Socialization and culture are the shared values, beliefs, and norms of a specific group of people that allow them to integrate into society. What would the ideal society look like? The ideal society may described in the imagination of thoughts of all individuals. One key possessed by a multicultural society can be valuing individuality no matter differences. Allowing all to be equally treated with respect and opportunity. Three components which will be discussed in relation to society are key components, theory, and people. Key components address culture and socialization and how values, norms, and beliefs apply. Cultural psychologists and social anthropologist believe culture affects personality as well as gender differences. Patterns …show more content…
The idea of childhood experiences was studied in 1874 by a scientist named Ernst van Brucke whose key concept is known as the “psychodynamic perspective,” which links human behavior to feelings and emotions and their relation to childhood experiences. Another association to childhood or past experiences and the way they shape the feelings of thought and behavior comes from “Freuds theory of psychoanalysis,” in his assumption that our mental life is “unconscious” (courses.lumenlearning.com). From the “behavioral perspective,” our behaviors occur through our experiences and the environment. Norms are considered behavior which is acceptable in a certain group. What may be acceptable in one culture may be the complete opposite of another. Socialization is the process that an individual acquires to conform to norms which can be language, social skills, and values (businessdictionary.com). Therefore, the things that are important in a culture are based on values, beliefs and norms which shape our behaviors in society. The development of culture and socialization can be looked at through three basic theories within sociology, which are conflict, functionalism and symbolic interactionism. However, Cooley’s three part theory of the looking-glass and Mead’s theory of formation of self also take shape in culture …show more content…
An example of social conflict might be a pyramid of hierarchy which shows students with degrees, the power struggle might be when a student gets chosen for a job over another student based on a better college. Structural Functionalism can be thought of an organism with interlocking systems (circulatory, blood, bones) all systems are structured and give meaning to the whole and sometimes unexpected things can happen. Finally the last, symbolic interaction can be seen as an American flag which symbolically has shared meaning to society. Some have a sense of the same meaning such as pride, and nationalism, while others may have different thoughts and meanings among people’s patterns in interactions (Davis, 2013). Charles Cooley’s concept of the looking glass reveals the steps of how we see ourselves based on perceptions of how others perceive us. The idea is useful to recognize how the self can grow and learn from perceptions of others. The structure of the looking glass follows three steps. The first is based on, how we appear to others. Second is our reactions of how others view us, and thirdly a person recognizes and evaluates oneself based on thoughts of others. This theory connects with socialization and culture as connections are framed
The effects of cultural traditions and institutions are primary factors influences that determine the ideologies of gender and sexuality within societal sects. Authors have explored the theology of the various origins of these elements within society through the science fiction genre and how these elements lead to discrimination and isolation. Authors’ concepts of social structures that formed perceptions of gender and sexuality are created by desensitizing sex through a systematizing of sexual desires and actions.Western culture and society has inserted traditionally social policy in regard to gender and sexuality through religious institutions, while propagating xenophobia
“In sociology, a theory is the framework for analysis that outlines what to focus on and provides predictions about logical outcomes within the framework.” (Durkin & Carrothers, 2015, Ch. 1.3, para 1) Sociologists have been trying to create a single theory to give explanations and understandings towards social and human behavior. However, this has only caused more theoretical perspectives to sprout and has led to the creation of three main theoretical perspectives within sociology. These perspectives are used to explain the social behavior and phenomena that are experienced and shown by humans. The perspectives are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. This paper will focus on conflict theory and the influence that Karl
Sociocultural psychology began with Lev Vygotsky in 1931 in dealing with how people react to their environments, pressures, and influences that surround the individual in everyday life. This is a slowly expanding approach that is working towards treating psychological diseases such as obsessive compulsive disorder, also commonly known as OCD.Social psychology focuses mainly on how people react to their surroundings and others in society. Many psychologists go about treating illnesses, such as OCD and eating disorders, by placing people into situations where they have to confront their problems. Many psychologists such as Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram performed experiments to observe how people react to surroundings and pressures.
Using Cooley's Looking Glass, the theory that we develop our self by interacting with others, I am able to determine my social location and analyze why. I will discuss several different sociological factors that have influenced me and created this person.
Over time, three main theories have developed to explain social phenomena. While each theory has significant differences, there are points of each one that can help shed light on how society works. While some theories attempt to explain our social reality based on how each part of a society works together, other theories focus on the conflicts in the society, or the interaction between individuals in a society (Kendall, 23). The three classic theories of sociology include the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and symbolic interactionist perspective.
