People and groups that influence our

self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and

behavior
Agents of socialization prepare us for
our place in society
 The most important socializing agent
Studies show that warm, supportive
moderately restrictive family
environments usually produce happy-
well behaving children
Cold, rigid, and overly restrictive
families tend to cause kids to be
rebellious, resentful and insecure
 Lower-class families tend to be more
authoritarian and strict than middle-
class families
Parents tend to train children to respect and
obey parental authority
Middle class parents are more
permissive and lenient, emphasizing
the value of independence
More child centered and sensitive to the
childs feelings
 Some neighborhoods are better for
children than others
research shows that children from
poor neighborhoods are more likely
to get in trouble with the law, get
pregnant, drop out of school or end
up disadvantaged
 Religion plays a major role in
socialization of most Americans
70% of Americans belong to a local
congregation and 2 in every 5 Americans
attend a religious service weekly
Religious especially influences
morality but also ideas about dress,
speech, and manners that are
appropriate
 With more mothers working, day care has
become a significant agent of socialization
Research finds that the effects of day care
largely depends on the childs background and
quality of care
Children from poor households or dysfunctional families
appear to benefit from day care
Children in higher quality day care centers interact
better with children and have fewer behavioral
problems
The more hours a child spends in day care, the
weaker the bonds between mothers and
children and the more negative their
interactions
Children who go to day care score higher of
language tests
 One of the first tasks at school is to
learn to fit in by getting along with
others
School provides children with their first
training in how to behave
School contribute to uniformity
Expected to both help children develop their
potential and mold them into social conformity
The hidden curriculum- trains students to be
patriotic, to believe in their countrys cultural
values and obey its laws
 Teaches its members several things:
Independent of adult authority
Create distinct subcultures with own values,
jargon, music, dress, and heroes
Social skills and group loyalty
The value of friendship and companionship
Can also teach members to disobey
authorities
 Research by Patricia and Peter Adler
demonstrates how peer groups influence
behavior
For boys, norms that make them popular are:
athletic ability, coolness, and toughness
For girls, norms are: family background,
physical appearance, and the ability to attract
boys
Its almost impossible to go against peer
groups; children who do become labeled
as outsiders, nonmembers or outcasts.
 Sports- teaching social skills and
values
Workplace- learn a set of skills and a
perspective on the world
 What does a woman who has just
become a nun have in common with a
man who has just divorced?

Resocialization is the process of

learning new norms, values, attitudes,
and behaviors to match new situations
in life
Occurs each time we learn something that is
contrary to our previous experiences, such as
going to work in a new job
 Erving Goffman coined the term to refer to a
place where people are cut off from the rest
of society and are under almost total control
of agents of the institution
boot camp, prisons, concentration camps, convents,
some religious cults and some boarding schools
A person entering the institution is greeted
with a degradation ceremony through which
current identity is stripped away and replaced
Total institutions are effective b/c they isolate
people from outside influences and
information