Chapter 5

Building Identity: Socialization

Prologue

Zoolander

Who am I?

As you know, there was a famous inscription on shrine of the Oracle at Delphi, Greece, in the 6th century B.C. KNOW THYSELF! In the spirit of the Delphic Oracle, and Derek Zoolander, lets begin this weeks consideration of Building Identity by asking ourselves the question: Who am I?

I am . . .

I asked you to write down 10 answers to this question, Who am I? I am... and then list 10 responses.

Identity/Self-Concept

The answers that you give to this question are a shorthand for what sociologists call your Identity or Self-Concept. How you see yourself. This usually consists of some combination of STATUSES you occupy and other ATTRIBUTES you feel you possess. Nouns = Identity = Statuses Adjectives = Self-Concept = Attributes The process by which you come to this identity/selfconcept is called socialization.

Socialization = Building Identity

Let's define socialization as: The process by which one acquires a personal identity (sense of self or selfconcept), which entails learning how to act according to the rules and expectations of a particular culture. (See Newman pp. 135-36). Through socialization, a helpless infant is gradually transformed into a more or less knowledgeable, more or less cooperative member of society. How exactly this happens is the focus of the material we're studying this week.

Statuses, Roles, and Identity

As our definition of socialization makes clear, forming an identity and learning a culture are closely linked. Central to our identity is the social statuses we occupy and the associated culturally-defined role expectations. INTERNALIZED STATUSES & ROLES IDENTITY

Diversity of Identities

Not every person who occupies the same status sees herself the same way or acts the same way. Life would be incredibly boring is we did. So, the question is, where does this diversity of identity come from? Why are people who occupy the same statuses not all the same?

Some Explanations for Diversity People occupy MULTIPLE STATUSES. That is, they dont occupy a status, but have a STATUS SET. How they combine their statuses and how they reconcile role conflicts they experience (student-athlete, professor-father) creates diverse outcomes. People have different MASTER STATUSES that is, the status in the status set that is most central to the individuals identity. Two people can have the same status, but it could be very central to one person and not to another. There are SUBCULTURAL VARIATIONS in definitions of role expectations, and even active conflict over those definition.

Different Role-Sets

A final explanation: For most statuses we occupy, there are multiple SIGNIFICANT OTHERS we interact with who help us to understand the role expectations for that status. Here we dont mean S.O. in the boyfriend/girlfriend sense, but in the sense of a ROLE MODEL. Here, the concept of role-set is of some use. A role-set is a group of various significant others that relate specifically to the role we are learning and/or playing.

Role-Set Example

My teacher role-set On a clean sheet of paper, diagram your student role set

Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization Anticipatory socialization: Process thorough which people acquire the values and orientations found in statuses they will likely enter in the future. (p. 136)
Examples?

Resocialization: Process of learning new values, norms and expectations when an adult leaves an old role and enters a new one. (p. 141)
Examples?

The Socialization Process

(1) General Processes of Socialization (2) Symbolic Interactionist View of Socialization

General Processes of Socialization

Modeling: a process whereby the behavior of a significant other (parent, friend, sibling, peer, etc.) or another member of someones role-set is observed and imitated. Selective Exposure: a process by which individuals are exposed to those attitudes and behaviors considered desirable and sheltered from those regarded as undesirable. Reward and Punishment: the process of approval or disapproval others use to encourage or discourage attitudes and behaviors in the object of socialization. The approval or disapproval can be verbal or nonverbal, emotional or physical. The reward can be tangible or simply perceived. The process of reward and punishment reinforces what is already being learned through modeling and selective exposure.

Symbolic Interactionist View

One of the most prominent sociological approaches to understanding identity formation is the symbolic interactionist view, particularly as elaborated by Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead. Cooley and Mead were primarily concerned with the emergence of the individual's sense of self.

Cooley: Looking Glass Self

Cooley argued that the self is defined and developed through social interaction. (Note: This is a symbolic interactionist view!) Our image of ourselves is largely a reflection of how other people react to us their reflected appraisals of us. Cooley called the self that emerges from this process this a "looking glass self."

