The Process of Socialization (Sociology Reference Guide)

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SOCIOLOGY REFERENCE GUIDE

THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION

The Editors of Salem Press

SALEM PRESS Pasadena, California • Hackensack, New Jersey

Published by Salem Press Copyright © 2011 by Salem Press

All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews or in the copying of images deemed to be freely licensed or in the public domain.

ISBN: 978-1-42983-488-9 Includes bibliographical references and index. Indexing Subjects 1. Socialization 2. Sociology

First Edition

Contents

Introduction Freud & Personality Development Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development Cooley & the Looking Glass Self George Mead’s “I” & “Me” Erikson’s Eight Stages of Development The Mass Media & Socialization Socialization in Families Gender Socialization Gender & Morality Socialization in Peer Groups Socialization in Schools Socialization for Lifelong Learning Social Exclusion Social Isolation & Human Development Resocialization & Total Institutions Terms & Concepts Contributors Index The Process of Socialization

1 4 14 29 39 48 58 69 80 88 97 109 118 126 135 149 160 169 179 189 191 iii

Introduction

Socialization is broadly defined as the learning of behaviors, values, and identities through interpersonal relations. In the field of sociology, socialization is of the utmost importance, as it allows for the exploration of relationships, personal and interpersonal experiences, and the formation of the self. The Sociology Reference Guide series is designed to provide a solid foundation for the research of various sociological topics. This volume begins with a survey of nineteenth-and twentieth-century researchers and their theories on socialization and the development of personal and interpersonal values. These essays introduce three of the primary areas of influence on socialization (family, gender, and community) before turning to the negative effects that exclusion and isolation present on a healthy community and sense of self. Without question, the study of personal and interpersonal relations must account for the theories of Sigmund Freud, who charted the geography of the interior and exterior life of humans. Marie Gould and Alexandra Howson explain the processes and case histories through which Freud examined human behavior and arrived at his theories of personality development. Freud’s major theories of Id, Superego, and Ego, which are elements of the unconscious mind, are examined by Cynthia Vejar. “Freud’s distinction between conscious and unconscious realms of existence,” Vejar explains, The Process of Socialization

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“[is] one of his most significant contributions.” While Freud’s focus was on infancy, Jean Piaget concentrated on the mental processes of children. Gould and Howson assert that Piaget veered away from mainstream sociological approaches by emphasizing various stages of development and emotions. In Gould’s “Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development,” Piaget’s research into children’s developmental “logic and reasoning” is further examined by way of Lawrence Kohlberg’s research and theories. The following three essays review the works of other dominant figures in the study of socialization: Charles Horton Cooley, George Mead, and Erik Erikson. In Sharon Link’s essay, Mead’s notion of “I” and “Me,” which diverges from Freud’s terminology, is defined in detail as indicators of personal (“I”) and interpersonal (“me”) conceptions of self. Erickson’s eight stages of development, among the most important studies of social psychology, complete this volume’s review of major theories in socialization. Three of the primary areas where socialization occurs are family, gender, and community. The subsequent essays provide concrete examples of how socialization is advanced and developed. “Families can have a strong influence on children’s socialization,” Gould states, “and their influence may even extend into the lives of their adult children.” Jennifer Kretchmar defines socialization through the study of gender, and she reviews how gender scholars examine “the ways in which our behavior is culturally, rather than biologically, produced.” The other dominant factor that determines the development of self is the everyday encounter with peer groups outside the home. Peer or school groups serve for many children as the most dominant influence upon the realization of self and identity. Sharon Link examines the “positive and negative outcomes on different groups” (whether family or peer) as a consequence of lifelong learning. The final essays approach socialization from a different angle, exploring how exclusion and isolation have an effect on a sense of self and community. The authors consider how many people experience periods of marginality from the dominant social relations that surround everyday life. In some instances, social class and aspects of poverty, Wagner asserts, often set the conditions for social exclusion. In their two essays, Gould and Howson provide insight into the consequences of social isolation and the efficacy of “resocialization” as remedy. 2

Sociology Reference Guide

This volume provides an introduction to the development of individual selves and the adoption of shared norms from society, a field of study that is defined more generally as socialization. Complete bibliographic entries follow each essay and a list of suggested readings will locate sources for advanced research in the area of study. A selection of relevant terms and concepts and an index of common sociological themes and ideas conclude the volume.

The Process of Socialization

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Freud & Personality Development Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson

Overview Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning that occurs when a person interacts with other individuals. It refers to a process through which individuals learn to become members of society by internalizing social norms, values and expectations and by learning the appropriate cognitive, personal, and social skills they need to function as productive members their societies. Part of the socialization process entails personality development, or the process through which we become who we are and through which relatively stable characteristics develop, that distinguish individuals from each other. Many theorists argue that while the socialization process occurs over a person’s lifetime, personality development is dependent on crucial points and relationships that are present during childhood. While socialization and personality development are connected to each other, socialization tends to assume a more fluid, potentially alterable concept of self as a reflective, active subject, while personality refers to a relatively stable concept of an individual as a well defined object accompanied by distinctive traits and characteristics (Marshall et al., 1994). Sigmund Freud is considered one of the foremost theorists of personality development. He developed his theories through case histories through which he observed that human psychological development is a process involving what he referred to as tensions (or polarities, Blatt, 2006) between 4


the need for attachment and relatedness, on the one hand, and, on the other, individuation and self-definition. The impact of Freud’s work on modern ideas about mind, sexuality and morality is vast but controversial. Although his work has been enormously influential in the development of clinical psychotherapy and psychoanalytic theory, his approach has been subject to intense criticism in relation to its assumptions about gender and his emphasis on the significance of mothers in personality development. Sigmund Freud & His Work

An Austrian by birth, Sigmund Freud studied medicine and began his career as a neurologist. He studied hysteria and learned how to use hypnosis at the Vienna General Hospital with Joseph Breuer and then with Jean Charcot at the Salpêtrière in Paris. In 1886 he returned to Vienna to set up his own private practice specializing in nervous and brain disorders (BBC, n.d.). He began treating his patients through hypnosis, but when he saw that this form of treatment was ineffective he sought an alternative method. He found that he obtained better results when he encouraged his patients to talk. In addition, he began an intense analysis of himself and his dream life (published as The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900). This type of treatment, or, the “talking cure” (Ian, 1993) serves as the foundation of what is known as modern psychoanalysis. Freud moved from private practice back into academia in 1902 until the late 1930s. During this period, he developed his theories of personality and sexual development, based on his clinical observations, and subsequently began to apply them more generally to art, history and culture (such as Civilization and its Discontents, published in 1956). His clinical work influenced the development of a group of followers (including Carl Jung) who subsequently developed his observations and theories concerning personality and psychosexual development (embodied in the International Psychoanalytic Association). Freud believed that most children developed their personality during their first five years of life. As he studied his patients in psychoanalysis sessions, he observed how most of the patients reflected back on childhood experiences. Based on these clinical observations and psychoanalytic sessions, Freud asserted that the human mind operates on both conscious and unconscious levels. The conscious mind refers to things we are aware of in the present, The Process of Socialization

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while the unconscious refers to parts of our experience (or mind) that are beyond immediate awareness (Rathus, Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Id, Ego & Superego

Freud’s concept of the mind, or psyche, is divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id, with which we are born, is the host for a person’s drive for pleasure and gratification and allows infants to get their basic needs met (e.g. hunger). Between infancy and the age of three, the child begins to interact with primary others. In Freudian theory, the primary Other is typically understood to be the mother (Ian, 1993). This process of intimate interaction generates the development of the ego. The ego, mediates between the demands of the id and reality of everyday life. It ‘gets’ that basic needs might not be satisfied immediately, because other ‘ids’ also have needs. By about the age of five, the child develops a superego, which is responsible for providing the person with an understanding of what is acceptable in society and urges the person to value moral and ethical decisions. The ego mediates between the id and the superego and indeed protects the conscious mind from ‘baser’ sexual and aggressive urges through defense mechanisms and repression (Rathus, Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Thus, a healthy ego enables a person to be rational and logical as well as establish boundaries for the id and superego (Freud, 1949).

Applications Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development

Personality development occurs as a child progressively learns to control his or her drives. As the child passes through five psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital) the child’s id becomes focused on different erogenous areas, or parts of the body that are responsive to sexual stimulation (Rathus, Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Freud’s five stages of personality development are centered on erogenous zones and have three key components: • Physical • Psychological • Type of fixation 6


A brief summary of Freud’s five stages of psychosexual development is as follows: Oral Stage (Birth – 18 months of age)

During this stage, the child seeks pleasure through oral activities like nursing, sucking, eating, biting, and chewing. A child may develop an oral fixation if he or she receives too little or too much oral pleasure. Common oral fixations in adults are overeating, smoking, drinking, and nail biting. A child who receives too little much or too little pleasure can develop either an oral-passive character, a character that is largely passive and dependent upon others, or an oral-aggressive character, a character that is overly independent and aggressive toward others (Freud, 1949). Anal Stage (18 months – 3 years of age)

During this stage, the child seeks pleasure through the evacuation or retention of body waste. Toilet training plays a large role in this stage, as the child tries to reconcile his or her pleasure with his or her parents’ desire that he or she learn to control his or her bodily functions. The child may refuse to use the toilet or refuse to evacuate waste altogether. If the child does not get the proper balance of pleasure, he or she may develop an anal fixation and become either an anal expulsive character (i.e., one that is messy, disorganized, and disobedient) or an anal retentive character (i.e., one that has a preoccupation with control, cleanliness, and orderliness) (Freud, 1949). Phallic Stage (3 – 5 years of age)

During this stage, the child develops a desire for his or her parent of the opposite sex. In boys, this desire is called the Oedipus complex; in girls it is called the Electra complex. According to Freud (1949), boys will be envious of their fathers and fantasize about a sexual relationship with their mothers. As they come to realize that women, especially their mothers, don’t have penises, though, they will come to fear their that their fathers will punish their desires by castrating them. This fear is called castration anxiety, and it causes boys to repress their desires for their mothers. Girls’ desires for their fathers, on the other hand, will cause them to fantasize about having a penis and develop penis envy. According to Freud, The Process of Socialization

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girls never realize their Electra complexes; instead, they live out their desires for their fathers vicariously by identifying with their mothers. Children who do not successfully negotiate the phallic stage develop phallic fixations and a phallic character. One type of phallic character tends to have low self-regard; the other type tends to be excessively vain (Freud, 1949). Latency Stage (5 years of age – puberty)

During this stage, the child’s “sexual development comes to a halt” (Freud, 1949, p. 23). He or she represses sexual desires and tends to primarily associate with children of the same sex (Freud, 1949). Genital Stage (adolescence through adulthood)

During this stage, the child becomes capable of forming his or her drive for pleasure into a mature expression of sexuality and establishing adult relationships with the opposite sex. Because the ego is fully developed at this stage, the person is capable of accepting adult responsibilities and forming a family. However, if the individual is fixated on an earlier stage, he or she may develop psychological problems (Freud, 1949). Conflict & Anxiety

Each stage engenders certain kinds of conflict that the child attempts to reconcile with social and familial constraints (Hall, 1999). For instance, during the phallic stage, Freud believed that it was normal for children to develop erotic feelings toward the parent of the opposite gender (Rathus, Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). However, it is possible for children to not resolve the conflicts they face, and even if they do resolve these conflicts they may develop fixations on an erogenous area. According to Freud, a fixation can continue into adulthood and cause psychological disorders like neurosis and hysteria. In Three Essays – on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud (1905) elaborates on these conflicts in relation to women in particular, about which feminist theorists have subsequently challenged him. Indeed, for Freud there is constant conflict among these three parts. The id always wants to be satisfied while the ego fights for the need to deal with reality. The superego attempts to provide the person with a sense of what

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is moral and ethical. Freud believed that the conflicts between these three parts create anxiety, of which he identified three types (Straker, 2008): Neurotic Anxiety: This occurs when a person believes that he or she will lose control of the id’s desires and be punished for inappropriate behavior (i.e. children touching their genitals in public). Reality Anxiety: This occurs when a person is afraid of events that may happen in the real world (i.e. being bitten by a snake when going camping). Moral Anxiety: This occurs when a person is afraid that he or she will violate his or her society’s moral principles (i.e. killing one’s parents). When anxiety sets in, the ego attempts to resolve the conflict by using defense mechanisms. Freud identified and classified number of defense mechanisms, and his successors identified and classified still more, elaborated in particular by his daughter, Anna Freud (1937): Repression occurs when a person prevents a thought or memory from entering the consciousness. An example of repression would be a rape victim not remembering the details of her rape. Projection occurs when a person locates his or her own undesirable thoughts in another person. An example of projection would be a person believing that his or her supervisor does not like him or her when, in reality, the person dislikes his or her supervisor. Rationalization occurs when a person justifies a belief or behavior for reasons other than the, usually socially or morally unacceptable, reasons that truly lie behind the belief or behavior. An example of rationalization would be a person who steals from his or her employer and, while knowing that theft is wrong, argues that his or her theft is justified because he or she is underpaid. Regression occurs when a person temporarily reverts back to an earlier developmental stage when faced with stressor, which requires a more mature The Process of Socialization

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response. An example of regression might be a person who sucks his or her thumb during the funeral service of a loved one.

Viewpoints Freud’s work on personality and psychosexual development has been undoubtedly influential; however, it is also seen as controversial. Although there are some therapists who continue to use some aspects of Freud’s system, many have modified his approach and revised the types of treatment they use with patients. The theorists who continue to use some aspects of Freud’s work are referred to as Neo-Freudians. The Neo-Freudians

Four of the most notable neo-Freudians are Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Karen Horney, and Erik Erikson. Alfred Adler became a follower of Freud around 1902 and the first president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1910. However, he defected from the camp in 1911 to start his own group, the Society for Free Psychoanalytic Research (later the Society for Individual Psychology) when he came to disagree with some of Freud’s theories. Today, Alder is best known for his work on inferiority, parenting, and birth order (Heffner, 2002). Carl Jung, whom many in the field believed would be Freud’s successor, also defected from Freud’s camp as a result of a series of disagreements. In short, Jung believed that the unconscious comprised more emotions and thoughts than Freud acknowledged and that these emotions and thoughts are similar across cultures and age groups. Jung is most famous for developing his observations into a theory of the collective unconscious and for founding the field of analytic psychology (Heffner, 2002). Karen Horney was influenced by Freud’s theories, but ultimately disagreed with several key points of his views of sexuality and gender. In the 1930s, she moved away from Freud’s ‘phallocentricity’ and is credited with developing a critique of Freud’s theory of the psychology of women (Humm, 1989). She argued that men suffer from womb envy just as women suffer from penis envy and that any differences between male and female psychology are created by society and culture rather than biology. Horney is also known for her work on neurotic personalities (Heffner, 2002). 10


Erik Erikson was a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, and he is credited with being a pioneer in the study of personal and social identity. Although Erikson considered himself to be a Freudian, many saw him as a neo-Freudian because, though parts of his theory of personality development were inspired by Freud, other parts were uniquely his own. The basic premise for his theory is that individuals develop in psychosocial stages throughout their lifetimes and that each stage is accompanied by a type of identity crisis. Each crisis directly affects some aspect of the individual’s personality development. The stages begin at birth and continue until the person dies. Erikson’s concept differs from Freud’s in that its developmental stages are dissimilar and in that its stages continue throughout a person’s lifetime (Heffner, 2002). Conclusion

Freud’s breadth of work is expansive and his influence on how people think about themselves and on theories of mind and personality has been vast. Nonetheless, his work is controversial. Perhaps the most thoroughgoing critique of Freud’s theories of personality and psychosexual development has come from academic feminists and practicing feminist psychotherapists. For instance, Kate Millet, Germaine Greer, Shulamith Firestone, and Eva Figes have all been critical of Freud’s emphasis on hysteria, infantile sexuality and gender acquisition. Other critics have questioned whether Freud’s theories are applicable across cultures and whether they adequately explain personality development in relation to the acquisition of gender (Giddens, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2007). However, even though Freud’s work has been subject to debate and has been hotly challenged in terms of its theoretical consistency and empirical basis, nonetheless, it remains a touchstone for both contemporary psychoanalytic research and psychotherapeutic practice. Moreover, the idea of the unconscious as a persistent and powerful force continues to shape how we collectively think about everyday life, morality and culture.

Bibliography Blatt, S.J. (2006). A fundamental polarity in psychoanalysis: Implications for personality development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 26(4), 494-520. Retrieved February 24, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN= 31402754&site=ehost-live. The Process of Socialization

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British Broadcasting Coorporation (n.d.). Historic Figures. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Retrieved 24 February 2009 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ freud_sigmund.shtml. D’Andrea, M. (1984). The counselor as pacer. Counseling and Human Development, 16, 1-15. Freud, A. (1967 [1937]). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. Revised Edition. Madison, CT: International Universities Press. Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Giddens, A., Duneier, M., & Appelbaum, R. (2007). Introduction to sociology. 6th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Hall, C. (1999). A primer of Freudian psychology. New York: Meridian Books. Heffner, C. (2002). Personality synopsis. Chapter 5: Psychodynamic and neo-Freudian theories. Personality Theory: An Introduction. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from AllPsych Online. http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/adler.html Humm, M. (1989). A dictionary of feminist theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Ian, M. (1993). Remebering the phallic mother. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Marshall, G. et al. (1994). The concise Oxford dictionary of sociology. Oxford:Oxford University Press. Rathus, S.A., Nevid, J.S. & Fincherner-Rathus, L. (2005). Human sexuality in a world of diversity. New York: Pearson. Rogers, C. (1942). Counseling and psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Straker, D. (2008). Changing minds. Syque Press.

Suggested Reading Adler, A. (1927). The practice and theory of individual psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace. Bos, H., Sanfort, T., de Bruyn, E., & Hakvoort, E. (2008). Same-sex attraction, social relationships, psychosocial functioning, and school performance in early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 59-68. Retrieved April 13, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES. http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=dev-44-1-59&site=ehost-live Erikson, E. (1995). Childhood and society. New York: Vintage. (Original work published 1950). Freud, S. (2000). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1905). Freud, S. (1959). Beyond the pleasure principle. New York: Bantam Books. (Original work published 1920).

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Freud, S. (1962). The ego and the id. New York: W. W. Norton Company. (Original work published 1923). Horney, K. (1993). Feminine psychology. New York: W. W. Norton Company. (Original work published 1922). Jung, C. (1976). The portable Jung. J. Campbell (Ed.). (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). New York: Penguin Rivers, I., Poteat, V., & Noret, N. (2008). Victimization, social support, and psychosocial functioning among children of same-sex and opposite-sex couples in the United Kingdom. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 127-134. Retrieved April 13, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES. http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=dev-44-1-127&site=ehost-live


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Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche Cynthia Vejar

Overview It has been almost 70 years since Sigmund Freud’s death, and his legacy still remains. Today, Freud maintains his status as one of the most influential, significant, and highly revered psychologists and theorists from whom the world has benefited. Freud innovated and expanded upon many provocative, intellectual, and resourceful ideologies, which persistently contribute to those in the field of psychology and the lay public alike, based upon the stimulating and controversial elements that imbue their existence. Scholars, clinicians, and students oftentimes respond to the tenets of Freudian (i.e., psychoanalytic or psychodynamic) theory with impassioned divisiveness. Rarely do we ponder the thoughtful elements that Freud proposed with indifference or apathy; on the contrary, people tend to have heated opinions on his theories that are either tremendously enthusiastic, or abhorrent. During his life (1856-1939), Freud generated a similar level of controversy, demonstrated in part by the raucous collegial relationships formulated and terminated with renowned psychologists such as Carl Jung and Alfred Adler (Donn, 1988; Roazen, 1976). Although the emphasis of this article surrounds Freudian forces that relate to the Id, Superego, and Ego (Hollitscher, 1947; Hughes, 1994; Lear, 2005; Mayer, 2001; Neu, 1991; Schweidson, 2005; Strupp, 1967), as well as the interchange they have with conscious and unconscious dynamics (Gammel14


gaard, 2003; McLoughlin, 1999; Rosenbaum, 2003; Symington, 2006), it is noteworthy to mention additional contributions that he formulated. Some of the most impressive theoretical constructs set forth by Freud include: • The Oedipal/Electra Complex which transpires during the Psychosexual stages of Development (Garcia, 1995; Zucker & Green, 1992), • Elaboration on neuroses such as anxiety and guilt (Bristol, 2004), • Emphasis on dreams and dream interpretation (Bouchet, 1995; Rodriguez, 2001), and • The conception of clinical terms such as transference and countertransference (Arnd-Caddigan, 2006; Meszaros, 2004). Conscious vs. Unconscious

A common visual depiction of the unconscious and conscious relationship is that of an iceberg: the tip of the iceberg signifies our conscious thinking, that which is exposed “above the surface,” and to which we have regular and easy access. People are conscious, for example, of the daily expectations demanded upon them such as where their place of employment is located, and the contact information of the friends and family with whom they intermingle on a daily basis. The unconscious or “hidden” portion of the iceberg is an amalgamation of memories, events, fears, etc. which tend to remain buried throughout a person’s life (Ekstrom, 2004; Jones, 2002; Wildt, 2007). For various reasons, people conceal troubling information as a protective barrier that preserves their sense of self. However, the unconscious as a separate entity has a strong sense of fortitude and expansive memory base, and while it may not communicate directly with a person consciously, it manifests urges, motivations, and predilections through behavior. Freud believed that by employing specific clinical techniques such as free association (Hoffer, 2006) that correspond with psychoanalysis, psychologically motivated people may acquaint themselves with their unconscious domains. For most people, however, unconscious thoughts surreptitiously emerge through one of three occurrences:


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• Neurotic behavior, • Parapraxes, and • The act of dreaming (Kahn, 2002). Neurotic Behavior

Neurotic behavior such as anxiety (Bierman, 2007; Bound, 2004) revolves around the fears that people possess, of which the origins are often either mysterious or irrational. For example, Joe might have an unusual fear of riding as passenger in a car, but is unable to articulate why that is the case. Perhaps as a young child Joe was privy to unhealthy parental figures, in which his father was domineering and oppressive and his mother was submissively compliant to her husband’s demands. Joe’s mother was a passive “passenger” in the relationship steered solely by his father’s imperious ways, a situation that Joe seeks to avoid at all cost, both literally and metaphorically. As demonstrated though this example, the relationship between the activating event and corresponding behavior may be cryptic and unrealistic. Parapraxes

An example of a parapraxes, commonly referred to as the “Freudian slip,” (Bate, 2002; Swer, 2004) might occur when a sexually frustrated individual is randomly asked the time and relays “sex o’clock” instead of “six o’clock.” Though the person might shamefully blush and repair their “mistake,” Freud considered the initial blunder as a manifestation of the unconscious desire to have a heartier sex life. Dreams

Freud alleged that dreams were the “royal road to the unconscious,” (Liegner, 2003) and emphasized the necessity of dream interpretation as the cornerstone of therapeutic alliances. Regardless of whether the lay person proactively pursues to interpret his/her dreams, Freud considered the dreams that naturally constitute our nocturnal existence as symbolic messengers that extend from our unconscious. To expand upon the previous example that exemplified the sexually frustrated individual, he/she might be bombarded with dream imagery that illustrates a lack of sexual expression. Freud believed that elongated dream symbols such as snakes and

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swords represent male genitalia, and that crevices and/or containers (e.g., refrigerators, boxes) represent female genitalia.

Further Insights: Id, Ego & Superego The Id

The developmental life stage that most closely resembles the nature of the Id is infancy. The sole motivation that infants seek to fulfill is satisfying their own essential needs; upon soiling their diapers, or when experiencing discomfort, infants set off their alarm bells (i.e., cry) to alert their primary caregivers that a sense of solace and comfort is required. The infant beckons adults to satiate their needs regardless of what activities those adults were in the midst of. Additionally, the Id is an inborn phenomenon that is initiated at birth and remains throughout a person’s life (Klein, 2006). The Id parallels the infant by possessing similar temperamental underpinnings and expectations (Levin, 1992). Metaphorically speaking, when people are placed in unpleasant or compromising positions, the Id is the component of the personality that stamps its foot in explosive retaliation and demands that matters are executed to suit its own needs. In an undesirable situation, such as an employee whose request for a raise was denied, most functionally mature adults would squelch the desire to respond with unbridled fervor. A normative response that the dejected employee would exhibit might range from gritting his teeth under the guise of a disingenuous smile, to assertively confronting the supervisor’s decision-making process; in either case it is likely that the Id, as a quick-tempered, egocentric, indulgent, and infantile entity, has been censored. The Pleasure Principle

The Id operates on the “pleasure principle,” (Solms, 2006) and therefore seeks immediate gratification at any given point in time. It is devoid of a proper sense of sophistication and is dismissive of other people’s perspective. The Id discounts time-related sequential patterns such as the concept of “past, present and future,” and only operates in the here-andnow (Solms, 2004). During the course of a hypothetical dinner party, the Id represents the unruly dinner guest who arrives late, demands to be fed immediately, and during the course of the meal demonstrates poor eti-


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quette by propping his elbows on the table while devouring his meal with unrestrained gusto. The Id is an entirely unconscious process (Plaut, 2005), which makes it difficult for people to tap into its etiological driving forces, or harness and modify its unpredictable mannerisms. The Id is a repository for primordial urges, guttural instincts, and emotional desires including those of an aggressive and sexual nature (Collins, 2006). During the course of a heated dispute, people often become frustrated at those with whom they are arguing. Though several factors contribute toward the way in which resolution is established, the Id enters into the equation as the volatile element that might wish to take the punishment to the most extreme form of retaliation. The Id disregards moral and legal repercussions and discards the notions of caution and consequence (Tekpetey, 2006). Likewise, the chemical and inexplicable laws of sexual attraction cohabit within the jurisdiction of The Id. People are sometimes puzzled at those to whom they are romantically drawn, which can be explained through the erratic disposition of the Id. The Id does not recognize logical and identity-oriented constructs that help people navigate through relational matters such as “commitment” or “sexual orientation.” For example, Jane Doe, a happily married heterosexual woman, might find herself romantically drawn to other woman, as an instinctual expression of Id forces. The Superego

The Superego, on the other hand, is in diametrical opposition to the Id. Whereas the Id represents untamed impulses and reckless self-serving pursuits, images that illustrate the Superego can be likened to that of the police, guardian, watchdog, judge, and supervisor (Alper, Levin, & Klein, 1964; Milrod, 2002; Velleman, 1999; Wurmser, 2004). The Superego embodies the moral fiber of human existence by admonishing that which is ethically reprehensible, and gravitates into a person’s life principles that are upstanding and conscientious. If an uninhibited, inebriated bar patron served to exemplify the Id, the bouncer responsible for monitoring the safety and wellbeing of that bar’s clientele would represent the Superego. As infants move into childhood, they start becoming mindful of the subtle and direct cues transmitted from the outside world that help refine their sense of value development. Cognitively, they are able to discern the cor18


relation between engagement in “naughty” behavior, and the resulting reprimands that ensue. The constant influx of signals the child receives that molds its sense of “right and wrong” becomes established, and the birth of the Superego is ignited. This internal process is reinforced as the child endures a series of punitive consequences (e.g., “time-out,” verbal castigation, and corporal punishment) by parents, and during which it becomes exposed to outside educational, recreational, and social norms that require him or her to adhere to the rules and regulations established by teachers, coaches, and other authority figures (Hotchkiss, 2005). Good, Bad, Right, Wrong

Over time, the external penalties that are imposed upon people by outside forces are initiated by the individuals, as they internalize the constructs of “good and bad.” Whereas a five-year old child is discouraged from engaging in bad behavior upon receiving a scolding from parental figures, adults dispense punishment upon themselves. A lingering amount of outside forces continue to interplay with the adult’s sense of “right and wrong,” such as the driver who is wary of surpassing the speed limit in fear of receiving a traffic violation. Simultaneously, the existence of one’s inner police department tends to be just as forceful, damning, and serves as a deterrent by allotting severe punishment toward oneself. Ideally, the criteria on which the Superego executes a verdict for maladaptive behavior should be fitting, without being excessively disproportionate. In other words, the “punishment” should match the “crime.” Unfortunately, people often struggle in dispensing equitable penalties, and tend toward being either remiss or relentlessly brutal. The latter tends to manifest through undue expressions of guilt and remorse over trivial matters. Consequences & Unconscious Guilt

A portion of the Superego is conscious, and materializes through the decisions people make (e.g., “I choose not to drive intoxicated for fear of inflicting harm upon an innocent party”) as well as the consequences people inflict upon themselves in the throes of careless behavior (e.g., guilt, intentional self-destruction, lowered levels of self-worth). Additionally, a portion of the Superego often remains beneath the deep recesses of the psyche and expresses itself behaviorally in the form of unconscious guilt. Unconscious guilt (Smith, 1999) may reveal itself in a variety of forms, such as can be seen in a person who inherently undermines his or her sense of The Process of Socialization

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self-worth, and therefore thwarts all attempts at evolving into a more fulfilled person. These underlying motivations may be concealed from the person’s conscious realm of thinking, although the behavior often indicates his or her true nature. For example, Bob might consciously strive for professional success, and initiate the steps toward accomplishing this feat such as scheduling job interviews that appear to match his qualifications. However, he continuously finds himself in precarious dilemmas en route to such consultations such as becoming ill or having automobile mishaps. According to the premise of Freudian thought, these dilemmas are forces that he is gravitating into his life as a means of self-sabotage. Undoubtedly, there are both macro- and micro-oriented factors that contribute toward discerning that which is “right” and “wrong.” Cultural and family norms influence major decisions that individuals grapple with in terms of establishing virtue and integrity (Howarth, 1980; Wells, 2003). For example, a couple with a newborn child might deliberate between having a dual-income household or having a stay-at-home parent serve as the primary caretaker, which in part might reflect the dictates of their families-of-origin. Likewise, families and/or cultures that either revere or reproach the notion of corporal punishment can influence how individual determinations on such matters are distinguished. The Ego Ideal

An offshoot of the Superego, termed the “ego ideal,” (Grotstein, 2004; Moncayo, 2006; Ragland, 2000) is the ultimate, archetypical person we strive to become based on idyllic characteristics that we envision that, through the process of refinement, we can evolve into. Ego ideals tend to minimize our weaknesses while augmenting our assets, a feat that most people hope to enact through the process of actualization. The ego ideal of a budding thespian might be that of a successful Broadway actor, whereas a person with innate leadership abilities might fantasize about channeling those skills into the position of a renowned politician. The ego ideal is a subcategory of the Superego because, as the Superego honorably shapes our behavior, the ego ideal honorably shapes our potential as human beings. The Ego

The conscious part of the Ego functions to moderate the oppositional forces of the Id and the Superego, as well as environmental and societal forces. In 20


this regard, the Ego is rational, dependable, linear, and honors time as an objective measurement. It intellectually analyzes the motivations and ramifications of both the Id and the Superego. The Ego serves as “mother hen” to protect perilous or undesirable Id behavior from entering into adverse territory; likewise, it tempers the powerful forces of the Superego from spiraling into dogmatic, rigid omniscience. Jane, a college student studying for a midterm exam might be tempted to deviate from her studies and attend a party. The two polarities with which the Ego contends are the Id, which eagerly encourages Jane to abandon her schoolwork and indulge her extemporaneous needs, and her Superego, who scornfully rejects such a notion and primly counters that Jane should commit herself to her scholarly obligations. The Ego has the arduous duty of reconciling such polar extremes by analyzing the implications of each option and coming to a satisfactory consensus that will satiate the entertainment needs set forth by the pleasure principle, while eliminating possible pangs of guilt that might correspond with decadent behavior. Jane’s Ego might strike a balance by studying for several hours, and rewarding such diligence by a brief appearance at the party. Another possibility that Jane might consider would be devoting the evening toward her academics, and compensate such exertion with a fun-filled weekend venture. Delayed Gratification

Another aspect of the Ego is the veneration it extends toward delayed gratification (Krueger, et al., 1996). Whereas the Id is impatient and seeks to be pleased now, the Ego appreciates that pleasure is often accompanied at the offset of laborious efforts, or upon “paying one’s dues.” Also, at the prospect between possessing something desirable today, as opposed to waiting until tomorrow when the desirable good appreciates in value, the Id will select the former and the Ego will opt for the latter. For example, suppose Mary has the choice of either cashing out her retirement benefits now, and accessing $15,000 for a frivolous expenditure or waiting ten years when she can retrieve the full $50,000 amount. The rational and patient nature of the Ego will choose the second option. The art of successfully arbitrating between the Id and the Superego is quite taxing, and Freud asserted that the condition of the Ego represents an individual’s overall mental health status. In other words, it’s not necessarily The Process of Socialization

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imperative that the Id is particularly unruly, or that the Superego is acutely critical, but how successful the Ego is at mitigating between such radical disparity. Defense Mechanisms

Because the Ego is a determinant for a person’s psychological wellbeing, people naturally go to great length to protect, shield, and preserve its integrity. When the stability of a person’s Ego is at stake, the utilization of defense mechanisms serves to rehabilitate any potential damage that might be incurred, and revert the Ego back into a state of normalcy. The implementation of such defense mechanisms is an unconscious function of the Ego, and the following is a select sample of such defense mechanisms (Baumeister, Dale, & Sommer, 1998; Cramer, 2001; Hutterer & Liss, 2006; Scano, 2007): Displacement: Redirecting emotion from its origins to that of an impartial source. For example, a man who has an oppressive supervisor at work might release his pent-up frustrations onto his spouse, child, or family pet. Projection: In the process of stifling unfavorable personality tendencies that a person might possess, that person might identify others as having those traits, even if such claims are blatantly inaccurate. For example, if a person denies his own homosexual tendencies, he might erroneously accuse others of being homosexual. Reaction Formation: In an attempt to disown adverse personality traits, beliefs, or tendencies, a person might identify with, or take on the persona of an opposing stance. For example, a married man finds himself sexually aroused by his work colleague, and in order to distance himself from this predilection, he treats her quite cruelly. Regression: When life becomes demanding, individuals might find themselves reverting back to a timeframe when life was either happier or less complicated, even if such a timeframe was during a significantly earlier developmental stage. For example: 22


When overwhelmed with life stressors, a woman sucks her thumb and becomes whiny. Repression: Extracting painful memories from the conscious realm of thinking so that there is no recollection of such painful events. For example: A woman who was the victim of child abuse has no conscious ability to recall that such an incident ever occurred. Sublimation: Transferring unacceptable urges into activities that are deemed acceptable. For example: A man with violent tendencies becomes a professional athlete and channels his aggression toward his sport. Conclusion

Freud’s interplay between the Id, Superego, and Ego is a fascinating account that helps explain the enigmatic nature of human behavior. Although his theories are dense, thorough, and intricate, they offer a pragmatic roadmap into unearthing the universal struggle toward self-enlightenment. There is a soulful and prosaic quality that corresponds with the tenets of Freud’s philosophies. Concepts such as the unconscious, symbolism, dreams, and instinctual forces take on a sense of wistful contemplation, which can partially explain the allure of his psychological conjectures. Undoubtedly, when people become superficially acquainted with Freud’s work, they can interject their own issues into the contextual framework of his ideals and conjure up examples that illustrate the interaction between their own “Id,” “Superego,” and “Ego.” Simultaneously, his theories impart the notion that there is a certain amount of depth attached to such psychological models, and a person who displays an interest in psychoanalysis can spend a lifetime acquainting him or herself with the various psychodynamic elements that are illuminated in his work.

