The Process of Socialization Sociology Reference Guide PDF

SOCIOLOGY REFERENCE GUIDE
THE PROCESS OF
SOCIALIZATION
The Editors of Salem Press
SALEM PRESS
Pasadena, California Hackensack, New Jersey
Published by Salem Press

Copyright 2011 by Salem Press
All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any
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or in the public domain.
ISBN: 978-1-42983-488-9
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Indexing Subjects
1. Socialization 2. Sociology
First Edition
Contents
Introduction
Freud & Personality Development
Freuds Structural Model of the Psyche
Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development
Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development
Cooley & the Looking Glass Self
George Meads I & Me
Eriksons Eight Stages of Development
The Mass Media & Socialization
Socialization in Families
Gender Socialization
Gender & Morality
Socialization in Peer Groups
Socialization in Schools
Socialization for Lifelong Learning
Social Exclusion
Social Isolation & Human Development
Resocialization & Total Institutions
Terms & Concepts
Contributors
Index
The Process of Socialization
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Introduction
Socialization is broadly defined as the learning of behaviors, values, and

identities through interpersonal relations. In the field of sociology, socialization is of the utmost importance, as it allows for the exploration of relationships, personal and interpersonal experiences, and the formation of
the self.
The Sociology Reference Guide series is designed to provide a solid foundation for the research of various sociological topics. This volume begins
with a survey of nineteenth-and twentieth-century researchers and their
theories on socialization and the development of personal and interpersonal values. These essays introduce three of the primary areas of influence on socialization (family, gender, and community) before turning to
the negative effects that exclusion and isolation present on a healthy community and sense of self.
Without question, the study of personal and interpersonal relations must
account for the theories of Sigmund Freud, who charted the geography of the
interior and exterior life of humans. Marie Gould and Alexandra Howson
explain the processes and case histories through which Freud examined
human behavior and arrived at his theories of personality development.
Freuds major theories of Id, Superego, and Ego, which are elements of the
unconscious mind, are examined by Cynthia Vejar. Freuds distinction
between conscious and unconscious realms of existence, Vejar explains,
[is] one of his most significant contributions. While Freuds focus was
on infancy, Jean Piaget concentrated on the mental processes of children.
Gould and Howson assert that Piaget veered away from mainstream sociological approaches by emphasizing various stages of development and
emotions. In Goulds Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development, Piagets
research into childrens developmental logic and reasoning is further
examined by way of Lawrence Kohlbergs research and theories.
The following three essays review the works of other dominant figures in
the study of socialization: Charles Horton Cooley, George Mead, and Erik
Erikson. In Sharon Links essay, Meads notion of I and Me, which
diverges from Freuds terminology, is defined in detail as indicators of
personal (I) and interpersonal (me) conceptions of self. Ericksons eight
stages of development, among the most important studies of social psychology, complete this volumes review of major theories in socialization.
Three of the primary areas where socialization occurs are family, gender,
and community. The subsequent essays provide concrete examples of
how socialization is advanced and developed. Families can have a strong
influence on childrens socialization, Gould states, and their influence
may even extend into the lives of their adult children. Jennifer Kretchmar
defines socialization through the study of gender, and she reviews how
gender scholars examine the ways in which our behavior is culturally,
rather than biologically, produced. The other dominant factor that determines the development of self is the everyday encounter with peer groups
outside the home. Peer or school groups serve for many children as the
most dominant influence upon the realization of self and identity. Sharon
Link examines the positive and negative outcomes on different groups
(whether family or peer) as a consequence of lifelong learning.
The final essays approach socialization from a different angle, exploring
how exclusion and isolation have an effect on a sense of self and community. The authors consider how many people experience periods of
marginality from the dominant social relations that surround everyday
life. In some instances, social class and aspects of poverty, Wagner asserts,
often set the conditions for social exclusion. In their two essays, Gould and
Howson provide insight into the consequences of social isolation and the
efficacy of resocialization as remedy.
2
Sociology Reference Guide
This volume provides an introduction to the development of individual

selves and the adoption of shared norms from society, a field of study that
is defined more generally as socialization. Complete bibliographic entries
follow each essay and a list of suggested readings will locate sources for
advanced research in the area of study. A selection of relevant terms and
concepts and an index of common sociological themes and ideas conclude
the volume.
Freud & Personality Development

