Agents of socialization

As we have seen, American culture is defined by rather gradual movements from one stage of so­cialization to the next. The lifelong socialization process involves many different social forces which influence our lives and alter our self-images. The family is the most important agent of socialization in the United States, especially for children. Four other agents of socialization will be given particular attention in this chapter: the school, the peer group, the mass media, and the workplace.

Family

The family is the institution most closely associ­ated with the process of socialization. Obviously, one of its primary functions is the care and rear­ing of children. We experience socialization first as babies and infants living in families; it is here that we develop an initial sense of self. Most par­ents seek to help their children become compe­tent adolescents and self-sufficient adults, which mean socializing them into the norms and values of both the family and the larger society. In this process, adults themselves experience socializa­tion as they adjust to becoming spouses, parents, and in-laws (Gecas, 1981).

The lifelong process of learning begins shortly after birth. Since newborns can hear, see, smell, taste, and feel heat, cold, and pain, they orient themselves to the surrounding world. Human beings, especially family members, constitute an important part of the social environment of the newborn. People minister to the baby's needs by feeding, cleansing, and carrying the baby.

The family of newborn and other caretakers is not concerned with teaching social skills per se. Nevertheless, babies are hardly asocial. An infant enters an organized society, becomes part of a generation, and typically enters into a family. Depending on how they are treated, infants can develop social attachments and dependency on others.

Most infants go through a relatively formal period of socialization generally called habit train­ing. Schedules are imposed for eating and sleep­ing, the termination of breast or bottle feeding, and the acceptance of new foods. In these and other ways, infants can be viewed as objects of socialization, yet they also function as socializers. Even as the behavior of a baby is being modified by interactions with people and the environment, the baby is causing others to change their behav­ior patterns. He or she converts adults into moth­ers and fathers, who, in turn, assist the baby in progressing into childhood (Rheingold, 1969).

As both Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead noted, the development of the self is a critical aspect of the early years of one's life. In the United States, such social development in­cludes exposure to cultural assumptions regard­ing sex differences. The term gender roles refer to expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. For example, "toughness" has been traditionally seen as masculine—and desirable only in men—while "tenderness" has been viewed as feminine. As we will see in Chapter 10, other cultures do not nec­essarily assign these qualities to each gender in the way that American culture does.

As the primary agents of childhood socializa­tion, parents play a critical role in guiding chil­dren into those gender roles deemed appropriate in a society. Other adults, older siblings, the mass media, and religious and educational institutions also have noticeable impact on a child's socializa­tion into feminine and masculine norms. A cul­ture may require that one sex or the other take primary responsibility for socialization of chil­dren, economic support of the family, or reli­gious or intellectual leadership.

Psychologist Shirley Weitz (1977:60-110) has suggested that differential treatment of children by adults is an influential aspect of gender-role socialization. Let us consider a hypothetical ex­ample of differential treatment of children which begins in the family. Ron and Louise are twins who both show an unusual interest in science at an early age. For his birthdays, Ron is given chemistry sets, telescopes, microscopes, and the like; however, despite asking for similar gifts, Louise is given miniature dollhouses, beautiful dresses, and dancing lessons.

When the twins are in junior high school, teachers take note of Ron's love for science. They encourage him to do special projects, to help with their laboratory work, and to join the science club. Louise is given no such encouragement; in fact, one teacher considers her fascination with astronomy "strange" for a girl. By the twins' high school years, Ron is well known as a "science whiz." The guidance counselor suggests that he attend a college with a strong science program in order to achieve his goal of becoming a biologist. Louise has realized that she would like to become an astronomer, but the counselor and her parents pressure her into preparing for a career as an early childhood teacher—a career which they see as more suitable for a woman.

During their college years, Ron and Louise might develop self-images as "scientist" and "teacher," respectively. On the other hand, Lou­ise might get to college, switch her major, and become an astronomer despite everyone's opposi­tion. Neither of these young people is a passive actor who will inevitably follow the traditional gender roles of American society. Yet it can be extremely difficult to pursue a career, or any other type of life choice, if one's parents, teach­ers, and the society as a whole seem to be telling you that you are unmasculine or unfeminine for doing so. Without question, differential socializa­tion has a powerful impact on the development of American females and males.