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Elias, M. (2006). Freud: So wrong and yet so right. USA Today. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=J0E395604906006&site=ehost-live Ekstrom, S. R. (2004). The mind beyond our immediate awareness: Freudian, Jungian, and cognitive models of the unconscious. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 49(5), 657-682. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14989760 &site=ehost-live Gammelgaard, J. (2003). The unconscious. Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 26(1), 11-22. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=10419686 &site=ehost-live Garcia, J. L. (1995). Freud’s psychosexual stage conception: A developmental metaphor for counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73(5), 498-502. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9508041192&site=ehost-live Grotstein, J. S. (2004). Notes on the superego. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 24(2), 257270. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13565687 &site=ehost-live Hoffer, A. (2006). What does the analyst want? Free association in relation to the analyst’s activity, ambition, and technical innovation. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 66(1), 1-23. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20571025 &site=ehost-live Hollitscher, W. (1947). Sigmund Freud, an introduction. New York: Books for Libraries Press. Hotchkiss, S. (2005). Key concepts in the theory and treatment of Narcissistic phenomena. Clinical Social Work Journal, 2, 127-144. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr ue&db=aph&AN=18256924&site=ehost-live Howarth, E. (1980). Birth order, family structure, and personality variables. Journal of Personality Assessment, 44(3), 299-301. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr ue&db=aph&AN=6802535&site=ehost-live Hughes, J. M. (1994). From Freud’s consulting room. The unconscious in a scientific age. Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press Hutterer, J. & Liss, M. (2006). Cognitive development, memory, trauma, treatment: An integration of psychoanalytic and behavioral concepts in light of current neuroscience research. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis & Dynamic Psychiatry, 34(2), 287-302. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic


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Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2 1318804&site=ehost-live Jones, R. A. (2002). The necessity of the unconscious. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 32(3), 344-365. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=7188775&site=ehost-live Kahn, M. (2002). Basic Freud. New York: Basic Books Klein, R. (2006). Final analysis. Times Educational Supplement, 4690, 8-11. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=21595780&site=ehost-live Krueger, R. F., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., White, J., Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1996). Delay of gratification, psychopathology, and personality: Is low self-control specific to externalizing problems? Journal of Personality, 64(1), 107-129. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9606210695&site=ehost-live Lear, J. (2005). Freud. New York and London: Routledge. Levin, C. D. (1992). Thinking through the hungry baby. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 47, 119-138. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=94102535 00&site=ehost-live Liegner, E. (2003). Listening to the unconscious. Modern Psychoanalysis, 28(1), 133-135. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12059584&site=e host-live Mayer, J. D. (2001). Primary divisions of personality and their scientific contributions: From the trilogy-of-mind to the systems set. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 31(4), 449-477. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6 472736&site=ehost-live McLoughlin, J. (1999). Unwittingly recapitulating Freud: Searle’s concept of a vocabulary of the unconscious. Ratio, 12(1), 34-54. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr ue&db=aph&AN=10454016&site=ehost-live Meszaros, J. (2004). Psychoanalysis is a two-way street. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 13(1/2), 105-113. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=aph&AN=13104902&site=ehost-live Milrod, D. (2002). The superego. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 57, 131-149. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9073245&site=ehost-live

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Moncayo, R. (2006). The partial object, the ideal ego, the ego-ideal, and the empty subject: Four degrees of differentiation within narcissism. Psychoanalytic Review, 93(4), 565-602. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=22701427 &site=ehost-live Neu, J. (1991). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Plaut, A. B. J. (2005). Freud’s ‘id’ and Jung’s ‘self’ as aids in self-analysis. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 50(1), 69-82. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t rue&db=aph&AN=15840341&site=ehost-live Ragland, E. (2000). Dreams according to Lacan’s re-interpretation of the Freudian unconscious. Parallax, 6(3), 63-81. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t rue&db=aph&AN=22701427&site=ehost-live Roazen, P. (1976). Freud and his followers. New York: Meridian Books. Rodriguez, L. S. (2001). The interpretation of dreams [1900]. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 38(2), 211-212. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr ue&db=aph&AN=4811272&site=ehost-live Rosenbaum, B. (2003). The unconscious. Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 26(1), 31-41.Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=10419724 &site=ehost-live Scano, G. P. (2007). Who defends itself from what? Toward a reformulation of the concept of defense. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 16(3), 140-151. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=26945847&site=ehost-live Schweidson, E. (2005). From the perverse pact to universal conflicts. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 14, 21-27. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=16968186&site=ehost-live Smith, L. (1999). Individual and institutional defences against primitive anxieties: Counselling in prison. Psychodynamic Counselling, 5(4), 429-443. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6674626&site=ehost-live Solms, M. (2004). Freud Returns. Scientific American , 290(5), 82-88. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12802752&site=ehost-live Solms, M. (2006). Freud returns. Scientific American Mind, 17(2), 28-35. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20691890&site=ehost-live The Process of Socialization

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Strupp, H. H. (1967). An introduction to Freud and modern psychoanalysis. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. Swer, G. M. (2004). Technics and (para)praxis: the Freudian dimensions of Lewis Mumford’s theories of technology. History of the Human Sciences, 17(4), 45-68. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=15659090&site=ehost-live Symington, P. (2006). The unconscious and conscious self. The nature of Psychical Unity in Freud and Lonegran. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly: Journal of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 80(4), 563-580. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24015070&site=ehost-live Tekpetey, K. (2006). Kweku Ananse: A psychoanalytical approach. Research in African Literatures, 37(2), 74-82. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=20332853&site=ehost-live Velleman, J. D. (1999). A rational superego. Philosophical Review, 108(4), 529559. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=3535050 &site=ehost-live Wells, M. C. (2003). The Freud/Weber connection: The case of Islamic Iran. Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society, 8(2), 214-231. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11640113&site=ehost-live Wildt, A. (2007). Unconscious knowledge of one’s own mind. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 14(5/6), 127-151. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=25609903&site=ehost-live Wurmser, L. (2004). Superego revisited—Relevant or irrelevant? Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 24(2), 183-205. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1 3565674&site=ehost-live Zucker, K. J. & Green, R. (1992). Psychosexual disorders in children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 33(1), 107-151. Retrieved March 22, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier,http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11373339&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading Dickerson, L. (2007). Freudian concepts of id, ego, and superego applied to chemical and other addictions: Introducing twelve-step programs as the superego. USA: iUniverse, Inc. Emmerson, E. (2003). Ego state therapy. USA: Crown House Publishing Valliant, G. E. (1998). The wisdom of the ego. USA: Harvard University Press.

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Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson

Overview Jean Piaget

Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning that occurs when a person interacts with other individuals. It refers to a process through which individuals learn to become members of society by internalizing social norms, values and expectations and by learning the appropriate cognitive, personal, and social skills they need to function as productive members their societies. While Sigmund Freud focused much of his research and observations about socialization and human development on people’s recollections of infancy, Jean Piaget’s research focused directly on children. Piaget studied cognitive development among children, that is, the relationship between mental processes (e.g. perception, memory, attitudes and decision-making) and social behavior (i.e. between what people feel and think and what they do in practice). His approach emphasized children’s abilities to make sense of their immediate everyday surroundings (their worlds), by selecting and interpreting sensory information (what they see, hear and feel). Piaget’s approach to understanding psychological development differs from other approaches because of his emphasis on stages of development and emotions and the implications of this work for learning theories and understandings about moral development. As part of his study of cogniThe Process of Socialization

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tive development, Piaget also studied how children developed moral reasoning, which influenced other researchers in the field of education and learning, including Bruno Bettelheim. Constructivism

During his lifetime, Jean Piaget became a well-known developmental psychologist for his studies of children, his theory of cognitive development, and his epistemological view called “genetic epistemology.” His work supported an approach to human psychological development that understood development as a constructive process; emphasized the importance of mental organization and adaptation; and viewed knowledge on the basis of its origins (Bjorklund, 1997). Moreover, Piaget’s approach to the study of psychological development differs from other approaches because of his emphasis on stages of development, the role of emotions in how children understand the world, and the implications of this work for learning theories. Like Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget shifted the emphasis of his work from the science of the body to the science of the mind. Born in Switzerland, he initially trained as a biologist (Dembo, 1994) then moved into psychology and saw a connection between socialization—how individuals learn to become functioning members of society—and cognitive development. Piaget was interested in exploring what people knew and how they used their knowledge to understand and operate in the world. To this end, he spent 60 years trying to understand how children learn—through their eyes. His overall perspective was that the thought process was essential in the human development process, and that children learn to think about themselves and their environment in distinct ways at each of four stages of development (Piaget, 1929). Each stage is accomplished when the child acquires new skills. In developing these stages, Piaget was able to map the development or maturation of the child’s mind from a primitive level to the level at which abstract thought occurs. Piaget spent a lot of his time playing and talking with children (including his own). His preferred method of study was to observe children and maintain the flexibility to ask them different types of questions. He was especially interested in wrong answers to his questions and firmly believed that one could learn about the thought process by studying them. 30


Cognitive Assumptions

During the 1920s, Piaget began observing children and developing his theory which proposed that children pass through a series of stages of cognitive development. His theory acknowledged that children could pass through the stages at different rates, but maintained that all children went through the stages in the same order. Some of the key assumptions underpinning Piaget’s theory are: • That people are active learners who possess internal impulses and display specific patterns of development; • That people have the ability to construct their own world and sense of reality; and, • That people are born with intelligence and that this intelligence is capable of adapting to whatever environments people find themselves in. These assumptions all underlie Piaget’s theory of cognitive constructivism (Siegler & Ellis, 1996). This theory holds that children learn by actively constructing knowledge, rather than by passively receiving it. As they take in new experiences, children build and expand upon their mental constructs, or the patterns in which they organize knowledge. Constructivists call these construct schemas. Schemas

According to Piaget (Rumelhart, 1980), two processes affect these schemas: adaptation and equilibrium. Adaptation

Adaptation occurs when a person adjusts his or her mental constructs (or “schemes”) or creates new ones in order to understand new information. Within this concept, two sub-processes, assimilation and accommodation, work together. When a child assimilates, he or she incorporates new information into an existing mental scheme. When a child accommodates, he or she creates a new mental scheme or changes an existing one to understand new information. For example, if a child visiting a zoo sees a tiger for the first time, he or she may understand it as a “big cat” and thus assimilate it into his or her scheme of “cat.” On the other hand, if he or she sees an The Process of Socialization

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elephant for the first time, the concept of “elephant” may not fit into an existing scheme like “cat” or “dog” or “horse.” He or she will then have to accommodate the concept by creating a new scheme called “elephant.” Equilibrium

Equilibrium is the balance people try to maintain between what they experience and the schemas they assemble to understand their experiences. According to Piaget, when a new experience or piece of information presents itself, one’s constructs are thrown into disequilibrium if he or she cannot account for this experience or information. Equilibrium must then be restored through adaptation. Achieving equilibrium allows children to grow in development and process mental tasks.

Further Insights Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development, with their own logic and particular skills, describe the roles that biological maturation and social experience play in a person’s understanding of the world. Each stage represents how information is experienced and structured. As children mature, they pass through multiple stages and multiple ways of organizing knowledge. A brief summary of Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development is as follows (Lin, 2002): Sensorimotor Period (occurs from the age of 0 to the age of 2) During this stage, the child learns about himself and his world through sensation and movement. Initially, the child does not perceive himself as a discrete entity within his environments. However, by moving his body and perceiving and touching objects, he learns that objects and other people exist independently from himself. By the time the stage is completed, the child has learned that objects are stable over time, and continue to exist even when he cannot directly perceive them. Piaget reasoned that various techniques could be used in this stage to assist the child with development. For example, a parent or caregiver’s vocal pitch or facial expressions could help the child to sense his or her attitude toward certain stimuli. Preoperational Period (occurs from the age of 2 to the age of 7) During this stage, the child learns to use language. Words are a type of symbol that the child begins to use to represent people and places. For example, 32


some children will uses words such as ‘papa’ and ‘nana’ to represent their grandparents. Upon hearing these simple words, they are able to identify the grandparent in person, in a picture, or on the telephone. At this stage, the child is also egocentric in that he understands the world purely from his own perspective. For example, children at this stage will often engage in long, repetitious monologues without considering how their speech is received by their listeners. Concrete Operational Period (occurs from the age of 7 to the age of 11) During this stage, the child learns basic logical and abstract thinking and understands that others’ perspectives may differ from their own. This stage differs from the formal operational period, however, in that children at this stage require a concrete object or illustration in order to understand an abstract idea. For example, in order to initially understand the ideas of addition and subtraction, the child may need to manipulate and count discrete objects like buttons or building blocks. Formal Operational Period (occurs from the age of 11 and up) During this stage, the child learns to understand highly abstract ideas and hypothetical situations. The child does not need concrete objects in order to make rational decisions because he has mastered deductive reasoning. Confronted with a difficult problem, he is able to consider multiple hypothetical solutions and use logic to decide which one to pursue. Further, a child at this stage can evaluate the logic or truthfulness of purely linguistic statements without reference to concrete illustrations or evidence. During this stage, children with learning by asking them open ended questions or giving them critical thinking problems. At this is the last stage, the child is considered to have mastered the cognitive process. According to Piaget, the first three stages of development are universal but the fourth stage depends on formal schooling (Giddens, 1993). Consequently, not all individuals may reach this stage.

Viewpoints Piaget, Kohlberg & Moral Reasoning

Piaget’s work is believed to be one of the first contributions to the field of moral development by a psychologist. One of his methods of study was to watch how children processed moral issues by observing them playing The Process of Socialization

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games and seeing how they perceived right and wrong (Piaget, 1965). He believed that all stages of development are the result of some type of action. This philosophy rests on the premise that people will process and reprocess their knowledge of the world according to the various interactions that they have with their surroundings. His work concluded that people defined morality according to their unique, individual experiences and struggles. His work on cognitive development laid the ground for identifying developmental differences in moral reasoning. For instance, he argued that children younger than 10 years typically see rules as fixed and absolute (what he referred to as “immanent justice,” 1965), while older children (as they enter the stage of formal operations) are capable of seeing people’s actions in terms of motives or intentions (Crain, 1985). Lawrence Kohlberg, a contemporary of Piaget’s, reasoned that development of the capacity to morally reason might not stop at age 12 (which Piaget suggested). Kohlberg developed Piaget’s work and explored how the moral development process correlated with issues of justice and expanded over a person’s life (Kohlberg, 1958). Kohlberg’s study was based on the responses of 72 boys who grew up in middle-class and lower-class environments in the Chicago area. These boys were 10, 13, or 16 years of age. Kohlberg interviewed each boy and presented examples of situations that required him to provide feedback on what he would do. Kohlberg (1963) provided an example of one of these scenarios as follows: Heinz Steals the Drug

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $2,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. 34


But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I am going to make money from it.” So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz steal the drug? (p. 19). Kohlberg was not interested in whether or not the children thought Heinz’s action was right or wrong. Rather, he wanted to find out the reasoning the children used to arrive at their decision about whether or not the action was right or wrong. From these studies, he identified six distinct stages of moral development which he grouped according to the moral reasoning each employed. He later grouped theses six stages into three levels. Some of the differences and similarities between Kohlberg’s and Piaget’s theories are as follows: Table 1: Two Theories of Moral Judgment

Type of Theory

Time Period

Piaget Two-stage theory focused on the cognitive development of children. A child’s moral thinking tends to change when they are 10 or 11 years of age. Younger children tend to base their moral decisions on consequences, whereas older children tend to make their moral decision based on judgment.

Kohlberg Six stage theory broken down into three levels and focused on moral development over the lifespan An extension of Piaget’s theory. Kohlberg proposed that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout a person’s lifespan.

Conclusion

The socialization process describes how children develop into adults by developing their sense of self, language skills, and intelligence. These processes are considered successful when children learn the social behaviors (i.e. attitudes, values) that are the norms for their particular cultures. Children largely learn these behaviors from their parents and other adults in their lives as well as from their peers, social institutions like schools, and


35

Outcomes & Implications

Assisted the field of education in developing instructional strategies that aid in • Providing a supportive environment • Utilizing social interactions and peer teaching • Assisting children in identifying fallacies and inconsistencies in their thinking (Driscoll, 1994).

Kohlberg’s study lead to the conclusions that: •

A person must progress through the moral stages in order and cannot pass into a new stage without mastering the lower level stages

•

A person cannot understand moral reasoning at a stage that is more than one stage beyond where he or she is currently located

•

It is possible for a person to be physically mature but not morally mature

•

Criticisms

• Findings cannot be transferred to the larger population; • Some children may not move to the next stage of development as they mature, • Environment and social influences may also play a role in cognitive and moral development

Only 25% of the population ever reach the sixth, or most advanced level and most people only reach the fourth level • In addition to moral reasoning, emotions may also be critical motivators for a person’s action. • People may respond to a moral dilemma differently because they have different temperaments not because they are at different stages of moral reasoning. • The theory is biased against non-Western cultures • Values other than justice may influence moral decision making.

the media. Jean Piaget’s work on cognitive development influenced how cognitive psychology has researched and understood how children understand, make sense of and reason about the world. However, while cognitive psychology has somewhat shifted from Piaget’s work and indeed from 36


the study of “meaning” toward a more biologically inflected understanding of development that takes account of evolutionary change (Bjorkland, 1997), his influence on theories of moral reasoning and how children learn about the world and their place in it remains strong.

Bibliography Bartlett, F. (1932). Remembering: An experimental and social study. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Bjorklund, D. (1997). In search of a metatheory for cognitive development (or, Piaget is dead and I don’t feel so good myself). Child Development, 68(1), 144. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9707256819&site=ehost-live Crain, W. (1985). Chapter seven: Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. In, Theories of development (118-136). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/ html/kohlberg.htm Dembo, M.H. (1994). Applying educational psychology. 5th Ed. New York: Longman. Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Kohlberg, L. (1958) The development of modes of moral thinking and choice in the years 10 to 16. Doctoral dissertation, the University of Chicago. Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children’s orientation toward a moral order. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33. Lin, S. (2002). Piaget’s developmental stages. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved February 26, 2009, from http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/ Articles/piaget/start.htm Piaget, J. (1929). The child’s conception of the world. New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich. Piaget, J. (1965). The moral judgment of the child. New York: The Free Press. Rumelhart, D. (1980). Schemata: The building blocks of cognition. In R. J. Spiro, B. Bruce, & W. F. Brewer (Eds.), Theoretical issues in reading and comprehension (pp. 33-58). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Siegler, R.S. & Ellis, S. (1996). Piaget on childhood. Psychological Science, 7(4), 211215. Retrieved February 24, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Completehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9703041 847&site=ehost-live.


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Suggested Reading Kay, W. (1996). Bringing child psychology to religious curricula: The cautionary tale of Goldman and Piaget. Educational Review, 48(3), 205. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9612200887&site=ehost-live Mandler, J. (1984). Stories, scripts, and scenes: Aspects of schema theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Markoulis, D., & Valanides, N. (1997). Antecedent variables for sociomoral reasoning development: Evidence from two cultural settings. International Journal of Psychology, 32(5), 301-313. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN =6658370&site=ehost-live

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Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development Marie Gould

Overview Lawrence Kohlberg studied psychology at the University of Chicago and wrote his dissertation in 1958. He was intrigued by the work of fellow theorist, Jean Piaget, and sought to explore how children responded to moral issues (Crain, 1985). Piaget was a well-known psychologist who focused on human cognition, which is the manner in which people think and understand. He was interested in studying what people knew and how they used their knowledge to understand and operate in the world. His four stages of cognitive development described how biological maturation and social experiences helped shape a person’s understanding of the world. Believing that moral reasoning was as important as moral development, Kohlberg elected to build on the foundation of Piaget’s work and explore how the moral development process correlated with the issues of justice and expanded over a person’s life (Kohlberg, 1958). Some of the differences and similarities between the two theories are as follows: Table 1: Piaget & Kohlberg’s Theories of Moral Judgment Piaget

Kohlberg

Two stage theory – cognitive development of children.

Six stage theory broken down into three levels


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Piaget

Kohlberg

A children’s moral thinking changes when they are about 10 or 11 years of age. At this age children stop basing their moral decision on consequences and begin to consider motive a key factor in assessing morality. While younger children see rules as absolutes, older children see them in more relativistic terms.

Kohlberg extended Piaget’s theory to propose that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout a person’s lifespan, rather than a single shift that occurs during childhood.

Piaget

Kohlberg

Criticisms:

Criticisms:

(1)findings cannot be transferred to the larger population;

(1) focuses heavily on moral reasoning, but does not take into account emotions that may be critical motivators for a person’s action. Additionally, people of different temperaments may make different moral judgments even if they are at the same moral stage;

(2) doesn’t consider that not all children may move to the next stage of development as they mature; (3) ignores environmental and social factors that may influence moral development as well as biological factors; and (4) underestimates the ability of a child’s mind.

(2) may be biased toward Western cultures; and (3) overemphasizes the concept of justice when making a moral decision.

Kohlberg’s theory was based on his study of 72 boys of 10, 13, and 16 years of age who grew up in middle- and lower-class environments in the Chicago area. Kohlberg presented each boy with a series of moral dilemmas and asked him to state what the characters in each dilemma should do and why. Kohlberg (1963) provided an example of one of these scenarios: Heinz Steals the Drug

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The

40


drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $2,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I am going to make money from it.” So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz steal the drug? (p. 19). Kohlberg was not interested in whether or not the children thought Heinz ought to steal the drug. Rather, he wanted to find out the reasoning the boys used to arrive at their decisions. From these studies, he identified six distinct stages of moral development which he grouped according to the moral reasoning each employed. He later grouped theses six stages into three levels. Table 2: Kohlberg’s Six Stages of Moral Development Level

Classification Stage

1

Pre• ObediConventional ence and punishment orientation

2

Conventional • Interpersonal accord and conformity

• Children think about how to avoid punishment (the consequences of a negative • Self-interest action). orientation • Children think about what they will get out of the situation, and weigh the benefits and consequences of an action.

• Authority and social order maintain orientation 3

Focus

Post• Social Conventional contract orientation

• Child thinks about the type of behavior that is expected in society either in relation to his peers, or his cultural norms

• Principled Conscience

• Universal ethical principles


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Each level covered two stages: Level 1 – Preconventional Morality

Stage 1: Obedience & Punishment Orientation: Kohlberg believed that this was the earliest stage of moral development. At this stage, the child views rules to be absolute without room for compromise. A person can avoid punishment if he or she follows the rules that have been established. The child is not concerned with whether or not the decision is morally right or wrong, but rather with whether or not it will be punished. Stage 2: Individualism & Exchange: Kohlberg believed that individuals are able to rationalize at this stage. The child considers his or her individual needs or best interests to determine what type of action to take. Interpersonal relationships at this stage are based on the needs that others can fulfill for the child. In essence, there is a mentality of “you do for me and I will do for you.” Children at this stage have some notion of fairness, in the sense that one ought to return favors, but they see themselves as individuals rather than as members of a larger community or society. Level 2 – Conventional Morality

Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships: At this stage, emphasis is placed on what a person needs to do in order to live up to a group’s standards. Children at this stage focus on meeting the expectations of their established roles in order to be seen as a good and nice people. They feel a strong desire to fit in and make choices that will maintain good relationships. Behavior is based on intention. For example, a person can gain approval from the group for being nice and “meaning to do the right thing.” Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order: Kohlberg believed that this was the stage in which people started to think about how their actions are viewed in society as a whole. People in this stage are concerned with staying within the boundaries of what is considered normal behavior, and want to follow the law. Following the law can be defined as following the established rules, performing one’s civic responsibilities, and honoring those in power. People at this stage focus on maintaining an orderly society. Level 3 – Postconventional Morality

Stage 5: Social Contract & Individual Rights: At this stage, people look to the world outside of themselves and their immediate communities or so42


cieties to make moral decisions. They take into consideration that fact that other societies in the world have different values, opinions, and beliefs. However, people at this stage also believe that most just societies protect people’s basic rights and allow them some power to govern themselves. In essence, law and order are maintained while also taking into account people’s diversity. Stage 6: Universal Principles: In the final stage, people reason similarly to those in the fifth stage: they, too, believe that societies ought to be democratic and protect people’s basic rights. However, in this stage, people also recognize that there are universal principles of justice which can override the democratic process and the need for law and order. Martin Luther King and Gandhi are good examples of this type of moral reasoning in that they challenged the laws of their societies in the name of universal principles of justice.

Further Insights Social Psychologists & Moral Development

The field of social psychology explores how social situations affect people. Although many of the theorists in the field are both psychologists and sociologists, most are trained within the field of psychology. Regardless of the field of study, all of the scholars view the individual as their point of reference. They focus on how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by others. Two social psychologists who have conducted studies in the field of moral development are Martin Hoffman and Jonathan Haidt. Hoffman is a psychology professor at the New York University where he conducts research in the area of empathy and how it relates to moral development. His basic premise is that moral socialization is a key factor in the development and motivation of moral behavior. As such, Hoffman focuses on parenting skills, especially on how parents discipline their children (Gibbs, 2003). Moral development is a concern that many parents have as they attempt to teach their children the different between right and wrong and how to behave appropriately. Eisenberg and Morris (2001), reviewing one of Hoffman’s books, and found that he: The Process of Socialization

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• Believes that “empathy is the spark of human concern for others, the glue that makes social life possible” (Hoffman, 2000, p. 3). • Acknowledges how individuals may struggle to resolve conflict between self-interest and social obligations • Examines the relationship between caring and justice (p. 95). Jonathan Haidt is best known as a social intuitionist who has argued that, oftentimes, moral judgment precedes moral reasoning. By asking research subjects to form moral judgments about largely harmless acts that most people would find abhorrent (like cooking and eating the family dog after it’s been killed by a car), he found that people tended to judge the acts, then reached for moral arguments to justify their judgments. When he discovered that people frequently cannot explain their revulsion, he coined the term “moral dumbfounding” to describe the state in which a person has a strong moral reaction to an act, but cannot marshal a moral argument to justify this reaction (Sommers, 2005). His work has led him to draw the conclusion that most people’s moral judgments are formed on the basis of emotive or psychological factors rather than careful reasoning.

Viewpoints Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

As with many theories, Kohlberg’s and Piaget’s works have attracted considerable criticism. What is interesting is that critics of both theories focused on how each failed to address social issues. For example, one of the criticisms of Piaget’s theory was the belief that all children moved to the next stage of development as they mature. Even Kohlberg acknowledged that it was possible for a person to be physically mature but not morally mature. Critics also highlighted how Piaget’s theory appeared to ignore environmental issues such as the influence of social factors. Critics of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development tend to focus on three distinct areas: Correlation Between Moral Reasoning & Moral Behavior.There are theorists and practitioners who believe that moral reasoning is not as crucial for determining moral behavior as Kohlberg 44


suggests. Some critics argue that people make moral decisions in many ways, and that one does not have to necessarily engage in a formal reasoning process. For example, social intuitionists like Jonathan Haidt believe that people are capable of making moral decisions without thinking about outside moral guidelines like the law, human rights, and ethical values. The Importance of the Concept of Justice in Moral Decision. Making another criticism of Kohlberg’s work is that he overemphasizes justice at the expense of considering other values. As a result, his theory does not address what happens when people make moral decisions based on factors that do not include, or deemphasize, justice. For example, in response to Kohlberg’s work Carol Gilligan has developed a theory that instead centers on an ethic of caring. However, it should be noted that Gilligan’s work has been criticized by other theorists, such as Christina Hoff-Sommers, who argue that her research does not provide adequate findings to support her claims. The Ability of Kohlberg’s Theory to be Used in Different Cultures. Other critics believe that Kohlberg overemphasized Western cultural values. These critics held that Kohlberg’s theory does not value collectivistic cultures, which center on society and community. For example, Western culture tends to value the good of the individual over the collective good of the group (Miller, 1987). However, in some Eastern cultures, the good of the group is placed at a higher value than the good of the individual. Hundreds of years ago in China, for instance, if a man committed a serious crime, his entire family would share his punishment (Heckathorn, 1992). Because of these very different values and moral viewpoints, it is possible to argue that Kohlberg’s theory does not take into account cultural differences and is therefore biased toward Western culture. Conclusion

Kohlberg followed in the footsteps of Piaget by studying moral reasoning to expand upon his mentor’s work on moral development. His studies of


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pre-teen and adolescent boys revealed that moral development consists of six stages, which he later grouped into three levels. In the years since his initial studies, his work has received considerable criticism, though it is still a touchstone for many psychologists and sociologists.

Bibliography Cole, M. (1992). Culture in development. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental Psychology: An Advanced Textbook (pp. 731-789). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Crain, W. (1985). Theories of Development (pp. 118-136). Upper Saddle River, NJ: PrenticeHall Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg. htm Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Eisenberg, N., & Morris, A. (2001). The origins and social significance of empathy-related responding. A review of empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice by M. L. Hoffman. Social Justice Research, 14(1), 95-120. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=11303993&site=ehost-live Gibbs, J. (2003). Moral Development and Reality: Beyond the Theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Heckathorn, D. (1992). Collective sanctions and group heterogeneity: Cohesion and polarization in normative systems. In E. J. Lawler, B. Markovsky, C. Ridgeway, & H. A. Walker (Eds.), Advances in Group Processes Vol. 9 (pp. 41-63). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Kohlberg, L. (1958). The development of modes of moral thinking and choice in the years 10 to 16. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago, United States -- Illinois. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from ProQuest Digital Dissertations Database. (Publication No. AAT T-04397). Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children’s orientation toward a moral order. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33. Miller, J. (1987). Cultural influences on the development of conceptual differentiation in person description. British Journal of Development Psychology, 5, 309-319. Sommers, T. (2005, August). Jonathan Haidt. The Believer. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.believermag.com/issues/200508/?read=interview_haidt

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Suggested Reading Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children’s orientations toward a moral order: Sequence in the development of moral thought. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33. Kohlberg, L., & Elfenbein, D. (1975). The development of moral judgments concerning capital punishment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 45(4), 614-640. Snarey, J., Reimer, J., & Kohlberg, L. (1985). Development of social-moral reasoning among kibbutz adolescents: A longitudinal cross-cultural study. Developmental Psychology, 21(1), 3-17. Retrieved March 23, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=SN0357 84&site=ehost-live


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Cooley & the Looking Glass Self Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson

Overview Charles Horton Cooley was one of the first generation American sociologists and taught in the sociology department at the University of Michigan from 1892, although his degree was in economics. His approach differed from those of his contemporaries, as his was a humanistic approach that emphasized the significance of the mind in developing a sense of self. As such, he opened up discussion about the impact of subjectivity and creativity on the production of society, in contrast to the rather objective approach to the constitution of society taken by many of his contemporaries. Indeed, Cooley saw himself as less of a sociologist than as a scholar fusing history, philosophy and social psychology and drew on the work of philosopher William James. Cooley’s most significant contributions to the field of sociology were the concept of “the looking glass self” and what he termed “primary groups” and “secondary groups.” The looking glass self was introduced in his book Human Nature and the Social Order (1902) and primary group was introduced in Social Organization (1909). The concept of the looking glass self describes how an individual develops his or her identity in response to how he or she understands others’ perceptions of himself or herself. The concepts of primary and secondary groups describe how interactions between the individual and social groups can influence the individual’s 48


socialization (Marshall, 1998). Cooley’s work influenced that of George Herbert Mead and contributed to the development of symbolic interactionism. In addition, his work has indirectly influenced feminist work on gender identity and subjectivity. Charles Horton Cooley

One might argue that Cooley’s work was shaped by some of his early life experiences. He was the son of a very successful law professor and Michigan State Supreme Court justice. However, he did not have a highly interactive, intimate relationship with his father. As a result, he developed personality traits that are associated with passive individuals and experienced a number of illnesses that are believed to have been psychosomatic (American Sociological Association, 2006). In order to compensate for his perceived shortcomings, he created a “self” that was successful (i.e. a self that had the traits of men like his father). This imagined self allowed him to cope with living in the shadow of his father and up to his father’s standards. Although his work was most widely embraced by sociologists, Cooley always had topics such as “the self” at the top of his list. He wrote extensively on the relationship between the self and society in books such as Human Nature and the Social Order (1902), Social Organization (1909), and Social Process (1918). The Self in Sociology

At the beginning of the twentieth century the discipline of sociology worked with Cartesian concepts of mind and body that viewed them as separate, disconnected entities. However, a number of theorists, such as William James, began rethinking this distinction. William James’ work stretched across disciplines (physiology, psychology and philosophy) and influenced thinkers in Europe and the U.S., contributing to both pragmatism and phenomenology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006). His work on the self, and the idea that it contained within it the capacity to reflect on itself, was especially influential on Cooley. James divided the self into two parts: the “phenomenal self”—or the self that is experienced as the self—and “self thought,” or the self that experiences and knows the self. He further divided the phenomenal self into the “material me,” the “social me,” and the “spiritual me.” The material


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me comprises the body and its physical surroundings; the social me is created by how one believes others view oneself; and the spiritual me is one’s awareness of one’s thoughts and emotions. Self thought, on the other hand, is what orders these different phenomenal selves into an enduring sense of identity (Wozniak, 1999). Charles Cooley built on this framework in order to integrate mind and body as an interconnected, organic whole. Moreover, foreshadowing sociologists who came to be associated with the development of symbolic interactionism at the University of Chicago, Cooley argued that the individual and society could only be understood in relationship to each other, and that each was mutually constitutive of the other. Rather than view the individual as a solitary and discrete entity, Cooley believed that a person’s self is developed by his or her social interactions and therefore people are always, through interaction, connected to other people. For Cooley, these interactions create a process through which people come to view themselves as objects and are able to take on the roles of others. He used the example of a looking glass to illustrate his theory (Coser, 1977).

