UCSP - 3 Becoming a member of society

Becoming a member of society

1. Enculturation/Socialization

a. Identity formation (identities, disciplines, and aspirations)

b. Norms and values

c. Statuses and roles (e.g. age, gender)

2. Conformity and deviance

a. Social control (gossip, socialostracism, laws and punishments)

b. Forms of deviance (ritualism, retreatism, rebellion, and innovation)

3. Human dignity, rights, and the common good

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“THE HUMAN MIND AT BIRTH IS NOTHING BUT A BLANK STATE, OR TABULA RASA” - JOHN LOCKE

SOCIALIZATION 

• Lifelong process of social interaction through which people acquire their identities and necessary survival skills in society.

 • It is considered as the central process of social life and is also a process of member recruitment and replacement.

 • Enables the person to gradually become a self – aware and knowledgeable human being, and learn the ways, values, rules, and culture of his / her society.

 • Greatly influenced by the context of his /her respective society, and the social groups that he/she interact

Three Goals of Socialization 

It teaches impulse control and helps individuals develop a conscience.
It teaches individuals how to prepare for and perform certain social roles
It cultivates shared sources of meaning and value

ENCULTURATION

 • Process of being socialized into a specific culture. Individuals learn cultural symbols, norms, values, and language by observing and interacting with family, friends, and the rest of society.

The ‘self’ is a sociological concept.

FERAL CHILD 

George Herbert Mead 

He is regarded as one of the founders of social psychology and of what has come to be referred to as the Chicago sociological tradition.

This process is characterized by Mead as the "I" and the "me. " The "me" is the social self and the "I" is the response to the "me. " In other words, the "I" is the response of an individual to the attitudes of others, while the "me" is the organized set of attitudes of others which an individual assumes.

Four-stage process of self-development

Imitation 

the action of using someone or something as a model.

Play 

• The child takes different roles he/she observes in “adult” society and plays them out to gain an understanding of the different social roles.

 • The child learns to become both subject and object and begins to become able to build a self

Game 

• The child must take the role of everyone else involved in the game. 

• Organizations begin and definite personalities start to emerge

“The Generalized Other” 

• The individual understands what kind of behavior is expected or appropriate in different social settings

 The development of an individual’s distinct personality, which is regarded as a persisting entity in a particular stage of life by which a person is recognized or known Identity FormationIdentity FormationIdentity Formation

SELF CONCEPT

• The sum of a being’s knowledge and understanding of his/herself.

 • Components: – Physical – Psychological – Social attributes

Cultural Identity 

• It is one’s feeling of identity or affiliation with a group or culture.

Ethnic Identity 

• The Identification with a certain ethnicity, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry

National Identity 

Is an ethical and philosophical concept whereby all humans divided into groups called nation.

Religious Identity 

• Is the set of beliefs and practices generally held by an individual involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals

Norms and Values

Norms 

• Is a rule that guides the behavior of members of a society or group.

Things that exist in society independent of individuals and that shape our thoughts and behavior.

 • Refers to that which conforms to norms

 • The act of abiding rules.

Normative 

• Refers to what we perceive as normal, or what we think should be normal, regardless of whether it actually is 

• Refers to beliefs that are expressed as directives or value of the judgment

• The process of socialization is guided by norms and taught to us by those around us.

Social Sanction “We will face sanctions if we break them”

Proscriptive Prescriptive

Values 

• Culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good, and beautiful and that serve as broad guidelines for social living.

Aspects of the sociological concept of value 

• Values exist at different levels of generality of abstraction 

• Values tend to be hierarchically arranged 

• Values are explicit and implicit in varying degrees 

• Values often are in conflict with one another

Filipino Values

Status and Roles 

• Are important concepts in socialization because the behavior of young members of society is controlled by assigning them a certain status which they will enact. 

• “We can deal with anyone, we need to know who the person is”

Status 

• Position in a social system 

• Refers to a social position that a person holds. 

• Can be ascribed or achieved, given or accomplished, respectively

Ascribed status 

• A social position receives at birth or takes on involuntarily later in life.

Achieved Status 

• Social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal identity and effort.

Role 

• Refers to the behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status 

• A person who holds status and perform a role

Role Strain 

• Conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses. 

• Results from the competing demands of two or more roles that vie for our time and energy.

Role Manipulation 

• Through impression, management has to bear on the formation of a person’s self-identity.

Impression Management 

• It is a concept to be taken very seriously. It has the power and influence to create a favorable public opinion of a particular person. 

• It can break or repair a damaged persona

Relation between Conformity, Deviance and Social Control!

Robert K. Merton - structural strain theory

Conformity involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those goals.

Deviance is a behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expecta­tions or social norms of a group or society. Alcoholics, gamblers, sex deviants, drug addicts or latecomers in the class are all classified as deviants or deviant acts.

• FORMS OF DEVIANCE
• Ritualism is a concept developed by American sociologist Robert K. Merton as a part of his structural strain theory. It refers to the common practice of going through the motions of daily life even though one does not accept the goals or values that align with those practices.
• Retreatism is the attitude of being resigned to the abandonment of an original goal or the means of attaining it (as in political or cultural matters)
• Rebellion is a special case wherein the individual rejects both the cultural goals and traditional means of achieving them but actively attempts to replace both elements of the society with different goals and means.
• Innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of the traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals. For example, a member of the Mafia values wealth but employs alternative means of attaining his wealth; in this example, the Mafia member’s means would be deviant.

Social Control involves teaching, persuading, and or forcing members and non-members of a group to comply with and not deviate from its norms and expectations.

The idea of criminal behaviors are learned; criminals are considered conformists when they tend to conform to the groups in which they associate themselves.

In other words, one may learn deviant behavior based on their association.

• Gossip for social control in natural and artificial societies. In this work, we propose a theory of gossip as a means for social control. Exercising social control roughly means to isolate and to punish cheaters.

• Social Ostracism increases social susceptibility. Ostracism, the act of ignoring and excluding, is a universally applied tactic of social control. Individuals who detect ostracism often change their behaviors to be readmitted into the group, even if it means becoming excessively socially susceptible to influence

• Law. Social control entails rules of behavior that should be followed by the members of society. Some of the rules of conduct fall into the realm of good manners as the culture defines them. Other rules of conduct are not optional and are enforced by-laws

• Reward and Punishment, Informal controls reward or punish acceptable or unacceptable behavior (i.e., deviance) and are varied from individual to individual, group to group, and society to society. For example, at a Women's Institute meeting, a disapproving look might convey the message that it is inappropriate to flirt with the minister. In a criminal gang, on the other hand, a stronger sanction applies in the case of someone threatening to inform the police of illegal activity.
  
  Social control by the use of reward is known as positive reinforcement. In society and the laws and regulations implemented by the government tend to focus on punishment or enforcing negative sanctions to act as a deterrent as a means of social control.

Human Dignity refers to an individual or group's sense of self-respect and self-worth, physical and psychological integrity and empowerment.


Bill of Rights
natural rights, civil rights, political rights, economic rights as well as rights of the accused before, during and after trial.

Human rights
Are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status.

Common good, which benefits society as a whole, in contrast to the private good of individuals and sections of society. In effect, the notion of the common good is a denial that society is and should be composed of atomized individuals living in isolation from one another