Questions to think about…
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Is the socialization experience the same for everyone?
What can make it different?
Males and Females
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What are females supposed to be like?
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What are males supposed to be like?
Agents of Socialization
Schools and Peer Groups
Questions to consider…
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Where did you learn the national anthem?
Who taught you about the heroes of the American
Revolution?
Where were you first tested on your knowledge of your
culture?
Like the family, schools have an explicit mandate to
socialize people in the United States-into the norms and
values of our culture.
Socialization in Schools
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In school, children are under the care and supervision of
adults who are not relatives.
For the first time, many children’s relationships with other
people are impersonal.
Rewards and punishments are based on performance
rather than affection
School and socialization
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Schools also teach children the reality of how we
experience time in the real world.
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Bell schedule
Time limit on activities/deadlines
Rules and regulations for almost all activities
Because young people are separate from the adult world
for so many years, young people must depend of one
another for social life.
Hidden Curriculum
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The socialization process in school involves more than
reading, writing, and math.
Underlying the formal goals of school is the hidden
curriculum.
Hidden curriculum: the informal and unofficial aspects
of culture that children are taught in preparation for life.
Does L-S have a hidden curriculum?
Various cultures and school
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Until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the
sixth-grade textbooks used in Iraqi schools concentrated
almost entirely on the military and its values of loyalty,
honor, and sacrifice.
Children were taught that their enemies were Iran,
United States, Israel, and its supporters, and NATO, the
European military alliance.
Conflict theorists and schools
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Schools in this country foster competition
through built-in systems of rewards and
punishment, such as grades and
evaluations by teachers.
A child who is experiencing difficulty
trying to learn a new skill can feel
unsuccessful and stupid.
As the self matures, children become
capable of increasingly realistic
assessments of their intellectual, physical,
and social abilities.
Functionalists and school
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Schools are agents of socialization, that fulfill the function
of teaching children the values and customs of the larger
society.
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Conflict theorists agree, but add that schools can reinforce the
divisive aspects of society, especially those of social class.
For example, higher education in the United States is costly
despite the existence of financial aid programs.
Peer Group
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A child’s peer group is composed of individuals of roughly
the same age and interest.
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The only agency not controlled primarily by adults.
Some examples: play group in the neighborhood, a clique
at school, an after-school club or sports team.
Peer Groups
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Independence from adults is also promoted by the peer
group, because norms of the peer group conflict with
norms of adults.
Children learn to be different from their parents in ways
that help to develop self-sufficiency.
Relationships with the opposite sex is also an opportunity
in peer groups.
Peer Groups
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Develop social flexibility needed in a mobile, rapidly
changing society.
Peer groups have a growing effect of social development
How do peer groups contribute to
socialization?
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In the peer group, young people have opportunity to
engage in give and take relationships.
Conflict, competition, and cooperation in groups is seen.
Children also begin to make their own decisions: new
ways of thinking, behaving, feeling, activities that involve
self expression.