Further Insights The Looking Glass Self

In 1902, Cooley published Human Nature and the Social Order in which he proposed a theory of the development of the self as a creative agent (Waters, 1994). According to Cooley, a person’s sense of self is created by the ideas he or she believes others have about him or her. This self-development depends on interaction with others who reflect back to them images of themselves. In short, we learn who we are from others and our imagination of how we appear to them. We are literally looking at others and imaging the image they have of us. As Cooley wrote: As we see our face, figure, and dress in the glass, and are interested in them because they are ours, and pleased or otherwise with them according as they do or do not answer to what we should like them to be; so in imagination we perceive in another’s mind some thought of our appearance, manners, aims, deeds, character, friends, and so on, and are variously affected by it (Cooley, 1902, p. 183). 50


Mirrors provide us with visual access to the external appearance of our bodies, but the appearance of our bodies is mediated through what we imagine others think of us (Howson, 2004). Thus, the metaphor of the looking-glass, or mirror, provides a way to think about the importance of visual information and the appearance of the body and for the development of what Cooley calls the self-idea, which emerges in three key stages: • First, we image how we appear to others (e.g., as intelligent, pretty, professional); • Second, the self-idea develops in relation to how we imagine others perceive or judge us (e.g. did we attend the right schools, do we wear attractive clothing, or do we belong to the right professional groups?); • Third, the self-idea emerges through the “self-feeling” or attitude we develop toward ourselves, based on how we believe others perceive us (e.g. pride or embarrassment about our intelligence, physical appearance, or professional status). In essence, Cooley argues that the development of self is “an interactive process through which connections are made between the personal subjective self of the viewer and the external world of other people” (Hepworth, 2000, p. 46). It’s worth quoting Hepworth in full here because he puts it so beautifully: Because we have no direct access to the external reality of the body, even with the existence of aids such as mirrors and the wide range of technical apparatus available to us now (cameras, video cameras and the like), the act of human perception is always mediated symbolically by meaning. When we look into a mirror we are therefore engaged in an act of the imagination whereby the self is constructed symbolically as a portrait or picture (Hepworth, 2000, p. 46). However, this process of mediation is not error-free, and it is possible for a person to develop a false interpretation of what others think and end up with an erroneous self-perception (Coser, 1977).


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Primary Groups & Secondary Groups

A primary group can be described as a group of individuals who share an intimate relationship and face-to-face interaction. Examples of such groups include families, close circles of friends, and neighborhoods. Group members identify with the group, co-operate and sympathize with one another, and share responsibilities and culture. Cooley was thinking in particular of the family and peer group as a primary group in order to establish a distinction between relationships among people that are characterized by intimacy and those that are more contractual (Andersen & Taylor, 2005). Researchers have persistently demonstrated the power in Cooley’s insight, in work, for instance, that explores the influence of peer groups on children’s development of identity and self-esteem. Moreover, primary, or peer groups, do not stop being influential as people grow older. Professional groups and other groups to which people belong have an impact on identity and emotional experience. Cooley believed that primary groups have a strong influence on a person’s self, which is why they may last a long period of time. These relationships can provide a source of support when an individual experiences the high and low points of his or her life. Still, others have pointed out that primary groups can demand that members conform to strict codes of thought and behavior, and thereby stultify individuality (Giddens, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2007). A secondary group, in contrast, tends to have few personal relationships and be temporary and formed for a specific purpose. This “nucleated” group is larger and more disparate and its members have far less, if any, direct contact with each other. Examples of such a group would be coworkers, an organization’s board members, the people in a neighborhood and political groups. Such groups do not last as long as primary groups, although they can occasionally take on the characteristics of a primary group in circumstances of social change or stress (Andersen & Taylor, 2005). For instance, when communities are affected by disasters (e.g. hurricanes, floods or crime), they can, for a time, become more connected to each other and coalesce around the event, and in doing so, become a primary group. As Andersen and Taylor (2005) note, primary and secondary groups serve different social needs. Primary groups provide opportunities for meeting expressive needs such as emotional intimacy and companionship, while

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secondary groups provide opportunities for instrumental needs, such as playing games or sports (sports or athletic groups) or lobbying to create political change (political groups). Secondary groups can evolve and become primary groups (by providing an important source of identity for its members); but in general, they serve a more functional, and often shortlived objective. George Herbert Mead’s I & Me

Many scholars built on Cooley’s work to create a general theory of the self. One of the most influential scholars in the sociology of the self was George Herbert Mead. Mead taught social psychology at the University of Chicago at the end of the nineteenth century. Although he published no books, his lectures were collected and published posthumously and his work has been enormously influential in the sociology of the self (Waters, 1994). Drawing on the approach developed by the German sociologist, Georg Simmel, Mead took the view that humans are motivated by ideas and that society is constituted through the exchange of gestures and symbols. The self, in his view, is the product of an on-going, never-ending social process characterized by constant interaction not only between self and others but also between different aspects of self (Howson, 2004). For Mead there is a two-part self that is aligned, first, with what he refers to as impulsive or instinctual habits (I) and second, to the set of organized beliefs learned from the mirroring process described by Cooley (me). The “me,” is an objective, social self that expresses the gaze of others and from which “I” am capable of standing back from and reflecting upon. The “I” and the “me” are in continual dialogue and interaction with each other. The social self, or what he called the “me,” emerges from the unsocialized “I” as it passes through three stages in childhood that are associated with play, through which, Mead theorized, we learn to develop an awareness of, anticipate and take on the roles of others. During the first stage, the child’s play imitates adult activities. Observing his or her father hammering nails, for example, the child might bang a stair step with a stick. During the second stage, the child’s play will act out adult roles. He or she might play house or pretend to be a soldier. The Process of Socialization

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Mead called this “taking the role of the other” and believed that it helps children develop a socialized “me.” During the final stage, play becomes more complex and governed by rules. The child learns to play organized games like hide-and-go seek. Mead believed that during this stage children learn about fairness as well as their cultures’ values and morality (Giddens, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2007). Like Cooley, Mead argued that the self develops over the life course; it is not fixed in time but is open to change and modification because its development occurs in interactions (Howson, 2004). The implication of this approach is that through our interactions with others over time, our awareness of how others see us may change, and in turn, how we see ourselves (Hepworth, 2000).

Viewpoints Self & Social Perception: A Two-Way Relationship?

Cooley’s concept of the looking-glass self assumes that a person’s self perceptions are derived and internalized via the images provided by others. However, researchers have begun to examine the direction of this relationship and explore the control that people have over how others perceive them. For instance, Yeung and Martin (2003) sought determine whether “one’s self-perceptions are an internationalization of perceptions of the views of others” or whether one’s self-perception is created by one’s relative ability or inability to convince others to see oneself in a particular way (Yeung & Martin, 2003, p. 843). Taking communes as their case study, the researchers reasoned that because communes generally attract people who are looking for a social environment in which they can develop personally (i.e. alter their sense of self), they would be places where people are especially sensitive to how others perceive them. The researchers collected and analyzed data from the Benjamin Zablocki Urban Commune Project in 1974. Of the 60 communes studied in this project, Yeung and Martin selected 56 communes for their own study. These selected communes had between 5 and 40 members, though most had about 10 members. In total, 422 commune members were included in Yeung’s and Martin’s study.

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During Zablocki’s initial study, members were asked to complete a relationship questionnaire in which they were asked to name other members whom they considered to have a variety of personality traits, such as charisma, strength, passivity, and narcissism. A second questionnaire asked each member which traits he or she believed he or she possessed. Yeung and Martin analyzed the results of these surveys to determine if members’ assessments of one another were similar to their assessments of themselves and concluded that one’s understanding of oneself is at least partly formed by the internalization of the others’ beliefs about oneself. However, their results also suggested that especially persistent people could change others’ perceptions about themselves over time. Gender Identity, the Looking-Glass Self & Representation

Cooley’s concept of the looking-glass self has been directly and indirectly influential on how feminist researchers have conceived of the female self, and in particular, the process of objectification that shapes feminine identity. Identity building depends on the recognition of others and the images they reflect back to us. Many feminists have argued that the images of femininity reflected to young girls and women are images that have the power to objectify. As John Berger, the art critic, noted, “Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being look at.” (1972, p. 48). In Western art and culture more generally, women are represented as objects. A consequence of this representation is that women are seen as visual objects of sorts, and that they are encouraged by Western culture to treat their physical appearance as part of being “on show.” Women, feminists argue, spend a lot of time and energy in making sure that their appearance aligns with Western idealizations of female beauty. The experience of being watched encourages women to be conscious of themselves and invest in their bodies as an expression of self (Brumberg, 1997). This preoccupation with the body as an expression of self, and as a manifestation of the self-building process that is captured in Cooley’s analogy to the looking-glass, is a somewhat modern phenomenon. However, it requires a high degree of internal control and discipline (Bordo, 1989) and contributes to a constrained sense of self that creates psychic limitations for women. In this sense, the looking-glass self process appears to be an endless process that locks women into identities that are potentially limiting. The Process of Socialization

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Conclusion

Cooley’s approach to understanding the development of the self is somewhat solipsistic, in that the self, in fact, slips from view and society is viewed as a series of “imagined imaginations.” Moreover, Cooley saw himself as contributing not to sociology as such, but to a more integrated approach to history, philosophy and social psychology. Nonetheless, his work has captured the sociological imagination and continues to be among the most influential concepts for understanding the self—society relation, as a series of imagined imaginings through which self and society are created in relation to each other.

Bibliography Andersen, M.L. & Taylor, H.F. (2005). Sociology-understanding a diverse society. London: Wadsworth. Berger, J, (1972). Ways of Seeing. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Bordo, S. (1989). The body and the reproduction of femininity: A feminist appropriation of Foucault. In A. Jaggar and S. Bordo (eds). Gender/Body/Knowledge. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Charles Horton Cooley. (n.d.). Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete.http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=IXBCooley-C&site=ehost-live. Charles Horton Cooley. American Sociological Association. Available at: http://www. asanet.org/page.ww?name=Charles+H.+Cooley§ion=Presidents. Accessed March 8, 2009. Cooley, C. (1902). Human nature and the social order. New York: Scribner’s Sons. Cooley, C. (1909). Social organization. New York: Scribner’s Sons. Cooley, C. (1918). Social process. New York: Scribner’s Sons. Coser, L. A. (1977). Masters of sociological thought: Ideas in historical and social context. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Giddens, A., Duneier, M., & Appelbaum, R. (2007). Introduction to sociology. 6th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Hepworth, M. (2000). Stories of Ageing. Buckingham: Open University Press. Howson, A. (2004). The body in society: An introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press. Marshall, G. (1998). Charles Horton Cooley. In Oxford dictionary of sociology (pp. 120). (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from http:// www.soci.canterbury.ac.nz/resources/biograph/cooley.shtml

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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2006). William James. (n.p.) Available at: http:// plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/. Accessed March 7, 2009. Yeung, K., & Martin, J. (2003). The looking glass self: An empirical test and elaboration. Social Forces, 81(3), 843-879. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=si h&AN=9426360&site=ehost-live Wozniak, R. (1999). Introduction to the principles of psychology – William James. In Classics in Psychology, 1855-1914: Historical Essays. Bristol, UK: Thoemmes Press. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from, http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/ wozniak.html Zimbardo, P. G. & Gerrig, R. J. (1996). Glossary. In Psychology and life. New York: HarperCollins.

Suggested Reading Hartzler, B., Baer, J., Dunn, C., Rosengren, D., & Wells, E. (2007). What is seen through the looking glass: The impact of training on practitioner self-rating of motivational interviewing skills. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy, 35(4), 431-445. Scheff, T. (2005). Looking-glass self: Goffman as symbolic interactionist. Symbolic Interaction, 28(2), 147-166. Scheff, T. (2003, August). Goffman’s elaboration of the looking glass self. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association 2003 Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.


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George Mead’s “I” & “Me” Sharon Link

Overview Background of George H. Mead

George Herbert Mead was a philosopher who has now entered the realm of “classical sociological thinkers” (Alexander, 1989, p. 37 – 39; Athens, 2007a; Joas, 1997, XI; Rhea, 1981, XIV – XI; Strauss, 1984, p. 1441 – 1443). According to John Dewey (1931), Mead was the “chief force in this country of turning psychology away from mere introspection and aligning it with biological and social facts and conceptions” (p. 311 – 312). Aside from Dewey’s famed comment, Athens (2007b) wrote, “He is not only regarded as a classic figure in sociology, but also as the progenitor of ‘symbolic interactionsim,’ a major sociological perspective that is now taught in almost every introductory sociology course” (p. 137). Professionally, Mead was a professor who served on the faculty at the University of Michigan. After this appointment, Mead subsequently served as a member of the University of Chicago’s Department of Philosophy for 20 years. Mead was directly involved with the social survey movement and the survey’s role in producing improved outcomes for students in academic settings, especially in undergraduate teaching (Cook, 2007). Dedicated to the university, Mead (1915) wrote that the university is the “community organized to find out what culture is as well as to give it; to determine what

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is proper professional training as well as to inculcate it; to find out what is right and…wrong as well as to teach” (1915, p. 351). Mead further described the university’s role is “to state and formulate research problems… and solve them; in general, to fix from moment to moment the changing meaning of life and the fitting tools for appropriating it; to be continually redefining education as well as administering it” (p. 351; 357 – 358). Mead (1934) also recognized that institutions are the building blocks upon which society is constructed and understood that dominations impact the polity (pp. 277; 310 – 316; Athens, 2007, p. 138). The six basic institutions that Mead identified as comprising society, included: • Language; • The family; • The economy; • Religion; • The polity; and • Science. Mead indicated that all institutions are rooted in social action, and social acts included any activity that required the efforts of two or more persons to be completed (Mead, 1932, pp. 180 – 182; 1934, pp. 8 – 11). However, he also believed that the hope and salvation of human society did not rest on these tenets, but rather on science, because Mead viewed science as having the ability to provide much needed improvements in the operation of all of the other institutions (1923, p. 264 – 266; 360 – 364). Darwinian Influence

Central to Mead’s work was a Neo-Darwinistic perspective on self and the operation of self within social environments. G. H. Mead “made the most ambitious and comprehensive attempt of the pragmatists to set forth a [Darwinian] theory of mind and behavior” (Thayer, 1973; Mead, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1956, 1964; Joas, 1985). Mead held the view that the social construct of human beings paralleled Darwin’s view of human origins; however, Mead’s social psychological story of human origins emphasized the emergence of the self-consciousness as a product of “social and physical evolution with particular emphasis on social factors and the ‘social genesis’ The Process of Socialization

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of the mind.” For improved understanding, Table 1 offers a perspective parallelism between Darwin’s and Mead’s overview of human evolution and development. Table 1. Darwin/Mead Origin & Social Psychological Evolution of Species Approximation of Years

Darwin’s Origin of Species

3.5 million years ago

Australopethicans appear – exhibiting habitual bipedal locomotion and regular tool use.

Life forms are driven to survive (at least) and flourish (at best) under changing and life threatening conditions.

Mead’s Social Psychological Origins


Homo genus appears – are able to “manufacture” tools.

The evolution of sentience and sociality in group life forms permits reactions to excitations in favor of the playing out of complex, organized habits.


Homo erectus appears with upright posture. Homo erecus is able to control fire and migrate extensively throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Complex life forms are able to participate in shared activities and mutual cooperation – giving rise to communication through signs, signaling, and gestures.

500,000 years ago

Archaic Homo Sapiens (Homo heidelbergensis) show dramatic increase in brain size and cognitive advances.

Taking attitudes of others – this interaction allows perspective-taking and perspective switching.

130,000 years ago

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens appear in Africa with modern brain size

Taking attitudes of group – provides conditions for reflexive social stimulation and response.

50,000 years ago

Behaviorally modern Homo sapiens evolve possessing technologically and cultural innovation.

Draw on Organized Attitudes through the use of significant symbols

11,000 years ago

Humans change from hunter- Reflexive Discourse emerges allowgatherers to agricultural ing humans to anticipate responses of foragers, exhibiting ethnic others. differences.

Adapted from Burke T. (2005). The role of abstract reference in Mead’s account of human origins, Transactions of the Charles S. Evolution of Communication

According to Mead, in the final stages of the account of human evolution, humans develop “self consciousness” and “individual mind.” This increased evolutionary development of consciousness, allowed humans further “refinement, elaboration, and objectification” enabling humans to 60


not only take common attitudes, but “taking the same attitudes towards oneself that the community takes” (Burke, 2005, p. 571). The starting point of Mead’s analysis began with the social experience and a conversation of gestures. At this level, an organism’s action acts as a catalyst for another organism to respond which in turn becomes a catalyst for the adjustment of the first organism’s action. The evolutionary breakthrough allowing the development of “individuality” enables humans to communicate and coordinate activities in the roles of “I” and “Me” (Mead, 1956, 1964). Tomesello (1995, 1999) reported that these evolutionary processes invites individuals in a species to engage in new activities while Table 1. Darwin/Mead Origin & Social Psychological Evolution of Species providing the stabilizing capacity to engage in these new activities, which could arguably improve human interaction in society. These evolved abilities in combination with Mead’s interest in perspective taking and societal emphasis ultimately supported Mead in his research regarding the “I” and “Me” as phases of human evolution, which was only possible when humans passed from the conversation of the gestures to the internalization of the other (Geniusas, 2006, p. 247).

Applications The I & The Me

Mead’s interest in human consciousness and the private and personal aspects of consciousness led him to study the biological nature of an organism and the social nature of self, thereby equipping him with the resources to account for the “development of mind and self-consciousness” (Geniusas, 2006, p. 243). “I” and “Me” can best be identified as “phases of the self,” which was Mead’s attempt at narrowing his philosophies to the discipline of psychology (Cook, 2007, p. 170). “The two are separated in the process, but they belong together in the sense of being parts of a whole” (Mead, 1962, p. 178). Internalization & the Object Self

The internalization process can best be recognized as “me” or the “self we are aware of” and the way in which humans internalize an organized set of attitudes of others. In contrast, the “I” of the self is the response to the attitudes that the organism offers. For further clarity, the “I” phase is The Process of Socialization

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the side of freedom of initiative, while the “me” phase refers to “attitudes, roles, meanings, pressure, and values of others which are organized into one’s self through the agency of role-taking” (Geniusas, 2006, p. 247). The “I” phase refers to the part of the self which can be identified with impulse, freedom, and creativity; everything which is unique, idiosyncratic, and uncertain. Essentially, Mead (1962) wrote that the “I” and “me” revealed the distinguishing feature of the self, which was that as self is to be in object to oneself.” Mead posed the question, “How can an individual get outside of himself (experientially) in such a way as to become an object to himself? This is the essential psychological problem of selfhood” (p. 138). Mead further wrote, “The individual is not a self in the reflexive sense unless he is an object to himself” (p. 142). Lastly, Mead stated, “The individual enters as such into his own experience only as an object, not as a subject” (p. 225). Important to the understanding of “I” and “me” is that the model provides an understanding of the dual nature of our own selfhood while also providing humans with a perceptive of how “the two poles of our own selves are given in experience.” However, in most cases, Mead “identifies the ‘me’ with the ‘object self’ of experience (Geniusas, 2006, p. 248). Mead distinguishes “I” as a response that originates from our bodily organisms and claims that this response is “spontaneous and subjective” (Geniusas, 2006, p. 249). He stated, “If one answered to a social situation immediately without reflection, there would be no personality…any more that there is personality in the nature of the dog or the horse” (1962, p. 182). He further suggested that “an inner response to what we may be doing, saying, or thinking” supplements “a large part of our conscious experience, indeed all that we call self-consciousness” (1964, p. 145). In this way of thinking, meaning arises only through communication. Meaning is implicit wherever there is present, “a triadic relation of a gesture of one individual, a response to that gesture by a second individual, and completion of the given social act initiated by the gesture of the first individual” (Mead, 1934, p. 81). Mead further wrote that animals live in a world of events; man lives in a world of common meanings – and meaning for Mead is socially generated and sustained (1938, p. ix – x). The Meaning of Selfhood

The fundamental nature of “I” and “me” seems to be the transcendental aspect of selfhood. Mead does not openly speak of the transcendental, but 62


arguably metaphysical resonances can be evidenced in his philosophies of the “I” and “me” relationship: “I do not want to discuss metaphysical problems, but I want to insist that the self has a sort of structure that arises in social conduct that is entirely distinguishable from this so-called subjective experience” (1962, p. 166). His methodology immediately places the self in a reciprocal structure with otherness, and repeatedly insists that self can itself only as a “me,” and never as an “I.” Moreover, to overcome the shortcomings of the metaphysical notions of the subject amounts to “bracketing metaphysical questions and in their stead accounting for the self in terms of behavior” (Geniasas, 2006, p 259). Indeed, the self must safeguard the self as subjectivity; one needs to “sacrifice the possibility of its immediate givenness to consciousness: the “I” cannot be known simply because the “I” is a subject, and not an object of experience” (p. 260). According to Mead, each self is not only a “me,” but also an “I” because every self has a unique and peculiar individuality, which manifests itself in free and creative responses back against the society. “There is a demand, a constant demand, to realize one’s self” (Mead, 1962, p. 205). From a sociological perspective, the self is a model of social control. It is also the primary source of social control whose origin “lies in the experience of a rudimentary demand to which one is obliged to respond – a debt, which one must, although never can, fully repay” (Geniusas, 2006, p. 263). Perspective-Taking

The most important aspect of Mead’s theory is his notion of the social role. A key system is the formation of mind in the individual’s capacity to mentally adopt the standpoint of others. This notion of interpersonal perspective taking and intrapersonal perspective taking is the stronghold for Mead’s theories and plays a vital role in the development of language, and is present in other areas of conduct as well. Mead (1934) notes that children display this kind of interaction when they adopt parental attitudes, such as when playing with dolls, and these attitudes are both cognitive and emotional (p. 365 – 366). This attitude is the same as the “generalized other,” which attitude the “member must take if he is to act in a socially coordinated way (Mead, 1934, pp. 164 – 222). Most importantly in terms of sociology and science, Mead did not diverge from the dominant views now held in sociology (Fallding, 2001, p. 735). Mead was a colleague and friend of John Dewey, who was considered the father of education. Together they worked at the universities of Michigan The Process of Socialization

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and Chicago in the 1890s and early 1900s. Their sociological constructs were pivotal in a philosophical movement known as pragmatism. The pragmatists stressed the experimental and purposive nature of cognition. Mead’s work was defined as “not psychology.” Mead’s social psychology stands juxtaposed with orthodox cognitive social psychology, meaning that the individual is not a social atom, but is instead a “product of society.” The person in this sense is a social construction. Theory of Mind

In this sense, there is no “essential core or self to the person,” and each person could have been constructed differently. Once constructed by society, individuals themselves then shape societies. Berger and Luckmann (1967) described this relationship as a dialectic operation. The cornerstone of this philosophy is that “people are not born with what we think of as a self, but develop it in their interaction with others.” The unit of analysis in this interaction is the social act. When humans begin the process of developing self-consciousness and are able to take on perspectives of others, this role taking is known as “theory of mind” (Butt, 2008, p. 105 – 106). Mead (1982) labeled this ability “emergent property.” He wrote: We are conscious of our attitudes because they are responsible for the changes in conduct of other individuals. A man’s reaction towards weather conditions has no influence upon the weather itself. It is important for the success of his conduct that he should be conscious not of his own attitudes, of his own habits of response, but of the signs of rain or fair weather which a consciousness of one’s own attitudes helps toward the control of the conduct of others (p. 348). After reading and analyzing this text, we may conclude that George Mead’s central influence lies in two areas. First, Mead’s work is central to the theoretical discipline of sociology. This sociological construct influences both the disciplines of philosophy and education. These concepts are formative in structure of how human organisms come to know themselves and their interactions. Undergraduate students studying sociology will become familiar with G. H. Mead and his beliefs regarding human development and human interactions. Enthusiastic sociology students can consider applying Mead’s work as a primary underpinning for other disciplines, and as a way of viewing societal constructs. 64


Issues One of the central issues regarding Mead’s work could relate back to the limitations of the theoretical construct upon which Mead based his work. Puddephatt (2005) wrote: “Mead’s contributions have a great deal to offer the understanding of technological development, and the use of the technology by human communities” (p. 358). In further analysis, Puddephat indicated that Mead’s contributions to math and science were overlooked, because of the “intellectual divide of the Atlantic” (p. 358). Most scientific contributions to math and science originated in Europe, and Mead was considered an American pragmatist. A central issue attributed to this philosophy is that Mead seemed to tie most of his viewpoints to perspective taking through the “generative dialogue with the material world.” By engaging in interaction, humans could “take the role” of objects, “objectify their own actions, and generate meaning through this ongoing dialectical relationship” (p. 372). This opportunity seems to invite a solid theoretical foundation for studying the development of technology. Sociologists could utilize these theories as underpinnings into further study regarding technology, the meaning of technology, and human interaction with technology. However, the main issue is that Mead in his day, time, and era seemed to omit key implications, because of a lack of communication with other scholars located on other continents (which ironically would have been aided through more advanced technology). It is up to young scholars and students of cultural and societal constructs to further elaborate and build upon Mead’s work: “If Mead’s work is to be saved from becoming irrelevant in sociology and is to remain an invaluable intellectual resource for this field in the 21st century, then now is the crucial time to revise his theory” (Denzin, 1996, pp. 63 – 64, 74).

Conclusion G. H. Mead (1862 – 1931) “made the most ambitious and comprehensive attempt of the pragmatists to set forth a [Darwinian] theory of mind and behavior” (Thayer, 1973; also Mead, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1956, 1964; Joas, 1985). Mead proposes that humans construe the distinction between subjective and objective elements of experience as a functional, rather metaphysical experience (Mead, 1964). Famous for many theories, one of Mead’s most well known theories and terms were identified as “I” and “me” and the The Process of Socialization

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principles of self. In speaking of these terms, Mead sought to make the point that the human individual or self could enter in two distinguishable senses. The “me” in this case functioned as an object, which holds a mediating role within an ongoing process of experience or action and the “I” functioning as the “self in the disintegration and reconstruction of its universe, the self functioning, the point of immediacy that must exist within a mediate process” (Mead, 1964). For sociology students, or any academician interested in further understanding Mead’s contribution to sociology, philosophy, psychology, and education, further research should be done to facilitate deeper and more comprehensive learning, because many researchers provide a solid argument for Mead’s historical and lasting impact.

Bibliography Alexandra, J. (1989). Structure and meaning: Rethinking classical sociology. New York: Columbia University Press. Athens, L. (2007a). Mead, G. H. In G. Ritzer, ed. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. 2861 – 2864. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Athens, L. (2007b). Radical interactionism: Going beyond Mead. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 37(2), 137 – 165. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier on. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d b=aph&AN=25244839&site=ehost-live Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York: Doubleday. Burke, T. (2005). The role of abstract reference in Mead’s account of human origins. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, XLI(3), 567 – 601. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online DatabaseAcademic Search Premier.http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19365440&site=ehost-live Butt, T. (2008). The emergence of self in relationship. Existential Analysis, 19(1), 102 – 112. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31211115&site=e host-live Denzin, N. (1996). Post-pragmatism. Social Interaction, 19, 61 – 75. Dewey, J. (1931). George Herbert Mead. Journal of Philosophy, 12, 309 – 330. Geniusas, S. (2006). Is the self of social behaviorism capable of auto-affection? Mead and Marion on the “I” and the “me.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 42(2), 242 – 265. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online DatabaseAcademic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=22234631&site=e host-live 66


Fallding, H. (1982). G. H. Mead’s orthodoxy. Social Forces, 60(3), 723 – 737. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online DatabaseAcademic Search Complete: http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=5280353&site=ehost-live Joas, H. [1985] (1997). G. H. Mead: A contemporary re-examination of his thought. Cambridge: MIT Press. Mead, G. H. (1915/1964). Natural rights and the theory of the political institution. In A. Reck, ed. Mead: Selected Writings, 150 – 170. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. Mead, G. H. (1923/1964). Scientific method and the moral sciences. In A. Reck, ed. Mead: Selected Writings, 150 – 170. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. Mead, G. H. (1932). The philosophy of the present. A. Murphy, ed. La Salle: Open Court. Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self & society, edited and introduced by C. Morris. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Mead, G. H. (1936). Movements of thought in the 19th century. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Mead, G. H. (1938). Philosophy of the act. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Mead, G. H. (1956). On social psychology. A. Strauss, ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Mead, G. H. (1962). Mind, self, & society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist, ed. C. W. Morris. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Mead, G. H. (1982). Social consciousness and the consciousness of meaning. In Thayer, H. (ed). Pragmatism: The Classic Writings. 341 – 350. Indianapolis: Hackett. Puddephatt, A. J. (2005). Mead has never been modern: Using Meadian theory to extend the constructionist study of technology. Social Epistemology, 19(4), 357 – 380. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=18851911&site=ehost-live Rhea, B. (1981). Introduction. In B. Rhea, ed. The Future of the Sociological Classics. ix – xi. London: Allen & Unwin. Strauss, A. (1984). Review of David Miller’s the individual and the social self: Unpublished writing of George Herbert Mead. American Journal of Sociology, 89, 1441 – 1442. Tomasello, M. (1995). Language is not an instinct. Cognitive Development. 10,131-156. Tomasello, M. (1999) Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Thayer, H. S. (1973). Meaning and action: A study of American pragmatism. Indianapolis: Bobbs – Merrill Company. [Shortened version of Thayer 1968].

Suggested Reading Fuller, S. (2002). Social epistemology. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Mead, G. H. (2001). Essays in social psychology, edited by M. Deegan. New Brunswick: Transaction.


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Sismondo, S. (1996). Science without myth: On construction, reality, and social knowledge. New York: SUNY Press. Sokal, A. & Bricmont, J. (1998). Fashionable nonsense: Postmodern intellectuals’ abuse of science. New York: Picador. Stringer, C. & McKie, R. (1996). African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity. London: Jonathan Cape and New York: Henry Holt and Company.

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Erikson’s Eight Stages of Development Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson

Overview Social Psychology & Socialization

Social psychology deals primarily with socialization and face-to-face and small group social interaction. Socialization is the process through which people learn to become functional members of society. While some researchers have argued that this process is limited to the childhood years, others have suggested that socialization is a continuous process that stretches over a person’s lifetime. Although some of the theorists in the field of social psychology are both psychologists and sociologists, most are trained within the field of psychology. Regardless of the field of study, all of the scholars view the individual as their point of reference and focus on how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by others in ways that shape identity and individuality; and how people develop the appropriate cognitive, personal, and social skills they need to function as productive members their societies. One of these social scientists is the theorist Erik Erikson, who perhaps more than any other social psychologist, worked to understand personal and social identity. The word identity stems from the Latin idem, which evokes sameness and continuity. Identity primarily became a focus for psychological scholarship in the twentieth century, developing, first, from Freud’s theory of identification and second, from Erikson’s work on the connections between the The Process of Socialization

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individual and his or her community. Where Freud emphasized identity as a relatively continuous inner core of psychic structure (somewhat stable, fixed and immutable), Erikson emphasized the processual nature of identity: as emerging through interactions between the individual and his or her immediate cultural and emotional environment. Consequently, although Erikson drew from Freud, he is viewed as a neo-Freudian who saw development as stretching beyond childhood (the age of 5, which is where Freud saw development ending) across the life course (or as Erikson put it, life cycle, 1980). Identity & the Neo-Freudians

A number of psychoanalysts—such as Alfred Adler, Erick Fromm, Karen Horney and Carl Jung—departed from Freud’s approach to the unconscious and the development of identity. Although they retained his emphasis on the unconscious as a driving force in human behaviors, emotions and cognitions, they differed in the emphasis they placed on its immutability, the significance of childhood and the importance of social and cultural influences. The Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung argued that the unconscious was considerably broader in scope and impact than Freud believed and that there were universal elements that were consistent across cultural groups and historical periods. He disagreed with Freud about the importance of sexuality, placed emphasis on the significance of spirituality in human development and developed a theory built on the idea of the collective unconscious (Storr, 1991). Jung’s Analytic Psychology argues how we inherit “primordial images” from our ancestors, that are, in effect, an unconscious representation of our pasts. Alfred Adler, best known for his work on inferiority, parenting and birth order, was also considered a neo-Freudian who pioneered Individual Psychology, a predictive approach to child conduct and which foreshadowed what is known today as psychosomatic therapy (Brachfield, 1999). He argued that humans are born with an inherent sense of inferiority and that development is based on a struggle for superiority, which may at times threaten to overwhelm and create an inferiority complex. Finally, Karen Horney, one of the first German women to enter medical school, was one of the founding members of the Berlin Psychoanalytic In70


stitute. She questioned the universality of the Oedipus complex and began to explore the influence of social and cultural factors on the development of identity, particularly female identity. Arguing against the idea that there are biologically rooted psychological differences between men and women, she provided the first full critique of Freud’s theory of female psychology (Humm, 1989) and argued that all men resent women (countering Freud’s emphasis on penis envy with the notion of womb envy). This resentment expresses itself in phallocentric thinking, in the devaluation of motherhood and more generally, in misogyny (Horney, 1967). Freud emphasized the importance of the penis to psychosexual development and its contribution to masculinity as an active identity associated with sexual aggression. Horney challenged Freud on the importance of the penis, and, like other critics of Freud, argued that its importance was more cultural than biological, that it stood as a symbol of power and control rather than as the material basis for power and control. However, she did not challenge Freudian notions about male superiority that are implied by emphasis on the penis. In contrast, other neo-Freudians, such as Erik Erikson, argued that female bodily experience was radically distinct from male bodily experience. Therefore, the psychological development of women should be understood in its own terms, rather than in comparison to the psychological development of men (Golobok & Fivush, 1994). Erik Erikson

Erikson was a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst who initially followed and then departed in significant ways from the work of Sigmund Freud. Unlike Freud, Erikson did not have a medical degree, and indeed, when he immigrated to the US in the 1930s, he did not have an academic degree at all (Weiland, 1993). Nonetheless, his work on human development is among the most powerful and important of the twentieth century. First, while he accepted Freudian concepts such as the ego and the development of the self through various stages, he rejected the notion of universal drives and, rather, drawing on the work of anthropologists such as Franz Boas and Margaret Mead, emphasized the significance of the role of culture and society in the development of self. Second, he generated a theory that empha-sized the developmental stages over the course of a person’s life, through adolescence, youth, young adulthood, middle and The Process of Socialization

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old age. In doing so, Erikson suggested greater capacity for development and change after childhood than Freud recognized. A comparison of Freud and Erikson’s work can be viewed in Table 1. Table 1: Freud’s & Erickson’s Stages of Development

Erikson's Psychosocial Crisis Stages 1. Trust v Mistrust 2. Autonomy v Shame and Doubt 3. Initiative v Guilt 4. Industry v Inferiority 5. Identity v Role Confusion 6. Intimacy v Isolation 7. Generativity v Stagnation 8. Integrity v Despair

Freudian Psychosexual Stages 1. Oral Stage 2. Anal Stage

Age Guide 0-1½ yrs 1-3 yrs

3. Phallic Stage 4. Latency Stage 5. Genital stage

3-6 yrs 5-12 yrs, 11-18 yrs

No corresponding Freudian stage. No corresponding Freudian stage. No corresponding Freudian stage.