Like other elements of culture, socialization patterns are not fixed. There has, for example, been a sustained challenge to traditional Ameri­can gender-role socialization in the last 15 years, owing in good part to the efforts of the feminist movement (see Chapter 10). Nevertheless, de­spite such changes, children growing up in the 1980s are hardly free of traditional gender roles. As Letty Cottin Pogrebin (1981:380), a founder and editor of Ms. Magazine, wondered, how many parents would move a 6-year-old girl's toy chest into the room of their 6-year-old boy with confidence that he would enjoy its contents?

Interactionists remind us that socialization con­cerning not only masculinity and femininity, but also marriage and parenthood, begins in child­hood as a part of family life. Children observe their parents as they express affection, deal with finances, quarrel, complain about in-laws, and so forth. This represents an informal process of an­ticipatory socialization. The child develops a ten­tative model of what being married and being a parent are like.

As noted earlier, children function within the family as agents of socialization themselves. The term reverse socialization refers to the process whereby people normally being socialized are at the same time socializing their socializers. For example, young people may affect the way their parents (and other adults) dress, eat, and even think. Sociologist John Peters (1985) studied re­verse socialization by surveying the parents of his college students in Canada. Peters found that these parents had been influenced by their chil­dren in such areas as sports, politics; clothing, physical appearance, and sexuality (see also Thorne, 1987:95). Anthropologist Margaret Mead (1970:65-91) has suggested that reverse socialization is greatest in societies undergoing rapid social change; in such societies, the young socialize the old to new customs and values.

School

Like the family, schools have an explicit mandate to socialize Americans—and especially children— into the norms and values of our culture. As con­flict theorists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976) have observed, American schools foster competition through built-in systems of reward and punishment, such as grades and evaluations by teachers. Consequently, a child who is working intently to learn a new skill can nevertheless come to feel stupid and unsuccessful. However, as the self matures, children become capable of increas­ingly realistic assessments of their intellectual, physical, and social abilities.

Functionalists point out that, as agents of so­cialization, schools fulfill the function of teaching recruits the values and customs of the larger soci­ety. Conflict theorists concur with this observa­tion, but add that schools can reinforce the divis­ive aspects of society, especially those of social class. For example, American higher education is quite costly despite the existence of financial aid programs. Students from affluent backgrounds thus have an advantage in gaining access to uni­versities and professional training. At the same time, less affluent young people may never re­ceive the preparation that would qualify them for our society's best-paying and most prestigious jobs. The contrast between the functionalist and conflict views of education will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 16.

In teaching students the values and customs of the larger society, American schools have tradi­tionally socialized children into conventional gen­der roles. Professors of education Myra Sadker and David Sadker (1985:54) note that "although many believe that classroom sexism disappeared in the early '70s, it hasn't." They headed a three-year study in which field researchers observed students in more than 100 fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade classes in four states and the District of Columbia. The researchers found that teach­ers commonly engage in differential treatment of students based on gender. Teachers praise boys more than girls and offer boys more academic assistance. In addition, they reward boys for aca­demic assertiveness (for example, calling out answers without raising their hands) while reprimanding girls for similar behavior.

Peer Group

As a child grows older, the family becomes some­what less important in his or her social develop­ment. Instead, peer groups increasingly assume the role of George Herbert Mead's significant others. Within the peer group, young people as­sociate with others who are approximately their own age and who often enjoy a similar social sta­tus. For example, in her study of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade girls, sociologist Donna Eder (1985) observed that, at any time, most girls inter­act primarily with members of a single peer group. While each group's composition may change over the three-year period, it is generally a select few peers who are important to girls during this developmental period.