Marie Gould & Alexandra Howson
Overview
Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning that occurs when
a person interacts with other individuals. It refers to a process through
which individuals learn to become members of society by internalizing
social norms, values and expectations and by learning the appropriate
cognitive, personal, and social skills they need to function as productive
members their societies. Part of the socialization process entails personality development, or the process through which we become who we are and
through which relatively stable characteristics develop, that distinguish
individuals from each other. Many theorists argue that while the socialization process occurs over a persons lifetime, personality development
is dependent on crucial points and relationships that are present during
childhood. While socialization and personality development are connected
to each other, socialization tends to assume a more fluid, potentially alterable concept of self as a reflective, active subject, while personality refers
to a relatively stable concept of an individual as a well defined object accompanied by distinctive traits and characteristics (Marshall et al., 1994).
Sigmund Freud is considered one of the foremost theorists of personality
development. He developed his theories through case histories through
which he observed that human psychological development is a process involving what he referred to as tensions (or polarities, Blatt, 2006) between
4
the need for attachment and relatedness, on the one hand, and, on the
other, individuation and self-definition. The impact of Freuds work on
modern ideas about mind, sexuality and morality is vast but controversial.
Although his work has been enormously influential in the development of
clinical psychotherapy and psychoanalytic theory, his approach has been
subject to intense criticism in relation to its assumptions about gender and
his emphasis on the significance of mothers in personality development.
Sigmund Freud & His Work
An Austrian by birth, Sigmund Freud studied medicine and began

his career as a neurologist. He studied hysteria and learned how to use
hypnosis at the Vienna General Hospital with Joseph Breuer and then with
Jean Charcot at the Salptrire in Paris. In 1886 he returned to Vienna to
set up his own private practice specializing in nervous and brain disorders
(BBC, n.d.). He began treating his patients through hypnosis, but when he
saw that this form of treatment was ineffective he sought an alternative
method. He found that he obtained better results when he encouraged his
patients to talk. In addition, he began an intense analysis of himself and his
dream life (published as The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900). This type
of treatment, or, the talking cure (Ian, 1993) serves as the foundation of
what is known as modern psychoanalysis.
Freud moved from private practice back into academia in 1902 until the
late 1930s. During this period, he developed his theories of personality and
sexual development, based on his clinical observations, and subsequently
began to apply them more generally to art, history and culture (such as
Civilization and its Discontents, published in 1956). His clinical work influenced the development of a group of followers (including Carl Jung) who
subsequently developed his observations and theories concerning personality and psychosexual development (embodied in the International Psychoanalytic Association).
Freud believed that most children developed their personality during their
first five years of life. As he studied his patients in psychoanalysis sessions,
he observed how most of the patients reflected back on childhood experiences. Based on these clinical observations and psychoanalytic sessions, Freud
asserted that the human mind operates on both conscious and unconscious
levels. The conscious mind refers to things we are aware of in the present,
while the unconscious refers to parts of our experience (or mind) that are
beyond immediate awareness (Rathus, Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005).
Id, Ego & Superego
Freuds concept of the mind, or psyche, is divided into three parts: the
id, the ego, and the superego. The id, with which we are born, is the host
for a persons drive for pleasure and gratification and allows infants to
get their basic needs met (e.g. hunger). Between infancy and the age of
three, the child begins to interact with primary others. In Freudian theory,
the primary Other is typically understood to be the mother (Ian, 1993).
This process of intimate interaction generates the development of the ego.
The ego, mediates between the demands of the id and reality of everyday
life. It gets that basic needs might not be satisfied immediately, because
other ids also have needs. By about the age of five, the child develops a
superego, which is responsible for providing the person with an understanding of what is acceptable in society and urges the person to value
moral and ethical decisions. The ego mediates between the id and the
superego and indeed protects the conscious mind from baser sexual and
aggressive urges through defense mechanisms and repression (Rathus,
Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Thus, a healthy ego enables a person to be
rational and logical as well as establish boundaries for the id and superego
(Freud, 1949).
Applications
Freuds Psychosexual Stages of Development
Personality development occurs as a child progressively learns to control

his or her drives. As the child passes through five psychosexual stages
(oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital) the childs id becomes focused on
different erogenous areas, or parts of the body that are responsive to sexual
stimulation (Rathus, Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005).
Freuds five stages of personality development are centered on erogenous
zones and have three key components:
Physical
Psychological
Type of fixation
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A brief summary of Freuds five stages of psychosexual development is as