I. Summary Symbolic interactionism is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. This perspective has a long intellectual history, beginning with the German sociologist and economist, Max Weber and the American philosophers, George H. Mead and Charles Horton Cooley, all of which emphasized the subjective meaning of human behavior, the social process, and pragmatism. According to this theory, people inhabit a world that is in large part socially constructed. In particular, the meaning of objects, events, and behaviors comes from the interpretation people give them, and interpretations vary from one group to another. Cooley, in his theory of a "looking glass self," argued that the way we think about ourselves is particularly apt to be a reflection of other people's appraisals (or more accurately, our imagining of other people's appraisals) and that our self-concepts are built up in the intimate groups that he called "primary groups."
Culture and socialisation are the two major entities that help shape our identity. The culture one is raised in as a child, and the people we come into contact with in our daily lives, can all be classified as encounters we have with socialisation. As young children who enter this world, we imitate those close to us and behaviours begin to form. It is through this imitation we also discover to express our emotions. These characteristics are engrained in us from a young age and are the major basic building blocks to help us develop our individual identities.
The three (3) major sociological theories include: symbolism (which relates to the use of symbols and/ or face to face interactions); functionalism (which relates to matters that are associated with the society and how these variables are functional to one another) and conflict theory (which related to conflicts that are associated with the competition for limited resources and how the wealth people deprive the poor and/ or weak people the right to access these resources for their needs) (Mooney et al., 2010).
Culture constitutes common characteristics of a particular group of people or a society such as behaviors, beliefs, objects, and any other characteristics of such a people. It is thus through culture, that groups of people define their unique characteristics that conform to their shared values and contribute towards building the society as sociologist suggests. Therefore, culture includes different societal aspects such as the customs, language, norms, values, tools, rules, products, technologies, morals, institutions, and organizations. The terms organizations and institutions will thus refer to the set of rules associated with specific activities within the society. For instance, healthcare, education, security, family, religion, and work
In an effort to understand childhood and adulthood, or even other aspects of man’s life, a lot of aspects, tools and methods can be used. Amongst these are cultural institutions which form core aspects throughout someone’s life either consciously or unconsciously. These are usually elements within a culture which are supposed to be imperative or are customarily valued by the members as their identity (Cicchetti & Cohen, 1995).
While functionalist and conflict perspectives are represented through societal cohesiveness and societal engagement symbolic interactionism shows the signifigance of it all. Society is symbolic interactionism. It's emphasizes of how society mingles and intertwines within itself through conflict and resloution every moment of everyday. Without interaction we would all be hermits or living in underground bunkers fading away. It would all become nothingness and it's history would be a distant
Three major Sociological models view and analyze the social behaviors of human beings in society. These models are structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Structural Functionalism views society as a complicated system with various parts that are used to keep society unified. Conflict theory sees society, as a place where conflict is inherent, and people will always compete for resources and power. Symbolic interactionism views society as a place where interactions among people guide the way in which society is governed. Each of these three models describes and analyzes the topic of education. While structural functionalism only looks at the positive side of education, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism
Culture is a society’s set of unique patterns of behaviors and beliefs (Rohall, D. E., Milkie, M. A., & Lucas, J. W. (2014). Social Psychology Sociological Perspectives (3rd ed.). NJ: Pearson). Culture can be identified in many ways, it can be identified by your family, the way you feel about certain things, your decision making, and so forth. For example, I was raised in a Mexican and sort of religious household so for me, my values and beliefs differ from other peoples’. My Mexican culture taught me to value our hard work and appreciate what we have in our lives. With that belief I grew up always appreciating what I had and even what I didn’t have at times. Another concept my culture taught me was to always respect my elders and show them manners regardless of their race,
Hofstede claimed there are five important dimensions seen in each culture, which include Power Distance Index, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, and Long-Term Orientation. The one I find most important is Individualism, which is the degree into which individuals are integrated in the group (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/). Individualism has an impact on whether a culture is high-context, or emphasizes the cultural context of a message, or low-context, emphasizes the explicit content (Rothwell, 2010). With individualism, you can either have a collectivistic or individualistic society.
Different cultures perceive and interpret the world around them in different ways and they fall into two separate categories, independent construal of self and interdependent construal of self. Depending on which of the categories one was born in, they will socialize differently and