Peer groups, such as friendship cliques, youth gangs, and special-interest clubs, frequently assist adolescents in gaining some degree of independence from parents and other authority Figures. If all of one's friends have successfully battled for the right to stay out until midnight on a Saturday night, it may seem essential to fight for the same privilege. Peer groups also provide for anticipatory sociali­zation into new roles that the young person will later assume.

Teenagers imitate their friends in part because the peer group maintains a meaningful system of rewards and punishments. The group may en­courage a young person to follow pursuits that society considers admirable, as in a school club engaged in volunteer work in hospitals and nurs­ing homes. On the other hand, the group may encourage someone to violate the culture's norms and values by driving recklessly, shoplifting, en­gaging in acts of vandalism, and the like.

Peer groups serve a valuable function by assist­ing the transition to adult responsibilities. At home, parents tend to dominate; at school, the teenager must contend with teachers and admin­istrators. But, within the peer group, each mem­ber can assert himself or herself in a way that may not be possible elsewhere. Nevertheless, almost all adolescents in our culture remain economi­cally dependent on their parents, and most are emotionally dependent as well.

Mass Media

Inthe last 75 years, such technological innova­tions as radio, motion pictures, and television have become important agents of socialization. Television, in particular, is a critical force in the socialization of American children. Many parents allow the television set to become a child's favorite playmate; consequently, children in our society typically watch over three hours of television per day. Remarkably, between the ages of 6 and 18, the average young person spends more time watching the "tube" (15,000 to 16,000 hours) than working in school (13,000 hours). Apart from sleeping, watching television is the most time-consuming activity of young Americans.

In contrast to other agents of socialization dis­cussed earlier—such as family members, peers, and schools—television has certain distinctive characteristics. It permits imitation and role play­ing but does not encourage more complex forms of learning. Watching television is, above all,a passive experience; one sits back and waits to be entertained. Urie Bronfenbrenner (1970), among others, has expressed concern about the "insidious influence" of television in encouraging children to forsake human interaction for passive viewing.

Critics of television are further alarmed by the programming that children view as they sit for hours in front of a television set. It is generally agreed that children (as well as adults) are ex­posed to a great deal of violence on television. On Saturday morning cartoon programs, there is a violent act presented every two minutes. By the time of high school graduation, a young person has witnessed some 18,000 fictional murders on television. Can watching so much violence have a numbing effect on one's sensibilities and moral values? Experiments document that children do tend to become more aggressive and hyperactive after viewing a violent sequence on television. Unfortunately, such studies measure only brief exposure; there are no conclusive data on the impact of television violence after weeks, months, and literally years of viewing.

Even critics of the medium generally concede that television is not always a negative socializing influence. Creative programming such as Sesame Street can assist children in developing basic skills essential for schooling. In addition, television programs and even commercials expose young people to lifestyles and cultures of which they are unaware. This entails not only American children in general learning about life in "faraway lands," but also inner-city children learning about the lives of farm children and vice versa.

Clearly, television is a powerful agent of sociali­zation in the United States. Parents may need to monitor this aspect of a child's environment just as carefully as they evaluate teachers, playmates, and baby-sitters (Huesmann and Malamuth, 1986; Meyrowitz, 1985).

Workplace

A fundamental aspect of human socialization in­volves learning to behave appropriately within an occupation. In the United States, working full time serves to confirm adult status; it is an indica­tion to all that one has passed out of adolescence. In a sense, socialization into an occupation can represent both a harsh reality ("I have to work in order to buy food and pay the rent") and the real­ization of an ambition ("I've always wanted to be an airline pilot") (W. Moore, 1968:862).

Occupational socialization cannot be separated from the socialization experiences that occur during childhood and adolescence. We are most fully exposed to occupational roles through observing the work of our parents, of people whom we meet while they are performing their duties (doctors, firefighters, etc.), and of people portrayed in the media (presidents, professional athletes, and so forth). These observations, along with the subtle messages we receive within a culture, help to shape—and often limit—the type of work we may consider.

