USC – SHS North Campus

Soc Sci 01: Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics

First/Second Semester
A. Y. 2023 - 2024

MODULE 3
Becoming Members of Society

I. What will you learn from this module?

After studying this module, you will be able to explain the context, content,
processes, and consequences of socialization.

II. Let’s Check What You Already Know

Instructions: Write T if the statement is True, and F if the statement is false.

____ 1. A role is a definite behavior.

____ 2. In a social system, individuals are expected to occupy limited statuses and roles.
____ 3. Roles are culturally defined.
____ 4. Society sets the guidelines for behavior but how people act out their roles vary.
____ 5. Socialization begins at birth and continues throughout life.
____ 6. People change but their statuses and roles remain the same.
____ 7. People who are deprived of interaction can still form emotional and social ties
with others.
____ 8. Marriage is an achieved status because it is attained through personal effort.
____ 9. Achieved status is one that is assigned to the individual and where he or she
has little or no control.
____ 10. Even without socialization, a person is capable of participating in group life.

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III. Let’s Explore
Gist: In human existence, we are greatly influenced by the people around us and the kind of
groups to which we belong—how they interact and think about the world. Such interaction,
through various social processes and roles, shapes our behavior and self-image. However, we
should not let society define who we are and what we want to be without neglecting our own
social roles.

A. Self-Concept and Identity Formation

1. The most common usage of the term “socialization” among sociologists is that it refers to the
process through which a person learns the norms, values, and behaviors considered acceptable
by society.

2. The term ‘enculturation’ was first coined by cultural anthropologist Melville Herskovits in
1948. Moreover, Anthropologist Margaret Mead clearly defined enculturation in 1963 as a
process distinct from socialization in that enculturation refers to the process of cultural learning
with a specific culture.

3. Socialization is a lifelong process of social interaction that transforms a child into a teenager,
a friend, a student, an office worker, a parent, and many more.

4. The Looking-Glass Self, a theory that was developed by Charles H. Cooley, is a process to
substantiate his contention that the self is a social product; that people’s interactions with others
shape their personality or self-concept from the time of birth until they become elder members of
society.

4.1. Three principal elements of the looking-glass process of self-development: (a) we

imagine how we appear to others or how we want to appear to others; (b) we imagine how
others make judgments and react to our appearance or behavior; (c) we experience positive or
negative feelings, pride or shame, depending on the imagined judgments and interpretations of
others toward us.

5. The Generalized Other, a sociologist named George Herbert Mead, speaks of children (after
the age of 5) who take part in reciprocal relationships and begin to understand the expectations
of the larger society.

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6. Mead’s theory looks into how a person sees things from the point of view of society, that there
is a continuing interaction between the “I”-- referring to the spontaneous and self-centered traits
of the person and the Me”-- the unique traits of a person and the expectations of the larger
group.

6.1. According to Mead, role-taking involves three stages: (a) Imitative stage (age of 1)
where children imitate the behavior of their significant others; (b) Play Stage (age from 2-4)
where children learn to take the role of the other. They would act like other people or they start
putting themselves in their situation; (c) Game Stage refers to the Generalized Other (refer to
pointer # 5).

B. Agents of Socialization

7. The family is the first and usually the most important and influential agent of socialization.
Infants and children need the primary care of parents, or any adult member, for physical,
emotional, and psychological survival.

8. As the child grows older, peer groups are important and their role in the socialization process
cannot be undermined. Peers offer opportunities for children to test what they have learned at
home.

8.1. Peer groups enable a person to produce a set of behaviors, attitudes, values, and
beliefs that conform to their own. Through peer groups, adolescents adopt the viewpoints of the
worldviews of others.

9. The school is another agent of socialization. It is the children’s first experience of an

institution that evaluates their behaviors.

10. A fourth agent is mass media. Studies indicate that regular watching of violent shows on
television, for example, encourages violent or aggressive behaviors, although there is also
evidence that television promotes good behavior or encourages children to adopt positive
behaviors.

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C. Norms and Values

11. Norms are rules of behavior that define what is right and wrong, acceptable or not, and can
be understood only within the context of one’s culture. These are a set of do’s and don'ts.