follows:
Oral Stage (Birth 18 months of age)
During this stage, the child seeks pleasure through oral activities like
nursing, sucking, eating, biting, and chewing. A child may develop an oral
fixation if he or she receives too little or too much oral pleasure. Common
oral fixations in adults are overeating, smoking, drinking, and nail biting.
A child who receives too little much or too little pleasure can develop either
an oral-passive character, a character that is largely passive and dependent
upon others, or an oral-aggressive character, a character that is overly independent and aggressive toward others (Freud, 1949).
Anal Stage (18 months 3 years of age)
During this stage, the child seeks pleasure through the evacuation or retention of body waste. Toilet training plays a large role in this stage, as the
child tries to reconcile his or her pleasure with his or her parents desire
that he or she learn to control his or her bodily functions. The child may
refuse to use the toilet or refuse to evacuate waste altogether. If the child
does not get the proper balance of pleasure, he or she may develop an
anal fixation and become either an anal expulsive character (i.e., one that is
messy, disorganized, and disobedient) or an anal retentive character (i.e.,
one that has a preoccupation with control, cleanliness, and orderliness)
(Freud, 1949).
Phallic Stage (3 5 years of age)
During this stage, the child develops a desire for his or her parent of the
opposite sex. In boys, this desire is called the Oedipus complex; in girls
it is called the Electra complex. According to Freud (1949), boys will be
envious of their fathers and fantasize about a sexual relationship with their
mothers. As they come to realize that women, especially their mothers,
dont have penises, though, they will come to fear their that their fathers
will punish their desires by castrating them. This fear is called castration
anxiety, and it causes boys to repress their desires for their mothers.
Girls desires for their fathers, on the other hand, will cause them to fantasize about having a penis and develop penis envy. According to Freud,
girls never realize their Electra complexes; instead, they live out their
desires for their fathers vicariously by identifying with their mothers.
Children who do not successfully negotiate the phallic stage develop
phallic fixations and a phallic character. One type of phallic character tends
to have low self-regard; the other type tends to be excessively vain (Freud,
1949).
Latency Stage (5 years of age puberty)
During this stage, the childs sexual development comes to a halt (Freud,
1949, p. 23). He or she represses sexual desires and tends to primarily associate with children of the same sex (Freud, 1949).
Genital Stage (adolescence through adulthood)
During this stage, the child becomes capable of forming his or her drive for
pleasure into a mature expression of sexuality and establishing adult relationships with the opposite sex. Because the ego is fully developed at this
stage, the person is capable of accepting adult responsibilities and forming
a family. However, if the individual is fixated on an earlier stage, he or she
may develop psychological problems (Freud, 1949).
Conflict & Anxiety
Each stage engenders certain kinds of conflict that the child attempts to
reconcile with social and familial constraints (Hall, 1999). For instance,
during the phallic stage, Freud believed that it was normal for children to
develop erotic feelings toward the parent of the opposite gender (Rathus,
Nevid & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). However, it is possible for children to not
resolve the conflicts they face, and even if they do resolve these conflicts
they may develop fixations on an erogenous area. According to Freud, a
fixation can continue into adulthood and cause psychological disorders
like neurosis and hysteria. In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality,
Freud (1905) elaborates on these conflicts in relation to women in particular, about which feminist theorists have subsequently challenged him.
Indeed, for Freud there is constant conflict among these three parts. The id
always wants to be satisfied while the ego fights for the need to deal with
reality. The superego attempts to provide the person with a sense of what
is moral and ethical. Freud believed that the conflicts between these three
parts create anxiety, of which he identified three types (Straker, 2008):
Neurotic Anxiety: This occurs when a person believes that he
or she will lose control of the ids desires and be punished for
inappropriate behavior (i.e. children touching their genitals in
public).
Reality Anxiety: This occurs when a person is afraid of events
that may happen in the real world (i.e. being bitten by a snake
when going camping).
Moral Anxiety: This occurs when a person is afraid that he or she
will violate his or her societys moral principles (i.e. killing ones
parents).
When anxiety sets in, the ego attempts to resolve the conflict by using
defense mechanisms. Freud identified and classified number of defense
mechanisms, and his successors identified and classified still more, elaborated in particular by his daughter, Anna Freud (1937):
Repression occurs when a person prevents a thought or memory from
entering the consciousness. An example of repression would be a rape
victim not remembering the details of her rape.
Projection occurs when a person locates his or her own undesirable thoughts
in another person. An example of projection would be a person believing
that his or her supervisor does not like him or her when, in reality, the
person dislikes his or her supervisor.
Rationalization occurs when a person justifies a belief or behavior for
reasons other than the, usually socially or morally unacceptable, reasons
that truly lie behind the belief or behavior. An example of rationalization would be a person who steals from his or her employer and, while
knowing that theft is wrong, argues that his or her theft is justified because
he or she is underpaid.
Regression occurs when a person temporarily reverts back to an earlier developmental stage when faced with stressor, which requires a more mature
response. An example of regression might be a person who sucks his or her

thumb during the funeral service of a loved one.
Viewpoints
Freuds work on personality and psychosexual development has been undoubtedly influential; however, it is also seen as controversial. Although
there are some therapists who continue to use some aspects of Freuds
system, many have modified his approach and revised the types of treatment they use with patients. The theorists who continue to use some
aspects of Freuds work are referred to as Neo-Freudians.
The Neo-Freudians
Four of the most notable neo-Freudians are Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Karen
Horney, and Erik Erikson.
Alfred Adler became a follower of Freud around 1902 and the first president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1910. However, he defected
from the camp in 1911 to start his own group, the Society for Free Psychoanalytic Research (later the Society for Individual Psychology) when he
came to disagree with some of Freuds theories. Today, Alder is best known
for his work on inferiority, parenting, and birth order (Heffner, 2002).
Carl Jung, whom many in the field believed would be Freuds successor,
also defected from Freuds camp as a result of a series of disagreements. In
short, Jung believed that the unconscious comprised more emotions and
thoughts than Freud acknowledged and that these emotions and thoughts
are similar across cultures and age groups. Jung is most famous for developing his observations into a theory of the collective unconscious and for
founding the field of analytic psychology (Heffner, 2002).
Karen Horney was influenced by Freuds theories, but ultimately disagreed
with several key points of his views of sexuality and gender. In the 1930s,
she moved away from Freuds phallocentricity and is credited with developing a critique of Freuds theory of the psychology of women (Humm,
1989). She argued that men suffer from womb envy just as women suffer
from penis envy and that any differences between male and female psychology are created by society and culture rather than biology. Horney is
also known for her work on neurotic personalities (Heffner, 2002).
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Erik Erikson was a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, and he