18-30 yrs 30-50 yrs 50+ yrs

(taken from Boeree, 2006)

Further Insights The Eight Stages of Development

The basic premise of Erikson’s theory is that there are eight stages or phases of development through which individuals must pass in order to become competent, autonomous individuals. As they do so they confront psychosocial conflicts that they must resolve. The stages begin at birth and continue until death. According to Erikson’s work, a person is at a crossroad, or turning point, at each stage of life. Each of the eight stages Erikson identified presents a person with a psychosocial crisis. He or she must either master a task, thereby acquiring a positive attribute or “virtue,” or, by failing it, continue on to the next stage with a negative attribute that can affect future development. He terms this process of growth, where

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progress is dependent on completing tasks or resolving conflicts, as epigenetic (Erikson, 1980). The first stage of development is trust vs. mistrust (Erikson, 1982), characterized by a sense of hope about what is possible. The second stage, autonomy vs. shame, is characterized by a tension between the confidence to try new tasks or feeling hesitant about doing so (Capps, 2004). The transition to independence characterizes the third stage of initiative vs. guilt, while the fourth stage, industry vs. inferiority, focuses on acquiring skills and developing self-awareness. The fifth stage focuses on identity vs. identity confusion and attends to meaning-making activities and questions about an individual’s social position and role, while the sixth stage, intimacy vs. isolation, is associated with the development of intimacy with others. Generativity vs. stagnation is the seventh stage, and is characterized by the tension between tending to the needs of the next generation and self-absorption (Slater, 2003), while the final stage, integrity vs. despair, is associated with self-evaluation (Erikson, 1982), especially as a person looks back over his or her life (Erikson, Erikson & Kivnick, 1989). In addition, Erikson argued that a person’s ego and sense of identity can change over the course of his or her life and that people can recover from traumatic experiences by resolving issues stemming from these experiences later in life. This identity development model has been used to examine not only identity development throughout the life cycle but also the development of identity as a process in professional or other terms (Studer, 2007). Erikson made other significant contributions to the field of developmental psychology, and some of the most notable concepts that he introduced focus on identity, spirituality, ethics and what he called psychobiography. Development & Identity

Erikson’s concept of identity crisis, which entered into psychological and sociological debate in the 1970s, grew from his research on people during World War II who seemed to have lost what he viewed as a sense of ‘personal sameness and historical continuity’. As he developed his eight-stage model of personality development, he identified a stage during which this sense of loss seemed evident: youth (Erikson, 1975). Subsequently, as a conseThe Process of Socialization

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quence of broader sociological changes following the Second World War, which was a period of relative affluence in which the transitional routes from youth to adulthood were disrupted, researchers drew on the concept of identity crisis to describe the lack of clarity about young people’s social positions and roles and how young people experienced this lack of clarity. In general, Erikson used the concept of identity crisis to call attention to and explain the different types of psychological and social issues that youths face as they move from adolescence into adulthood. As Erikson put it, during this stage, young people are not quite children but neither are they yet adults. Their sense of self is shaky and youths search within themselves in order to gain an understanding of who they are and where they belong. Erikson’s theory suggests that youths have to resolve this issue during their adolescence in order to develop healthy attitudes before entering adulthood. Erikson’s theory of identity and the crisis it engenders at a particular moment in development departs from conventional psychological understandings of identity that view it as a property of individuals. In contrast, Erikson’s model of identity acknowledges the significance of social and cultural influences. As such, his model has influenced both psychologists and sociologists and provided a platform for developing a synthesis between the social and the psychological (Coté & Levine, 2002). Researchers have noted that Erikson’s first and last stages are similar to stages in religions and philosophical traditions. For example, the first stage is when life is first formed; which is the beginning of the journey. The last stage occurs near the end of life, which implies finality and mortality. There are some philosophers who believe that people reflect on their lives during their final years and attempt to determine if they made the right choices during their lives. In addition, this period of time is also an opportunity for the younger generations to embrace the wisdom that may be passed on from their elders. Identity & Aging

During his final years, Erikson worked with his wife to develop a theory on how the achievement of wisdom in the final stage is attributed to lessons that were learned in the previous stages (Erikson, Erikson & Kivnick, 1989). 74


Table 2: Further Development of the 8 Stages

Psychosocial Crisis Stage 1. Trust v Mistrust 2. Autonomy v Shame & Doubt 3. Initiative v Guilt 4. Industry v Inferiority 5. Identity v Role Confusion 6. Intimacy v Isolation 7. Generativity v Stagnation 8. Integrity v Despair

Basic Virtue & Strength Hope and Drive Willpower and Self-Control Purpose and Direction Competence and Method Fidelity and Devotion Love and Affiliation Care and Production Wisdom and Renunciation

Maladaptation & Malignancy Sensory Distortion or Withdrawal Impulsivity or Compulsion Ruthlessness or Inhibition Narrow Virtuosity or Inertia Fanaticism or Repudiation Promiscuity or Exclusivity Overextension or Rejectivity Presumption or Disdain

The final contribution to his theory on psychosocial stages professed that a person’s level of wisdom is determined based on whether or not a person has positively resolved the conflicts of the earlier stages. Indeed, developmental psychologists and sociologists interested in aging have built on his work to explore how identity changes as people age; and in doing so have questioned the implicit emphasis in his work on age-structured ages. The concept of life stages have been exceed to some extent by the idea of across the life course or life-span perspectives, in order to incorporate social and cultural, as well as biological aspects of aging. To some extent, this approach acknowledges how, in contemporary society, people have become more “forward-looking” during midlife; moreover life expectancy has expanded and people have opportunities—indeed are encouraged—to pursue health and fitness (Featherstone & Hepworth, 1991). This change in the experience of aging has contributed to the emergence of a new form of identity crisis—the midlife crisis, during which a person may feel caught between opportunities lost to the past and and an unknown future unThe Process of Socialization

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bounded by roles as parents and/or productive workers. This crisis, as Erikson would have termed it, brings with it a new transition into the “third age”, which is potentially accompanied by new learning and potential (Giddens, 1997).

Applications Psychobiography

Erikson also used psychoanalysis to create biographical snapshots of the lives of prominent historical figures like Maxim Gorky, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther, and Mahatma Gandhi. He reviewed each leader’s life in order to assess how his psychosocial development related to the public role he occupied, and how, in this role, he affected society. For instance, he described the Protestant reformer Martin Luther as a man whose life was influenced by an abusive relationship with his own father and by digestive problems (Marty, 2004). This approach opened up a tradition of writing about public and historical figures that is evident in contemporary biographical writing. However, Erikson’s post-Freudian biographical work has been challenged by historians who claim that such work is somewhat biased and lacks historical credibility. Nonetheless, Erikson’s work on Gandhi, Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence (1969), received a Pulitzer Prize in 1970. Spirituality, Ethics & Moral Responsibility

Erikson studied ethical and moral responsibility and reported his findings in Insight and Responsibility (1964). In this book he further developed his developmental framework by identifying eight virtues to correspond with each of his eight stages. These virtues were hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care, and wisdom. In addition, he developed the term “pseudospeciation,” which describes how people make artificial distinctions between themselves and other people of different religious, racial, and ethic groups to justify aggressive behavior, conflict, and war. Essentially, it is the “arrogant placing of one’s nation, race, culture, and (or) society ahead of others; the failure to recognize that all of humanity was of one species” (Friedman, 1998, p. 357). This work is still being expanded by contemporary researchers to explore the extent to which psychological development is accompanied by moral development (Leffel, 2008).

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In addition, Erikson’s work has been especially influential in the work of pastoral care and counseling (Bingaman, 2007). For instance, he wrote a collection of essays that addressed how his eight stages of development correlated with western religious thought (Schorr, 1980). Erikson continued to develop his stages by identifying eight virtues and strengths and either maladaptations and malignancies that could arise from each stage of development. Conclusion

Erik Erikson has been credited for being a pioneer in the study of personal and social identity. Although he considered himself to be a Freudian, many identify him as a neo-Freudian who studied developmental stages over the course of the lifespan and who, in contrast to Freud, emphasized the importance of society, culture and social interaction over biological drives in the development of human personality. In addition, historians have challenged the reliability of psychobiography, which Erikson championed; and the basis for his theoretical framework has been criticized by feminist researchers for being developed through observation of the experience of boys and men. Some feminists have argued that since girls are socialized into relationality and intimacy before boys, identity formation his model may not be applicable to women (Bingaman, 2007). Similarly, researchers have called into the question the lack of attention to cultural detail and divergence in Erikson’s model, despite his obvious commitment to the significance of culture in the formation of identity. Despite these criticisms, and despite some waning of the popularity of his work, Erikson’s approach to identity continues to influence research and therapeutic practice in relation to pastoral care, spir ituality, and life narrative methodologies in the social sciences,

Bibliography Boeree, C. G. (2006). Erik Erikson. Personality Theories. Retrieved May 5, 2008, from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html Bingaman, K. A. (2007). The postmodern life cycle and pastoral care and counseling. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 9(1), 83. Retrieved 28 February, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27706639&site=ehost-live Brachfield, O. (1999). Inferiority feelings: In the individual and the group. London: Routledge.


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Coté, J.E. & Levine, C.G. (2002). Identity, agency and culture: A social psychological synthesis. New York: Psychology Press. Erikson, E. (1950). Children and society. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Erikson, E. (1980[1959]). Identity and the life cycle. NY: Norton Erikson, E. (1964). Insight and responsibility. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Erikson, E. (1969). Gandhi’s truth: On the origins of militant nonviolence. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Erikson, E. (1982). The life cycle completed (1st ed). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Erikson, E., Erikson, J., & Kivnick, H. Q. (1989). Vital involvement in old age: The experience of old age in our time. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Featherstone, M. & Hepworth, M. (1991). The mask of ageing and the postmodern life course. In M. Featherstone, M. Hepworth and B.S. Turner, (eds). The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. London: Sage. Friedman, L. (1998). Erik H. Erikson’s critical themes and voices: The task of synthesis. In R. S. Wallerstein & L. Goldberger (Eds.) Ideas and identities: The life and work of Erik Erikson. Madison, CT: International Universities Press. Horney, K. (1967). Feminine psychology. New York: WW. Norton. Humm, M. (1989). The dictionary of feminist theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Leffel, G. M. (2008). Who cares? Generativity and the moral emotions, part 1: Advancing the psychology of ultimate concerns. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 36 (3), 161-181. Retrieved February 28, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=349993 29&site=ehost-live Marty, M. E. (2004). A God-obsessed seeker which Luther? Christian Century, 121(3):3031. Retrieved on February 28, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=121901 87&site=ehost-live. Schorr, G. (1980). Childhood and selfhood essays on tradition, religion, and modernity in the psychology of Erik H Erikson [Book Review]. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 19(1), 77-78. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a 9h&AN=4898013&site=ehost-live Slater, C.L. (2003). Generativity versus stagnation: An elaboration of Erikson’s adult stage of human development. Journal of Adult Development, 10 (1), 53-65. Retrieved on February 28, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=10837965&site=ehost-live Storr, A. (1991). Jung. London: Routledge. Studer, J. R. (2007). Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages Applied to Supervision. Guidance & Counseling, 21(3), 168-173. Retrieved February 27, 2009 from EBSCO online database, 78


Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db =a9h&AN=24649148&site=ehost-live. Weiland, S. (1993) Erik Erikson: Ages, stages, and stories. Generations, 17(2), 17. Retreived March 7, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=9308307011&site=ehost-live.

Suggested Reading Brown, C., & Lowis, M. (2003). Psychosocial development in the elderly: An investigation into Erikson’s ninth stage. Journal of Aging Studies, 17(4), 415-426. Conway, M., & Holmes, A. (2004). Psychosocial stages and the accessibility of autobiographical memories across the life cycle. Journal of Personality, 72(3), 461-480. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=12886042&site=eh ost-live Suedfeld, P., Soriano, E., McMurtry, D., Paterson, H., Weiszbeck, T., & Krell, R. (n.d.). Erikson’s “components of a healthy personality” among Holocaust survivors immediately and 40 years after the war. Journal of Aging and Human Development, 60(3), 229-248.


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The Mass Media & Socialization Marie Gould

Overview Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning that occurs when a person interacts with other individuals. While some believe that this process is limited to the childhood years, others argue that socialization is a continuous process that stretches over a person’s lifetime. Psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers have studied socialization and social development over the past 100 years. As a result of their work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory is especially helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate ways to guide a person through the process. The socialization process enables one to develop a sense of self and of how to relate to society at large. This connection is secured via the internalization of the values, beliefs, and norms of one’s environment and culture. Socialization plays a major role in identity formation and social functioning. Through it, people learn the behaviors appropriate to their cultures as well as how to interact with other people within their cultures. Mass Media & Socialization

People spend substantial time viewing mediated sources. In fact, the average American high school student spends more time watching TV 80


than he or she did sitting in classrooms (Graber 1980). However, until recent years, there was a dearth of research on the influence of the mass media on socialization. As late as 1966, Gerson reported that nearly all of the research that had been conducted on mass media had been only indirectly concerned with socialization. Rather, the majority of studies had concentrated on understanding how “persons with different statuses and in different social structures use the media and…the resulting gratifications and consequences” (Gerson, 1966, p. 41). Thus, these early efforts had focused on how media exposure affects the “interpersonal environment” rather than the individual (Gerson, 1966, p. 40). At the time of Gerson’s (1966) report, researchers were just beginning to propose that the mass media carried out many functions, of which socialization was just one. Perceiving the scarcity of research, Gerson carried out his research on the assumptions that the mass media contributes to socialization “by reinforcing existing values and attitudes, and by serving as a source of norms and values which offer solutions to personal problems” (1966, p. 41) Since Gersons’ time, sociologists have come to see the mass media as a powerful agent of socialization. It has the power to dictate how we learn about what is going on in the world, as well as how to appropriately interact with one another. It connects people to various social institutions. Furthermore, most of the information people believe is now based on what they see and read in the media, rather than on personal experience. For example, during election years the media provides full coverage of the debates in addition to presenting expert analysis of these debates. As a result, voters may be more powerfully swayed by what they see and hear in the media than by what they learn about the candidates through attending town hall meetings or reading their campaign literature. The process is similar with other mediated events such as professional sports – commentary and analysis goes hand in hand with the actual event. In summary, one could argue that the media helps shape human interaction. To date, most research has studied the effects of visual, audio, and print media like television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. However, another medium that has the potential to simultaneously reach and influence many cultures has been added to this list. The Internet has become an incredibly The Process of Socialization

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accessible medium that enables individuals to exchange information and opinions via constant visual and audio streams. Still, despite the Internet’s popularity, television continues to be a powerful medium, as well. Those who work in the television industry are very skilled at determining what will appeal to the mass market and manipulating messages to encourage consumers to buy into ideas and products. For example, although in previous decades most people got along fine without cell phones, today many youth believe that they are a necessity. Sociologists who adopt Marxist perspectives often cite the mass media as a powerful agent in the maintenance of capitalist societies.

Applications Children & the Media

Parents, educators, and sociologists have all argued that uncritical media consumption can be harmful to children (Hadley & Nenga, 2004). Uncritical consumption, these groups say, can “socialize children into an adult culture that consists of sexist and racist stereotypes, sexuality, violence, and commercialism” (Hadley & Nenga, 2004, p. 515). Their research has largely consisted of content analyses and effect studies. Researchers employing content analysis have shown that media content targeting children is often of a violent or sexist nature. Effect studies have found that as children are exposed to greater amounts of media, they become more likely to develop stereotypical beliefs about race and gender roles, be aggressive, and gain adult knowledge about sex. However, both of these approaches are based on the premise that children only consume media passively, and never actively. Corsaro (1997) explains that “both content analyses and effect studies have focused on the deterministic model of socialization…in which children passively internalize and then re-enact sexist, racist, and violent mass media messages from the adult world” (Hadely & Nenga, 2004, p. 516). In recent years, researchers have challenged this assumption by studying how children interpret media messages and incorporate media into their daily lives. Hadley and Nenga (2004) conducted an ethnographic study that sought to understand how Taiwanese kindergarteners and first graders “incorporate media into their daily routines as they engaged with the central Confucian values of their culture” (p. 515) 82


They used ethnographic data to examine how 4- to 7-year old Taiwanese children incorporated media into their peer groups. One of the researchers conducted over 350 hours of participant observation at the Little Forest Elementary School Attached Kindergarten, which is a public kindergarten in Taipei City, Taiwan, during the second semester of the 2000-01 academic year. The researcher returned to the school after the summer break and conducted an additional 315 hours of participant observations in one first grade classroom. Teachers in the studied school were expected to both promote official goals (e.g. good behavior, health, and academic and social skills) and undergird them with Confucian philosophy. In other words, students were expected to learn not only how to meet official goals, but also understand why meeting these goals was philosophically important. These philosophical beliefs were woven into the school’s organization and academic activities and reflected overall Taiwanese cultural values. However, students at the studied school were also widely exposed to the mass media. Classrooms contained toys that were based on television shows, and teachers often showed cartoons like Pokémon during the school day. Children also brought paraphernalia like pens, book covers, clothing, and backpacks into their classrooms which supported characters from popular television shows. According to the study authors “children in these classrooms had a wide variety of media resources to draw on as they constructed their peer cultures” (Hadley & Nenga, 2004, p. 522). The researchers found that the Taiwanese students used the media within their peer groups in three ways: • They displayed their knowledge of media content by engaging with the media and media related materials in their classrooms. Additionally, they used these materials to display academic skills like reading and writing. • They planned their play around shared media knowledge by using known media characters to assign and enact play roles. • They drew on their shared media knowledge during drawing games and physical play for plotlines and characterization (Hadley & Nenga, 2004). The Process of Socialization

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In all of these uses, the authors claimed, the children “enacted, explored, and occasionally resisted certain aspects of the Confucian values that were pressed on them by teachers” (2004, p. 522). What were the results? Some of the conclusions of this study included: • The Taiwanese children in this study used media to explore concerns and issues of importance to them, such as how to create and sustain play episodes and how to better understand the hierarchy central to being a good student and family member. • The children showed a clear commitment to nurturing a sense of sharing among peers. In addition, sharing media knowledge unique to the peer group also brought the children together, especially if the adults were not knowledgeable about the same topics. • The children creatively appropriated media messages to address their own values and concerns within the context of their peer cultures. Overall, the authors concluded that the children were able to use the media messages to address their own values and concerns, suggesting that their media consumption was active, rather than passive. The children manipulated media messages for their own uses in both learning and play.

Issues Anticipatory Socialization

Some development theorists believe preparation for adult employment is one of the main purposes of adolescence. In addition, many argue that this socialization begins before an individual even enters the workplace, and continues throughout the lifespan. In his study on how individuals enter and are assimilated into the workforce, Jablin (2000) identified anticipatory socialization as the process, which generally occurs during childhood and young adulthood, through which individuals learn about work prior to entering the workforce. According to Levine and Hoffner (2006), much of this learning happens through interactions with parents, peers, schools, and the mass media. One part of their 2006 study sought to under84


stand how media messages can influence young people’s attitudes about work in an effort to better design job training programs to produce effective workers. What’s the impact of the media?

Reviewing previous research, the authors stated that “television and movies often transmit an inaccurate, stereotypic image of the world of work and the ways that people behave and communicate in the workplace” (2006, p. 651). For example, Lichter, Lichter, and Rothman (1994) reported that media depictions often • Showed characters who constantly conflicted with their superiors, with few negative consequences. • Portrayed characters who were employed, but rarely showed them at their workplaces. • Communicated that individuals spend a lot of time in non-work related activities. • Emphasized the social and relational aspects of a job over the task related aspects. • Glorified the exciting aspects of a job and rarely showed the boring, daily tasks required to do the job (as cited in Levine & Hoffner, 2006). Levine’s and Hoffner’s (2006) study suggested that the mass media’s portrayals of work can influence young people’s career aspirations. Additionally, though young people are generally skeptical about how accurately the media portrays the workplace, it can lead young people to believe that work is more easy, fun, or glamorous than it actually is. However, the study concluded that young people’s parents played the largest role in the formation of their attitudes about work. By and large, it was parents who taught the studied adolescents job searching skills, appropriate workplace behavior, the value of having a job, and the importance of having a good work ethic. Conclusion

Psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers have studied socialization and social development over the past 100 years. As a result of their work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socializaThe Process of Socialization

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tion process. It has been found that social learning theory is especially helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate ways to guide a person through the process. The socialization process enables one to develop a sense of self and of how to relate to society at large. This connection is secured via the internalization of the values, beliefs, and norms of one’s environment and culture. Socialization plays a major role in identity formation and social functioning. Through it, people learn the behaviors appropriate to their cultures as well as how to interact with other people within their cultures. People spend substantial time viewing mediated sources. Up until recent decades, most studies on the mass media concentrated on understanding how people of different social statuses used the media and with what effects. More recently, researchers have turned their attention to how the mass media connects people to cultural norms and supports existing cultural values. However, despite this trend, researchers are also questioning just how people interact with media. Though parents, educators, and sociologist have all claimed that media consumption can encourage children to accept sexist and racist stereotypes, and engage in aggressive and consumerist behavior, recent studies have found that children do not engage with media uncritically. Rather, they creatively incorporate media messages into their learning and play, suggesting that their consumption is more active and critical rather than passive and uncritical (Hadley & Nenga, 2004). Additional research on young people’s attitudes about work also suggests that, although the media portrayals do play a role in forming these attitudes, the socialization provided through their parents carries a much greater weight (Levine & Hoffner 2006). In sum, the relationship between individuals and the mass media may be much more complex than previous research has indicated. If children can and do critically engage media messages, its influence as an agent of socialization may be much smaller than some parents, educators, and sociologists have claimed.

Bibliography Corsaro, W. (1997). The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Gerson, W. (1966). Mass media socialization behavior: Negro-White differences. Social Forces, 45(1), 40-50. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX 86


with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=13 540629&site=ehost-live Graber, D. (1980). Mass Media and American Politics. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press. Hadley, K., & Nenga, S. (2004). From Snow White to Digimon: Using popular media to confront Confucian values in Taiwanese peer cultures. Childhood, 11(4), 515-536. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=15385998&site=e host-live Jablin, F. (2000). Organizational entry, assimilation, and disengagement/exit. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putman (Eds.), The New Handbook of Organizational Communication (pp. 732-818). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Levine, K., & Hoffner, C. (2006). Adolescents’ conceptions of work: What is learned from different sources during anticipatory socialization? Journal of Adolescent Research, 21(6), 647-669. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=22827 657&site=ehost-live Lichter, S., Lichter, L., & Rothman, S. (1994). Prime time: How TV portrays American culture. Washington, DC: Regnery.

Suggested Reading Kotzé, H. (n.d.). Mass media and political socialisation: A South African case study. International Political Science Review, 7(4), 415-434. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ioh&AN=707637&site=ehost-live Salama, M. (n.d.). Role of mass media in socialization of person. Vestsi natsyianalnai akademii navuk Belarusi. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=ioh&AN=2752751&site=ehost-live Wei, R., & Leung, L. (1998). A cross-societal study on the role of the mass media in political socialization in China and Taiwan. Gazette: International Journal for Communication Studies, 60(5), 377. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1 261584&site=ehost-live


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Socialization in Families Marie Gould

Overview Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning which occurs when a person interacts with other individuals. While some believe that this process is limited to the childhood years, others argue that socialization is a continuous process that stretches over a person’s lifetime. Psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers have studied socialization and social development over the past 100 years. As a result of their work, practitioners have been able to use the information to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory has been especially helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate ways to guide a person through the process. Group Socialization Theory

Theorists like Turner, Tesser, and Brewer (1987; 1988; 1991) have all shown how social-cognitive approaches can illuminate otherwise inexplicable aspects of human group behavior. One of these aspects is how people can “belong simultaneously to many groups and can shift their allegiance from one to the other, without moving an inch, in response to changes in relative salience” (Harris, 1995, p. 465). Because of this ability, a person can identify with a group even if (1) the group is never all present in one location, or (2) the person never meets all or any of the group members. 88


Judith Harris’ group socialization theory, which is based on the four fundamental predispositions which humans and primates hold in common, is used to explain these unique human behaviors (1995). The four predispositions, which can be correlated with the basic types of behavior, are: Group Affiliation: by indentifying themselves as part of a group, group members tend to favor each other above non-group and out-group members. Fear: group members exhibit apprehension about or aggression toward strangers. If group members demonstrate strong in-group favoritism, this predisposition may manifest itself as out-group hostility. Within-group Jockeying for Status: group members attempt to raise their prestige within the group in order to gain greater power over group resources. Seeking Close Dyadic Relationships: group members attempt to develop loving relationships with other group members (Haris, 1995). Harris (1995) was able to summarize many of the basic assumptions surrounding the study of Group Socialization Theory: The Assumptions of Group Socialization Theory

In urban societies, school-age children spend most of their time outside of their homes among other children of the same age and sex. These groups usually do not include siblings (Harris, 1995. Therefore, one could question whether or not the family should be considered a part of the child’s group. The answer is dependent on who is asking the question. In many Asian cultures, the family group is seen as important and the family relationship is valued above individual’s autonomy or independence. For instance, hundreds of years ago, if a Chinese man was found guilty of committing a serious crime, both he and his family were punished. In essence, the entire family would have to pay the price for a family member’s crime (Heckathorn, 1992, as cited in Harris, 1995). The Process of Socialization

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On the other hand, Western culture tends value the individual over the group. (Miller, 1987, as cited in Harris, 1995). According to Harris (1992), this tendency extends into the family, too. “When they are at home together, I believe that they function as individuals, each with her own agenda, his own patch of turf to defend,” Harris writes (1995, p. 474). If Harris is correct, then the family may not be recognized as a group in Western culture. Regardless of one’s point of view on the family’s socialization influence, one could argue that the manner in which a child behaves and adjusts to his or her family can predict how well that child will function in the world as an adult.

Applications Divorce

Most of research conducted on family socialization highlights the process through which parents hand down their values to their children. However, this research tends to assume that most individuals have lived in two different types of family environments during the course of their lives: the family of origin and the family into which they marry. It has been suggested that a person learns behavior from the family of origin, and that he or she later transmits these behaviors into the marital family. Unfortunately, the results of these various research projects have tended to not take into consideration the effects of divorce and remarriage on the family socialization process. However, other research as compared the children of divorced parents to the children of parents who remained together. It has been found that the children of divorced parents may experience more behavioral and emotional problems (Krantz, 1989). Economic effects have been seen as the number one issue concerning children of divorced parents, but the issue of children’s emotional well-being is a close second. Seltzer (1994) believes that the concern for emotional survival is very real due to the following facts: In the short term, children experience anxiety and depression, and may engage in disruptive behavior. Because of methodological problems, it is less well known what how divorce effects 90


children in the long term, although initial evidence from the National Survey of Children shows that such emotional distress can be present for extended periods of time. Children define themselves as part of a family. They define their family by who lives with whom. When a parent leaves the family unit, children experience loss and anxiety about their place in the world. Parental conflict harms children. Usually, there is conflict between parents during the time leading up to divorce. Children who spend time in a high-conflict household experience emotional problems similar to children growing up in single-parent households. As parents find themselves unable to cope with the conflict of divorce and child rearing, the parent-child relationship deteriorates. Household disruptions such as relocation, change in mother’s employment, loss of income, changes in childcare, disruption of routine, erratic child-rearing practices, and loss of parental control all negatively affect children’s emotional well-being. Multiple disruptions such as divorce, remarriage, and divorce inflict more trauma on children (Seltzer, 1994, Smartlibrary.org). In addition, research has suggested that adults whose parents are divorced tend to have a higher risk of marital failure (Glenn and Kramer, 1987), which suggests that a divorce can have lasting effects. However, group socialization theory has a different explanation for these results. According to Harris (1995), Divorce may be inheritable. It has been found that characteristics like impulsivity, disagreeableness, and alcoholism which children can inherit from their parents can make divorce more likely among the children of divorced parents (McGue and Lykken, 1992; Loehlin, 1992). Children’s behavioral problems may not be caused by a divorce. Long before their parents divorce, many children of divorced parents have behavioral problems, suggesting that these problems are not the result of the divorce. Rather, the problems may be the result of the family conflict that existed prior to the divorce. The Process of Socialization

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Divorce often means moving to a new home. According to one study, thirty-eight percent of custodial mothers moved during the first year after a divorce. A move tends to have negative effects on children because they (1) lose their peer groups as well as their status among their peers, and (2) have find a new peer group and gain their status among them. Divorce often results in a lower socioeconomic status. When children move as a result of a divorce, the type of neighborhood they live in may also change. Of all the homes headed by single mothers, half are below the poverty line. As Harris explains “the change in socioeconomic status means that there may be a change in the norms of the child’s peer group” (1995, p. 480).

Viewpoints Socialization of African American Adolescents

Another crisis situation that some children may face has to do with their assimilation into the mainstream culture. Some researchers believe that racism and discrimination can be developmental mediators in the lives of African Americans across their life spans (Comer, 1989; Duncan, 1993). It has been found that many African American adolescents have a difficult time developing and maintaining a healthy racial identify given the conflicted state of race relations in the US (Stevenson, Reed, Bodison, and Bishop, 1997). Developing a healthy racial identity may be a challenge for this group because they must balance multiple cultural experiences simultaneously (Boykin, 1986, Thornton, 1997). These researchers have defined three types of cultural experiences with which African Americans meet: Mainstream experiences: experiences related to the dominant culture of the United States. Minority experiences: experiences representing political and social injustices associated with being a numerical and social minority in the United States. African American experiences: Black cultural and community experiences represented within the African American community.

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Some psychologists have suggested that exposure to racism and discrimination can lead to low self-esteem in some people. In addition, a person’s self-esteem can influence his or her academic performance in school. According to Constantine and Blackmon (2002), “the link between self-esteem and academic performance among Black American adolescents may be related to how they process achievement experiences at school and in other areas of their lives” (p. 323). Seeking to better these understand the relationship between parents’ racial socialization efforts and African American teenager’s self-esteem, these researchers surveyed 115 middleschool students at a predominantly Black parochial school by asking them complete a racial socialization scale, a self-esteem scale, and a demographic questionnaire. The results of the surveys suggested that the adolescents’ self-esteem was positively correlated to socialization messages that reinforced cultural pride. This result supports the notion that African American peer groups confirm the racial values and practices that African American parents and caregivers try to instill in their children. It can also be inferred that family and peer groups, by fostering self-esteem in adolescents, prepare them to deal with the world outside of these supportive environments. The study also produced another significant finding. The results suggested that as adolescents adopt mainstream racial socialization messages, their self-esteem suffered as well as their perceptions of their academic abilities. This finding helps explain why some African American parents choose to enroll their children in predominantly Black schools. By doing so, children are able to learn about their culture in an educational setting, develop skills and abilities that pertain particularly to their culture and race, and be protected from racism until they’ve learned coping strategies. Conclusion

In the past, psychoanalytic theory played a prominent role in the field of developmental psychology. Psychoanalytic theory holds that children around the ages of 4 and 5 have the ability to learn how to behave by identifying with their parents. If a child successfully completes this phase, the theory claims, the superego is formed and enforces good behavior. Frailberg (1989) used this hypothesis to support the belief that most children tend to learn family rules and are less inclined to violate them as they grow The Process of Socialization

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older. “Children in our society spend the early years discovering that they cannot do most of the things they see their parents doing – making messes, telling other people how to behave, and engaging in many other activities that look fun to those who are not allowed to do them” (Harris, 1995, p. 474). Theorists like Turner, Tesser, and Brewer (1987; 1988; 1991) have all shown how social-cognitive approaches can illuminate otherwise to inexplicable aspects of human group behavior. One of these aspects is how people can “belong simultaneously to many groups and can shift their allegiance from one to the other, without moving an inch, in response to changes in relative salience” (Harris, 1995, p. 465). Because of this ability, a person can identify with a group even if (1) the group is never all present in one location, or (2) the person never meets all or any of the group members. Judith Harris’ group socialization theory, which is based on the four fundamental predispositions which humans and primates hold in common, is used to explain these unique human behaviors (1995). According to Seltzer (1994), children of divorce commonly exhibit a number of ill effects like emotional disturbances and behavioral and academic problems. Some psychologists have suggested that exposure to racism and discrimination can lead to low self-esteem in some people. In addition, a person’s self-esteem can influence his or her academic performance in school.

Bibliography Boykin, A. (1986). The triple quandary and the schooling of Afro-American children. In U. Neiseser (Ed.), The school achievement of minority children: New perspectives (pp. 57-92). London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Brewer, M. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482. Cole, M. (1992). Culture in development. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (pp. 731-789). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Comer, J. (1989). Racism and the education of young children. Teachers College Record, 90(3), 352-361. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database PsycINFO. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1989-29025001&site=ehost-live Constantine, M., & Blackmon, S. (2002). Black adolescents’ racial socialization experiences: Their relations to home, school, and peer self esteem. Journal of Black Studies, 322-335. 94


Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Complete. http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=6589824&site=ehost-live Duncan, G. (1992). Racism as a developmental mediator. Educational Forum, 57, 360-370. Frailberg, S. (1992). Thinking is for doing: Portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to laserphoto. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 877-889. Glenn, N., & Kramer, K. (1987). The marriages and divorces of the children of divorce. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 811-825. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx ?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=5280428&site=ehost-live Harris, J. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from http://www.apa.org/journals/features/rev1023458.pdf Heckathorn, D. (1992). Collective sanctions and group heterogeneity: Cohesion and polarization in normative systems. In E. J. Lawler, B. Markovsky, C. Ridgeway, & H. A. Walker (Eds.), Advances in group processes (Vol. 9, pp. 41-63). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Krantz, S. (1989). The impact of divorce on children. In A. S. Skolnick & J. H. Skolnick (Eds.), Family in transition (6th ed., pp. 341-363). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman. Loehlin, J. (1992). Genes and environment in personality development. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. McGue, M., & Lykken, D. (1992). Genetic influence on risk of divorce. Psychological Science, 3(6), 368-373. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db =a9h&AN=8559974&site=ehost-live McLanahan, S., & Booth, K. (1989). Mother-only families: Problems, prospects, and politics. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51(3), 557-580. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=5280971&site=ehost-live Miller, J. (1987). Cultural influences on the development of conceptual differentiation inperson description. British Journal of Development Psychology, 5, 309-319. Seltzer, J. (1994). Consequences of marital dissolution for children. Annual Review of Sociology, 20(1), 235-266. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db =a9h&AN=9409062867&site=ehost-live Seltzer, J. (1994). Effects of divorce on children’s emotional needs. Divorce and Children’s Emotional Needs. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from Smart Library, http://www.children. smartlibrary.org/NewInterface/segment.cfm?segment=1924&table_of_contents=1487 Stevenson, H. (1997). Managing anger: Protective, proactive, or adaptive racial socialization identity profiles and African-American manhood development. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 16, 35-61.


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Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 81-227). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Thornton, M. (1997). Strategies of racial socialization among Black parents: Mainstream, minority, and cultural messages. In R. J. Taylor, J. S. Jackson, & L. M. Chatters (Eds.), Family life in Black America (pp. 201-215). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Turner, J. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.