11.1. The norm is that, as a student, you are expected to come to class regularly, take part
in discussions and activities, do readings at home, and submit assignments and projects on
time.

12. Values serve as standards for evaluating norms.

D. Statuses and Roles

13. Status refers to the position of a person in society. It is either ascribed, which is assigned to
the individual (e.g. age, sex, race), or achieved, which the individual attains through personal
effort or behavior (e.g. education, occupation, income, marriage, being a parent).

14. Role refers to the set of expected behaviors attached to a status.

E. Conformity and Deviance

15. Deviance refers to behavior that violates norms and values considered by society as
important. A deviant act depends largely on culture, it is shaped by society making it relative.
For example, in the Philippines, smoking marijuana is considered deviant, but in other countries,
it is not.

16. Social Controls (formal and informal) are efforts to prevent or correct a deviant behavior or
to support conformity. Gossip, ridicule, and stigma are social controls in an informal setting.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

17. The Structural-Functional Approach, according to Emile Durkheim who is a sociologist,

posits that although deviance can be dysfunctional for society in many ways, it can also be
functional and, therefore, performs positive functions for society: it can bring people together, it
can increase group solidarity, it can help clarify cultural norms and values, and it can bring about
needed social change. For example, People Power Revolt on February 25, 1986, brought
Filipino people together in a huge rally intended to oust the dictator Pres. Ferdinand Marcos.

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 17.1. Robert Merton explains that deviance is likely to be the result of cultural pressures to
which individuals respond in these five ways: (a) conformity, when the person uses
culturally-approved means of achieving desired goals (e.g. studying hard, finishing education,
getting a good job); (b) innovation, when the person accepts the goals but rejecting society’s
means of achieving them (e.g. passing the course by cheating); (c) ritualism, when the person
accepts the means but not the goals (e.g. finishing education for the sake of having a diploma;
(d) retreatism, when the person rejects both the goals and the means (e.g. not having an
education, not going to school, not getting a good job) and (e) rebellion when the person
rejects the goals and the means, and substituting new ways (e.g. not having an education, not
going to school, and engaging in substance abuse or other illegal or socially-unacceptable
behaviors.

18. The Symbolic Interaction Approach explains how people define deviance in everyday
situations. Labeling Theory, developed by Howard Becker, is to show that an individual becomes
deviant when labeled as deviant, and when he or she has accepted the label as a personal
identity. Concepts such as primary and secondary deviance are important discussions in
labeling theory:

18.1. Primary deviance refers to the initial act or passing episodes of veering away from
what is taught as an ideal behavior.

18.2. It is called secondary deviance when a person continues to or repeatedly violates

acceptable behavior. It, therefore, results from being labeled as a deviant by society.

18.3. The label is negative and it changes a person’s self-concept and social identity. This
negative and powerful social label is called stigma.

19. The Conflict Approach links deviance to social inequality; it reflects the interest of those
who are in power. It argues that actions are considered deviant because people in power have
the resources to make those actions deviant. For example, why is stealing from the rich
considered deviant, yet taking advantage of the poor and powerless is not? Or is it?

____________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

1. Can learning take place in a society without the process of enculturation and
socialization?
2. How do norms, values, statuses, and roles determine a person's level of interaction in
society?
3. What is your usual response to pressures that makes you commit deviant behavior?
____________________________________________________________________________

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IV. Check This Out
To enrich your knowledge of the lesson, you may refer to the links below:

● Reading: Structural-Functional Theory | Sociology (lumenlearning.com)

● Reading: Symbolic Interactionist Theory | Sociology (lumenlearning.com)
● Reading: Conflict Theory | Sociology (lumenlearning.com)

V. References
Amper, ZH., Bersales, JE. & Nolasco MF. Knowing Our Social World: A Comprehensive
Worktext in Understanding Society, Culture, and Politics for Senior High School. Cebu City:
USC Press, 2016.

Baleña, E., Lucero, D., & Peralta, A. Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics for Senior
High School. Quezon City: Educational Resources Corporation, 2016.

Santarita, J. & Madrid, R. Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics. Quezon City: Vibal
Group, Inc., 2016.