is credited with being a pioneer in the study of personal and social identity.
Although Erikson considered himself to be a Freudian, many saw him as a
neo-Freudian because, though parts of his theory of personality development were inspired by Freud, other parts were uniquely his own. The basic
premise for his theory is that individuals develop in psychosocial stages
throughout their lifetimes and that each stage is accompanied by a type of
identity crisis. Each crisis directly affects some aspect of the individuals
personality development. The stages begin at birth and continue until the
person dies. Eriksons concept differs from Freuds in that its developmental stages are dissimilar and in that its stages continue throughout a
persons lifetime (Heffner, 2002).
Conclusion
Freuds breadth of work is expansive and his influence on how people think
about themselves and on theories of mind and personality has been vast.
Nonetheless, his work is controversial. Perhaps the most thoroughgoing
critique of Freuds theories of personality and psychosexual development
has come from academic feminists and practicing feminist psychotherapists. For instance, Kate Millet, Germaine Greer, Shulamith Firestone, and
Eva Figes have all been critical of Freuds emphasis on hysteria, infantile
sexuality and gender acquisition. Other critics have questioned whether
Freuds theories are applicable across cultures and whether they adequately explain personality development in relation to the acquisition of gender
(Giddens, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2007). However, even though Freuds
work has been subject to debate and has been hotly challenged in terms
of its theoretical consistency and empirical basis, nonetheless, it remains
a touchstone for both contemporary psychoanalytic research and psychotherapeutic practice. Moreover, the idea of the unconscious as a persistent
and powerful force continues to shape how we collectively think about
everyday life, morality and culture.
Bibliography
Blatt, S.J. (2006). A fundamental polarity in psychoanalysis: Implications for personality
development, psychopathology, and the therapeutic process. Psychoanalytic Inquiry,
26(4), 494-520. Retrieved February 24, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic
Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=
31402754&site=ehost-live.
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British Broadcasting Coorporation (n.d.). Historic Figures. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).

Retrieved 24 February 2009 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/
freud_sigmund.shtml.
DAndrea, M. (1984). The counselor as pacer. Counseling and Human Development, 16,
1-15.
Freud, A. (1967 [1937]). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. Revised Edition.
Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., & Appelbaum, R. (2007). Introduction to sociology. 6th ed. New
York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Hall, C. (1999). A primer of Freudian psychology. New York: Meridian Books.
Heffner, C. (2002). Personality synopsis. Chapter 5: Psychodynamic and neo-Freudian
theories. Personality Theory: An Introduction. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from
AllPsych Online. http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/adler.html
Humm, M. (1989). A dictionary of feminist theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Ian, M. (1993). Remebering the phallic mother. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Marshall, G. et al. (1994). The concise Oxford dictionary of sociology. Oxford:Oxford
University Press.
Rathus, S.A., Nevid, J.S. & Fincherner-Rathus, L. (2005). Human sexuality in a world of
diversity. New York: Pearson.
Rogers, C. (1942). Counseling and psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Straker, D. (2008). Changing minds. Syque Press.
Suggested Reading
Adler, A. (1927). The practice and theory of individual psychology. New York: Harcourt,
Brace.
Bos, H., Sanfort, T., de Bruyn, E., & Hakvoort, E. (2008). Same-sex attraction,
social relationships, psychosocial functioning, and school performance in early
adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 59-68. Retrieved April 13, 2008
from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.
aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=dev-44-1-59&site=ehost-live
Erikson, E. (1995). Childhood and society. New York: Vintage. (Original work published
1950).
Freud, S. (2000). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. New York: Basic Books. (Original
work published 1905).
Freud, S. (1959). Beyond the pleasure principle. New York: Bantam Books. (Original work
published 1920).
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Freud, S. (1962). The ego and the id. New York: W. W. Norton Company. (Original work
published 1923).
Horney, K. (1993). Feminine psychology. New York: W. W. Norton Company. (Original
work published 1922).
Jung, C. (1976). The portable Jung. J. Campbell (Ed.). (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). New York:
Penguin
Rivers, I., Poteat, V., & Noret, N. (2008). Victimization, social support, and psychosocial
functioning among children of same-sex and opposite-sex couples in the United
Kingdom. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 127-134. Retrieved April 13, 2008
from EBSCO Online Database PsycARTICLES. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.
aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=dev-44-1-127&site=ehost-live
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Freuds Structural Model of the Psyche