Cooleys 3 Stages of Self-Development 1. recognition of oneself as distinct from the physical environment 2. language acquisition 3. development of looking-glass self we interpret actions of others toward us as mirrors in which we see ourselves

Stages of Acquisition of Self

3 Elements of the Looking-glass self 1. our perception of how we appear to another person 2. our estimate of the judgment the other person makes about us 3. some emotional feeling about this judgment, such as pride or shame

Looking Glass Self in Action

It is by observing the reactions of others that we come to think of ourselves as attractive or unattractive, smart or slow, considerate or selfish. What are some situations in which others reflected appraisals are particularly salient?

Plus: Self Open to Change

One advantage of this sociological view of identity is that it allows for change even fairly radical change in selfidentity over time. As we add or change statuses, as significant others come into and out of our lives, or as the salience of individuals/groups in our role-sets change over time, our views of who we are can change. This contrasts with someone like Sigmund Freud. For those of you who are familiar with Freudian theory, you know he argues that a persons self is largely structured in childhood -- little change occurs after we move through the five psychosexual stages he specifies in his theory. Basically we just spend the rest of our lives undergoing therapy in order to work out the problems we developed in the process of early childhood socialization.

Mead: Self = I + Me

George Herbert Mead's theory of the self distinguished between two aspects: the "I" and the "Me." The "I" is the impulsive and creative aspect of the self and the "Me" is the socialized aspect of the self which is composed of internalized norms and values and is ever mindful of its social reflection.

Dialogue between I and Me For Mead, there is a dialogical relationship between the "I" and the "Me." That is, there is a conversation between the "I" and the "Me" in everything we do. Our impulsive self is constantly in dialogue with our socialized self. For example, a father is angry at his daughter's behavior and tells her to go to her room and stay there until dinner. The girl starts to protest, but then checks herself and does what she is told. The spontaneous, willful "I" wants to protest, but the "Me" is concerned about her reflection in her father's eyes and complies. Other examples?

Explaining Deviance & Creativity

Now, the socialized "Me" does not always win out. Mead attributed both deviance (or antisocial behavior) and creativity to the times when the "I" wins out over the Me. Examples?

Development of the Me

So, the question remains, how do we develop this "Me" -- the reflective, socialized sense of self? Observing children's behavior, Mead identified two stages that occur as children develop this reflexive sense of self called the Me -- they are known as the play stage and the game stage.

Play Stage
In the early part of the play stage -- around three years of age -- children pretend to be people in different statuses: daddy, mommy, mail carrier, doctor, police officer, and so on. They imitate their speech and activities, delivering imaginary letters, sweeping imaginary floors, performing imaginary operations, and so on. Adults may call this make believe, but this is serious business in terms of developing a mature sense of self. By pretending to be people who occupy other statuses, children come to understand the perspectives of people other than themselves. This is what Mead called taking the role of the other.

Taking the Role of the Other Role-taking is important because it shows the childs ability to see herself from the perspective of others and to use that perspective in formulating her own behavior. It is a crucial component of self-control and social order because it helps transform a biological being into a social being who is capable of conforming his or her behavior to societal expectations. But in the play stage, the child can only take the role of one other person at a time. The child's focus is consumed with the one role. Examples?

Game Stage Later in life, the child begins to engage in team sports and group activities which require that she not just perform one role, but she must be able to understand what is going on from the perspective of all of the others involved in the game. That is, taking the role of multiple others at one time. Mead actually uses baseball as an example in his work. Who can explain this? The same is true of soccer, basketball, football, and any other team sport you can imagine.

Generalized Other
In playing games, the individual must also understand the rules and the ultimate object of the game. That is, the individual is not only taking the role of specific others involved in the game, but also the generalized other. Thus, for Mead, games are a microcosm of society. In the socialization process, children learn to take the role of the other (including the generalized other) not just in games but in all their interactions in society. The socialization process culminates when the child develops an ability to see situations not just from the perspective of the others immediately involved, but from the perspective of the community more generally or even from the perspective of society as a whole. When we are able to incorporate the generalized other into the Me part of our self, then we are fully functioning human beings according to this perspective.