Pre-test: True or False – Write True if the said statement is true, and write False if the statement is false, on a

one-half cross-wised sheet of yellow pad paper.

1. Sociologists used the term sociology to refer to the process by which an individual is oriented and taught
by his or her society’s norms.
2. Individualization is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting
entity in a particular stage of life in which individual characteristics are possessed and by which a person
is recognized or known
3. Secondary identity consists of the roles and statuses that an individual learns as a child. This includes the
core social identities that are often ascribed to an individual such as sex, age, and ethnicity.
4. Role learning theory promotes the argument that individuals learn a repertoire of social roles from the
society. They then reproduce this repertoire in their behavior. Roles constitute the social facts (example:
gender role, occupational role, family role) that inhibit, empower, and influence an individual’s actions.
5. In ethics, norms denote the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining
what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the significance of different actions.
6. Conflict theory can be said that these values and goals are sometimes the source of conflict within a
society, as individuals have varying access and experiences relating to it.
7. Status are the sets of expectation from people who occupy a particular status. From vocabulary that they
would use to their performance of their statuses, these are all within the framework of rules.
8. Conformity is the act of following the roles and goals of one’s society. This behavior is often met with
rewards and acceptance from other members of the society.
9. Deviance is the act of violating the prescribed social norms. Acts of deviance are often associated with a
stigma.
10. Regulations consist of rules and regulations that are implemented by the state, making them the prime
source of social control. Violations of laws are met with punishments, fines, ostracism and
imprisonment.
11. Sanctions – is an integral part of communicating and incorporating social norms to an individual’s
personality. It is in this process that an individual is made to automatically conform to the dictates of his
or her society through a cost-benefit orientation.
12. Folkways are the socially approved behaviors that have no moral underpinning. This includes a variety
of actions that constitute acceptable or expected behavior drawn from customs and conventions.
13. Mores are the norms related to moral conventions. These include behaviors that are considered
acceptable in relation to religious practices.
14. The behavior of an individual within a social space in accordance to his or her status is called identity
formation.
 15. Innovation is a “new idea, creative thoughts, new imaginations in form of device or method”. It is often
also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated need or
existing market needs.

Lesson 1 – Enculturation and Socialization

Today, the social learning perspective is more accepted by sociologists and anthropologists in explaining
the development of behavior and attitude among humans.

Sociologists used the term socialization to refer to the process by which an individual is oriented and
taught by his or her society’s norms. These norms include beliefs, attitudes, practices, and behaviors. Similar to
this process is studied in anthropology through the concept of enculturation.

In instances, when a person does not get socialized or enculturated, it is possible that his or her behavior
would resemble that of other animals. This was observed among feral children (wild children) of France.

One of the most famous cases is that of Victor, who was popularly known as the “boy of Aveyron”.
Victor lived in the forest alone and was taken in by Jean marc Gaspard Itard, a physician who gave him his
name.

For years, Itard and other scientists attempted to teach Victor spoken language to no avail.

Recent studies on the documents on Victor revealed that he may have been left in the forest by his
parents who physically abused when he was six or seven.

A probable reason for the abandonment is Victor’s mental condition, because he displayed signs of
autism.

The case of feral children was also recorded in other parts of the world. However, no conclusive study
has still been conducted and accomplished about the topic.

1.1 – Identity Formation

Also known as individualization, is the development of the distinct personality of an individual

regarded as a persisting entity in a particular stage of life in which individual characteristics are
possessed and by which a person is recognized or known.

Also, it is the compilation of values, attitudes and beliefs that individuals perceive from their
family, peers, and community and it enables them to create a personal identity that simultaneously
separates them from the other members of the group and incorporates them in its system.

Social identity is a person’s notion of who he or she is in the society. This includes the roles and
statuses that he or she performs in accord to what the society expects of him or her. There are two
primary types of identity that an individual takes on: primary and secondary.
  Primary identity – consists of the roles and statuses that an individual learns as
a child. This includes the core social identities that are often ascribed to an
individual such as sex, age, and ethnicity.

 Secondary identity – As a child gets enculturated and socialized with his or her
society’s norm, he or she participates in the construction of his or her identity.
This includes role and statuses achieved such as occupation, educational
background,
Economic status, and gender.

Activity Time!

Reflect upon: Fill the information that is required in the given below. After which, categorize these
identities by underlining all identities that are public and draw a box for all identities that are personal.

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Ethnicity
4. Hobby
5. Religion
6. Economic status
7. Illness
8. Language
9. Award
10. Failure

1.2 – Theories on Identity

There are two primary theories related to the understanding of identity formation practice:

1. Role learning theory – promotes the argument that individuals learn a repertoire of social
roles from the society. They then reproduce this repertoire in their behavior. Roles constitute
the social facts (example: gender role, occupational role, family role) that inhibit, empower,
and influence an individual’s actions.

The primary argument against this theory is that it is too socialization-deterministic, as it side
steps the potential of humans to recreate roles and not just accept them.