Cynthia Vejar
Overview
It has been almost 70 years since Sigmund Freuds death, and his legacy
still remains. Today, Freud maintains his status as one of the most influential, significant, and highly revered psychologists and theorists from
whom the world has benefited. Freud innovated and expanded upon
many provocative, intellectual, and resourceful ideologies, which persistently contribute to those in the field of psychology and the lay public
alike, based upon the stimulating and controversial elements that imbue
their existence. Scholars, clinicians, and students oftentimes respond to
the tenets of Freudian (i.e., psychoanalytic or psychodynamic) theory with
impassioned divisiveness. Rarely do we ponder the thoughtful elements
that Freud proposed with indifference or apathy; on the contrary, people
tend to have heated opinions on his theories that are either tremendously
enthusiastic, or abhorrent. During his life (1856-1939), Freud generated a
similar level of controversy, demonstrated in part by the raucous collegial
relationships formulated and terminated with renowned psychologists
such as Carl Jung and Alfred Adler (Donn, 1988; Roazen, 1976).
Although the emphasis of this article surrounds Freudian forces that relate
to the Id, Superego, and Ego (Hollitscher, 1947; Hughes, 1994; Lear, 2005;
Mayer, 2001; Neu, 1991; Schweidson, 2005; Strupp, 1967), as well as the interchange they have with conscious and unconscious dynamics (Gammel14
gaard, 2003; McLoughlin, 1999; Rosenbaum, 2003; Symington, 2006), it is

noteworthy to mention additional contributions that he formulated. Some
of the most impressive theoretical constructs set forth by Freud include:
The Oedipal/Electra Complex which transpires during the
Psychosexual stages of Development (Garcia, 1995; Zucker
& Green, 1992),
Elaboration on neuroses such as anxiety and guilt (Bristol,
2004),
Emphasis on dreams and dream interpretation (Bouchet,
1995; Rodriguez, 2001), and
The conception of clinical terms such as transference and
countertransference (Arnd-Caddigan, 2006; Meszaros,
2004).
Conscious vs. Unconscious
A common visual depiction of the unconscious and conscious relationship

is that of an iceberg: the tip of the iceberg signifies our conscious thinking,
that which is exposed above the surface, and to which we have regular
and easy access. People are conscious, for example, of the daily expectations demanded upon them such as where their place of employment is
located, and the contact information of the friends and family with whom
they intermingle on a daily basis.
The unconscious or hidden portion of the iceberg is an amalgamation
of memories, events, fears, etc. which tend to remain buried throughout a
persons life (Ekstrom, 2004; Jones, 2002; Wildt, 2007). For various reasons,
people conceal troubling information as a protective barrier that preserves
their sense of self. However, the unconscious as a separate entity has a
strong sense of fortitude and expansive memory base, and while it may not
communicate directly with a person consciously, it manifests urges, motivations, and predilections through behavior. Freud believed that by employing specific clinical techniques such as free association (Hoffer, 2006)
that correspond with psychoanalysis, psychologically motivated people
may acquaint themselves with their unconscious domains. For most
people, however, unconscious thoughts surreptitiously emerge through
one of three occurrences:
15
Neurotic behavior,
Parapraxes, and
The act of dreaming (Kahn, 2002).
Neurotic Behavior
Neurotic behavior such as anxiety (Bierman, 2007; Bound, 2004) revolves

around the fears that people possess, of which the origins are often either
mysterious or irrational. For example, Joe might have an unusual fear of
riding as passenger in a car, but is unable to articulate why that is the case.
Perhaps as a young child Joe was privy to unhealthy parental figures, in
which his father was domineering and oppressive and his mother was
submissively compliant to her husbands demands. Joes mother was a
passive passenger in the relationship steered solely by his fathers imperious ways, a situation that Joe seeks to avoid at all cost, both literally and
metaphorically. As demonstrated though this example, the relationship
between the activating event and corresponding behavior may be cryptic
and unrealistic.
Parapraxes
An example of a parapraxes, commonly referred to as the Freudian slip,

(Bate, 2002; Swer, 2004) might occur when a sexually frustrated individual
is randomly asked the time and relays sex oclock instead of six oclock.
Though the person might shamefully blush and repair their mistake,
Freud considered the initial blunder as a manifestation of the unconscious
desire to have a heartier sex life.
Dreams
Freud alleged that dreams were the royal road to the unconscious,
(Liegner, 2003) and emphasized the necessity of dream interpretation as the
cornerstone of therapeutic alliances. Regardless of whether the lay person
proactively pursues to interpret his/her dreams, Freud considered the
dreams that naturally constitute our nocturnal existence as symbolic messengers that extend from our unconscious. To expand upon the previous
example that exemplified the sexually frustrated individual, he/she might
be bombarded with dream imagery that illustrates a lack of sexual expression. Freud believed that elongated dream symbols such as snakes and
16
swords represent male genitalia, and that crevices and/or containers (e.g.,
refrigerators, boxes) represent female genitalia.
Further Insights: Id, Ego & Superego

