TOPIC 4: SOCIALIZATION

I. SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES: INTERACTION & IMITATION

II. GROWING UP: THE “EARLY ADULTHOOD” PHENOMENON

III. ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION

IV. GENDER SOCIALIZATION

Definition: socialization is the process of social interaction through

which people acquire personality and learn the way of life of their
society

Way of life - culture and roles

Personality - cognitive component

- emotional component

- behavioral component
I. SOCIALIZATION PROCESSES: INTERACTION & IMITATION

(1) The importance of interaction: evidence from studies of deprived

children

a. Rene Spitz and “hospitalism”

Method: compared infants (0-4 months old and again at 8-12 months) in
4 different settings:

- urban, professional families

- New England fishing village

- prison nursery

- foundling home (orphanage)

Calculated “developmental quotient”

What did he find?

Differences between prison nursery and orphanage:

- toys

- visual radius

- radius of locomotion

- personnel

b. Romanian orphans in the 1990s: deprivation and intense foster care

(Bucharest Early Intervention Project, 2001)

Findings:

- may be possible for children to catch up intellectually (language)

and physically (growth)

- emotional development is a problem (“indiscriminate

friendliness”)

- continued attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

- head circumference didn’t increase

(2) Imitation activity during socialization: how children learn roles

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

“Taking the role of the other”--the self is formed through imitation

3 stages in development of socialized self:

- preparatory stage: child imitates without understanding

- play stage: imitates and understands role of “significant

other”(e.g., children play at being parent, doctor, etc.)

- game stage: imitates and understands role of “generalized

other” (children understand rules of game, different
positions, etc.)

Game stage represents socialized self: individual understands goals and

values of community or group to which he/she belongs
II. GROWING UP: THE “EARLY ADULTHOOD” PHENOMENON

What is early adulthood?

How is adulthood defined today compared to the past?

Why is early adulthood so prolonged?

IIII. ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION

(1) Schools and Workplaces

(2) Peer groups

(3) Intense loyalty

(1) Schools: initial organizational socialization

“Kindergarten is an academic boot camp”

- behave as part of a group

- accept the authority of strangers

Workplaces: norms, standards, and expectations

- performance and evaluation

- presentation of self

- dress

- appearance

- language
(2) Peer groups: learning the informal rules

- how hard do we really have to work?

- what is X really looking for?

- how should I really behave, dress, etc.?

Peggy Giordano, “The Wider Circle of Friends in Adolescence,” American

Journal of Sociology, Nov. 1995

Question: what kind of socialization is provided by peers who are not

close friends?

Method: analysis of written messages in 247 junior high and high-school

yearbooks, 1924-93

Findings:

a. 3 unstated rules to these messages

Rule 1: “identity” rule

Rule 2: “social relations” rule

Rule 3: “culture” rule

b. Differences between close friends a nd “the wide r circle”?

Identity:

Social relations:

Culture:
(3) Intense loyalty

Adler and Adler, “Intense Loyalty in Organizations: A Case Study of

College Athletics”

What do they mean by “intense loyalty”?

How is it achieved?

What kinds of organizational characteristics lead to intense loyalty?

IV. GENDER SOCIALIZATION

Two questions:

- How are do children acquire and learn expected “male” and

“female” behaviors in any society?

- What are the consequences?

(1) Male and female roles

Societies have different roles and expectations for men and women:

- division of labor based on gender found in all

societies

- from birth, boys and girls are treated differently

- within peer group, male and female differences are reinforced

- children develop a sense of what is appropriately “masculine”

and “feminine” behavior

What does Lever argue?

(2) Consequences of gender roles

Example: how women balance work and family

a. What do women say they will do?

Mirra Komarovsky: Women are confronted with contradictory

expectations:

- academic/occupational success vs. traditional homemaking

role

Question: assume that you will marry and that your husband will make
enough money so that you will not have to work unless you want to.
Would you prefer:
Komarovsky Intro Soc

Answer 1943 1971 1998

Not to work
or work until
childbirth; 50% 18% 10%
decide later
whether to
return

Quit work
after birth of
child, but 30% 62% 67%
definitely
return

Continue
work with a 20% 20% 23%
minimum of
interruption

Conclusion?
b. What do women actually do?

Evidence from the Harvard and Beyond Study (Goldin and Katz,
“Transitions: Careers and Family Life Cycles of the Educational Elite,”
American Economic Review, Vol. 98, No. 2, 2008)

Data from 3 cohorts of Harvard/Radcliffe grads: 1970, 1980, 1990

Table: employment at 15 years after graduation for Harvard and Beyond

women (note: approx. 60% had grad or prof degree)

% working full time

No children 1 child 2+ children All

Cohort
1970 83.5 54.2 46.4 62.0
1980 80.6 62.4 47.3 63.5
1990 78.8 62.7 41.4 60.3

Education
No grad degree 69.6 50.4 27.8 50.9
Master’s 70.9 44.3 30.2 49.6
MBA 84.4 70.9 40.0 62.4
JD 82.5 64.1 48.5 64.3
MD,DDS, DVM 92.7 80.5 60.4 75.3
PhD 91.5 64.9 57.5 72.4

Note effects of children and education on labor force participation

What about cohort?

Not shown: physicians were the most likely of all the women to have
children, had more children than other members of their cohort, and took
the least amount of time off after having a child