2. Theory on symbolic interactionism – which promotes the idea that individuals construct
their notion of the self through social interactions performed within a society. This implies
that roles and their performances are part of a creative process wherein the individual sees
the behavior of others and responds to it by creating a role that it can play. This presents
humans as social actors performing within a cultural or social field.

1.3 – Norms and Values

The concept of cultural values refers to all those ideas held in society that are considered good,
acceptable, and right. Cultural values inform the types of aspirations that members of the society
aspire for, and these are labeled as social goals.

In ethics, values denote the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of
determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the significance of
different actions.

 Using the conflict theory, it can be said that these values and goals are sometimes
the source of conflict within a society, as individuals have varying access and
experiences relating to it.

For example: the values of which center on wealth acquisition and its
accompanying prestige and power are not held true by all individuals in a
society, as these values are scarce and unattainable for some individuals.

 Another perspective on values and goals is from the functionalism theory, which
argues that values exist to create unity and harmony within the structure and
fulfill the needs of the individuals.
This uses the organismic view of society wherein its parts (organs) are
interrelated and critical for its existence (organism). Values are created and
upheld because they maintain the structure that promotes social order.

For example: the values that Filipinos attach to family promote tightly knit
communities that serve as support groups for individuals.

Norms or social norms are regarded as collective representations of acceptable group conduct as
well as individual perceptions of particular group conduct. They can be viewed as cultural products
which represent individuals’ basic knowledge of what others do and think that they should do.

There are four categories of norms:

1. Folkways – are the socially approved behaviors that have no moral underpinning.
This includes a variety of actions that constitute acceptable or expected behavior
drawn from customs and conventions.

For example: some societies consider it rude for a visitor to make slurping sounds
when consuming soup, whereas others encourage it.

2. Mores – are the norms related to moral conventions. These include behaviors that are
considered acceptable in relation to religious practices.

For example: The use of artificial contraceptives, such as condoms are birth control
pills, is frowned upon in highly religious societies, whereas it is accepted, and even
encouraged, in other that do not strictly follow conventional dictates of religious
doctrine.

3. Taboos – are behaviors that are absolutely forbidden in a specific culture.

Performances of taboos are met with stricter punishments.
 Examples of taboos are cannibalism and incest. It must be noted that taboos are not
universal. Some societies do allow behaviors that are considered repugnant in
others.

4. Laws – consist of rules and regulations that are implemented by the state, making
them the prime source of social control. Violations of laws are met with punishments,
fines, ostracism and imprisonment.

1.4 – Status and Role

A status is an individual’s position in his or her society, which carries with it a set of
defined rights and obligations. Your status as a student comes with obligations and rights, which
are defined as your roles.

Roles are the sets of expectation from people who occupy a particular status. From
vocabulary that they would use to their performance of their statuses, these are all within the
framework of rules.

The behavior of an individual within a social space in accordance to his or her status is
called role performance. Sometimes, a status has multiple roles attached to it. This multiplicity
of roles within a given status is called a role set. Hence, your teacher’s role is not just to educate
you. He or she also has the role of being your guardian while you are away from your parents.

Role conflict stems from the divergent expectations of the statuses that an individual
simultaneously occupies. Such conflicts may create role strain on the individual. This implies
that the individual having difficulty in performing the role required of him or her.

The process of discontinuing with a role is labelled as role exit. Individuals would often
have a role exit to either address a role strain or to indulge in a new role set.

Lesson 2 – Conformity and Deviance

Conformity is the act of following the roles and goals of one’s society. This behavior is often
met with rewards and acceptance from other members of the society.

Deviance is the act of violating the prescribed social norms. Acts of deviance are often
associated with a stigma. A stigma is a strong sense of disapproval on nonconforming behavior from
members of a society. When deviance is within the context of legal structures, it may even be considered
a crime or a violation of a law.

Because deviance is always juxtaposed with a norm, which changes based on environmental
factors, it is also constantly changing.

Teacher’s Trivia:

Juxtapose – is a place or deal with close together for contrasting effect.

 As it is socially constructed, the actions that are considered deviant vary per society and per
social status.

These are several theories that explain the existence of deviants (humans/groups) and deviance
(acts). These are as follows:

1. Social control theory – deviance is primarily caused by a lack in stronger bonds within a
society. As an individual feel less attached to his or her society, there is a higher chance for
him or her to deviate from social norms.

2. Rational choice theory – the individual’s decision to follow or to go against social norms is
dependent on the perceived cost and benefit of such action. This implies that humans weigh
the impact of following a norm. If following a norm would cost them more that what they
could spare, such a norm is set aside and they would choose to perform a deviant act.

3. Differential association theory – conformity or deviance is learned by an individual from

those he or she associates with. Hence, if an individual has stronger associations with a group
of deviants, then it is most likely that he or she would conform to deviant behavior than that
of what the general public considers as a norm.

4. Labelling theory – actions are initially not considered deviant until they are labelled as such
by the members of the community.