The Id
The developmental life stage that most closely resembles the nature of the
Id is infancy. The sole motivation that infants seek to fulfill is satisfying
their own essential needs; upon soiling their diapers, or when experiencing
discomfort, infants set off their alarm bells (i.e., cry) to alert their primary
caregivers that a sense of solace and comfort is required. The infant beckons
adults to satiate their needs regardless of what activities those adults were
in the midst of. Additionally, the Id is an inborn phenomenon that is initiated at birth and remains throughout a persons life (Klein, 2006).
The Id parallels the infant by possessing similar temperamental underpinnings and expectations (Levin, 1992). Metaphorically speaking, when
people are placed in unpleasant or compromising positions, the Id is the
component of the personality that stamps its foot in explosive retaliation
and demands that matters are executed to suit its own needs. In an undesirable situation, such as an employee whose request for a raise was denied,
most functionally mature adults would squelch the desire to respond with
unbridled fervor. A normative response that the dejected employee would
exhibit might range from gritting his teeth under the guise of a disingenuous smile, to assertively confronting the supervisors decision-making
process; in either case it is likely that the Id, as a quick-tempered, egocentric, indulgent, and infantile entity, has been censored.
The Pleasure Principle
The Id operates on the pleasure principle, (Solms, 2006) and therefore

seeks immediate gratification at any given point in time. It is devoid of
a proper sense of sophistication and is dismissive of other peoples perspective. The Id discounts time-related sequential patterns such as the
concept of past, present and future, and only operates in the here-andnow (Solms, 2004). During the course of a hypothetical dinner party, the
Id represents the unruly dinner guest who arrives late, demands to be fed
immediately, and during the course of the meal demonstrates poor eti-
17
quette by propping his elbows on the table while devouring his meal with
unrestrained gusto. The Id is an entirely unconscious process (Plaut, 2005),
which makes it difficult for people to tap into its etiological driving forces,
or harness and modify its unpredictable mannerisms.
The Id is a repository for primordial urges, guttural instincts, and emotional desires including those of an aggressive and sexual nature (Collins,
2006). During the course of a heated dispute, people often become frustrated at those with whom they are arguing. Though several factors contribute toward the way in which resolution is established, the Id enters into
the equation as the volatile element that might wish to take the punishment to the most extreme form of retaliation. The Id disregards moral and
legal repercussions and discards the notions of caution and consequence
(Tekpetey, 2006). Likewise, the chemical and inexplicable laws of sexual
attraction cohabit within the jurisdiction of The Id. People are sometimes
puzzled at those to whom they are romantically drawn, which can be
explained through the erratic disposition of the Id. The Id does not recognize logical and identity-oriented constructs that help people navigate
through relational matters such as commitment or sexual orientation.
For example, Jane Doe, a happily married heterosexual woman, might find
herself romantically drawn to other woman, as an instinctual expression
of Id forces.
The Superego
The Superego, on the other hand, is in diametrical opposition to the Id.

Whereas the Id represents untamed impulses and reckless self-serving
pursuits, images that illustrate the Superego can be likened to that of
the police, guardian, watchdog, judge, and supervisor (Alper, Levin, &
Klein, 1964; Milrod, 2002; Velleman, 1999; Wurmser, 2004). The Superego
embodies the moral fiber of human existence by admonishing that which
is ethically reprehensible, and gravitates into a persons life principles that
are upstanding and conscientious. If an uninhibited, inebriated bar patron
served to exemplify the Id, the bouncer responsible for monitoring the
safety and wellbeing of that bars clientele would represent the Superego.
As infants move into childhood, they start becoming mindful of the subtle
and direct cues transmitted from the outside world that help refine their
sense of value development. Cognitively, they are able to discern the cor18
relation between engagement in naughty behavior, and the resulting