Suggested Reading Nordquest, M., & Nordquest, M. (2007). Family mealtime as a context of development and socialization. The Journal of Collaborative Family Healthcare, 25(2), 219-221. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=25773634&site=ehost-live Robbins, M., Szapocznik, J., Mayorga, C., Dillon, F., Burns, M., & Feaster, D. (2007). The impact of family functioning on family racial socialization processes. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(4), 313-320. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru e&db=sih&AN=27435546&site=ehost-live Wong, J., & Tseng, V. (2008). Political socialization in immigrant families: Challenging topdown parental socialization models. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(1), 151-169. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2760136 5&site=ehost-live

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Gender Socialization Jennifer Kretchmar

Overview As topics of study, both gender and gender socialization are relatively new areas of interest within sociology, and the social sciences more generally. As Chafetz (1999) explains, “with few exceptions, the best that can be said for our classical tradition [of sociology] is that gender issues were peripheral” (p. 4). With the advent of the women’s movement in the late twentieth century, however, feminists began criticizing the academic disciplines for their ‘male bias’ and demanded that women be included as subjects of study. As a result of their efforts, courses on the sociology of women were added to the core curriculum in what became known as the “add women and stir approach” (Wharton, 2005, p. 5). Gradually, however, the sociology of women morphed into the sociology of gender with the recognition of gender as relational; that is, sociologists began to recognize that “understanding what women are or can be requires attention to what men are or can be” (Wharton, 2005, p. 5). The increasing focus on gender introduced as many new questions as it answered. When do children first develop a gender identity, recognizing themselves as a member of one sex group or the other? Are our behaviors as males and females determined by our environment – through culture, our interaction with others, our social institutions – or are they determined by biology and genetics? Sociologists admit that the answer to such quesThe Process of Socialization

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tions remain elusive. Stockard (1999) writes, “the extent to which physiological factors influence differences between the sex groups is an active and contentious issue and will probably not be resolved any time soon” (p. 217). Nevertheless, sociologists believe that social influences matter most, and as a result, have turned their attention to the study of gender socialization, the “processes through which individuals take on gendered qualities and characteristics…and learn what their society expects of them as males or females” (Wharton, 2005, p. 31). Definition of Gender

One of the first steps sociologists take in defining gender is to distinguish it conceptually from the term sex. Burn (1996) writes, “In most contexts, psychologists prefer the word ‘gender’ because it includes the idea that many differences between men and women are culturally created while the word ‘sex’ implies that the differences are caused directly by biological sex” (p. xix). Thus, when referring to anatomical or reproductive differences between men and women, many social scientists use the term sex; when referring to differences not directly caused by biology – for example, different hair or clothing styles of men and women – social scientists prefer the term gender. Unfortunately, the distinction between sex and gender is not quite so clear. Whereas defining key conceptual terms typically clarifies, the varying definitions of sex and gender often muddy the waters. As Wharton (2005) explains, “there is no firm consensus on the appropriate use of these two terms among gender scholars. Some reject the term ‘sex’ altogether and refer only to ‘gender.’ Others use the terms almost interchangeably…” (p. 18). The confusion stems largely from the varying degrees of emphasis placed on biology and culture in understanding what it means to be male and female. On one end of the spectrum are those who believe gender is entirely socially constructed, and therefore not grounded in any physiological reality (Wharton, 2005). On the other end are those who believe the two sexes are a biological fact. And in the middle is the biosocial perspective, the idea that gender is constructed within limits already established by our biology. Although most agree that biology and society interact to shape human behavior, sociologists place their emphases on the social influences on our 98


behavior. Accordingly, one of the working definitions of gender used by many sociologists features three characteristics: • Gender as a process rather than a fixed state; • Gender as a characteristic of society as well as individuals; and • Gender as a system that creates differences and inequalities (Wharton, 2005). In addition, sociologists often study gender using different frameworks. Some emphasize gender as a characteristic of the individual, some as a product of social interactions, and others as a characteristic of social institutions (Wharton, 2005). Wharton (2005) explains that all frameworks are “necessarily partial and selective” and that none alone is sufficient for understanding gender. Those who are interested in socialization processes, however, usually study gender as a characteristic of the individual; as such, much of the theoretical work on socialization is drawn from psychology as well as sociology (Burn, 1996; Wharton, 2005). Theoretical Approaches to Gender Socialization

Several theories that attempt to explain gender socialization – social learning theory, and gender schema theory, for example - fall within the category of learning theories more broadly (Wharton, 2005). Such theorists understand the processes by which children learn gender appropriate behavior in the same way children learn in general. Other theories focus on gender and sexuality exclusively. Psychoanalytic theory, for example, emphasizes the unconscious processes involved in developing gender identity. Stockard (1999) suggests that all three theories help explain the process of gender socialization, even though evidence for some – as comprehensive, stand-alone, explanatory theories – is lacking. Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory, most closely associated with the work of psychologist Albert Bandura, is an outgrowth of the behaviorist tradition, which defines learning in terms of stimulus and response. According to this perspective, children are reinforced – both positively and negatively – for gender appropriate and inappropriate behavior (Burn, 1996; Wharton,


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2005). A young boy playing with dolls, for example, might be ignored by his father; the lack of attention serves as a negative reinforcement, so that the boy eventually stops playing with dolls altogether. Or, parents might hug a young girl who cries – the hug serving as a positive reinforcement – thereby increasing the likelihood the girl will cry again in the future. In this way, the theory suggests, boys and girls learn which behaviors are expected of them. Boys learn that playing with dolls is ‘inappropriate’; girls learn that expressing emotion is consistent with being female. Social learning theory also suggests that children learn by observing and imitating the behavior of same-sex adults. A young girl learns what it means to be female by observing her mother, whereas a boy learns what it means to be male by observing his father. First proposed in the 1950s and 1960s, social learning theory has not withstood the test of time. Research has shown, for example, that parents who themselves exhibit sex stereotypical behaviors are not more likely than other parents to have children who exhibit strong sex stereotypical behaviors, thus discrediting the idea that children imitate same-sex adults (Stockard, 1999). In addition, children – and especially boys – display gender appropriate behaviors even in the absence of reinforcement (Wharton, 2005). Finally, evidence is mixed with regard to the extent to which parents reinforce male and female children differently. All of which suggests, critics argue, that children are more actively engaged in their socialization than the theory acknowledges. Wharton (2005) writes, “To simplify somewhat, we can say that social learning theory tends to view children (and other targets of socialization) as lumps of clay that are modeled by their environment” (p. 32). Cognitive Development Theory

Cognitive theories of gender socialization offer a different perspective, emphasizing the developmental nature of the socialization process, as well as the active role the child plays in the construction of his or her gender identity (Stockard, 1999). Lawrence Kohlberg, best known for his theory of moral development, was one of the first to apply theories of cognitive development to gender identity. Specifically, he argued that “children’s views of appropriate gender roles ...change as they grow older, reflecting their changing cognitive development” (Stockard, 1999, p. 218). Younger children between the ages of five and eight tend to have the most rigid 100


definitions of gender, and apply the most severe sanctions for violations of gender norms. As they age, however, children are able to develop more complex and flexible definitions of gender (Martin & Ruble, 2004). In general, however, Kohlberg believed that once children develop gender constancy – the recognition of themselves as male or female and the stable, unchanging nature of their gender – they become more motivated to demonstrate gender appropriate behavior (Wharton, 2005). Critics of Kohlberg’s theory pointed to contradictory evidence – the fact that children demonstrate gender-typed behavior as young as two or three years of age, long before they develop gender constancy – to discredit his theory (Martin & Ruble, 2004). They also argued that Kohlberg’s theory failed to explain why children use gender, rather than some other construct, to organize their view of the world (Wharton, 2005). Gender Schema Theory

In response, Sandra Bem introduced a second cognitive theory of gender socialization known as gender schema theory. According to Bem, in cultures where distinctions between men and women are emphasized, children learn to use gender as a way to process information about the world. The cognitive structures, or gender schemas, help children organize information, and maintain a sense of consistency and predictability (Stockard, 1999). For Bem, two characteristics of gender schemas are particularly noteworthy. She argues that gender schemas tend to be polarized, so that children believe “what is acceptable and appropriate for females is not acceptable or appropriate for males (and vice versa)” (Wharton, 2005, p. 34). And secondly, gender schemas tend to be androcentric; that is, children internalize the message that males and masculinity are the standard or norm, and are more highly valued than females and femininity (Wharton, 2005). Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory differs from both social learning and cognitive developmental theories in two important respects; it isn’t a learning theory, and it suggests that some aspects of gender identity result from unconscious psychological processes, rather than more conscious processes such as modeling or actively seeking information consistent with schemas (Wharton, 2005). The psychoanalytic approach was founded by Sigmund


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Freud, but its application to gender socialization was more fully outlined in the late 1970s by Nancy Chodorow. For Chodorow, the key factor in the development of gender identity is the role of the mother as the primary caregiver (Stockard, 1999). Because children spend more time with mothers than fathers, Chodorow argues, their first identification is with the feminine. Eventually, however, children need to develop a sense of themselves as separate, as individual identities. For girls, the process is easier because by identifying with the mother she has already learned how to be female. Boys however, in developing a male gender identity, must first reject their identification with the feminine. “Because the boy knows most intimately what is feminine,” Stockard (1999) writes, “he comes to define masculine as being ‘not feminine’” (p. 222). In the process of separation, boys often learn to devalue femininity as well. The psychoanalytic theory, like other socialization theories, has not escaped criticism. Gender scholars argue that it’s difficult to verify empirically, that it reinforces gender stereotypes – that women seek connection, whereas men prefer separation, for example – and that it places too much emphasis on the unconscious (Wharton, 2005).

Further Insights Theory has been used to conduct gender socialization research in many ways. Various themes introduced above – reinforcement, the child as active participant in the socialization process, and developmental changes – will be discussed in relation to research findings. Some findings are more conclusive than others. The gender-segregated nature of childhood play, for example, is demonstrated repeatedly in study after study. The belief that parents treat male and female children differently, however, has been met with mixed results. As a relatively new field of study, gender socialization research will continue to evolve. Parents as Socialization Agents

According to those who study gender using the individualist framework – gender as a characteristic of the person – parents are believed to be the most significant source of gender socialization. In one of the first studies to document the differential treatment of male and female infants, researchers asked parents to indicate the extent to which a list of adjectives described their babies (Rubin et al., 1974, as cited in Wharton, 2005). Parents 102


of female infants selected adjectives such as ‘soft,’ ‘fine-featured,’ ‘little,’ and ‘inattentive’ more often than parents of male infants. The researchers concluded that “because the infants were physically very similar…parents were not reacting to real differences between children as much as they were applying gender stereotypes that could possibly result in differential treatment of their male and female children” (Wharton, 2005, p. 124). More recent research continues to document differences. Clearfield and Nelson (2006) showed that mothers engage in more conversation with female infants and also interact more with female infants. Even first-hand observations of new parents often reveal differential treatment. As Coltrane (1998) writes, “male and female infants are similar to one another, but most adults go to great lengths to make them appear dissimilar” (as cited in Wharton, 2005, p. 123). On the other hand, a significant amount of evidence suggests that parents do not treat male and female children differently. Lytton and Romney (1991, as cited in Wharton, 2005) conducted a meta-analysis of over 150 published studies and concluded that parental treatment of boys and girls has become significantly less differentiated over the last sixty years. Their research suggests that in areas such as “encouragement of achievement or dependency, warmth of interactions, restrictiveness, and disciplinary practices, parents tend to treat boys and girls similarly” (Stockard, 1999, p. 217). Although much of the research on parent socialization is ambiguous, it is more conclusive in one respect – with regard to parental attitudes toward toys, games, and activities. Research demonstrates that when given a choice, parents tend to offer different toys to boys and girls (Stockard, 1999, Wharton, 2005). They are more likely to choose a football for a boy, for example, and a doll for a girl. In addition, the choice of toy influences the types of activities parents engage in with their children; parents’ play with boys – and especially the play of fathers – tends to be more physical, roughhouse play (Wharton, 2005). Research also shows that parents have different attitudes toward cross-gender play for boys and girls. As Freeman (2007) notes, “researchers who describe adults’…responses to cross-gender play consistently report that boys who engage in ‘girls’ games’ are more likely to be criticized by parents [and] teachers…than are girls who enjoy activities and materials labeled as ‘for boys’” (p. 58). Additionally, it appears that fathers react most negatively to cross-gender play, especially The Process of Socialization

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when engaged in by their sons. Such evidence supports the notion that gender roles for girls and women are expanding, while those for boys and men are narrowing (Freeman, 2007). Peer Group Socialization

Gender scholars who study peer group interaction bring a different perspective to our understanding of socialization. Too much socialization research, they argue, has been conducted using the ‘transmission model’ of socialization – the idea that socialization is a hierarchical, top-down process in which adults socialize children (Tholander, 2002). They prefer a dialogical model instead, studying the ways in which children socialize one another. Those who study peer groups view gender through a different lens – focusing on interactions between children, rather than on characteristics of the individual children themselves (Tholander, 2002). One of the most consistent findings in peer group socialization research is the sex-segregated nature of childhood play. Both boys and girls, beginning by age three, prefer same-sex playmates (Wharton, 2005). This preference is found across various cultures, is not influenced by adults, and generally lasts until adolescence. Although the preference first appears in girls, boys become more rigid about gender segregation than girls, and are less likely to interact with adults as well. As a result of this self-segregation, boys and girls learn about what it means to be male and female from same-gender peers. Stockard (1999) refers to this as a ‘cult of childhood;’ a pattern of games, activities, norms, and roles passed down from one generation to the next. It is not easily influenced by adults, and is highly gendered, with distinct roles for males and females, and severe sanctions against those who violate them. Research provides one possible explanation for gender-segregated play; boys and girls play very differently, and therefore may actively seek others whose play style is most similar (Stockard, 1999). Specifically, girls tend to form close, intimate friendships with one or two other girls. They are more likely to take turns speaking, and express agreement. Boys, on the other hand, play in larger groups, engage in rougher activities that take up more space, and use interruptions, threats, and boasts (Stockard, 1999). As Stockard (1999) explains, “both boys and girls successfully influence others in their interactions; they simply tend to do so through differently 104


styles” (p. 221). While girls successfully influence other girls, they find it more difficult to influence boys; as a result, Maccoby (1990) suggests, girls intentionally avoid boys, thereby reinforcing gender segregation (as cited in Stockard, 1999). The theory is less successful, however, in explaining why boys avoid girls. On a final note, it is important to acknowledge that peers, like parents, significantly influence cross-gender behavior. Just as parents have more negative attitudes toward cross-gender behavior for boys, peers also seem to ‘punish’ boys for engaging in girl behaviors and activities more than they punish girls for behaving like boys. The term tomboy, for example, was found to be a label rarely used to describe girls who act like boys, even though it was widely understood; on the other hand, the use of the term ‘sissy’ was widespread for boys acting like girls, and was used consistently as a negative label (Thorne, 1993, as cited in Wharton, 2005). As Wharton (2005) concludes, “Girls seem to face less pressure than boys to conform to gender stereotypes, are more likely than boys to cross gender boundaries, and girls receive less negative attention than boys when they do participate in activities or games with the other gender” (p. 133). Media Socialization

In addition to parents and peers, the media – television, computer games, and literature – also communicate ideas about what is gender appropriate behavior for boys and girls. Research has shown that children’s books, for example, are beginning to portray girls and boys in non-stereotypical ways; however, many of the books that predate this change are still available in libraries and book stores everywhere. These classic books tend to portray girls in traditionally gender-appropriate ways – doing household chores, for example – while showing boys engaging in a wider variety of activities. They also show girls holding household cooking and cleaning objects, while they are more likely to show boys using outdoor tools or building things (Burn, 1996). Content analyses of television shows also reveal a significant male bias in programming. Male characters typically outnumber female characters, female characters are significantly younger than male characters, and female characters are less likely to be portrayed as working women, according to several studies conducted in the early 1990s (Burns, 1996). The Process of Socialization

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Atkins (1991) reviewed over 500 television characters and concluded that “the vast majority [of female characters] conformed to male fantasies of scantily clad half-wits who need to be rescued” (as cited in Burns, 1996, p. 15). In commercials too, the voice of authority is typically a male voice, and men and women are portrayed stereotypically. Researchers estimate that by the time children graduate from high school they will have spent more time watching television than in the classroom (Davis, 1991, as cited in Burns, 1996). Indeed, correlational studies show that children who watch more TV tend to have more sex-stereotypical views of men and women; other studies show that watching sex-stereotypical models on TV influences choice of toys, career aspirations, and self-esteem (Burns, 1996).

Viewpoints One of the major assumptions adopted by scholars who study gender from the individualist view is that differences between men and women are greater than differences within each group (Wharton, 2005). Indeed, much of the research on gender socialization attempts to explain how men and women become different. What this perspective obscures, many argue, is the reality that men and women are more alike than they are unalike (Burn, 1996). Even Maccoby and Jacklin’s 1974 classic The Psychology of Sex Difference, which was intended to be a catalogue of differences between men and women, concluded that “differences between men and women were fewer and of less magnitude than many had assumed” (Wharton, 2005, p. 24). Feminists argue that the emphasis on differences is problematic, because such differences have often been used to justify unequal treatment (Wharton, 2005). Demonstrating similarities, on the other hand, could help eradicate gender inequality. For feminists, however, emphasizing our similarities isn’t just about eradicating unequal treatment of women. As mentioned in the introduction, the sociology of gender has evolved from its focus on women, to a focus on men and masculinity as well. The way in which we are socialized, and the roles and behaviors we adopt as a result, feminists argue, aren’t just limiting to women, they’re limiting to men as well (Burn, 1996). Watts and Borders (2005) document, for example, that boys begin feeling gender role conflict during their teenage years. They experience pressure to succeed and to dominate, and intentionally avoid expressions of affection 106


with peers, believing the only appropriate emotion they should express is anger. Researchers have begun looking for a link between gender role conflict in males and some of the academic problems they experience, like poor grades and dropping out of school (Watts & Border, 2005). In the end, one of the basic intentions of gender scholars is to bring to our attention a topic that is often taken for granted. Because gender is such a pervasive aspect of social life, in many ways it goes unnoticed. As Wharton (2005) writes, “challenging the taken-for-granted is one essential component of the sociological perspective. In fact, sociologists argue that what people view as unproblematic and accept as ‘the way things are’ may be most in need of close, systematic scrutiny” (p. 2). Indeed, by demonstrating the ways in which we learn to become men and women – through parents, peers, and media – and the ways in which such roles and behaviors might be limiting, gender scholars suggest a different, and perhaps, better social arrangement.

Bibliography Burn, S.M. (1996). The social psychology of gender. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Chafetz, J.S. (1999). The handbook of the sociology of gender. New York, NY: Plenum Publishers. Clearfield, M. W., & Nelson, N. M. (2006). Sex differences in mothers’ speech and play behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-month old infants. Sex Roles, 54, 127-137. Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19870566&site=ehost-live Freeman, N. (2007). Preschoolers’ perceptions of gender appropriate toys and their parents’ beliefs about genderized behaviors: Miscommunication, mixed messages, or hidden truths? Early Childhood Education Journal, 5, 357-366. Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24320859&site=ehost-live Martin, C.L., & Ruble, D. (2004). Children’s search for gender cues: Cognitive Perspectives on gender development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 67-70. Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12644336&site=ehostlive Stockard, J. (1999). Gender socialization. In J.S. Chaftez (Ed.). The hHandbook of the sociology of gender (pp. 215-227). New York, NY: Plenum Publishers. Tholander, M. (2002). Cross-gender teasing as a socializing practice. Discourse Processes, 34, 311-338. Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search The Process of Socialization

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Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7386010 &site=ehost-live Watts, R. H., & Borders, L. D. (2005). Boys’ perceptions of the male role: Understanding gender role conflict in adolescent males. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 13, 267-280. Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Gender Studies Database, http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fmh&AN=15851714&site=ehostlive Wharton, A. S. (2005). The sociology of gender: An introduction to theory and research. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Suggested Reading Franklin, S. (Ed.). (1996). The sociology of gender. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd. Lucal, B., & Blackstone, A. (Eds.). (2007). The sociology of gender: Syllabi and other instructional materials. New York, NY: American Sociological Association.

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Gender & Morality Marie Gould

Overview Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg studied psychology at the University of Chicago, and wrote his dissertation in 1958. He was intrigued by the work of fellow theorist Jean Piaget, and sought to explore how children responded to moral issues (Crain, 1985). Piaget was a well known psychologist who focused on human cognition, which is the manner in which people think and understand. Piaget was interested in studying what people knew and how they used their knowledge to understand and operate in the world. His four stages of cognitive development described how biological maturation and social experiences helped shape a person’s understanding of the world. Believing that moral reasoning was as important as moral development, Kohlberg elected to build on the foundation of Piaget’s work and explore how the moral development process correlated with issues of morality and justice over a person’s lifespan (Kohlberg, 1958). Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is based on his study of 72 boys who grew up in middle- and lower-class environments in the Chicago area. The boys were all either 10, 13, or 16 years of age. Kohlberg presented each boy with a series of moral dilemmas and asked him to state what the characters in each dilemma should do and why. Kohlberg (1963) provided an example of one of these scenarios: The Process of Socialization

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Heinz Steals the Drug

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to see it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I am going to make money from it.” So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz steal the drug? (p. 19). Kohlberg was not interested in whether or not the children thought Heinz ought to steal the drug. Rather, he wanted to find out the reasoning the boys used to arrive at their decisions. From these studies, he identified six distinct stages of moral development which he grouped according to the moral reasoning each employed. He later grouped these six stages into three levels. Each level covered two stages: Level 1 – Preconventional Morality

• Stage 1: Obedience & Punishment Orientation: Kohlberg believed that this was the earliest stage of moral development. At this stage, the child views rules to be absolute without room for compromise. A person can avoid punishment if he or she follows the rules that have been established. The child is not concerned with whether or not the decision is morally right or wrong, but rather with whether or not it will be punished. • Stage 2: Individualism & Exchange: Kohlberg believed that individuals are able to rationalize at this stage. The child considers his or her individual needs or best interests to determine what type of action to take. Interpersonal rela110


tionships at this stage are based on the needs that others can fulfill for the child. In essence, there is a mentality of “you do for me and I will do for you.” Children at this stage have some notion of fairness, in the sense that one ought to return favors, but they see themselves as individuals rather than as members of a larger community or society. Level 2 – Conventional Morality

• Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships: At this stage, emphasis is placed on what a person needs to do in order to live up to a group’s standards. Children at this stage focus on meeting the expectations of their established roles in order to be seen as a good and nice people. They feel a strong desire to fit in and make choices that will maintain good relationships. Behavior is based on intention. For example, a person can gain approval from the group for being nice and “meaning to do the right thing.” • Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order: Kohlberg believed that this was the stage in which people started to think about how their actions are viewed in society as a whole. People in this stage are concerned with staying within the boundaries of what is considered normal behavior, and want to follow the law. Fol lowing the law can be defined as following the established rules, doing one’s civic duty, and respecting authority. People at this stage focus on maintaining an orderly society. Level 3 – Postconventional Morality

• Stage 5: Social Contract & Individual Rights: At this stage, people look to the world outside of themselves and their immediate communities or societies to make moral decisions. They take into consideration that fact that other societies in the world have different values, opinions, and beliefs. However, people at this stage also believe that most just societies protect people’s basic rights and allow them some power to govern themselves. In essence, law The Process of Socialization

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and order are maintained while also taking into account people’s diversity. • Stage 6: Universal Principles: In the final stage, people reason similarly to those in the fifth stage: they, too, believe that societies ought to be democratic and protect people’s basic rights. However, in this stage, people also recognize that there are universal principles of justice which can override the democratic process and the need for law and order. Martin Luther King and Gandhi are good examples of this type of moral reasoning in that they challenged the laws of their societies in the name of universal principles of justice.

Further Insights Gender & Moral Development

Much of the discussion surrounding morality and the development of moral reasoning and decision-making has stemmed from Carol Gilligan’s critique of Kohlberg’s theory. According to Woods (1996), “virtually all of the literature on moral development is based on the argument between these two individuals” (p. 377). At the heart of the argument is the question of whether or not the concept of morality centers exclusively on justice. This question has been studied with both empirical (Ford and Lowery, 1986; Skoe and Diessner, 1994) and nonempirical methods (Alston, 1971; Mwamwenda, 1991; Peters, 1971) and. Gilligan began her career at Harvard University in 1967 where she taught alongside Kohlberg and Erik Erikson (Dim, 2001). While at Harvard she began working as Kohlberg’s research assistant, focusing her scholarship on girls’ moral development. Although she was working with one of the best scholars in the field of moral development, Gilligan began to criticize her mentor’s work. Most of the flaws she saw stemmed from the fact that when females participated in Kohlberg’s studies, they tended to score lower than males: the majority tested at third stage of development, while men usually tested at the fourth and fifth stages. Gilligan concluded that there were two basic flaws in Kohlberg’s work:

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• That, by forming his moral development model on the basis of studies of primarily male subjects, Kohlberg had introduced a bias against females into his model. • That because women were socialized to value interpersonal relationships, rather an impersonal conception of justice, Kohlberg’s hierarchy was, again, biased against women, because it classified their moral values as inferior to those of men (Prose, 1990). Gilligan laid out her criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory as well as her own theory of moral development in In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. When the book was published in 1982, Gilligan became known as the pioneer for what was called “difference feminism” or “ethics of care” theory. Essentially, her theory argues that females tend to view morality in terms of caring and responsibility, whereas males generally perceived morality in terms of justice. Neither view is superior, Gilligan believed, they are simply different.

Viewpoints Criticisms of Gilligan’s Work

Many feminists did not support Gilligan’s view that moral frameworks can be distinctly masculine or feminine. One of Gilligan’s critics was Christina Hoff Sommers, whose book The War Against Boys pointed out some flaws in Gilligan’s work. Some of Sommers’ concerns included • that Gilligan’s research did not follow proper standard protocol; • That Gilligan’s results are drawn from a small sample size • The lack of peer review surrounding Gilligan’s work; and, • Gilligan’s refusal to allow other researchers to review her raw data. As a result of the criticisms Sommers raised, Gilligan’s work is viewed as invalid in some circles of the academic community. One professor at Tufts University, Zella Luria, suggested that while Gilligan’s work was intriguing, it was not substantiated (Luria, 1986). Another feminist psychologist,


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Naomi Weisstein, also found significant flaws. She argued that Gilligan’s work was nothing more than a version of the sexist essentialism that had typified psychological views of women during the 1960s. Regardless of the criticism, Gilligan’s work hasn’t yet been disproved, though it hasn’t been clearly proved either. Though Walker’s (1989) study found that there were no sex differences between boys and girls, Skoe and Goodon (1993) countered that Walker’s study may have lost crucial information on sex differences through the way that they grouped their research subjects. When Skoe and Goodon (1993) conducted their own study, they found that “girls tended to be more concerned with hurting others and maintaining friendships while boys worried more about leisure activities and avoiding trouble” (Skoe and Gooden, 1993, p. 154). Conclusion

Although the controversy surrounding Kohlberg and Gilligan’s work continues, some scholars believe that research on moral development ought not be guided by these two theorists alone. In reality, both theories still lack critical components. In addition, these scholars have argued that both theories have little bearing on the moral concerns that face our society today. They say that it is now time to move on, to focus on current issues. Woods (1996) wrote that scholars should move away from “whether or not there are differences between the sexes and broaden the scope of the study by moving to the next level and integrating issues such as biological, religious and cultural differences” (p. 382). Kahn (1991) made an effort to clarify the issue by identifying the four major foundational concerns that many scholars encountered when studying the topic of moral development. He believed that these four foundation points will assist scholars with understanding the field and setting parameters on discussion (Woods, 1996). Kahn’s (1991, as cited in Woods, 1996) four foundational points are: • Moral Definition – According to Kahn, there are two types of moral definition: consequentialist and deontological. Individuals who seek to produce the best possible outcome in moral decision making are called conseqentialists, while individuals who believe that certain actions are always 114


prohibited or compulsory no matter what outcomes they produce are called deontologists. An example of consequentialism would be a person who commits a mercy killing, believing that it is the best thing to do for a terminally ill person, despite the laws and taboos that condemn the action. An example of deontologicalism is a judge who, lacking sufficient evidence for a conviction, rules in favor of someone he or she believes is guilty because of his or her belief that one must never convict someone without sufficient evidence. • Moral Ontogeny – Moral ontogeny is the moral development process. Kahn believed that psychologists could explain this development in four ways: endogenous examination, or “the development of morality through internal mechanisms;” exogenous explanation, or “external development such as those which might be stated by behaviorist theories;” interactionist explanations, or a combination of endogenous and exogenous explanations; and “structural interaction [which] occurs through the balancing of mental structures” (Woods, 1996, p. 376). • Moral Variation – Moral variation describes the differences in moral thinking that one finds between people and groups. One of the main focuses of this point is understanding and accounting for these differences • Epistemology – The study of moral development in terms of how individuals acquire knowledge of morality.

Bibliography Alston, W. (1971). Comments on Kohlberg’s “from is to ought”. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Cognitive development and epistemology (pp. 269-283). New York: Academic Press. Carol Gilligan. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2008, from http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ gilligan.html Crain, W. (1985). Chapter seven of theories of development. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm Dim, Joan M. (2001). Renowned psychologist Carol Gilligan joins NYU faculty. Retrieved April 30, 2008, from http://www.nyu.edu/publicaffairs/newsreleases/b_gilligan. shtml The Process of Socialization

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Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Ford, M., & Lowery, C. (1986). Gender differences in moral reasoning: A comparison of the use of justice and care orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 777-783. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=16690191 &site=ehost-live Kahn, P. (1991). Bounding the controversies: Foundational issues in the study of moral development. Human Development, 34, 325-340. Kohlberg, L. (1958) The development of modes of moral thinking and choice in the years10 to 16. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago, United States -- Illinois. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from ProQuest Digital Dissertations database. (Publication No. AAT T-04397). Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children’s orientation toward a moral order. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33. Luria, Z. (1986). A methodological critique. Signs, 11(20), 316-321. Mwamwenda, T. (1991). Graduate students’ moral reasoning. Psychological Reports, 68, 1368-1370. Peters, R. (1971). Moral development: A plea for pluralism. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Cognitive development and epistemology (pp. 237-2267). New York: Academic Press. Prose, F. (1990, January 7). Confident at 11, confused at 16. New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2008 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D91030 F934A35752C0A966958260 Skoe, E., & Diessner, R. (1994). Ethic of care, justice, identity, and gender: An extension and replication. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 272-289. Skoe, E., & Gooden, A. (1993). Ethic of care and real-life moral dilemma content in male and female early adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 13, 154-167. Woods, C. (1996). Gender differences in moral development and acquisition: A review of Kohlberg’s and Gilligan’s model of justice and care. Social Behavior and Personality, 24(4), 375-384. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a2h&AN=87 71798&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading Bloom, M. (n.d.). Sex differences in ethical systems: A useful framework for interpreting communication research. Communication Quarterly, 38(3), 244-254. Retrieved March 21, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fmh&AN=EWRI-004063&site=ehost-live Gilligan, C. (1987). Moral orientation and moral development. In E. Feder & D. T. Meyers (Eds.). Women and moral theory. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.

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Johnston, K. (1988). Adolescents’ solutions to dilemmas in fables: Two moral orientations-two problem solving strategies. In C. Gilligan, J. Ward, I. Taylor & B. Bardige (Eds.). Mapping the moral domain: A contribution of women’s thinking to psychological theory and education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Shogun, D. (1988). Gender and moral agency. Atlantis, 13(2), 87-91.


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Socialization in Peer Groups Marie Gould

Overview Harris (1995) defined socialization as “the process by which an infant becomes an acceptable member of his or her society – one who behaves appropriately, knows the language, possesses the requisite skills, and holds the prevailing beliefs and attitudes” (p. 461). While some believe that this process is limited to the childhood years, others argue that socialization is a continuous process that stretches over a person’s lifetime. People have the capability to continue to learn from every social experience that they encounter, they say. Psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers have studied socialization and social development over the past 100 years. As a result of their work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory has been especially helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate ways to guide a person through the process. Children begin to form peer groups roughly around the age of three, usually with other children who are neighbors, classmates, or siblings. In these groups, children learn how to interact with other children of their own age, as well as how to engage in more complex group behavior like leadership, cooperation, and compromise. Peer groups become critical

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during adolescence as teenagers break away from their families. Within these groups, teenagers learn how to engage in group behavior without adult supervision, and may explore their sexuality. As teenagers age into adults, however, the influence of peer groups will often give way to the demands of work, school, or family. Research

The key factor to understanding a child’s behavior is to observe the context in which the child socializes. The manner in which a child reacts to a situation or person tends to be different based on his or her environment. Like adults, children’s behavior at home in the presence of parents and family members can be very different from their behavior outside of the home among peers. According to Ironstrack, Klee, McKay, and Minera (2005), children’s peers can play as large a role their families in their socialization. They claim that “from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes more sense for children to learn from more people than just their parents because they can learn about innovations that came from people other than their parents” (Ironstrack, Klee, McKay and Minera, 2005, p. 1). “The first step in human group affiliation is the categorization of people into groups” (Harris, 1995, p. 466). Experts disagree on when humans develop the ability to categorize: Jean Piaget claimed that children developed this ability by the time they were toddlers, but more recent research indicates that infants can categorize people, too. (Harris 1995). Regardless of age, though, most people categorize others according to age, sex, and race (Harris, 1995). Young children are the exception, as most do not begin to make racial distinctions until they reach preschool age (Harris, 1995). Infants, however, are believed to recognize differences in age and gender by the time they are a year old (Harris, 1995). Interestingly, infants also demonstrate a preference for other infants, and, by the time they are two years old, begin to prefer children of their own sex (Harris, 1995). These predilections in a large part determine how children form their peer groups: they are more likely to associate with children of similar of ages, sexes, and races than children who are dissimilar. Corsaro (1993) defines childhood socialization as the “production of and movement through a series of peer cultures” (p. 361). According to Corsano (1993), all childhood peer groups create their own culture. And, as Harris The Process of Socialization

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notes, “though this series of cultures is capable of adapting to changing times, it is also capable of remaining relatively unchanged while cohort after cohort of children passes through it” (Harris, 1995, p. 470). Through these series of unique childhood peer cultures, children pass down group norms to younger children as they age and move into older peer groups. For example, a group of eight and nine year olds may teach a six year old to play hide and seek or speak Pig Latin even as they are growing older and learning from other, older children how to play basketball or a complicated card game. In this way, groups’ norms are passed down from generation to generation.

Applications Group Socialization Theory

Theorists like Turner, Tesser, and Brewer (1987; 1988; 1991) have all shown how social-cognitive approaches can illuminate otherwise inexplicable aspects of human group behavior. One of these aspects is how people can “belong simultaneously to many groups and can shift their allegiance from one to the other, without moving an inch, in response to changes in relative salience” (Harris, 1995, p. 465). Because of this ability, a person can identify with a group even if (1) the group is never all present in one location, or (2) the person never meets all or any of the group members. Judith Harris’ group socialization theory, which is based on the four fundamental predispositions which humans and primates hold in common, is used to explain these unique human behaviors (1995). The four predispositions, which can be correlated with the basic types of behavior, are: • Group Affiliation: By indentifying themselves as part of a group, group members tend to favor each other above non-group and out-group members. • Fear: Group members exhibit apprehension about or aggression toward strangers. If group members demonstrate a strong in-group favoritism, this predisposition may manifest itself as out-group hostility. • Within-group Jockeying for Status: Group members attempt to raise their prestige within the group in order to

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gain greater power over group resources. • Seeking Close Dyadic Relationships: Group members attempt to develop loving relationships with other group members (Haris, 1995). Harris (1995) was able to summarize many of the basic assumptions surrounding the study of group socialization theory: Component

Assumptions

Source of outside-the-home

• Primates are predisposed, for evolution-

socialization

ary reasons, to affiliate with and adapt to a group.

