can be
traced back to the
interaction between
parent and child.
ë Significant others—
others—
those persons whose
care, affection and
approval are especially
desired and who are
most important in the
development of the self.
 Development of Social Self
ë INFANCY–no sense
of self
ë BABYHOOD–we
start to realize that we
depend on others
ë CHILDHOOD –
differentiating
between “I & ME”
1. Preparatory
stage—
stage —
interactions
lack meaning
and children
largely imitate
people around
them.
2. Play stage—
stage —
children learn to
use language and
other symbols,
enabling them to
pretend to take the
roles of specific
people.
• In play, the child takes
the role of another and
acts as though she
were the other.
• This form of role-
playing involves a
single role at a time.
Thus, the other which
comes into the child's
experience in play is a
"specific other"
3. Game stage—
stage —
children unders tand
not only their own
position but also that
of others; games are
structured by rules
and are often
competitive so
children become
concerned wit h the
demands and
expectations of
others.
• The game involves a
more complex form of
role-playing.
• In the game, the
individual is required to
internalize, not merely
the character of a single
and specific other, but
the roles of all others
who are involved with
him in the game.
• He must comprehend the
rules of the game which
condition the various
roles
• This configuration of
roles-organized-
according-to- rules
brings the attitudes
of all participants
together to form a
symbolized unit y: this
unity is the
"generalized other“
 The Role-
Role -Taking Process
(George Herbert Mead)

ë Generalized other —generalized

impression or awarenes s of what
people expect from us.
• The generalized other is
"an organized and
generalized attitude “ with
reference to which the
individual def ines her
own conduct.
• When the individual can
view herself from the
standpoint of the
generalized other, "self-
consciousness in the
full sense of the term"
is attained.
• The game, then, i s
the stage of the
social process at
which the
individual attains
selfhood.
Importance of Language in
the Emergence of the Self
• Language is communication via
"significant symbols," and it is through
significant communication that the
individual is able to take the atti tudes
of others toward herself.
• Language is not only a "necessary
mechanism" of mind, but also the
primary social foundation of the self:
Importance of Language in
the Emergence of the Self
• These forms of "symbolic interaction"
(i.e., social interactions that take pl ace
via shared symbols such as words,
definitions, roles, gestures, rituals, etc.)
are the major paradigms in Mead's
theory of socialization and are the bas ic
social processes that render the
reflexive objectification of the self
possible.
 Importance of Language in
the Emergence of the Self
• “I know of no other form of behavior than the linguistic in
which the individual is an object to himself .... When a self
does appear it always involves an experience of another;
there could not be an experience of a self simply by
itself. The plant or the lower animal reacts to its
environment, but there is no experience of a self... When
the response of the other becomes an essential part in
the experience or conduct of the individual; when taking
the attitude of the other becomes an essential part in his
behavior — then the individual appears in his own
experience as a self ; and until this happens he does not
appear as a self.” (Mind, Self and Society 195).
Importance of Language in
the Emergence of the Self
• Within the linguistic act, the individual takes
the role of the other, i.e., responds to her own
gestures in terms of the symbolized attitudes
of others.
• This "process of taking the role of the
other" within the process of symbolic
interaction is the primal form of self-
objectification and is essential to self-
realization.
 DRAMATURGY
(Erving Goffman)

“Everyone is consciously playing a role”

• It views social situations as scenes,
complete with stage, actors playing
their roles, props and audience
• In our everyday life, we constantly play
a role—some are stereotyped, others
are patterned or improvised.
 DRAMATURGY
(Erving Goffman)
• Role/Script—the
social expectations of
our behavior
• Stage Performance—
the activities that we
do in pursuit of our
roles
• Audience—the people
around us (society)
• Backstage—the real
self of the actor
ëChild rearing practices
vary by social class
and affect the life
chances of individuals.
 Conflict Approach
(Karl Marx)

ëSocial customs and

institutions are arranged
to perpetuate class
distinctions (e.g. the
media is employed by the
capitalist class to foster a
false consciousness like
consumerism among the
masses)
 Conflict Approach (Karl Marx)

ëThrough socialization, social institutions seek

to legitimize social inequality by propagating
an ideology that says existing arrangements —
where the poor gets poorer and the rich gets
richer—are right and reasonable
ëThere is a conflict
between the
demands of
society (or
parents) and the
primal biological
drives of sex and
aggression of an
individual.
 Conflict Approach
(Sigmund Freud)

ëWe begin as pleasure-seeking id.

As the child struggles to
accommodat e parental demands,
the ego develops to find realistic
and accept able ways of satisfying
the id’s desires. As we internalize
our parents’ ideas of right and
wrong, the superego develops.
Conflict Approach
(Sigmund Freud)

Thus, socialization is
the struggle to
redirect primal
impulses into
culturally required
and approved
channels of conduct.
 Personality Test
• Put the following
animals in order
of your
preference. • Write one word that
• Cow describes each one
of the following.
• Tiger • Dog
• Sheep • Cat
• Horse • Rat
• Coffee
• Pig • Sea
 Personality Test
• Think of someone, who also knows
you and is important to you which
you can relate them to the following
colors. (1 color for 1 person only,
don’t repeat your answer twice)
– Yellow
– Orange
– Red
– White
– Green
 INTERPRETATION
• Priorities in LIFE.
• Describes:
– Cow CAREER – DOG, Your own
– Tiger PRIDE personality
– Sheep LOVE – RAT, Enemy’s
personality
– Horse FAMILY
– SEA, Describes you
– Pig MONEY own life
– CAT, Partners
personality
– COFFEE, How sex is
interpreted
• The person…
– YELLOW , Someone you
will never forget
– ORANGE, Someone you
consider your true friend
– RED, Someone you
really LOVE
– WHITE, Twin Soul
– GREEN, Someone you
will remember the rest of
your life.

INTERPRETATION