reprimands that ensue. The constant influx of signals the child receives
that molds its sense of right and wrong becomes established, and the
birth of the Superego is ignited. This internal process is reinforced as the
child endures a series of punitive consequences (e.g., time-out, verbal
castigation, and corporal punishment) by parents, and during which it
becomes exposed to outside educational, recreational, and social norms
that require him or her to adhere to the rules and regulations established
by teachers, coaches, and other authority figures (Hotchkiss, 2005).
Good, Bad, Right, Wrong
Over time, the external penalties that are imposed upon people by outside
forces are initiated by the individuals, as they internalize the constructs
of good and bad. Whereas a five-year old child is discouraged from
engaging in bad behavior upon receiving a scolding from parental figures,
adults dispense punishment upon themselves. A lingering amount of
outside forces continue to interplay with the adults sense of right and
wrong, such as the driver who is wary of surpassing the speed limit in fear
of receiving a traffic violation. Simultaneously, the existence of ones inner
police department tends to be just as forceful, damning, and serves as a deterrent by allotting severe punishment toward oneself. Ideally, the criteria
on which the Superego executes a verdict for maladaptive behavior should
be fitting, without being excessively disproportionate. In other words,
the punishment should match the crime. Unfortunately, people often
struggle in dispensing equitable penalties, and tend toward being either
remiss or relentlessly brutal. The latter tends to manifest through undue
expressions of guilt and remorse over trivial matters.
Consequences & Unconscious Guilt
A portion of the Superego is conscious, and materializes through the decisions people make (e.g., I choose not to drive intoxicated for fear of inflicting harm upon an innocent party) as well as the consequences people
inflict upon themselves in the throes of careless behavior (e.g., guilt, intentional self-destruction, lowered levels of self-worth). Additionally, a
portion of the Superego often remains beneath the deep recesses of the
psyche and expresses itself behaviorally in the form of unconscious guilt.
Unconscious guilt (Smith, 1999) may reveal itself in a variety of forms, such
as can be seen in a person who inherently undermines his or her sense of
19
self-worth, and therefore thwarts all attempts at evolving into a more fulfilled person. These underlying motivations may be concealed from the
persons conscious realm of thinking, although the behavior often indicates his or her true nature. For example, Bob might consciously strive for
professional success, and initiate the steps toward accomplishing this feat
such as scheduling job interviews that appear to match his qualifications.
However, he continuously finds himself in precarious dilemmas en route
to such consultations such as becoming ill or having automobile mishaps.
According to the premise of Freudian thought, these dilemmas are forces
that he is gravitating into his life as a means of self-sabotage.
Undoubtedly, there are both macro- and micro-oriented factors that contribute toward discerning that which is right and wrong. Cultural
and family norms influence major decisions that individuals grapple with
in terms of establishing virtue and integrity (Howarth, 1980; Wells, 2003).
For example, a couple with a newborn child might deliberate between
having a dual-income household or having a stay-at-home parent serve
as the primary caretaker, which in part might reflect the dictates of their
families-of-origin. Likewise, families and/or cultures that either revere or
reproach the notion of corporal punishment can influence how individual
determinations on such matters are distinguished.
The Ego Ideal
An offshoot of the Superego, termed the ego ideal, (Grotstein, 2004;

Moncayo, 2006; Ragland, 2000) is the ultimate, archetypical person we
strive to become based on idyllic characteristics that we envision that,
through the process of refinement, we can evolve into. Ego ideals tend to
minimize our weaknesses while augmenting our assets, a feat that most
people hope to enact through the process of actualization. The ego ideal of
a budding thespian might be that of a successful Broadway actor, whereas
a person with innate leadership abilities might fantasize about channeling
those skills into the position of a renowned politician. The ego ideal is a subcategory of the Superego because, as the Superego honorably shapes our
behavior, the ego ideal honorably shapes our potential as human beings.
The Ego
The conscious part of the Ego functions to moderate the oppositional forces
of the Id and the Superego, as well as environmental and societal forces. In
20
this regard, the Ego is rational, dependable, linear, and honors time as an
objective measurement. It intellectually analyzes the motivations and ramifications of both the Id and the Superego. The Ego serves as mother hen
to protect perilous or undesirable Id behavior from entering into adverse
territory; likewise, it tempers the powerful forces of the Superego from
spiraling into dogmatic, rigid omniscience.
Jane, a college student studying for a midterm exam might be tempted to
deviate from her studies and attend a party. The two polarities with which
the Ego contends are the Id, which eagerly encourages Jane to abandon her
schoolwork and indulge her extemporaneous needs, and her Superego,
who scornfully rejects such a notion and primly counters that Jane should
commit herself to her scholarly obligations. The Ego has the arduous duty
of reconciling such polar extremes by analyzing the implications of each
option and coming to a satisfactory consensus that will satiate the entertainment needs set forth by the pleasure principle, while eliminating possible
pangs of guilt that might correspond with decadent behavior. Janes Ego
might strike a balance by studying for several hours, and rewarding such
diligence by a brief appearance at the party. Another possibility that Jane
might consider would be devoting the evening toward her academics, and
compensate such exertion with a fun-filled weekend venture.
Delayed Gratification
Another aspect of the Ego is the veneration it extends toward delayed gratification (Krueger, et al., 1996). Whereas the Id is impatient and seeks to
be pleased now, the Ego appreciates that pleasure is often accompanied
at the offset of laborious efforts, or upon paying ones dues. Also, at
the prospect between possessing something desirable today, as opposed to
waiting until tomorrow when the desirable good appreciates in value, the
Id will select the former and the Ego will opt for the latter. For example,
suppose Mary has the choice of either cashing out her retirement benefits
now, and accessing $15,000 for a frivolous expenditure or waiting ten years
when she can retrieve the full $50,000 amount. The rational and patient
nature of the Ego will choose the second option.
The art of successfully arbitrating between the Id and the Superego is quite
taxing, and Freud asserted that the condition of the Ego represents an individuals overall mental health status. In other words, its not necessarily
21
imperative that the Id is particularly unruly, or that the Superego is acutely