Wilbert Moore (1968:871-880) has divided occupational socialization into four phases. The first phase is career choice, which involves selection of academic or vocational training appropriate for the desired job. If one hopes to become a phy­sician, one must take certain courses, such as biol­ogy and chemistry, which are required of appli­cants to medical school. If one's goal is to become a violin maker, it will be useful to work as an ap­prentice for an expert practicing that craft.

The next phase identified by Moore is anticipa­tory socialization, which may last only a few months or extend for a period of years. Some American children "inherit" their occupations because their parents run farms or "ma and pa" stores. In Box 4-2, we saw an example of occupational inherit­ance in the case of Dari, the son of Choto Nath, a snaker. In a sense, these young people are ex­periencing anticipatory socialization throughout childhood and adolescence as they observe their parents at work. In addition, certain individuals decide on occupational goals at relatively early ages and never waver from their choices. A young woman or man may resolve to become a dancer at the age of 11 or 12; the entire adoles­cent period may focus on training for that future. The third phase of occupational socialization— conditioning and commitment —occurs while one ac­tually occupies the work-related role. Conditioning consists of reluctantly adjusting to the more un­pleasant aspects of one's job. Most people find that the novelty of a new daily schedule quickly wears off and then realize that parts of the work experience are rather tedious. Moore uses the term commitment to refer to the enthusiastic acceptance of pleasurable duties that comes as the recruit identifies the positive tasks of an occupation.

In Moore's view, if a job proves to be satisfac­tory, the person will enter a fourth stage of social­ization, which he calls continuous commitment. At this point, the job becomes an indistinguishable part of the person's self-identity. Violation of proper conduct becomes unthinkable. A person may choose to join professional associations, un­ions, or other groups which represent his or her occupation in the larger society.

Occupational socialization can be most intense immediately after one makes the transition from school to the job, but it continues through one's work history. Technological advances may alter the requirements of the position and necessitate some degree of resocialization. Thus, after years of working at typewriters, secretaries may find themselves adjusting to sophisticated word-processing equipment. In addition, many Ameri­cans change occupations, employers, or places of work during their adult years. Therefore, occu­pational socialization continues throughout a per­son's years in the labor market (Mortimer and Simmons, 1978:440-441; see also Becker et al., 1961; Ritzer, 1977).

SUMMARY

Socialization is the process whereby people learn the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. This chapter exam­ines the role of socialization in human development; the way in which people develop perceptions, feelings, and beliefs about themselves; and the lifelong nature of the socialization process.

1 Socialization affects the overall cultural practices of a society, and it also shapes the images that we hold of ourselves.

2 It is an oversimplification to draw a sharp line be­tween the physical and social aspects of human devel­opment.

3 In the early 1900s, Charles Horton Cooley ad­vanced the belief that we learn who we are by interact­ing with others.

4 George Herbert Mead is best known for his theory of the self. He proposed that as people mature, their selves begin to reflect their concern about reactions from others.

5 Erving Goffman has shown that many of our daily activities involve attempts to convey distinct impres­sions of who we are.

6 On the basis of research involving American men, psychologist Daniel J. Levinson identified three major transitional periods which occur primarily after adoles­cence: the early-adult transition, the midlife transition, and the late-adult transition.

7 While Levinson's conclusions are relevant for some women, expectations at different stages of sociali­zation are not necessarily the same for men and women.

8 The family is the most important agent of sociali­zation in the United States, especially for children.

9 As the primary agents of socialization, parents play a critical role in guiding children into those gen­der roles deemed appropriate in a society.

10 Like the family, schools have an explicit mandate to socialize Americans—and especially children—into the norms and values of our culture.

11 Peer groups frequently assist adolescents in gain­ing some degree of independence from parents and other authority figures.

Television has been criticized as an agent of socialization because it encourages children to forsake human interaction for passive viewing.

13 We are most fully exposed to occupational roles through observing the work of our parents, of people whom we meet while they are performing their duties, and of people portrayed in the media.

14 As more and more mothers of young children have entered the American labor market, the demand for day care has increased dramatically.