• Humans have the ability to identify with more than one group; the group identification that is salient at any given moment depends on social context.

• The group that children identify with

when they are outside the home is the peer group-a group of others who share socially relevant characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and (in adolescence) abilities and interests.

• Identification with a group entails taking

on the group’s attitudes and norms of behavior. This is a within-group process that results in assimilation-the group members become more alike.

Transmission of culture via group processes

• Parents do not transmit their culture

directly to their children. Culture is transmitted from the parents’ peer group (and from other cultural sources) to the children’s peer group.

• Children transfer behavior learned at

home to the peer group only if it is a shared by, and approved by, the majority of members of the peer group. Children who come from atypical homes do not transfer they atypical home behaviors to the peer group.

• Children’s peer groups create their own

culture by selecting and rejecting various aspects of the adult culture and by making cultural innovations of their own. During childhood, children move through a series of these child-created cultures.


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Component

Assumptions

Between-group processes

• In-group favoritism and out-group hostil-

that widen differences between groups

ity derive from adaptive mechanisms acquired through evolution and found in humans and other primates.

• In humans, in-group favoritism and out-

group hostility produce group contrasts effects, which widen differences between groups or create differences if there were none to begin with.

Within-group processes that widen differences among individuals

• Status hierarchies within the group-differ-

ences in dominance or social power-exist in all primate groups. Differences in status tend to persist and, in humans, may have lasting effects on personality.

• Social comparisons within the peer group give children information about their own strengths and weaknesses and result in typecasting of individuals by other members of the group.

Assimilation and differentiation

• Within-group assimilation and between-

group contrast are most likely to occur when group identity is salient. Group identity is most salient when other groups are present.

• Within-group assimilation and within-

group differentiation are not mutually exclusive. Children can become more similar to their peers in some ways (socialization) and, over the same period of time, less similar in other ways.”

(quoted from Harris, 1995, p. 467).

Viewpoints Group Behavior

Ironstrack, Klee, McKay and Minera (2005) have identified five basic types of group behavior: • In-Group Favoritism: Members of a group prefer their own group over other groups even if the original grouping was random. 122


• Out-Group Hostility: When the tendency to favor the in-group is accompanied by hostility toward the outgroup. • Between-Group Contrast: Not only do members of a group assume differences between themselves and other groups, but they also act to increase these differences. • Within-Group Assimilation: Since the urge to conform often comes from within the person/group, overt “peer pressure” tends not be necessary. • Within-Group Differentiation: Each individual in a group is different and the members are not interchangeable (p. 2-3). Turner’s (1987) self-categorization theory is also useful in understanding how group socialization can affect identity. This theory describes how individuals self-categorize themselves on a continuum ranging between an identity as a unique individual and an identity as a member of a group. Individuals who identify themselves as members of a group tend to adopt the group’s “rules, standards, and beliefs about appropriate conduct and categories” (Turner, 1987, p. 1), as part of the process of within group assimilation. Individuals who categorize themselves as individuals, on the other hand, seek to differentiate themselves from group members. However, it is rare for a person to identify him or herself entirely with either of these extremes, rather Turner (1987) writes “individual identity and group identity are not dichotomous choices; rather, they will tend to operate simultaneously most of the time” (p. 50). Thus, even as group assimilation occurs, group members seek to distinguish themselves from other members by adopting unique identities.

Bibliography Brewer, M. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482. Brooks, J., & Lewis, M. (1976). Infants’ responses to strangers: Midget, adult, and child. Child Development, 47, 323-332. Corsaro, W. (1993). Interpretive reproduction in the “scuola materna”. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 8, 357-374.


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Diamond, K., LeFurgy, W., & Blass, S. (1993). Attitudes of preschool children toward peers with disabilities: A year-long investigation in integrated classrooms. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 154(2), 215-221. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db =a9h&AN=9703041073&site=ehost-live Eckerman, C., & Didow, S. (1988). Lessons drawn from observing young peers together. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica, 77, 55-70. Eimas, P., & Quinn, P. (1994). Studies on the formation of perceptually based basic-level categories in young infants. Child Development, 65(3), 903-907. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9408220889&site=ehost-live Fagot, B. (1985). Beyond the reinforcement principle: Another step toward understanding sex role development. Developmental Psychology, 21(6), 1097-1104. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=SN011988&site=ehost-live Fiske, S. (1992). Thinking is for doing: Portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to laserphoto. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 877-889. Harris, J. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://www.apa.org/journals/ features/rev1023458.pdf Hirschfeld, L. (1993). Discovering social difference: The role of appearance in the development of racial awareness. Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 317-350. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9308316942&site=ehostlive Ironstrack, T., Klee, A., McKay, S., & Minera, J. (2005). How do peer groups affect learning. Retrieved March 10, 2008, from www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw/EDP603SM2005/ EDP60sm05-group-paper.doc LaFromboise, T., Coleman, H., & Gerton, J. (1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114(3), 395412. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN =9404120270&site=ehost-live Leinbach, M., & Fagot, B. (1993). Categorical habituation to male and female faces: Gender schematic processing in infancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 317-332. Mandler, J. (1992). How to build a baby: II. Conceptual primitives. Psychological Review, 99(4), 587-604. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=92110 92221&site=ehost-live

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Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. Universities Press.

New York:

International

Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 21 (pp. 81-227). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Turner, J. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.

Suggested Reading Buzzi, C. (1980, March). Peer group and socialization. Studi di Sociologia, 18(1), 65-78. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from SocINDEX with Full Text database. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=15462657&site=ehost-live Hargrave, G., & Hargrave, M. (1979). A peer group socialization therapy program in the school: an outcome study. Psychology in the Schools, 16(4), 546-550. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from SocINDEX with Full Text database. http://search.ebscohost.com/login. aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=SN101655&site=ehost-live Jensen, G., & Rojek, D. (1992). Contexts for socialization: Family, school, & peer groups (from delinquency & youth crime (2nd ed.) (pp. 261-316). Retrieved March 11, 2008 from SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true& db=sih&AN=SM134939&site=ehost-live


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Socialization in Schools Marie Gould

Overview Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning that occurs when a person interacts with other individuals. While some believe that this process is limited to the childhood years, others argue that socialization is a continuous process that stretches over a person’s lifetime. Psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers have studied socialization and social development over the past 100 years. As a result of their work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory is especially helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate ways to guide a person through the process. Selecting Peer Groups

“The first step in human group affiliation is the categorization of people into groups” (Harris, 1995, p. 466). Experts disagree on when humans develop the ability to categorize: Jean Piaget claimed that children developed this ability by the time they were toddlers, but more recent research indicates that infants can categorize people, too. (Harris 1995). Regardless of age, though, most people categorize others according to age, sex, and race (Harris, 1995). Young children are the exception, as most do not begin to make racial distinctions until they reach preschool age (Harris, 1995). 126


Infants, however, are believed to recognize differences in age and gender by the time they are a year old (Harris, 1995). Interestingly, infants also demonstrate a preference for other infants, and, by the time they are two years old, begin to prefer children of their own sex (Harris, 1995). Peer Groupings & Socialization

Corsaro (1993) defines childhood socialization as the “production of and movement through a series of peer cultures” (p. 361). According to Corsano (1993), all childhood peer groups create their own culture. And, as Harris notes, “though this series of cultures is capable of adapting to changing times, it is also capable of remaining relatively unchanged while cohort after cohort of children passes through it” (Harris, 1995, p. 470). Through these series of unique childhood peer cultures, children pass down group norms to younger children as they age and move into older peer groups. For example, a group of eight and nine year olds may teach a six year old to play hide and seek or speak Pig Latin even as they are growing older and learning from other, older children how to play basketball or a complicated card game. In this way, groups’ norms are passed down from generation to generation. Children’s Groupings

Drawing on Harris’ group socialization theory, Ironstrack, Klee, McKay, and Minera (2005) write, “culture may not be transmitted from individual to individual, but from group to group” (p. 3). If Harris is correct, it can be said that children learn primarily from their own peer groups as well as from older groups – including their parents’ peer groups – rather than from their parents directly. It can also be inferred that cultural transmission occurs from parents’ peer groups to children’s peer groups rather from parent to child directly. Though there may be cultural variations in parenting practices, the children’s play group is universal (Harris, 1995). Across cultures, small play groups will include both boys and girls and a wide range of ages; large play groups, though, tend to divide along the lines of sex and age (Harris, 1995). And although large groups of girls tend to split up into dyads and triads, these smaller groups will usually be made up of girls who belong to similar social categories, such as age (Harris, 1995). These tendencies


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demonstrate that children see themselves as members of social categories, even though they may not know all the members of a category, and even if the members of a category are not all located in one place. For example, in many cultures, a community’s children are brought together to attend school. These groups of children tend to be large and composed of individuals of the same age, but that is where the similarities tend to end. Although schools generally group children together by age, children tend to choose to group themselves according to sex as well, even when school authorities disapprove of this segregation (Harris 1995). For example, during lunchtime children will often divide themselves according to sex (Harris, 1995). The girls may sit together at one table while the boys sit together at a separate table. In schools that have a high degree of racial or ethnic diversity, children may also separate themselves according to these distinctions. However, sex tends to be the most important distinction that children make (Harris, 1995). Once children reach adolescence, sex segregation diminishes. Instead, adolescents group themselves according to other criteria like “athletic, social or academic interests;… race, ethnicity, social class; and… proclivities such as drug use and delinquency” (Harris, 1995). According to Harris (1995), “two changes occur between early and mid-adolescence: gender ceases to be the primary indicator of group identity, and size ceases to be a useful indication of age and status” (p. 471). Adolescents who live in societies that do not confer adulthood upon them as soon as they reach physical maturation tend to categorize themselves as belong to an adolescent group that is distinct from adult groups. Harris (1995) uses this tendency to argue that much of adolescent behavior results from adolescents’ desire to distinguish themselves from adults, rather than from their aspiration to become adults, as other researchers have argued. To make this distinction, Harris (1995) says, adolescents may dress, speak, and behave differently from adults. However, others disagree with Harris. Moffitt (1993) asserts that “adolescent delinquency must be a social behavior that allows access to some desirable resource” and suggests that “the ‘resource’ is mature status, with its consequent power and privilege” (p. 686).

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Application Children’s Peer Groups in Schools

The Social Networks research group, which is comprised of faculty and students from the Department of Psychology at Portland State University, has focused its research on children’s peer networks. Its members are primarily concerned with how peer group processes can “promote or undermine intra-individual change in a child’s academic development” (Sage, Hillier, Weaver, Newton-Curtis, & Kindermann, 2002, p. 3). One facet of the group’s research as been how children join, leave, and exclude other children from their groups, as well as how children’s groups impact their group members. The researchers have identified three categories of processes. Selection: “the expression of children’s associative preferences through the bids they make to join certain peer groups, and through their attempts, once they belong to a group, to maintain existing or recruit additional members” (Sage et al., 2002, p. 2). Elimination: “processes in which children attempt to exclude others, or actually leave a group themselves” (Sage et al., 2002, p. 2). Socialization: “processes by which peer groups influence individuals” (Sage et al., 2002, p. 2). The research group conducted a study that examined peer group processes in four mixed 4th/5th grade classrooms in a suburban elementary school. The research team wanted to observe and evaluate the relationships between a child’s school motivation or engagement, processes of selection of peer group members, and socialization influences from group members. The 112 children and 4 teachers participating in the study were asked to complete questionnaires and engage in a series of interviews over the course of a school year to glean information about how children’s peer groups relate to their academic motivation. The findings revealed that children tended to associate with other children of similar levels of motivation, and that the level of a group’s motivation was maintained by The Process of Socialization

129

adding new members and excluding members whose level of motivation had changed. Further analysis showed that individual children’s levels of motivation changed relative to the level of motivation within their original peer groups.

Viewpoint Home Schooling

According to the Department of Education, between 250,000 and 300,000 children were homeschooled during the 1990-1991 school year, an enormous increase from the estimated 15,000 children who were homeschooled at the beginning of the 1980s (Aiex, 1994). Why is there such growth? According to Mayberry (1991), more and more families, perceiving the public schools as battlegrounds for the political and social interests of a wide variety of social sectors, are becoming disillusioned “with the quality and content of state-sponsored education” (p. 2). She argues that “the decision to home school…represents a political response by people who perceive a threat in the current organization and content of public education” (1991, quoted in Aiex, 1994). There are many reasons why parents are choosing to home school. According to Mayberry (1991) three of the most popular reasons are that • The family lives in a rural area that does not have a school nearby • The parents are concerned about school violence • The parents feel they can provide a better education than the public school system. However, Mayberry (1991) also found that an ideology can also prod parents to home school their children. Of the 1600 Oregon home schooling families Mayberry (1991) studied, groups she identified as “deeply religious” parents and “New Age” parents emerged as the predominate groups that homeschooled children for ideological reasons. These groups’ responses led her to conclude that they perceived home schooling as a means to control what and how their children learn and, thereby, to pass their beliefs and values onto their children.

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Although there are many legitimate reasons for why home schooling has become popular, there is a concern about the effects homeschooling has children, especially as it relates to children’s ability to socialize. Based on homeschooled children’s relative isolation from the socialization that formal schooling offers, one may be lead to conclude that homeschooled children do not develop the skills they need to interact with environments outside of their homes. Some critics have argued that a homeschooled child’s self concept can suffer because of this isolation (Aiex, 1994). Other critics believe that parents who home school may be too protective of their children and prevent them from developing strategies for coping with the outside world. Still others defend homeschooling, saying that during early childhood a degree of protection is needed in order to foster growth (Aiex, 1994). A 1992 study comparing children between the ages of 7 and 14 from 30 home-schooling families and 32 conventionally schooling families found that home-schooled children were able to develop “the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to function in society…at a rate similar to that of conventionally schooled children” (Stough, p. 19). The study also found that there was no difference in self concept between two groups (Stough 1992). These findings supported an earlier study of 45,000 homeschooled children which found that their self-concept scored in the 91st percentile, or 47% higher than the average child attending a conventional school (Taylor 1987). Bibliography Aiex, N. (1994). Home schooling and socialization of children. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED372460). Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www. ericdigests.org/1995-1/home.htm Bliss, B. (1989). Home education: A look at current practices. Michigan State University: Research Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED304 233). Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/ recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED30423 3&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED304233 Brooks, J., & Lewis, M. (1976). Infants’ responses to strangers: Midget, adult, and child. Child Development, 47, 323-332. Cairns, R. B., Perrin, J. E., & Cairns, B. D. (1985). Social structure and social cognition in early adolescence: Affiliative patterns. Journal of Early Adolescence, 5, 339-355 Corsaro, W. (1993). Interpretive reproduction in the “scuola materna”. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 8, 357-374. The Process of Socialization

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Diamond, K., LeFurgy, W., & Blass, S. (1993). Attitudes of preschool children toward peers with disabilities: A year-long investigation in integrated classrooms. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 154, 215-221. Eckerman, C., & Didow, S. (1988). Lessons drawn from observing young peers together. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica, 77, 55-70. Eckert, P. (1989). Jocks and burnouts: Social categories and identity in the high school. New York: Teachers College Press. Edwards, C. (1992). Cross-cultural perspectives on family-peer relations. In R. D. Parke & G. W. Ladd (Eds.), Family peer relationships: Modes of linkage (pp. 285-316). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Eimas, P., & Quinn, P. (1994). Studies on the formation of perceptually based basic-level categories in young infants. Child Development, 65, 903-907. Fagot, B. (1985). Beyond the reinforcement principle: Another step toward understanding sex role development. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1097-1104. Fiske, S. (1992). Thinking is for doing: Portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to laserphoto. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 877-889. Hallinan, M. (1992). Determinants of students’ friendship choices. In E. J. Lawler, B. Markowsky, C. Ridgeway, & H. A. Walker (Eds.), Advances in group processes (Vol.

9, pp. 163-183). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Harris, J. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www.apa.org/journals/features/rev1023458.pdf Hartup, W. (1983). Peer relations. In P.H. Mussen (series Ed.) & E. M. Hetherington (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th ed., pp. 103-196). New York: Wiley. Hirschfeld, L. (1993). Discovering social difference: The role of appearance in the development of racial awareness. Cognitive Psychology, 25, 317-350. Ironstrack, T., Klee, A., McKay, S., & Minera, J. (2005, Summer). How do peer groups affect learning. Retrieved March 10, 2008, from http://www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw/ EDP603SM2005/EDP60sm05-group-paper.doc Kindermann, T. (1993). Natural peer groups as contexts for individual development: The case of children’s motivation in school. Developmental Psychology, 29, 970-977. LaFromboise, T., Coleman, H., & Gerton, J. (1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 395-412. Leinbach, M., & Fagot, B. (1993). Categorical habituation to male and female faces: Gender schematic processing in infancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 317-332. Maccoby, E. (1990). Gender and relationships: Psychologist, 45, 513-520.

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A developmental account.

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Maccoby, E., & Jacklin, C. (1987). Gender segregation in childhood. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 20, 239-287. Mandler, J. (1992). How to build a baby: II. Conceptual primitives. Psychological Review, 99, 587-604. Mayberry, M. (1991). Conflict and social determinism: The reprivatization of education. Chicago, IL: Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Meeting. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED330107). Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/ detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED330107&ERICExtSea rch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED330107 Moffitt, T. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701. Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. Universities Press.

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Sadker, M., & Sadker, D. (1994). Failing at fairness: How America’s schools cheat girls. New York: Scribner’s. Sage, N., Hillier, S., Weaver, S., Newton-Curtis, L., & Kindermann, T. (2002). The role of peer group selection and socialization for children’s school motivation: A replication and extension. Retrieved March 11, 2007, from http://www.sonet.pdx. edu/Publications/ISSBD-03c.pdf Sage, N., & Kindermann, T. (1999). Peer networks, behavioral contingencies, and children’s engagement in the classroom. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 45, 143–171. Savin-Williams, R. (1979). An ethological study of dominance formation and maintenance in a group of human adolescents. Child Development, 49, 534-536. Schofield, J. (1981). Complementary and conflicting identities: Images and interaction in an interracial school. In S. R. Asher & J. M. Gottman (Eds.), The development of children’s friendships (pp. 53-90). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Stough, L. (1992). Social and emotional status of home schooled children and conventionally schooled children in West Virginia. M.S. Thesis, University of West Virginia. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED353079). Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&ERICExtSearch_ SearchValue_0=%22social+and+emotional+status+of%22&searchtype=keyword&ERI CExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b8009cb 99&accno=ED353079&_nfls=false Taylor, J. (1987). Self-concept in home schooling children (Doctoral Dissertation, Andrews University, 1986). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 2809A. Turner, J. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. Whiting, B., & Edwards, C. (1988). Children of different worlds: The formation of social behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.


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Suggested Reading Achhpal, B., Goldman, J., & Rohner, R. (2007). A comparison of European American and Puerto Rican parents’ goals and expectations about the socialization and education of pre-school children. International Journal of Early Years Education, 15(1), 1-13. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=25084380&site=e host-live Dunsmore, K., & Lagos, T. (2008). Politics, media and youth: understanding political socialization via video production in secondary schools. Learning, Media, & Technology, 33(1), 1-10. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=30075896&site=ehost-live Hutchinson, L., & Pullman, W. (2007). Socialization or prisonization? Utilizing Sykes’ “pains of imprisonment” to examine deprivations in America’s public schools. Critical Criminology, 15(2), 171-184. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s ih&AN=27362855&site=ehost-live

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Socialization for Lifelong Learning Overview

Socialization Processes Weidman (1989), quoting Brim, stated that socialization is “the process by which persons acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that make them more or less effective members of their society” (Brim, as cited in Weidman, 1989, p. 293). Dunn, Rouse, and Seff (1994) echoed Weidman by stating that socialization is “the process by which individuals acquire the attitudes, beliefs, values and skills needed to participate effectively in organized social life” (p. 375). Socialization can also be described as the process through which a “child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him or her to participate effectively and appropriately in the social life of a particular community” (Garrett & Baquedano-Lopez, 2002, p. 339). Bragg (1976) further indicated that “the socialization process is the learning process through which an individual acquires the knowledge and skills, the values and attitudes, and the habits and modes of thought of the society to which he or she belongs” (p. 3). While culture can be described as the sum of activities in a given organization or community, socialization can be described as the processes by which individuals acquire and incorporate an understanding of those activities (Tierney, 1997). Culture within an organization or community is relatively constant and can be understood through reason. An organization’s culture, “teaches people how to behave, what to hope for, and what The Process of Socialization

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it means to succeed or fail” (Tierney, 1997, p. 4). Within this framework, some individuals become competent, and others do not. From a learning standpoint, socialization determines key attitudes that “proactively direct or re-direct change for human well-being and development” (Preece, 2006, p. 307). These attitudes directly impact the individual’s attitude toward learning. Postmodernists have expressed concerns with these definitions and have argued that: • The modernist assumption is that socialization is a process where people “acquire” knowledge, • Socialization is viewed as a one-way process in which the initiate learns how the organization works, and • Socialization is little more than a series of planned learning activities (Tierney, 1997). The postmodernist lens offers a different methodology of thinking about culture and socialization. Bloland (1995) argued, “Postmodernism points out that totalization hides contradictions, ambiguities, and oppositions and is a means for generating power and control” (p. 525). McDermott and Varenne (1995) noted, “Being in the world requires dealing with indefinite and unbounded tasks while struggling with the particular manner in which they have been shaped by the cultural process” (p. 337). Moreover, socialization involves give-and-take where new individuals make sense through their own unique backgrounds and current contexts (p. 337). Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is a concept that describes ways that people learn many things in “a variety of spaces throughout their lives, both inside and outside educational institutions” (Schugurensky & Meyers, 2003, p. 328). For purposes of informed theoretical understanding, lifelong learning can be understood in a broader category rather than just education, and instead encompasses formal, non-formal, and informal learning, whether the learning is “intentional, incidental, or unconscious” (p. 330). From a Freirean approach, Elliot (2000) argued that lifelong learning has great potential for extending citizenship for women that encourages critical awareness, political skills, and civic participation. Regardless of context, learning 136


itself is “an uninterrupted, complex, and dynamic lifelong and life-wide process in which agency and structure constantly interact” (cited in Schugerensky & Meyers, 2003, p. 331). Important also to this discourse is the understanding of the three types of learning settings: formal, non-formal, and informal. Formal learning refers to the institutional system that extends from preschool to higher education, which is organized in a sequential system and is controlled, regulated, and funded by the state typically dictated by a prescribed curriculum. Non-formal education refers to all “organized educational activities” such as workshops or short courses that are outside the formal education system, which can be organized by a variety of agencies such as government, professional associations, non-profits, business groups, business groups, churches, or unions. Informal learning is a residual category that is comprised of learning that occurs outside of formal and informal settings. This learning typically consists of activities that are either self-directed, incidental, or socialization (Schugerensky & Meyers, 2003, p. 331). 5 Mechanisms of Learning Socialization

According to Ainsworth (2002), within the context of lifelong learning, socialization is especially relevant, because the sense-making involved in the socialization processes can be activated through five interrelated mechanisms that specifically impact learning and education attitudes (specifically in urban environments). Specifically, these five interrelated mechanisms include: • Collective socialization, • Social control, • Social capital, • Differential occupational opportunity, and • Institutional characteristics (Ainsworth, 2002). For purposes of enhanced understanding these will be examined within the context of school socialization and neighborhood environments. The Process of Socialization

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Collective Socialization

Collective socialization can be described in the context of neighborhood characteristics that shape the role models youth are exposed to outside the home. Neighborhoods in which most adults work steady jobs foster behaviors and attitudes that are conducive to success in school work. From this standpoint, “children in such advantaged neighborhoods are more likely to value education, adhere to school norms, and work hard because that is what they see modeled for them by neighborhood adults” (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 119). Wilson (1991) argued that life can become “incoherent” for youth because of the lack of “structuring norms” modeled by working adults. With potentially “fewer positive role models in the neighborhood, children may be less likely to learn important behaviors and attitudes that lead to success in school” (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 119). Social Control

A second mechanism for determining lifelong learning is social control, which can be described as the “monitoring or sanctioning of deviant behavior.” Neighborhoods with fewer adults or adults with limited time to influence the lives of youth may experience stronger peer-group influences which may create anti-school attitudes and behaviors (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 120). Social Capital

Social capital or “social networks” is a third mechanism through which neighborhood context can influence educational (learning) outcomes. Sampson and Groves (1989) and Wilson (1996) argued that children who live in advantaged neighborhoods are more likely to be exposed to supportive social networks or adults who can provide positive resources, information, and opportunities that may be educationally beneficial. These opportunities may include the use of personal computers, job opportunities, or help with projects. Neighborhood socialization context was also supported by Wilson’s (1996) argument that in impoverished neighborhoods “children are disadvantaged because the social interaction among neighbors tends to be confined to those whose skills, styles, orientations, and habits are not as conducive to promoting positive social outcomes as are those in more stable neighborhoods” (p. 63).

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Differentiated Occupational Opportunity

Perceptions of differentiated occupational opportunity have a positive effect on educational outcomes. Most individuals are socialized to believe that anyone “can be successful if they work hard enough; however, the degree to which this ideology is supported by the concrete experience of adolescents and may vary by neighborhood context (Massey, Gross, & Eggers, 1991; Turner, Fix, & Struyk, 1991; Wilson, 1992; Wilson, 1987).” (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121). Circumstances and educational outcomes strongly determine youth learning outcomes which are impacted by how educational opportunity impacts employment (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121). Institutional Characteristics

Ainsworth outlines a fifth mechanism through which neighborhood context can influence educational outcomes: . . . the neighborhood’s impact on institutional characteristics, such as schools or other educational institutions. Wacquant (1996) argued that students from disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to attend inferior schools that spend less time on teaching and learning (cited in Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121). Resulting strains could decline school atmosphere and the school’s resources regarding student behavior. Simcha-Fagan and Schwartz (1986) postulated that neighborhood effects on an individual’s association with “delinquent peers are primarily indirect and mediated through weak attachment to school” (cited in Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121). Social workers working in urban districts should consider these mechanisms as potential indicators to mediate adult and student success. While each of these five mechanisms can be activated through neighborhood environment, generalizability can be drawn between neighborhood environments and other community environments. Organizations and the culture of lifelong learning can also be viewed through these five mechanisms. The research from which these mechanisms were examined explicitly draws connections between structural factors and individual-level processes of learning and outcomes (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 144). Schugerensky and Myers (2003) posit that other settings of potential socialization can be explored include: The Process of Socialization

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• Family socialization; • Elementary schooling; • Secondary schooling; • Pre-service training; • Higher education programs; • The media; • Non-formal education; • Political engagement and community involvement; • Civics instruction; and • Other sources (p. 326).

Applications Some Roles for Social Workers

Social investment, dialogue, and community building are “essential elements of effective and authentic public engagement” (Tagle, 2003, p. 49). From a socialization perspective, the creation of learning pathways could foster the individual’s capacity to access information regarding personal planning and goal setting, and facilitate access to further education, training, and employment (Shrestha, Wilson, & Singh, 2008, p. 140). Social workers hold the responsibility for mediating social constructs for marginalized individuals. For example, individuals from urban backgrounds with limited access to learning opportunities or attitudes regarding lifelong learning could benefit from mediation strategies aimed at facilitating strategies and outcomes underscored by effective understanding, communication, and collaboration (p. 140). Social workers operating within these environments play a vital role in understanding and developing socialization allowing deeper learning and training outcomes, providing possibilities for building employment-related competencies (p. 140). Another important consideration from a sociological perspective is increased social capital for marginalized individuals. The opportunity to build a sense of belonging in a new homeland offers the construction of social capital for socially marginalized individuals like newly formed ethnic groups operating in relative social isolation (Shrestha, Wilson, & 140


Singh, 2008). Social workers working with marginalized social groups operating in social isolation are advised to better understand different socialization methodologies and the impact of language and socialization. Language socialization research seeks a holistic and integrative perspective and draws on anthropological and psychological philosophies to human development. Language socialization examines how young children and other novices (like newly introduced ethnic groups) acquire the knowledge and practices necessary to function as competent members of their community. Language socialization enables individuals to recognize, negotiate, index, and co-construct diverse types of meaningful social contexts, “making it possible for [individuals] to engage with others under an increasingly broad range of circumstances and to expand their social horizons by taking on new roles and statuses (Garrett, Baquendo-Lopez, 2002, pp. 340 – 342). Factors that Impede Learning

In socialization for lifelong learning, several factors determine attitudes and outcomes regarding how individuals view the importance of lifelong learning, the ability and applicability for individuals, and the desire to continue pursuing learning goals. For example, specific cultures may not value learning or understand the potential benefits or applicability of lifelong learning. Specifically, residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods may be more socially alienated, communicate less often, and experience an erosion of social connectedness that impedes the development of social control networks espousing the benefits of learning (Brody, Ge, Conger, Gibbons, McBride-Murry, Gerrard, & Simons, 2001, p. 1232). Another issue impeding socialization and lifelong learning is that individuals in neighborhoods may not know how to successfully facilitate a collective socialization process that would enable individuals in the neighborhood to gain greater pro-social competence (p. 1232). Another issue that could impede socialization for lifelong learning is the purpose for the learning and the requirements of the learning. Depending on whether the learning is formal, informal, or non-formal, or if the learning is job-related or aimed at personal growth are factors which motivate interest and the intensity of the learning. For social workers mediating the learning process, expectations regarding performance have also been shown to directly impact learning performance and outcomes The Process of Socialization

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(Parsons, Kaczala, & Meece, 1982, p. 323). Social workers may consider the possibility of facilitating or prescribing opportunities for positive learning by organizing more opportunities for individuals to spend time with peers in supervised settings either at school or in other organized community contexts rather than allowing individuals to “hang out” in non-supervised activities (Pettit, Bates, Dodge, & Meece, 1999). Another central issue is trust, particularly in a work setting where lifelong learning may be promoted but not provided. Critical to this issue is in determining whether workers are motivated to seek learning due to personal or professional reasons. Employers should consider trust as a platform on which the foundational context of the work is constructed always remaining savvy in their ability to “listen well, offer value judgments on the learner’s request, respond honestly, and promote the work’s success” (Shrestha, Wilson, & Singh, 2008, p. 133; Bambino, 2002; Costa & Callick, 1993).

Viewpoints Framed within institutional and non-institutional settings, three main “schools of thought” can be identified as key indicators of lifelong learning. These include: human capital, neoliberalism, and progressive humanism (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 328). Human Capital View

In the human capital model, education can be understood as a “social investment in the training of employees for market needs.” According to Schugerensky and Myers (2003), this theoretical model approaches lifelong learning as a new incarnation of previous ideas using labels such as “further education,” “continuing education,” “lifelong education,” and “education permanente” aimed at “recycling” workers to catch up with new technologies of the workplace. This framework is constructed upon the belief that in the context of increasing globalization and organizational changes, workforce training is necessary to keep nations economically competitive is the training and development of “flexible and autonomous workers” (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 328). The outcome of this school of thought is equated with professional development equated with work skills; hence, becoming “worklong learning” (p. 329).

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Neoliberalist View

Schugerensky & Myers posit that the neoliberal concept of lifelong learning places the responsibility for learning on the individual. This model conceives individuals as citizens possessing the right to education funded and provided by the state, while being viewed as “potential consumers of educational products and services whose right consists of choosing among several options in the marketplace” (p. 329). This model can be viewed as a commodity creating a “shift from workplace training and state provision of public education to self-recovery or for-profit courses paid for by the learner” rather than the organization. Concerns exist that “this construct of lifelong learning can become an excuse for the public sector to resign its prime responsibility in educational provision” thereby increasing the gap between workers who can afford training (haves) and those who cannot (have-nots) (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 329). Progressive Humanist View

The progressive humanist tradition claimed that “education for all could never be achieved within the confines of traditional education” (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 329). For some operating within this context, the lifelong learning concept individualizes collective political movements, promotes competition and individual entrepreneurship. The main contrast between this model of lifelong learning and other models is the view that lifelong learning offers a liberating and transformative potential, which should be shaped as “an inclusive, holistic, and critical learning project that supports learners as they negotiate changing life, learning and work conditions. Operating from this framework, lifelong learning has the potential to emancipate society through social transformation and democracy” (p. 330). These schools of thought regarding lifelong learning impact societal views regarding learning, transformation, and cultural change. Individuals interviewed for a study regarding socialization and lifelong learning indicated that family socialization was cited as the “most powerful influence” for shaping political orientations, political knowledge, and civic participation (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 340). On the other hand, while some indicated positive lifelong learning attributes obtained from family, other participants indicated that family socialization was a negative expeThe Process of Socialization

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rience resulting in a decreased interest in extended learning. Regardless of produced negative or positive socialization outcomes, the family was indicated as a powerful influence (p. 341). Conclusion

As sociologists examine the role of socialization for lifelong learning, the first strategy for understanding this work is in determining how the two concepts overlap. As defined earlier, socialization is a process “through which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him or her to participate effectively and appropriately in the social life of a particular community” (Garrett & Baquedano-Lopez, 2002, p. 339). Additionally, lifelong learning is “a crucial mechanism” for learning to change in a world that is constantly changing, in which humans must “drive, rather be driven by those changes” (Preece, 2006, pp 307 – 308). However, individuals themselves may not recognize the need or be exposed to the necessary constructs that encourage lifelong learning. Without these building blocks, theorists have suggested that humans will not understand the values of “citizenship, democracy, and social justice (Coffield, 2000, p. 38). Regardless of how socialization and lifelong learning is interpreted, sociologists continue to play a key role in helping society define key social movements and strategies for implementation. Within this construct, lifelong learning is an important concept enabling society to reflectively learn from itself, evaluate progress, and learn from other societies. In conclusion, sociologists enable citizens to realize these tenets through planning and communicating socialization strategies.