 Primary deviance – is a type of act that does not end with the individual being
labelled as such. This is due to the age and intensity of the deviance committed.

 Secondary deviance – is a type of act that results from being labelled by society
as a deviant. This presents the theory’s key argument that humans who are
labelled as deviants would often commit deviant acts due to societal pressure
brought about by stigma.

5. Conflict Theory – society consists of opposing groups of people whose access to power is
unequal. The group that has access to power determines which actions are deviant based on
their perceived advantage. Usually the set of behaviors of the elite is created and reproduced
as the norm, and those of the powerless are considered deviant.

6. Structural-functionalist theory – this theory proposes two perspectives in the formation of

deviant behavior.

On the macro level, deviance is a product of the breakdown of social norms, which produces
anomie or social disorganization.

On the micro level, deviance is a product of the role strain that an individual experience due
to lack of resources to cope with the demands of the social norms.

2.1 – Social Control

 To maintain social order and stability, social control is needed. The two elements that promote
social control are:

1. Internalization – is an integral part of communicating and incorporating social norms to an

individual’s personality. It is in this process that an individual is made to automatically conform to
the dictates of his or her society through a cost-benefit orientation.

One of the key element in ensuring that individuals are able to internalize social norms is the
establishment of sanctions.

2. Sanctions – are powerful in leading an individual to conform to social norms. Despite an

individual’s disclamation to conform, when the sanction is strong, there is a high possibility that he
or she will decide to follow the norm.

 Formal sanctions – these are the rewards or forms of punishment that are
formally awarded by an institution such as a government, council or an
establishment.

 Informal sanctions – these are the rewards and forms of punishment that are
spontaneously given by an individual or a group of people as a response to a
behavior that was either accepted or disapproved.

 Positive sanctions – these are actions or statements that reward a particular

behavior, which reinforce its repetition.

Forms of Deviance

There are four forms or types of a deviance:

1. Ritualism – this is a concept developed by American sociologist Robert K. Merton as

a part of his structural strain theory. It refers to the common practice of going through
the motions of daily life even though one does not accept the goals and values that
align with those practices.
2. Retreatism – this is the attitude of being resigned to abandonment of an original goal
or the means of attaining it.
3. Rebellion – also known as uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order.
It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
4. Innovation – is a “new idea, creative thoughts, new imaginations in form of device or
method”. It is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new
requirements, unarticulated need or existing market needs.

Activity Time!

1. Why are sanctions and internalization crucial in establishing social control?

2. Why does deviance exist in the society?
Evaluation: True or False – Write True if the said statement is true, and write False if the statement is false,
on a one-half cross-wised sheet of yellow pad paper.

1. Sociologists used the term sociology to refer to the process by which an individual is oriented and taught
by his or her society’s norms.
2. Individualization is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting
entity in a particular stage of life in which individual characteristics are possessed and by which a person
is recognized or known
3. Secondary identity consists of the roles and statuses that an individual learns as a child. This includes the
core social identities that are often ascribed to an individual such as sex, age, and ethnicity.
4. Role learning theory promotes the argument that individuals learn a repertoire of social roles from the
society. They then reproduce this repertoire in their behavior. Roles constitute the social facts (example:
gender role, occupational role, family role) that inhibit, empower, and influence an individual’s actions.
5. In ethics, norms denote the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining
what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the significance of different actions.
6. Conflict theory can be said that these values and goals are sometimes the source of conflict within a
society, as individuals have varying access and experiences relating to it.
7. Status are the sets of expectation from people who occupy a particular status. From vocabulary that they
would use to their performance of their statuses, these are all within the framework of rules.
8. Conformity is the act of following the roles and goals of one’s society. This behavior is often met with
rewards and acceptance from other members of the society.
9. Deviance is the act of violating the prescribed social norms. Acts of deviance are often associated with a
stigma.
10. Regulations consist of rules and regulations that are implemented by the state, making them the prime
source of social control. Violations of laws are met with punishments, fines, ostracism and
imprisonment.
11. Sanctions – is an integral part of communicating and incorporating social norms to an individual’s
personality. It is in this process that an individual is made to automatically conform to the dictates of his
or her society through a cost-benefit orientation.
12. Folkways are the socially approved behaviors that have no moral underpinning. This includes a variety
of actions that constitute acceptable or expected behavior drawn from customs and conventions.
13. Mores are the norms related to moral conventions. These include behaviors that are considered
acceptable in relation to religious practices.
14. The behavior of an individual within a social space in accordance to his or her status is called identity
formation.
 15. Innovation is a “new idea, creative thoughts, new imaginations in form of device or method”. It is often
also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated need or
existing market needs.

Essay: For ten points, write what have you learned about this weekly topic that we have on this interactive
module.

Some Notes:

1. Post-test will be recorded and the instructor will collect your answers.
2. Activities will also be recorded and the instructor will collect your exercises.

Bibliography/References:

Internet Connection, Wikipedia

Understanding Culture, Society and Politics by DIWA Publishing

Maria Carinnes P. Alejandria-Gonzalez, Author