KEY TERMS

Anticipatory socialization Processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, oc­cupations, and social relationships, (page 103)

Degradation ceremony An aspect of the socialization process within total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. (106)

Dramaturgical approach A view of social interaction, popularized by Erving Goffman, under which peo­ple are examined as if they were theatrical perform­ers. (98)

Face-work A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to people's efforts to maintain the proper image and avoid embarrassment in public. (98)

Gender roles Expectations regarding the proper be­havior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. (107)

Generalized others A term used by George Herbert Mead to refer to the child's awareness of the atti­tudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole. (98)

Impression management A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to the altering of the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. (98)

Looking-glass self A phrase used by Charles Horton Cooley to emphasize that the self is the product of our social interactions with others. (96)

Midlife crisis A stressful period of self-evaluation, often occurring between the ages of 35 and 50, in which a person realizes that he or she has not achieved certain personal goals and aspirations and that time is running out. (102)

Personality In everyday speech, a person's typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and be­havior. (91)

Resocialization The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life. (103)

Reverse socialization The process whereby people normally being socialized are at the same time social­izing their socializers. (108)

Rites of passage Rituals marking the symbolic transi­tion from one social position to another. (101)

Role taking The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another, thereby enabling one to re­spond from that imagined viewpoint. (97)

Self According to George Herbert Mead, the sum total of people's conscious perception of their iden­tity as distinct from others. (98)

Significant others A term used by George Herbert Mead to refer to those individuals who are most im­portant in the development of the self, such as par­ents, friends, and teachers. (98)

Socialization The process whereby people learn the altitudes, values, and actions appropriate to individ­uals as members of a particular culture. (90)

Sociobiology The systematic study of the biological bases of social behavior. (95)

Studied nonobservance A term used by Erving Goff-man to refer to polite behavior intended to allow sav­ing face. (98)

Symbols The gestures, objects, and language which form the basis of human communication. (97)

Total institutions A term coined by Erving Goffman to refer to institutions which regulate all aspects of a person's life under a single authority, such as pris­ons, the military, mental hospitals, and convents. (106)

♦ ADDITIONAL READINGS

Baruch, Grace, Rosalind Barnett, and Caryl Rivers. Life Piints: New Patterns of Love and Work for Today's Women. New York: New American Library, 1983. Based on a sample of 238 women ages 35 to 55, this study provides insight into the socialization process of women in the United States.

Bronfenbrenncr, Urie. Two Worlds of Childhood: U.S. and U.S.S.R. New York: Russell Sage, 1970. The noted psychologist offers insight into the coming of age in these societies and focuses particularly on the role of preschool programs.

Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday 1959. Goffman demon­strates his interactionist theory that the self is man­aged in everyday situations in much the same way that a theatrical performer carries out a stage role.

Harlow, Harry F. Learning to Love. New York: Ballantine, 1971. This heavily illustrated book describes the landmark studies of behavior conducted at the Pri­mate Research Center at the University of Wiscon­sin.

Hendry, Joy. Becoming Japanese: The World of the Pre-School Child. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986. Illustrated with photographs, Hendry's book looks at child rearing by Japanese mothers and other caregivers, including teachers at kindergartens and day nurseries.

Kitcher, Philip. Vaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human Nature. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985. A presentation of sociobiology with a detailed critique of its tenets.

Levinson, Daniel. The Seasons of a Man's Life. New York: Knopf, 1978. This well-received book outlines the stages of life for men in the United States.

Rose, Peter I. (ed.). Socialization and the Life Cycle. New York: St. Martin's, 1979. A variety of articles exam­ine the process of socialization from birth to death and bereavement.

Sheehy, Gail. Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life. New York: Dutton, 1976. A best-seller when it ap­peared, this book presents Sheehy's "sexual dia­mond" concept. In her view, a man and a woman feel the closest bonds to each other at the age of 18 and in later life but are farthest apart in their late thirties and forties.

Journals

Among the journals that deal with socialization issues are Adolescence (founded in 1966), Journal of Personal­ity and Social Psychology (1965), and Young Children (1945).

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