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May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7392227&site=ehost-live Grace, A. (2002). Lifelong learning: International perspectives on policy and practice. In S. Mojab and W. McQueen (eds.), Adult Education and the contested terrain of public policy. Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Studies in Adult Education (CASAE), 122 – 127. Toronto: CASAE. Hake, B. (1999). Lifelong learning in late modernity: The challenges to society, organizations, and individuals. Adult Education Quarterly, 49, 79 – 90. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7392227&site=ehost-live Hart, M. (1996). Educating cheap labor. In P. Raggatt, E. Edwards, and N. Small (eds.), The learning society: Challenges and trends, 96 - 111. London: Routledge and Paul Kegan. Hunt, C. (1999). Candlesticks and faces: Aspects of lifelong learning. Studies in the Education of Adults, 31, 197 – 209. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=2452600&site=ehost-live Jarvis, P. (2000). Imprisoned in the global classroom, revisited: Towards an ethical analysis of lifelong learning. Proceedings of the 1st International Lifelong Learning Conferences, Queensland, Australia, 20 – 27. Jarvis, P. (2002). Globalization, citizenship and the education of adults in contemporary European society. Compare, 32, 5 – 19. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=aph&AN=6291133&site=ehost-live MacLeod, J. (1995). Ain’t no makin’ it: Aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood. Westview Press. Massey, D. S., Gross, A. B., & Eggers, M. L. (1991). Segregation, the concentration of poverty, and the life chances of individuals. Social Science Research, 20, (4). 397 – 420. McDermott, R., & Varenne, H. (1995). Culture as disability. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 26(3), 324-348. Mojab, S. & Gorman, R. (2002). The struggle over lifelong learning: A Marxist-Feminist analysis. In D. Mulenga (ed). Globalization and lifelong education: Critical perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ogbu, J. U. (1978). Minority education and caste: The American system in cross-cultural perspective. Academic Press. Parsons, J. E., Kaczala, C. M., & Meece, J. L. (1982). Socialization of achievement attitudes and beliefs: Classroom influences. Child Development, 53, 322 – 339. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=8587775&site=ehost-live Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., & Meece, D. W. (1999). The impact of after-school peer contact on early adolescent externalizing problems is moderated by parental monitoring, perceived neighborhood safety, and prior adjustment. Child Development, 146


70, 768 – 778. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1973427 &site=ehost-live Preece, J. (2006). Beyond the learning society: The learning world? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(3), 307 – 320. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=aph&AN=21007580&site=ehost-live Sampson, R. & Groves, W. B. (1989). Community structure and crime: Testing socialdisorganization. Social Forces, 70, 43 – 64. Schugeresky, D. & Myers, J. (2003). A framework to explore lifelong learning: The case of the civic education of civics teachers. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 22(4), 325 – 352. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1035052 9&site=ehost-live Shrestha, M., Wilson, S., & Singh, M. (2008). Knowledge networking: A dilemma in building social capital through nonformal education. Adult Education Quarterly, 58(2), 129 – 150. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2860094 5&site=ehost-live Simcha-Fagan, O. & Schwartz, J. E. (1986). Neighborhood and delinquency: An assessment of contextual effects. Criminology, 24, 667 – 699. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db =sih&AN=16305364&site=ehost-live Tagle, R. (2003). Building learning-centered communities through public engagement. New Directions for Youth Development, 97, 45 – 58. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?d irect=true&db=aph&AN=11773622&site=ehost-live Tierney, W. (1997). Organizational socialization in higher education. Journal of Higher Education 68 (1), 1-16. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN= 9706264405&site=ehost-live Turner, M. A., Fix, M. & Struyk, R. J. (1991). Opportunities denied, opportunities diminished: Racial discrimination in hiring. Urban Institute. Wacquant, L. D. (1996). Red belt, black belt: Racial division, class inequality and the state in the French urban periphery and the American ghetto. 235 – 274. In Enzo Mingione, Ed. Urban poverty and the underclass. Blackwell. Weidman, J. C. (1989). Undergraduate socialization: A conceptual approach. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research, 5, 289-322. New York: Agathon. Wilson, W. J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. University of Chicago Press. The Process of Socialization

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Wilson, W. J. (1991). Studying inner-city social dislocations: The challenge of public agenda research. American Sociological Review, 56, 1 – 14. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?d irect=true&db=aph&AN=9103181700&site=ehost-live Wilson, C. (1992). Restructuring and the growth of concentrated poverty in Detroit. Urban Affairs Quarterly, 28, 187 – 205. Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. Knopf.

Suggested Reading Schuller, T. (1998). Three steps towards a learning society. Studies in the Education of Adults, 30, 11 – 20. Retrieved May 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5 49412&site=ehost-live Schugeresky, D. (2001). The forms of informal learning: Towards a conceptualization of the field. New Approaches to Lifelong Learning (NALL) discussion paper. http://www. nall.ca Willis, P. (1976). Learning to labor: How working class kids get working class jobs. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Social Exclusion Geraldine Wagner

Overview It is perhaps not surprising that a discussion of social exclusion is a discussion about poverty in the U.S. Many Americans believe that the U.S. is a classless society where people have reasonable expectations to be free, happy and relatively well off. However, experts believe that the United States is one of the most stratified countries in the world and has the distinction of keeping its poor in their state of being for longer amounts of time and more often than any other western country (Stephen, 2007). What is Stratification?

Because the United States is divided into social classes based on wealth, prestige, and power, it is said to have a system of stratification, a hierarchical system that puts those with the most wealth, power, and prestige at the top of the hierarchy, and those with the least at the bottom. Several classes have been identified in American society, beginning with those in the upper class. This part of the hierarchy comprises only about 15 % of the population, including the old-money rich, sports and entertainment figures, and highly educated professionals, but people in this class tend to have a great deal of influence on the economy and society (Gilbert, 2003). They also own approximately 40% of the nation’s wealth, while everybody else shares the remainder (Rothchild, 1995). The Process of Socialization

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Following that, another 60% of the population makes up the middle and working classes. The middle class includes white collar and skilled blue collar workers, while the working class includes factory, clerical and retail sales workers. Below these two categories, the working poor, about 20% of the population, includes laborers and service industry workers. These people are called the working poor because while they work full-time, they do not earn enough to support themselves or their families. Many single mothers belong to this class, as do African Americans and Latino/as (Gilbert, 2003). Finally, there is the underclass, about 5% of the population, made up of temporary, seasonal, or part time workers, many of whom also receive some form of public assistance. This group is generally uneducated and does not work consistently, essentially remaining jobless much of the time (Gilbert, 2003). How is Social Class Determined?

Some people have more of everything than others, which is a good way to begin a definition of relative poverty. If people experience relative poverty, it means that they can provide for the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter and clothing, but compared to those around them, they cannot afford the other material goods and services that are available. If people cannot provide even the basic necessities of life, they are said to experience absolute poverty. The ability to obtain material goods, as well as to accumulate wealth, power, and prestige, is linked to a person’s socioeconomic status (SES), and to social class. The U.S. is a class system, which uses stratification, the institutionalization of inequality that distributes society’s resources based on one’s class. Most Americans believe in a meritocratic system, where those who attain higher incomes, more prestige, and more wealth, must deserve their bounty. This belief goes back to what Max Weber called, “Protestant Work Ethic” (Weber, Parsons, & Tawney, 2003). Today, it is simply called “work ethic,” but it means basically the same thing: that hard work and effort will produce the fruits, or rewards, of one’s labor. Yet inequalities exist that go against this belief and these inequalities often run along race, age, class and gender lines. A growing segment of the U.S. population is falling below 150


the poverty line and actually lies outside its boundaries. This underclass includes people who experience what is called social exclusion, and who have little or no chance of achieving the American Dream. To compound and perpetuate the poverty problem is the fact that the U.S. economy is blind to the needs of these people who have fewer resources than others. Thus, a large group of Americans making up the underclass are not only poor, but also less able to participate fully in society (Koepke, 2007). The Underclass

People identified as part of the underclass often have no measurable living wage. Their employment tends to be seasonal, or sporadic at best, and they have to rely on public assistance programs to achieve even the dire levels of absolute poverty. Their children have only a fifty-fifty chance of rising out of the same poverty themselves (Gilbert, 2003). The underclass is not simply poor for a short period of time; its members are chronically or long term deprived because of their lack of education, jobs skills, and access to income. African Americans and single mothers make up a large part of the underclass (Gilbert, 2003). Many social scientists believe that training and employment opportunities are the only things that can bring people out of this type of poverty. The underclass must have jobs that pay a living wage and that offer them some type of medical insurance. They need safe housing and neighborhoods, and healthy food for themselves and their children (Fine & Weiss, 1998). But these people are victims of social exclusion poverty.

Further Insights Social Exclusion – Another Name for Poverty

To exclude is to leave out. The very poor in America, the underclass, make up about 5% of the population. While efforts to help the poor are historic since the reform movements of the 19th century and later in the 20th century, poverty is still with us. In the 1930s, the U.S. government made efforts to create social programs to help people out of the poverty caused by the Great Depression. In the 1960s, more social programs to fight poverty were implemented. But in recent years, the funding for these programs has The Process of Socialization

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begun to decline and education and training, decent housing and health care insurance have been lost to many poor Americans (Carrillo, 2006). Who Are the Poor in America?

In 1963, the War on Poverty was launched with the Social Security Administration’s concept of poverty and measures of poverty thresholds (http:// www.irp.wisc.edu). National statistics on poverty are calculated using the official Census definition of poverty, the same definition that was coined in the 1960s. “Poverty is determined by comparing pretax cash income with the poverty threshold, the federal poverty measure, which adjusts for family size and composition. In 2006, according to the official measure, 36.5 million people, 12.3% of the total U.S. population, lived in poverty” (Institute for Research on Poverty, 2007). “In 2006, 17.4% of individuals under age 18 lived in poverty. Poverty rates among black and Hispanic children are very much higher than among white children and have been so since the Census Bureau began making separate estimates” (Institute for Research on Poverty, 2007). Abruptly said, being poor means being short of money. which we define here as access to and provision of basic life needs including food, clothing and shelter. But research and experience with antipoverty programs have proved too, that poverty involves not just a lack of money, but some very complex, interrelated and sometimes intractable socioeconomic, family, and individual issues. According to Haveman (2008), these include: • Attaining minimum standards of food and shelter • Sufficient available time for home production/child care • Access to important social institutions • Cognitive and non-cognitive skills • Educational attainment (e.g., less than a high school degree) • Labor force and employment status (e.g., living in a jobless household) • The quality of housing (e.g., crowding, lacking plumbing or kitchen facilities) 152


• Health and disability status (e.g., number of disabling conditions, presence of a severe mental health problem) • Transportation availability • Being linguistically isolated. In other words, the U.S. needs vastly improved information on nationallyrepresentative households in order to develop policies that would reduce, or eradicate, poverty in this country. Root Causes of Poverty in the U.S

When we think of what causes poverty, some may look at the individual and say it is the person’s own fault for his or her condition. Others look at social issues such as discrimination or the economic climate of the country. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights recently reported that there is a strong and continuing link in the U.S. between poverty and race. The report states that a person’s well-being is linked to the ability to lead a “life of value,” to do or be something that the person chooses (Carrillo, 2006). There are numerous, often subtle and systemic issues that perpetuate the problem of poverty: The Feminization of Poverty

Women experience much more poverty than men. Even in the United States, the richest country in the world, social policies fail to keep women and their children from the ranks of the poor. This is known as the feminization of poverty, or the concentration of poverty among women, a concept coined in the 1970s by Diana Pearce (Thibos, Lavin-Loucks, & Martin, 2007). While there have been improvements in the poverty of women with more women doing paid work, and a closing of the wage gap between men and women, higher divorce rates that leave women as the single heads of households with children have driven them back into the ranks of the poor, underclass, and the working poor. Another factor that puts more women in poverty is that they tend to live longer than men, and older women need more income for a longer period of time. But higher rates of poverty for young women also mean that their children are living in poverty, too. This could send poverty into a cyclical pattern, with the children now living in poverty, remaining poor in their own adult lives (Thibos, Lavin-Loucks, & Martin, 2007). The Process of Socialization

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The Working Poor – Earning a Living Wage

The economic realities that low-income people face today are directly related to the failure of the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation. In other words, people who are working full-time are not earning enough to pay for basic necessities of living such as food, shelter and clothing. Massive cuts in welfare in recent years, as well as the related welfare to work programs have sent ill-prepared people into the workforce, only to find service sector jobs that pay very little. Some would also argue that corporate welfare programs that allow companies to operate with little or no payment of taxes to towns and municipalities, depletes tax dollars while keeping workers poor. Living wage campaigns throughout the U.S. define the living wage as equivalent to the poverty line for a family of four, (currently $9.06 an hour. They are also lobbying for other community standards such as health insurance, time off, and safe work environments (Living Wage Resource Center). Job Sprawl & Spatial Mismatch

The effect of job sprawl on minority employment is a major concern of poverty study. Job sprawl has an effect on elements of both social and economic life, including health, pollution, and prevalence of poverty. Researchers study the high concentrations of minority households in physically cut off inner-city neighborhoods and how this segregation affects employment outcomes. Physical distance between employment opportunities in metropolitan areas and black residential areas increased in the latter half of the 20th century, despite increases in mobility. Minority residences have remained in older urban areas, while jobs have moved to the exurbs (Stoll, 2005). This sprawling could affect blacks’ distance from jobs, particularly because relatively few blacks own cars and must rely on public transportation to reach distant jobs.

Viewpoints Solving the Problem of Poverty in the U.S. Welfare Reform

Welfare reform questions America’s notions about quality of life and the distinction between personal and public responsibilities. Do we take care

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of the nation’s children, or do we punish the parents who seemingly fail to take care of their offspring? Are those who have been on the welfare rolls exhibiting individual irresponsibility or do societal barriers such as discrimination feed the cycle of welfare dependency? The debate continues whether the underlying reasons for welfare reform is simply to save money, or to raise a people out of its debilitating clutches. (http://www. irp.wisc.edu/research/welreform.htm, 2005) The answer has not yet been determined, yet welfare reform goes on, and people are being taken off the system, sent to training programs, to basic education classes, and to low paying jobs. Very often, welfare mothers join the ranks of the working poor. Are they any better off? Social Exclusion, Stigma & Discrimination

Social exclusion, the process where certain groups are not able to participate in and benefit from society’s institutions, is often linked to stigmatization and discrimination. This leads to low self-esteem, self-fulfilling prophecy and powerlessness, and alienation and isolation from the community (Stewart et al, 2008). In the U.S., as well as in other societies, people want to have psychological and social distance from those deemed undesirable, what sociologist Howard Becker called, “a taste for discrimination” (Figart & Mutari, 2005). Social exclusion can occur for other reasons than economic ones, although the social discrimination that takes place because of disabilities, mental illness, lack of education, and sexual preference, for example, can overlap with economic discrimination. There is also an economic element to exclusion for social reasons in that people are willing to pay what their incomes allow them to and to maintain their social distance from what they find distasteful (Figart & Mutari, 2005). For example, some are willing to pay tuition for their children to attend private schools, avoiding what they might consider an unfavorable environment in the public schools for which they pay taxes. Healthcare

Some 44 million people are without health care insurance in the U.S., most under the age of 65. The cost for medical care for the uninsured falls on the American public, and even the working poor pay through taxes even


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though they are often uninsured and underinsured themselves. This lack of health care obviously can affect a person’s health and well-being, excluding millions of people from the American ideal of living a long, healthy life while the U.S. health care system spends billions of dollars on health care for only select groups, while disenfranchising others at the same time (Falen, 2004). Disabilities

When we set people apart because we have labeled them as having special needs, we are practicing social exclusion. Consider for example, being deaf, or hard of hearing and wanting to use the public library, for example. Some of the exclusionary tendencies are public announcements with no visuals to accompany them; people who mumble, or who fail to repeat information; poorly contrasting backgrounds, making lip-reading difficult or impossible. This makes it difficult for deaf or hard of hearing people to communicate with library staff, and to avail themselves of services and library materials (Playforth, 2004). They are socially excluded, regardless of the socioeconomic status. The Elderly

U.S. society tends to age-stratify its population. Consider that infants and pre-school age children are put into day care or pre-school environments, school age children into public or private schools, working-age adults into office buildings and factories and the elderly into senior citizen complexes or nursing homes (Longfield, 2008). Some of these placements are deemed more desirable than others. For example, the media and many services tend to cater to working adults. Children and especially the elderly, tend to be socially isolated from any intergenerational activities that allow different strata to associate. And while children may have the opportunity and the encouragement to look toward their futures, the elderly are not represented in television programs, or in advertisements, unless the products are for more active elders who have not reached the nursing home stage. This increases the tendency toward social exclusion and can affect the selfesteem, isolation and social exclusion of older Americans. Conclusion

Social exclusion causes many social problems for those who are experiencing the poverty, isolation, alienation and powerlessness that it creates. 156


Solutions to social exclusion are many and varied. They require, first and foremost, a bridging of the economic gap between the haves and the havenots. But perhaps before that happens, there must be a change in prejudicial attitudes toward minority groups such as African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, women, and gays, to name a few. These are not just changes that will happen overnight. Because they are systemic in nature, woven into the fiber of the American culture, they may never change to any measurable degree for every affected group. To eliminate social exclusion, we must practice social inclusion on a large level. The leadership for this must come, it seems, from current government administrations to set public policies that will deliver shared wealth, and a more inclusive, equal society.

Bibliography Adam, B. (2003). The Defense of Marriage Act and American Exceptionalism: The “gay marriage” panic in the United States. Journal of the History of Sexuality 12 (2), 259276. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11751896&site=e host-live Carrillo, K. (2006). U.N. expert says poverty on increase in U.S. New York Amsterdam News 97 (2), 4-4. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1 9428926&site=ehost-live Falen, T. (2004). U.S. health care policy and the rising uninsured: An alternative solution. Journal of Health & Social Policy 19 (4), 1-25. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?di rect=true&db=aph&AN=17595639&site=ehost-live Figart, D. & Mutari, E. (2005). Rereading Becker: Contextualizing the development of Discrimination Theory. Journal of Economic Issues 39 (2), 475-483. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=17098052&site=ehost-live Fine, M. & Weis, L. (1998). The unknown city: The lives of poor and working class young people. Boston: Beacon. Gilbert, D. (2003). The American class structure in an age of growing inequality. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Haveman, R. (2008). What does it mean to be poor in a rich society? Power point presentation, presented at 2008 Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) Low Income Workshop, Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from http://www.irp. wisc.edu/newsevents/other/lampman/HavemanLampmanLect2.pdf


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Institute for Research on Poverty. (2007). Website accessed August 11, 2008 http://www. irp.wisc.edu/ Koepke, D. (2007). Race, class, poverty and capitalism. Race, Gender & Class 14 (3/4), 189205. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=31792793&site=eh ost-live Living Wage Resource Center. The living wage movement. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from http://www.livingwagecampaign.org/index.php?id=2071 Longfield, A. (2008, June 4). Bridge the gap between the generations. Children & Young People Now. 18-18. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=327 12103&site=ehost-live Playforth, S. (2004). Inclusive library services for deaf people: an overview from the social model perspective. Health Information & Libraries Journal 21 (Supplement 2), 54-57. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14079123&site=e host-live Rothchild, J. (1995, Jan. 30). Wealth: Static wages, except for the rich. Time Magazine, 145 (4), 52. Stephen, A. (2007). Born equal? New Statesman 137 (4857), 28-31. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=26150864&site=ehost-live Stewart, M., Reutler, L., Makwarimba, E., Veenstra, G., Love, R., & Raphael, D. (2008). Left out: Perspectives on social exclusion and inclusion across income groups. Health Sociology Review, 17 (1), 78-94. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=si h&AN=33391278&site=ehost-live Stoll, M. (2005). Job sprawl, spatial mismatch, and black employment disadvantage. Discussion Paper no. 1304-05, Institute for Research on Poverty. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp130405.pdf Thibos, M., Lavin-Loucks, D., & Martin, M. (2007). The feminization of poverty. Report for the 2007 Joint Policy Forum on the Feminization of Poverty, sponsored by the Williams Institute and the YWCA. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from http://www.ywcadallas. org/documents/advocacy/FeminizationofPoverty.pdf Weber, M., Parsons, T., & Tawney, R. (2003). The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York: Dover.

Suggested Reading Hills, J., Le Grand, J., & Piachaud, D. (2002). Understanding social exclusion. Oxford: Oxford University Press Pulido, L. (2007). A day without immigrants: The racial and class politics of immigrant exclusion. Antipode, 39 (1), 1-7. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database 158


Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a ph&AN=23849808&site=ehost-live Sapon-Shevin, M. (2003). Inclusion: A matter of social justice. Educational Leadership, 61 (2), 25-28. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1186884 3&site=ehost-live


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Social Isolation & Human Development Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson

Overview Socialization is the process through which people learn to be competent in their societies; it therefore teaches people their own society’s definition of human behavior while also transmitting the society’s idea of culture. Without socialization, there could be no societies. Sociologists believe that socialization is impossible without human contact. Studies of children who have been raised in isolation or confined to institutions suggest that contact with other people, especially contact that provides cognitive, physical and emotional stimulation, are crucial for human development. Studies of animals raised in isolation support these claims. While there is generally agreement that isolation stunts development, the manner in which contact with others influences development is debated by sociologists and other scientists. What is Socialization?

Socialization is the process through which humans learn the values, behavioral norms, knowledge, and skills of their societies. Socialization serves two important functions for a society; it teaches new members of the society how to act according to social expectations, and it also transmits the society’s culture to a new generation. The socialization process is interactive and lifelong—humans never finish the process of mastering new areas

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of cultural competence and learning new roles. As humans mature, their agents of socialization change. Initially socialization takes place within the family, and later it is continued by schools, religions, peers, the media and the workplace. Human Nature & Isolation

Humans are less governed by instinct and more governed by culture than other animals. As Geertz (1973) says, Culture… is not just an ornament of human existence but… an essential condition for it…. What this means is that culture, rather than being added on, so to speak, to a finished or virtually finished animal, was ingredient, and centrally ingredient, in the production of that animal itself…. We are, in sum, incomplete or unfinished animals who complete or finish ourselves through culture (pp 46, 47, 49). Biological stimuli might tell humans that they need to eat, that they need shelter, or that they are of an age to reproduce, but the knowledge and skills that allow them to accomplish these needs are culturally dictated. Because in many areas of life, humans rely on culture where other animals rely on instincts, socialization is vital to human development and survival. Up for debate, though, is the question of what humans might be without culture. This is referred to as the “nature versus nature” debate, and it considers which human characteristics are innate (inherited, biological, genetic) and which are influenced by interaction with the environment and other humans. What would a human be like if raised in isolation? This question has intrigued sociologists, biologists, anthropologists and psychologists, yet it of course remains unanswerable since there is no ethical way to conduct isolation experiments on human infants. There is evidence to suggest that humans raised in isolation would lack many of the features that we generally think of as “human.” This evidence comes from studies of children who have been raised in extreme isolation, studies of institutionalized children, and studies of isolated animals.


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Applications Isolated & Institutionalized Children

While cases of socially isolated children are rare, a few exist that show the deleterious effects of lack of human contact. One of the earliest documented cases is the “Wild Boy of Aveyron,” a boy called Victor found in 1798 when he was seven years old. He was supposedly raised by animals in a rural area of France, and was captured in January of 1800. Modern speculation suggests that he was probably an abandoned child, and might be the first documented case of autism. He died at the age of 40 at an annex of the Paris Institution des Sourds-Muets (Appelbaum & Chambliss, 1997). The most recent case of isolation to achieve widespread publicity is the case of Genie. Genie was discovered on November 4, 1970. She had been locked in a room by herself, tied to a potty seat and physically abused by her father for about ten years. When she was discovered, she understood very few words. After she was removed from her home, her mental and physical capacities improved but she never developed a grasp of grammar and sentences and never understood norms of interaction (basic rules about touching, space, and private versus public behavior). Her care after rescue was uneven; she was studied intensively by researchers, but was returned to state care-- including placement in an abusive foster home— once funding for her study ran out (Henslin, 2002; Hughes, Kroehler, & Vander Zanden, 2002). Two of the more famous cases of isolated children – two girls known as Anna and Isabelle-- were used by Kingsley Davis (1949, 1993) to illustrate issues involving social isolation. The lives of the girls provide evidence for the need for human contact and also provide a little hope that in some situations children may be able to recover from neglect. Both girls were born to unwed mothers in the early 1930’s; the stigma of illegitimacy contributed to each girl’s isolation. Anna’s mother lived with her own father, who disapproved violently of his illegitimate granddaughter, causing Anna to be moved from unhealthy foster home to unhealthy foster home as an infant. Returned to her mother’s home around the age of six months old, she was kept in a bed in an attic and fed only milk. Apparently her mother ignored her and rarely moved or cleaned her. When she was discovered around the age of six years old, she could not walk or talk. After two years spent 162


in various institutions she learned to walk and could comprehend simple words, although she did not speak herself for another two years and her speech never progressed beyond the level of a two-year-old. It is not clear how far her progress would have continued since she died from jaundice when she was ten. Isabelle’s case was remarkably similar, insofar as she was illegitimate and locked in a room for her first six years. However, she had company – her mother who was deaf and mute stayed in the room with her and by all accounts tried to look after her. When she was discovered (as in Anna’s case, this happened around the age of six), Isabelle could not talk, was so unresponsive to aural stimuli that people wondered if she could hear, and generally scored at the level of an infant on most tests. However, she made amazing strides toward recovery. Although the specialists working with her first thought that she was hopelessly feebleminded, she was able to reach a normal level of development by the time she was eight and a half years of age. These four cases suggest that social isolation of children can prevent them from developing the most basic skills needed to function in society. Talking and even walking upright are human traits that need to be learned from others. The differences between the cases—the lack of recovery of Anna, Victor and Genie, compared to Isabelle’s remarkable change-- raise many questions. It is not clear whether the differences were caused by some innate problems in the former three (some believe that Anna, Genie and Victor were born with mental deficiencies), by the higher quality of Isabelle’s post-discovery treatment, or by the emotional nurturing that Isabelle received from her mother, compared to the early neglect and abuse of the other three (Davis, 1949; Henslin, 2002; Hughes, Kroehler, & Vander Zanden, 2002). One study that supports the claim that emotional nurturing is necessary to human development was conducted by H.M. Skeels and H. B. Dye in the 1930’s. These two psychologists questioned why children raised in orphanages had lower IQs and more trouble establishing relationships than children raised in families. Believing that the problem was the lack of emotional and cognitive stimulation found even in the better orphanages, they took thirteen infants who had been labeled severely retarded out of a The Process of Socialization

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“good” orphanage and placed them in an institution for mentally retarded women, giving one child to each ward. The children received a high level of attention and cuddling from the women. After two years, when Skeels and Dye compared these infants to a slightly less retarded control group, they found that the infants who had been moved had on average gained 28 points on their IQ tests while the infants left behind lost 30. When the children reached adulthood, these differences became more pronounced— the children who had been raised with more emotional and physical stimulation were much more highly educated, much more likely to be married, and much more likely to hold a job (Henslin, 2002). This study, like Isabelle’s case, suggests that isolation is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Even when a child’s physical needs are cared for, lack of stimulation and interaction can affect the ability to form bonds and integrate fully into society, and can also negatively affect intelligence. Animal Studies

Harry and Margaret Harlow (1958) conducted studies with rhesus monkeys raised in isolation. Baby monkeys were given two “mothers”--one made of soft terrycloth, and one mother made of wire that provided food via a baby bottle. When startled by experimenters, the monkeys would run to their cloth mothers instead of their wire mothers, which showed that the “cuddling” –comforting physical contact-- not the ability to provide food, was seen as more important by the baby monkeys. In another experiment, the Harlows showed that baby monkeys could recover social skills affected by short periods of isolation, but not from being isolated for more than six months (Harlow, 1958; Henslin 2002).

Viewpoints Theories of Socialization

The above studies suggest that human contact—socialization into a society—is necessary for proper development. This is a basic point of argument for many sociologists, psychologists and biologists. However, the mechanism through which this development occurs is heavily debated. Most sociologists (especially symbolic interactionists) argue that the self is acquired through interaction with others, psychologists put more emphasis on the unconscious nature of this process, and sociobiologists believe that behavioral patterns have a biological root. 164


Symbolic Interactionism

Sociologists who study symbolic interaction (a branch of social psychology that explores how people create meanings and socially construct and order their worlds) believe that social interaction is needed to create the self; there can be no social self that arises in isolation. This idea was developed by Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) through the concept of the looking-glass self. Cooley theorized that people see themselves indirectly, through the reflection of the impressions they make on others. There are three steps to this process: people imagine how they look to others, they imagine the reactions that others have to them, and then they experience some sort of self-feeling about this—pride, shame, satisfaction and so on, which gradually develops their self-concepts. The idea that the self was developed through interaction with others was further developed by George Herbert Mead (1863-1931). Mead believed that the self is a process, an ongoing conversation between two parts-- an “I” and a “me.” The “I”—the part of the self that reacts to stimuli, the spontaneous part-- is related to consciousness while the “me” –the self-aware part that is responsible for social control-- is related to self-consciousness. After it acts, the “I” enters into the awareness of the “me.” When the “I” reacts to a situation, it brings out the “me” as the self immediately interprets its own action from the point of view of others. The “I” and the “me” are in constant interaction within the self. Thought is this inner conversation in which the self is the object to itself. Mead believed that the “I” and the “me” are developed throughout early life. Small children begin to develop selves through play. When playing, children take on the roles of others—firefighters, astronauts, nurses, mothers and fathers—and begin to learn that other people have different perspectives. Children thus learn to see themselves from the viewpoints of others through play. When they have mastered the play stage of development, they move to the game stage. In a game such as softball, participants must not only be able to take the role of others to participate, but they must also be able to have a sense of the viewpoint of every other player on the field simultaneously. They must understand the game’s rules and internalize all possible roles that are involved in the game. Mead called this ability to assume the viewpoint of the entire community the acquisition of a “gen-


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eralized other.” Once a child has mastered the game stage and acquired a sense of the generalized other, he or she has developed a social self. For Mead and Cooley, then, development of the self was a social process; in the absence of others, neither the looking glass self not the “I” and “me” could form. Psychological Theories Freud & Erikson

Like Cooley and Mead, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) believed that the self developed during interaction with the world. Unlike them, he believed that much of people’s response to the world happened on an unconscious level. Freud’s theory focused on how a child’s personality is developed when he or she is an infant, a process that is the result of the child attempting to control his or her physical urges. In Freud’s model the self is divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the host for the person’s innate biological urges. The ego—the conscious part of the self-- assists the individual with understanding the world rationally. The superego develops as children learn to control the oral, anal and phallic impulses of the id—as they learn to eat on a schedule, become toilet trained, and absorb society’s restrictions on sexuality. The superego is responsible for providing the person with an understanding of what is acceptable in society and urges the person to value moral and ethical decisions. As with Mead’s and Cooley’s theories of the self, Freud’s theory saw the completed self as being developed through interaction. Unlike the symbolic interactionists, he visualized society as potentially damaging to the budding self. Freud’s work was extended by Erik H. Erikson, who believed that ego development continued throughout the entire life cycle. He separated this development into eight stages of ego development. Each stage presents new problems; if these identity crises are resolved successfully, then the person moves on to the next stage and next crisis. Erikson’s eight stages are • Trust versus mistrust in infancy, • Autonomy versus shame and doubt as a toddler, • Initiative versus guilt in the preschool years, • Industry versus inferiority from ages 6-13 (approximately), 166


• Identity formation versus confusion in adolescence, • Intimacy versus isolation as a young adult, • Generativity versus self absorption as a mature adult, and • Integrity versus despair as an older person (Erikson, 1963). Piaget

Some theorists have given less prominence to the role of society in human development. For example, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) developed a theory that focused less on children’s imitation of others as a major factor in socialization. He pointed out that all the children he studied passed through the same phases when they were learning to talk—that is, they made the same sorts of mistakes at the same point in the process, and these mistakes were not the result of imitating adults. This suggests that there are some factors in human development that are innate— the stages of linguistic development in this case. In Piaget’s scheme, children first develop sensory-motor intelligence as they learn to deal with the physical world, then progress to intuitive operations as they learn to think creatively and imagine. This is followed by a concrete operational stage in which they learn to think logically, and a formal operational stage in which they learn to think abstractly (Henslin, 2002). Sociobiologists also place more emphasis on the role of heredity and less emphasis on environment. Some, like Edward Wilson, believe that complex behavioral patterns evolved over time through natural selection (Wilson, 1978). Others focus more narrowly on topic such as the biological basis of gendered behavior.

Bibliography Appelbaum, R., & Chambliss, W. (1997). Sociology: A brief introduction. New York: Longman. Cooley, C.H. (1902). Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner. Davis, K. (1940). A case of extreme social isolation of a child. American Journal of Sociology 45: 554-564. Davis, K. (1949). Human society. New York: Macmillan Company. Davis, K. (1947). Final note on a case of extreme isolation. American Journal of Sociology 50: 432-437. The Process of Socialization

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Erikson, E. (1963). Childhood and society(2nd ed). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books. Haas, J., & Shaffir, W. (1978). Shaping identity in Canadian society. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall of Canada Harlow, H. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 12, 673-685. Henslin, J.M. (2002). Essentials of sociology (4th ed). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Hughes, M., Kroehler, C.J., & Vander Zanden, J.W. (2002). Sociology: the core. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, self and society. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Wilson, E.O. (1978). On Human Nature. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

Suggested Reading Cattan, M., White, M., Bond, J., & Learmouth, A. (2005). Preventing social isolation and loneliness among older people: a systematic review of health promotion interventions. Ageing & Society, 25(1), 41-67. Freud, S. (1961). Civilization and its discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Hawthorne, G. (2006). Measuring social isolation in older adults: Development and initial validation of the friendship sale. Social Indicators Research, 77(3), 521-548. Retrieved April 1, 2008 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=21129184&site=ehost-live Pavlov, I. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. London, England: Oxford University Press. Watson, J. (1928). The ways of behaviorism. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers Pub.

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Resocialization & Total Institutions Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson

Overview Socialization refers to the process through which people become members of society, both by internalizing shared norms and values and learning to perform social roles (e.g. as workers, wives and friends). Socialization occurs in different settings and institutions such as the family, the education system and the workplace. While socialization was once assumed to be a process primarily associated with childhood, there is reasonable consensus that it is a continuous, lifelong process that prepares people for the transitions they will make between one phase or stage of life and another. Although there is variation in how those transitions are defined or distinguished, there is consensus that change and adaptation is an ever-present characteristic of human development. At times people may experience resocialization. This occurs when, first, people are required to learn new norms and values associated with an unfamiliar social environment (such as when entering prison) or, second, they are required to relearn norms and values associated with their culture or context of origin. They may have, at one point, left this context and are now re-entering (such as returning to civilian life after time in prison). Resocialization is often associated with total institutions, which are a distinct category of social organization characterized by bureaucratic regimentation and social isolation, as described originally by Erving Goffman in his The Process of Socialization

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book Asylums (1961). Goffman identified prisons, mental hospitals and monasteries as examples of total institutions, and his insights have since been explored and expanded by a number of studies.

The Socialization Process Much of the insight into socialization is grounded in a symbolic interactionist tradition to the study of social life. This approach emphasizes that social life largely depends on a shared sense of reality that defines how to act in particular social situations and how to interact with others in ways that make sense and contribute to social order. In the symbolic interactionist approach, social reality is not external to the individual, but is built up, or constructed, through interaction (e.g. gestures, conversations, symbols). Reality is therefore unstable, though dynamic; what is defined as real could shift at any moment and in this framework, successful interaction with others depends on the importance of the actor’s ability to interpret the social world (Ritzer, 1992). Because socialization is ongoing throughout the life course, researchers have identified different forms of socialization. First, primary association occurs within institutions such as the family, schools and the media. Such socialization can be both formal (through explicit rules) and informal (via coded messages and the “hidden curriculum” in which the values associated with a particular culture, such as capitalism, are embedded in the structure and organization of education). Second, anticipatory socialization occurs when people take on the norms and values of a role they desire; such as when those learning a particular occupation (e.g. nursing) take on the role-set (the professional identity of nurses) they seek to occupy (Lurie, 1981). Similarly, the high school student who begins wearing college student-type clothes once he has been accepted to a university is engaging in anticipatory socialization (Henslin, 2004). Third, resocialization occurs when people learn a new set of behaviors, practices and attitudes associated with a new context (Henslin, 2004). This form of resocialization could be associated with entering college, or even getting married. These forms of resocialization are largely informal and voluntary. Resocialization can also be formal, and involuntary, and in such cases is mostly associated with institutional settings, such as the workplace, or total institutions. 170


Further Insights Total Institutions

The concept of total institution was developed by the sociologist Erving Goffman as a result of research he conducted at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C. while he was a visiting scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The research was published as a book, Asylums in 1961. The hospital was a federal mental institution with more than 7000 patients and Goffman viewed it as a place that encompassed the whole of the lives of its inmates. Accordingly, he described a total institution as a specific type of place where: …a large number of like-situated individuals, cut off from wider society for an appreciable amount of time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life (Goffman, 1961, p. xiii). Goffman identified several characteristics of total institutions and argued that they control all aspects of the daily lives of inmates, subject their residents to standardized activities, and apply formal rules and rigid scheduling to all activities. In the total institution, inmates are separated from the outside world physically. For instance, total institutions are, in Goffman’s definition, built environments that are segregated from everyday life through spatial barriers such as barbed wire and walls and interaction between inmates and people from the “outside” is physically prevented through devices such as locks and barred windows. Sutton’s (2003) recent study of missions and reserves in Australia, using photographs as evidence, shows how the spatial and physical design of such missions were similar to 19th century workhouses, prisons, concentration camps and mental institutions. These missions removed indigenous people from public Australian life and played a role in the colonial control of indigenous peoples by breaking up Aboriginal families. Moreover, the experience of separation and control within the missions made it difficult for inmates to adjust to life outside and contributed to emotional disorders, an inability to live with others and make friends and increased the likelihood of illnesses such as diabetes and heart conditions (Sutton, 2003). The Process of Socialization

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Total institutions also socially separate inmates from the outside world, though there are points of potential contamination that can threaten this separation. For instance, messy quarters can remind the inmate of the world beyond the institution and when an inmate loses control over who is observing her in the institution, or who knows about her past, she is contaminated by a forced relationship to these others. Other interpersonal contaminations or forced relationships include rape, sexual assault, or when the inmate’s possessions are handled by officials or other inmates. Thus, for Goffman, a key characteristic of the total institution is that there is always a tension between the institution and the outside world and this tension is used “as strategic leverage in the management of men” (Goffman, 1961, p. 13). The total institution controls the minute details of the inmate’s life, and staff expect the inmates to be obedient to them. Inmates occupy a routinized lifestyle where meals, recreation, work and bedtimes are all tightly scheduled and uniforms may be required (such as in prisons, boarding schools or the military). Indeed, in total institutions, people are processed as things or objects whereas, in contrast, on the “outside,” people are typically identified through personal characteristics and qualities (Sparks, Bottoms & Hay, 1996). These detailed rules and repetitive routines enable the institution to establish control and authority over the lives of inmates and ensure a power differential between those in charge and subordinates. Thus, a key goal of resocialization within the context of the total institution is altering a person’s behavior to fit the needs of the institution by controlling their immediate environment. Such control occurs via specific regimes, tight supervision, and routinization and entails a two-stage process: first, the new inmate is separated from her old life and the self is broken down; and second, a new self is developed via a system of rewards and punishments. Through resocialization processes that attack the self, people are batched into relatively undifferentiated groups (e.g. inmates or nurses). While Goffman explicitly referred to prisons and mental institutions, other studies have examined and expanded the concept of total institution to include a range of institutions, such as assisted living centers, specialized hospitals for infectious diseases (such as tuberculosis and leprosy), training institutions (e.g. boarding schools, academies, and “boot camps”), and retreats associated with religious purposes or recovery (Manning, 2007). While these studies have challenged some of the characteristics that 172


Goffman identified as crucial to the definition of a total institution, there is some consensus that the processes of resocialization he described create a paramount reality that is distinct from what new residents or inmates are familiar with. Resocialization

The first step in resocialization occurs upon entering an institution. The staff immediately seeks to “break” the new inmates by undoing or destroying their self-image and independence (Stanko et al., 2004). Goffman referred to this process of undoing as the mortification of the self. It entails the use of entry rituals that strips a person of her former (outside) identity and replaces it with symbols of her new identity, such as haircuts, numbers or uniforms (Sparks, Bottoms & Hay, 1996). For instance, a study of nursing homes (Brogden, 2001) noted that when elderly people enter them, staff routinely begin using “baby-talk” in a way that infantilizes people and encourages dependence rather than independence. The dependence of residents makes it easier to run institutions like nursing homes. Similarly, a study of dementia (Askham, Briggs, Norman & Redfern, 2007) found that when dementia sufferers entered custodial care, taken for granted but significant aspects of their former lives (such as driving a car) were removed or taken from them in ways that made the new residents feel as thought they had ‘lost’ their identities. Such mortification is a necessary precursor to the next step in resocialization, which emphasizes conformity to institutional norms, which are established via routines, rules and timetables. However, this two-step process is not always successful. While some individuals may conform in institutional contexts, others may become hostile and rebellious, or find ways to escape. Resistance to Resocialization: Escape Attempts

Because of the potential for totalizing control over the self that the resocialization process and the regimes of the total institution establish, inmates may seek ways to win back some sense of self autonomy (Cohen & Taylor, 1992). In their study of psychological survival in a British maximum-security prison, Cohen and Taylor (1992) refer to this phenomenon as “escape attempts.” They argue that inmates in total institutions who are serving long sentences find subtle ways to make time pass, because time control by


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the institution (e.g. through time tables and indeed by having so much relatively unstructured time to pass) is one of the critical ways that inmates’ lives and identities are regulated. Therefore, inmates develop subtle activities and practices to help them get through the business of every day. For these inmates, “getting by” is a precarious process because it requires that inmates balance the conformity that is required of them with attempts to “escape” from that conformity in order to hold onto a sense of self that is not subsumed by their identities as prisoners. They need to balance being in the prison world with not being of it. While the power of Goffman’s study of asylums lies in his categorization of a particular kind of social institution that is distinct from other spheres of social life and that is characterized by specific, identifiable properties, Cohen and Taylor extended their analysis of psychological survival in prisons (as an exemplar of resocialization in a total institution). They argued that the subtle activities that prison inmates engage in to “pass time” and to create a distinction between their lived sense of self and the identities imposed on them through prison regimes, are all ways of escaping from the prison as their paramount reality; that is, as their realm of everyday experience. While everyday life outside the prison cannot be defined as a total institution (in Goffman’s terms), it nonetheless presents a paramount reality that constrains and limits people. Consequently, argued Cohen and Taylor, people seek to “escape” from this paramount reality through various activities and practices (e.g. hobbies, travel) and in doing so, protect a sense of self that is distinct from the identities bestowed on them by their everyday lives.

Issues The Dehumanizing Impact of Total Institutions

While Cohen and Taylor discuss symbolic escape attempts as a form of resistance to resocialization practices within total institutions, studies of prisons and asylums generally show them to be brutal spaces of incarceration. For instance, many such institutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were places where physically and developmentally disabled individuals were incarcerated. Indeed, many people were incarcerated in such institutions because they failed to conform to prevailing social expectations or flouted social conventions (such as having a child outside marriage). Researchers have documented how inmates of such institutions experienced 174


degradation and humiliation (Malacrida, 2005), despite the claims of the institutions themselves to be places of care and rehabilitation. For instance, the Michener Center in Alberta, Canada, was described as a training school for retarded children and young adults (Malacrida, 2006). However, eugenics was a key policy and the center, like other similar institutions in Western Europe and North America, practiced a sterilization program. Moreover, the center used punishments such as ward lock-downs and time out rooms to discipline inmates who were seen to misbehave (e.g. those who refused to eat institutional food, adhere to bedtimes or were aggressive toward staff) or who attempted escape. Such punishments “were a central form of physical and psychological social control reactive and proactive social control” (Malacrida, 2006, p. 528). In Malacrida’s (2006) study, one inmate survivor, Glen, described his experiences inside the “Time-Out Room”: The staff could look in from a window in the door but I couldn’t see out of it. There was no toilet, and when I had to go, I had to bang on the door with my feet. But most of the time, no one would come, so I wet myself. I had to sit like that sometimes for hours until staff would come. That hurt my feelings (Malacrida, 2006, p. 531). Such research is a reminder of how central dehumanization is to the daily routines and practices of total institutions and how central such institutions have been, historically, to the oppression of certain categories of people in the West (Davies, 1989). Indeed, in recognition of this dehumanization, in both the US and the UK from the 1970s onward, total institutions such as asylums and other places incarcerating the physically and developmentally disabled were gradually closed down in favor of “care in the community”. However, despite their closures, some practices associated with power and control continue to be practiced (such as antidepressant prescription, psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy) (Brecht, 2004). Beyond the Total Institution

Because socialization is an ongoing process, life beyond the total institution must also involve resocialization, as those who were previously inmates The Process of Socialization

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or residents must learn to adjust from living in an environment where their lives are highly prescribed to their new, non-institutionalized roles and environments. Studies of this form of resocialization (e.g. of Vietnam veterans, ex-cult members and Catholic priests and nuns who have departed their Orders) show this process is no less problematic and challenging than being resocialized into a total institution. One study (Mapel, 2007), for instance, followed five Western ex-Buddhist monks to life after being in a monastery for several years. Although Buddhist monasteries do not demand lifetime vows (as for example, required of those entering the Catholic priesthood), and monks are free to leave the monastery at any time, adjustment was challenging as they tried to deal with issues of grief, delayed development, missing out on life experiences, difficulties with intimacy, money, identity, depression, anxiety and confusion. This was combined with the hope and promise of many newly found freedoms involved in establishing a new life and identity. For these monks, resocialization involved moving from a context where life is highly routinized (albeit voluntarily) to a context where life is highly individualized. Conclusion

The concept of resocialization refers to a process wherein a person must cast off a previous identity and learn a new one. Goffman’s work on asylums as total institutions provides the definitive discussion of resocialization as a consequence of involuntary residence. In this context, resocialization is necessary for social control, which is further supported by spatial, physical and social separation and highly structured routines. For Goffman, the total institution represents a system that is beyond society, but is still charged with caring for or rehabilitating its inhabitants. However, other researchers have expanded the properties he ascribed to total institutions beyond physical entities (such as prisons) to social processes (such as colonialism). Yet, total institutions may not be as homogenous as Goffman observed (Davies, 1989) because there are significant differences in their degrees of bureaucratization, their physical and social closedness, and how compliance from inmates is elicited. In practice, institutions such as prisons, nursing homes and monasteries vary in their underlying functions, contradictions, and modes of entry and exit. Despite some disagreement over what defines a total institution, Goffman’s account of asylums led to the systematic study of total institutions as 176


places of incarceration. While in the past, such incarceration was deemed necessary for rehabilitation (e.g. in relation to crime and mental illness), research has shown that the resocialization practices associated with total institutions were often brutally dehumanizing. They entailed the persistent destruction of the human self, such that resocialization from the institution back into society was, and is, accompanied by adaptation challenges. However, there is some evidence that people who have experienced resocialization in total institutions find ways to hold onto a sense of self that is beyond the institution: to escape, if not literally, then at least, symbolically.

Bibliography Askham, J., Briggs, K., Norman, I. & Redfern, S. (2007). Care at home for people with dementia: As in a total institution? Ageing & Society, 27 (1), 3-24. Brogden, M. (2001). Geronticide: Killing the elderly. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Brecht, P. (2004). Birds-eye view of the asylum. Nursing Standard, 19(4), 22. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete http:// search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14701230&site=ehost-live Cohen, S. & Taylor, L. (1992). Escape attempts: The theory and practice of resistance in everyday life. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge. Davies, C. (1989). Goffman’s concept of the total institution: Criticisms and revisions. Human Studies. 12(1/2):77-95. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=si h&AN=11678729&site=ehost-live. Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. New York: Anchor Books. Henslin, J. (2004). Essentials of sociology: A down-to-earth approach. 5th Ed. London: Allyn and Bacon. Lurie, E. (1981). Nurse practitioners: Issues in professional socialization. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22 (1), 31-48. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=1254961 7&site=ehost-live Manning, P.K. (2007). Total institutions. In G. Ritzer (ed). Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell. Malacrida, C. (2005). Discipline and dehumanization in a total institution: Institutional survivors’ descriptions of time-out rooms. Disability & Society, 20(5), 523-537. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=17575649&site=ehost-live.


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Malacrida, C. (2006). Contested memories: Efforts of the powerful to silence former inmates’ histories of life in an institution for ‘mental defectives’. Disability & Society, 21(5), 397-410. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=22483078 &site=ehost-live. Mapel, T. (2007). The adjustment process of ex-Buddhist monks to life after the monastery. Journal of Religion & Health, 46(1), 19-34. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=a9h&AN=24091458&site=ehost-live. Ritzer, G. (1992). Contemporary sociological theory (3rd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Sparks, R., Bottoms, A. & Hay, W. (1996). Prisons and the problem of order. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Sutton, M-J. (2003). Re-examining total institutions: A case study from Queensland. Archaeology in Oceania, 38(2):78-88. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct= true&db=a9h&AN=10878103&site=ehost-live. Stanko, S. Gillespie, W. & Crews, G.A. (2004). Living in prison: A history of the correctional system with an insider’s view. Westport CT: Greenwood Press.

Suggested Reading Fischer, M., & Geiger, B. (2006). A twenty year follow-up of the kibbutz resocialization program: Did it work and why? Conference Papers -- American Society of Criminology, 2006 Annual Meeting. McHugh, P. (1966). Social disintegration as a requisite of resocialization. Social Forces, 44(3), 355-363. Retrieved April 13, 2008, from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=1352413 8&site=ehost-live Stolley, K.S. (2005) The basics of sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

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Terms & Concepts

“I” and “Me”: Mead’s terms to describe the two parts of the self; the “I” acts, and the “me” is self-aware and judges the “I.” “I”: “I” is a subject, and not an object of experience. The “I” phase refers to the part of the self which can be identified with impulse, freedom, and creativity; everything which is unique, idiosyncratic, and uncertain. “Me”: “Me” can be identified with the ‘object self’ of experience. It can also be described as the “self we are aware of.” Absolute Poverty: The inability to provide basic needs to sustain human life. Adolescence: The period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to maturity. Anticipatory Socialization: The process of through which an individual learns the values and attitudes of a group in expectation of joining the group. Between Group Contrast: A basic type of behavior wherein members of a group highlight the differences between themselves and other groups. In addition, these groups seek to increase their differences from other groups. Cognitive Developmental Theory: Cognitive developmental theories of gender socialization emphasize the active role of the child in gender con-


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struction, and the developmental changes in children that allow them to conceptualize gender differently over time. Collective Socialization: Collective socialization can be described as neighborhood, societal, or community characteristics that shape the role models that youth are exposed to outside the home. Conscious: The “aware” part of our cognitions, with which we have regular and easy access. Constructivism: A theory which holds that knowledge is constructed by the knower. Defense Mechanisms: The unconscious part of our Ego that serves to rehabilitate any potential damage that might be incurred through situational dynamics, and revert the Ego back into a state of normalcy. Desocialization: Process in which the residents’ rights are relinquished and they submit to the control of the staff of the institution. Developmental Psychology: The branch of psychology which studies the progressive behavioral changes in humans from birth until death. Developmental Stages: Stages through which individuals pass as their cognitive abilities develop. According to Piaget, children go through four distinct stages in the cognitive development process. Most psychologists and sociologists agree that a person has to master some type of skill or behavior as he goes through each stage. According to most theories of cognitive development, the stages have to be mastered in order. Differentiated Occupational Opportunity: Differentiated occupational opportunities can be described as ways in which circumstances and educational outcomes strongly determine potential employment opportunities. Discrimination: Unfair treatment of people because of prejudicial attitudes. Divorce: The legal ending of a marriage. Ego Ideal: An offshoot of the Superego that represents the ultimate, archetypical person we strive to become. Ego: The part of our psyche that functions to moderate the oppositional forces of the Id and the Superego, as well as environmental and societal influences. 180


Elimination: Processes through which children exclude others, or remove themselves from a group. Epigenetic Stages: A theory of development that claims that development is influenced by both genetics and environmental forces. Ethics of Care: Gilligan’s contention that women have traditionally been taught a different kind of moral outlook that emphasizes community, caring, and relationships. Ethnography: A qualitative research method in which a group of people is studied through participant observation or interviews. Expressive Ties: Relationships associated with primary groups that are characterized by being an end in themselves. Feminization of Poverty: poverty.

A growing number of women falling into

Fixation: According to Freud, a persistent preoccupation with the erogenous area associated with a particular psychosexual stage. A fixation forms when a child does not successfully complete the corresponding stage. Gender Schemas: Gender schemas are cognitive structures that allow children to organize information efficiently, and maintain stability and predictability. Gender schema theory, proposed by Sandra Bem, is considered a cognitive developmental theory of gender socialization. Bem believes that gender schemas are androcentric and polarized. Gender Segregation: One of the most consistent findings in gender socialization research is that children, beginning by age three, choose to play with same-sex peers. The self-selected segregation is not influenced by adults, occurs in different cultures, lasts until adolescence, and is accompanied by rigid definitions of gender appropriate behavior and roles. Gender: Although gender scholars use the term ‘gender’ differently, it is typically used to communicate the idea that many of the differences between men and women are culturally constructed, as opposed to biologically or genetically determined. Gender is studied using different frameworks – as a characteristic of the individual, as a product of social interaction, and as a characteristic of social institutions.


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Genetic Epistemology: The study of how knowledge is generated. Piaget pioneered the field. Group Socialization Theory: A theory developed by Judith Harris that is based on the concept that although the influence of parents on children is great, the influence of peers actually has a greater impact on a child’s development. Home Schooling: Alternative form of education in which parents or guardians assume the responsibility for the education of their children without sending them to any type of formal school Human Development: The study of how people develop on physical, intellectual and social levels. Id: The inborn component of our psyche that is quick-tempered, ego-centric, and indulgent. Identity Crisis: A critical period in emotional maturation and personality development which often occurs in adolescence and involves the reworking and/or abandonment of childhood identifications and the integration of new personal and social identifications. Ideology: A body of ideas that reflect the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture. Individualization: To consider or treat individually; particularize. Inequality: Usually has to do with income, with some people having less than others. In-Group Favoritism: A basic type of behavior wherein members of a group tend to prefer other group members over non-group members, even if the original grouping was random. Innate Behavior: Behavior which normally occurs in all members of a species even when environmental influences fluctuate. Instrumental Ties: Relationships associated with secondary groups that are characterized by being goal or task-oriented. Internalization: The internalization process can best be recognized as “me” or the “self we are aware of” and the way in which humans internalize, or

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adopt a set of beliefs, which are an organized set of attitudes of others. Internet: A worldwide system of computer networks that allows users to retrieve data from other users’ computers. Justice: Universal principles of fairness. Kohlberg, Lawrence: A development psychologist famous for his research on moral education, reasoning, and development. He identified six stages of moral development. Libido: According to Freud, the psychic energy rooted in the id. Lifelong Learning: Lifelong learning can be understood in a broader category rather than just education, and instead encompasses formal, nonformal, and informal learning, whether the learning is “intentional, incidental, or unconscious.” Living Wage: A minimum amount of money and benefits to provide for the well-being of a person and his or her dependents. Looking Glass Self: A theory of the self which hold that one’s sense of self is created through 1) how one believes oneself to appear to others 2) how one believes other perceive oneself and 3) how one responds to one’s beliefs about how others perceive oneself. Mass Media: Types of communication such as television broadcast stations and networks, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor displays that are designed to reach the large numbers of people. Meritocracy: A system in which rewards are given to those who have extraordinary talents, abilities, or have made extra efforts. Moral Development: The process through which children are taught to display proper attitudes and behavior to other individuals in society, especially as they relate to social and cultural norms as wells as rules and laws. Moral Reasoning: The process through which, according to Kohlberg, moral decisions are made. Moral Relativity: The idea that moral and ethical propositions are neither objective nor universal. Rather, morality is dependent upon factors such as social, cultural, historical and personal context. The Process of Socialization

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Mortification of Self: Practices and rituals that strips a person of her former (outside) identity and replace it with symbols of her new identity. Nature versus Nurture Debate: Debate regarding the importance of heredity and environment in a person’s development and socialization process. Paramount Reality: The taken for granted reality of everyday life that shapes our identities and experience. Parental Socialization: According to those who study gender from an individualist perspective, parents are the primary source of gender socialization. Research on parents as socialization agents is mixed, however, with some research demonstrating differential treatment of male and female children – especially with respect to choice of toys, games, and activities – and some research demonstrating similar treatment of male and female children – especially with respect to nurturance, warmth, and disciplinary practices. Peer Formation: The manner in which an individual selects other individuals to be part of a group. Peer Group Socialization: Some researchers study gender as a product of social interactions. Rather than viewing socialization as a hierarchical, top-down process - as when parents influence children – they study socialization as a dialogical process of mutual influence between peers. Indeed, because of the gender-segregated nature of children’s play, same-sex peers are often the primary source of information for children about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior for boys and girls. Peer Groups: Groups made up of of people who share common social characteristics such as age, class, occupation, or education, and interact on a level of equality. Personality Development: The progression to the organized pattern of behaviors and beliefs that make a person unique. Perspective Taking: A central issue attributed to this philosophy is that Mead seemed to tie most of his viewpoints to perspective taking through the “generative dialogue with the material world.” By engaging in interaction, humans could “take the role” of objects, “objectify their own actions, and generate meaning through this ongoing dialectical relationship. 184


Piaget, Jean: A developmental psychologist well known for his studies of children, his theory of cognitive development, and his work founding the field of genetic epistemology. Poverty: Having little or no money or material possessions. Prejudice: A negative opinion toward a group of people without knowing them. Primary Groups: A concept developed by Cooley, primary groups are characterized by close, enduring relationships among group members. These groups are marked by members’ concern for one another, shared activities and culture, and endurance over a long period of time. Pseudospeciation: A process in which people make artificial distinctions between themselves and other people of different religious, racial, and ethic groups to justify aggressive behavior, conflict, and war. Essentially, it is the “failure to recognize that all of humanity was of one species” (Friedman, 1998, p. 357). Psychoanalytic Theory: Psychoanalytic theory, founded by Freud, emphasizes the unconscious processes that influence gender identity. According to psychoanalytic theorists, gender identity development is a more difficult process for boys because they must separate from their primary identification with the mother. Boys learn to define maleness as the negation of the feminine. Psychosexual Development: Freud’s theory of personality development. It holds that a child’s personality develops as he or she passes through five stages and that during each the child derives pleasure from a particular erogenous area. If a child receives too much or too little pleasure during a stage, he or she will become fixated on the erogenous area and develop psychological problems as an adult. Relative Poverty: The ability to provide basic necessities of life, but none of the extra goods and services a society has to offer. Resocialization: Occurs when people are required to learn new norms and values associated with an unfamiliar social environment (such as when entering prison) or when they are required to re-learn norms and values associated with their former culture or context of origin.


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Schema: A pattern imposed on a new complex reality or experience to assist in explaining it, mediate perception, or guide response. Secondary Groups: A concept developed by Cooley, secondary groups tend to be temporary and are formed to achieve a specific goal. Secondary group members have few if any close personal relationships. Segregation: The policy or practice of separating people of different races, classes, ethnic groups, religious groups, or genders, often in a way that puts the minority group at a disadvantage. Selection: The expression of children’s associative preferences through the bids they make to join certain peer groups, and through their attempts, once they belong to a group, to maintain existing or recruit additional members (Sage, et al., 2002). Self: “The irreducible unit out of which the coherence and stability of a personality emerge” (Zimbardo & Gerrig, 1996, G-11). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Negative beliefs about oneself lead to negative behaviors, thus fulfilling the negative beliefs. Sex: Gender scholars typically use the term sex to refer to differences between men and women – like anatomical and reproductive differences that are biologically or genetically determined. Social Capital: Social capital is a mechanism through which neighborhood context can influence educational (learning) outcomes. Individuals who live in advantaged neighborhoods may be more likely to be exposed to supportive social networks or adults who can provide resources, information, and opportunities that may be educationally beneficial. Social Control: Social control can be described as the monitoring or sanctioning of deviant behavior in specific groups. Social Development: Any change in society that leads to new or more complex relations between individuals or groups within that society. Social Exclusion: Lack of access to opportunities and benefits of society. Social Intuitionist: An approach to understanding moral judgments which holds that they are made largely on the basis on emotional or psychological factors with moral reasoning serving to justify these judgments after they have been made. 186


Social Isolation: The minimizing of social contact and interaction by separating an individual from that which is familiar. Social Learning Theory: Social learning theory is an outgrowth of the behaviorist tradition, which defines learning in terms of stimulus and response. According to this perspective, children are reinforced – both positively and negatively – for gender appropriate and inappropriate behavior. In addition, social learning theorists believe children learn gender appropriate behavior by observing and modeling their same-sex parent. Evidence in support of the theory is mixed; social learning theory is also criticized for its passive characterization of the child. Social Learning: A change in behavior that is controlled by environmental influences rather than by innate or internal forces. Social Network Research Group, The: A group comprising faculty and students from the Department of Psychology at Portland State University that is dedicated to studying social networks. Social Order: Social infrastructure which imparts the “normal” behaviors and actions of a society; infrastructure includes social structures, social institutions and social practices. Social Psychology: The branch of psychology that deals with the behavior of groups and the influence of social and cultural factors on humans. Social Self: The self is produced through interaction with other people. Socialization: The process in which children learn to get along with others and to model behavior to that of other people in order to be accepted within the group. Socializing Agents: People and groups that influence an individual’s selfconcept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior. Sociobiology: Area of sociology that believes that human behavior can be explained at least partially in terms of biology. Socioeconomic Status (SES): An individual’s social and economic status within society; determined by such elements as income, educational level, and occupation.


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Spatial Mismatch: Jobs are located far from the neighborhoods of the people who can fill them. Stigma: A condition whereby a person is labeled in a way that causes a loss of prestige, esteem, and perhaps even material well being. Stratification: Institutionalized inequalities in wealth, power and prestige. Superego: The moral component of our psyche that serves to determine that which is “right” and “wrong.” Symbolic Interactionism: An approach to the self-society relation that emphasizes face-to-face interaction, impression management, information control and being ever attentive to what our bodies and faces are ‘telling’ others. Theory of Mind: When humans begin the process of developing self-consciousness and are able to take on perspectives of others, this role taking is known as “theory of mind” Total Institution: An organizational and physical environment in which all aspects of an individual’s life are subordinate to and dependent upon the authorities of the organization. Unconscious: The hidden portion of our cognitions that serves as a storehouse for repressed memories, events, and fears. Underclass: About 5% of the U.S. population, characterized by under-education, little or no regular work and extreme poverty. Within-Group Assimilation: A basic type of behavior where members tend to conform and there is no need for overt peer pressure. Working Poor: People who work for a living, but do not earn a living wage, enough to provide basic necessities of life.

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Contributors

Marie Gould is an Associate Professor and the Faculty Chair of the Business Administration Department at Peirce College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She teaches in the areas of management, entrepreneurship, and international business. Although Ms. Gould has spent her career in both academia and corporate, she enjoys helping people learn new things – whether it’s by teaching, developing or mentoring. Alexandra Howson, Ph.D., taught Sociology for over a decade at several universities in the UK. She has published books and peer reviewed articles on the sociology of the body, gender and health and is now an independent researcher, writer and editor based in the Seattle area. Jennifer Kretchmar earned her Doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works as a Research Associate in undergraduate admissions. Sharon Link is an educator, presenter, and mother of a child with autism. She has worked extensively in public education and has researched education and its relationship to autism disorders and other disabilities for the last ten years. Dr. Link currently is the Executive Director for Autism Disorders Leadership Center, a non-profit research center and is co-founder of Asperger Interventions & Support, Inc. a professional development center. Both organizations are education and research centers seeking to improve


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education by creating a system of diversity and inclusion in America’s schools. To learn more, visit: Asperger Help at http://aspergerhelp.net. Cynthia Vejar received her Doctorate from Virginia Tech in 2003, and has had extensive experience within the realm of academia. She has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at several universities, and has functioned as a clinical supervisor for counselors-in-training. For five years, Dr. Vejar worked as a school counselor in a specialized behavioral modification program that targeted at-risk adolescents and their families. She has also worked as a grief and career counselor. Moreover, Dr. Vejar firmly believes in contributing to the research community. She has published in professional journals, served on editorial boards, and has written book reviews. Geraldine Wagner holds a graduate degree from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship. She teaches Sociology at Mohawk Valley Community College in upstate New York and Professional Writing at State University of NY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She has authored numerous writings including journalism articles, OP-ED columns, manuals, and two works of non-fiction: No Problem: The Story of Fr. Ray McVey and Unity Acres, A Catholic Worker House, published in 1998 and Thirteen Months To Go: The Creation of the Empire State Building, published in 2003. She divides her time between upstate New York, Bar Harbor, Maine and coastal North Carolina.

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Index

A Absolute Poverty, 150, 151 Adaptation, 31 Adler, Alfred, 10 Adolescence, 8, 71, 74, 84, 104, 119, 121, 128, 131, 167 Anal Stage, 7 Anticipatory Socialization, 84, 170

B Between-Group Contrast, 123

C Children & the Media, 82 Cognitive Assumptions, 31 Cognitive Development Theory, 100 Collective Socialization, 141, 145 Concrete Operational Period, 33 Conscious, 5, 6, 14, 15, 19, 20, 23, 55, 62, 64, 101, 166 Constructivism, 31 Conventional Morality, 42 Cooley, Charles Horton, 48

D Defense Mechanisms, 6, 9, 22, 24 The Process of Socialization

Developmental Stages, 11, 71, 77 Differentiated Occupational Opportunity, 139 Disabilities, 156 Discrimination, 92-94, 153, 155 Displacement, 22 Divorce, 90, 92, 94, 95, 153 Dreams, 16

E Ego, 6, 8, 9, 20, 71, 73, 166 Ego Ideal, 20 Elderly, The, 156 Epistemology, 115 Equilibrium, 32 Erikson, Erik, 10 Escape Attempts, 173 Ethics of Care, 113 Evolution of Communication, 60

F Fear, 89 Feminization of Poverty, 153 Fixation, 6, 7, 8 Formal Operational Period, 33 Freud, Sigmund, 4, 5, 14, 25, 29, 30, 71, 101, 166 191

G Gender Schemas, 101 Gender Schema Theory, 101 Gender Segregation, 104, 105 Gender Socialization, 99 Genetic Epistemology, 30 Genital Stage, 8 Gilligan, Carol, 45, 112, 115 Group Socialization Theory, 88, 89, 120

H Healthcare, 155 Home Schooling, 130, 131, 133 Horney, Karen, 10 Human Capital View, 142 Human Development, 29, 30, 64, 70, 71, 141, 160-163, 167

I “I”, 53, 58, 61, 62, 65, 165, 166 “I” and “Me”, 61 Id, 6, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 Identity Crisis, 11, 73, 74, 75 Ideology, 130, 139 Inequality, 106, 150 In-Group Favoritism, 122 Institutionalized Children, 162 Internalization, 55, 61, 80, 86 Internet, 81, 82

J Job Sprawl, 154 Jung, Carl, 10 Justice, 34, 36, 39, 40, 43-46, 49, 109, 112, 113, 144

K Kohlberg, Lawrence, 34, 39, 100, 109

L Latency Stage, 8 Learning Socialization, 137 192

Lifelong Learning, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144 Living Wage, 151, 154 Looking Glass Self, 48, 166

M Mass Media, 81-86 “Me”, 53, 58, 61, 62, 65, 165, 166 Mead, George Herbert, 58 Media Socialization, 105 Moral Anxiety, 9 Moral Definition, 114 Moral Development, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 40-43, 45, 46, 76, 100, 109, 110-115 Moral Ontogeny, 115 Moral Reasoning, 30-41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 109, 110, 112 Moral Responsibility, 76 Moral Variation, 115

N Neo-Darwinistic Perspective, 59 Neo-Freudians, The, 10 Neoliberalist View, 143 Neurotic Anxiety, 9 Neurotic Behavior, 16

O Oral Stage, 7 Out-Group Hostility, 123

P Paramount Reality, 173, 174 Parapraxes, 16 Parental Socialization, 96 Peer Groups, 118, 126, 129 Peer Group Socialization, 104 Personality Development, 4, 5, 6, 11, 73 Perspective Taking, 61, 63, 65 Phallic Stage, 7 Piaget, Jean, 29, 30, 36, 39, 109, 119, 126, 167 Sociology Reference Guide

Pleasure Principle, The, 17 Postconventional Morality, 42 Poverty, 92, 149-154, 156 Preconventional Morality, 42 Preoperational Period, 32 Primary Groups, 48, 52, 53 Progressive Humanist View, 143 Projection, 22 Pseudospeciation, 76 Psychoanalytic Theory, 101 Psychobiography, 76 Psychosexual Development, 5, 7, 10, 11, 71

R Reaction Formation, 22 Reality Anxiety, 9 Regression, 22 Relative Poverty, 150 Repression, 23 Resocialization, 169-177

S Schema, 99, 101 Secondary Groups, 48, 52, 53 Segregation, 104, 105, 128, 133, 154 Selection, 129, 133, 167 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, 155 Selfhood, 62 Sensorimotor Period, 32 Social Capital, 140 Social Class, 128, 150 Social Control, 63, 138, 141, 165, 175 Social Development, 80, 85, 88, 118, 126, 132


Social Exclusion, 149, 151, 156, 157 Social Intuitionist, 44 Social Isolation, 140, 141, 162, 163, 169 Social Learning, 4, 29, 80, 86, 88-101, 118, 126 Social Learning Theory, 99 Social Order, 41, 56, 170 Social Psychology, 24, 43, 48, 53, 56, 64, 69, 165 Social Self, 53, 165, 166 Social Workers, 140, 141 Socioeconomic Status (SES), 150 Spatial Mismatch, 154 Spirituality, 76, 77 Stigma, 162 Stratification, 149, 150 Sublimation, 23 Superego, 6, 14, 17-23 Symbolic Interactionism, 49, 50

T Theory of Mind, 64 Total Institution, 171-176

U Unconscious, 15, 19 Underclass, 150-153

W Welfare Reform, 154 Within-Group Assimilation, 123 Within-Group Differentiation, 123 Working Poor, 150, 153, 155

193

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