critical, but how successful the Ego is at mitigating between such radical
disparity.
Defense Mechanisms
Because the Ego is a determinant for a persons psychological wellbeing,

people naturally go to great length to protect, shield, and preserve its integrity. When the stability of a persons Ego is at stake, the utilization
of defense mechanisms serves to rehabilitate any potential damage that
might be incurred, and revert the Ego back into a state of normalcy. The
implementation of such defense mechanisms is an unconscious function of
the Ego, and the following is a select sample of such defense mechanisms
(Baumeister, Dale, & Sommer, 1998; Cramer, 2001; Hutterer & Liss, 2006;
Scano, 2007):
Displacement: Redirecting emotion from its origins to that of
an impartial source. For example, a man who has an oppressive
supervisor at work might release his pent-up frustrations onto
his spouse, child, or family pet.
Projection: In the process of stifling unfavorable personality tendencies that a person might possess, that person might identify
others as having those traits, even if such claims are blatantly
inaccurate. For example, if a person denies his own homosexual
tendencies, he might erroneously accuse others of being homosexual.
Reaction Formation: In an attempt to disown adverse personality traits, beliefs, or tendencies, a person might identify with,
or take on the persona of an opposing stance. For example, a
married man finds himself sexually aroused by his work colleague, and in order to distance himself from this predilection,
he treats her quite cruelly.
Regression: When life becomes demanding, individuals might
find themselves reverting back to a timeframe when life was
either happier or less complicated, even if such a timeframe was
during a significantly earlier developmental stage. For example:
22
When overwhelmed with life stressors, a woman sucks her

thumb and becomes whiny.
Repression: Extracting painful memories from the conscious
realm of thinking so that there is no recollection of such painful
events. For example: A woman who was the victim of child
abuse has no conscious ability to recall that such an incident ever
occurred.
Sublimation: Transferring unacceptable urges into activities that
are deemed acceptable. For example: A man with violent tendencies becomes a professional athlete and channels his aggression toward his sport.
Conclusion
Freuds interplay between the Id, Superego, and Ego is a fascinating account
that helps explain the enigmatic nature of human behavior. Although his
theories are dense, thorough, and intricate, they offer a pragmatic roadmap
into unearthing the universal struggle toward self-enlightenment. There
is a soulful and prosaic quality that corresponds with the tenets of Freuds
philosophies. Concepts such as the unconscious, symbolism, dreams, and
instinctual forces take on a sense of wistful contemplation, which can partially explain the allure of his psychological conjectures. Undoubtedly,
when people become superficially acquainted with Freuds work, they
can interject their own issues into the contextual framework of his ideals
and conjure up examples that illustrate the interaction between their own
Id, Superego, and Ego. Simultaneously, his theories impart the
notion that there is a certain amount of depth attached to such psychological models, and a person who displays an interest in psychoanalysis can
spend a lifetime acquainting him or herself with the various psychodynamic elements that are illuminated in his work.
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addictions: Introducing twelve-step programs as the superego. USA: iUniverse, Inc.
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28
Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Overview
Jean Piaget
a person interacts with other individuals. It refers to a process through
which individuals learn to become members of society by internalizing
social norms, values and expectations and by learning the appropriate
cognitive, personal, and social skills they need to function as productive
members their societies.
While Sigmund Freud focused much of his research and observations
about socialization and human development on peoples recollections of
infancy, Jean Piagets research focused directly on children. Piaget studied
cognitive development among children, that is, the relationship between
mental processes (e.g. perception, memory, attitudes and decision-making) and social behavior (i.e. between what people feel and think and what
they do in practice). His approach emphasized childrens abilities to make
sense of their immediate everyday surroundings (their worlds), by selecting and interpreting sensory information (what they see, hear and feel).
Piagets approach to understanding psychological development differs
from other approaches because of his emphasis on stages of development
and emotions and the implications of this work for learning theories and
understandings about moral development. As part of his study of cogniThe Process of Socialization
29
tive development, Piaget also studied how children developed moral reasoning, which influenced other researchers in the field of education and
learning, including Bruno Bettelheim.
Constructivism
During his lifetime, Jean Piaget became a well-known developmental

psychologist for his studies of children, his theory of cognitive development, and his epistemological view called genetic epistemology. His
work supported an approach to human psychological development that
understood development as a constructive process; emphasized the importance of mental organization and adaptation; and viewed knowledge
on the basis of its origins (Bjorklund, 1997). Moreover, Piagets approach
to the study of psychological development differs from other approaches
because of his emphasis on stages of development, the role of emotions in
how children understand the world, and the implications of this work for
learning theories.
Like Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget shifted the emphasis of his work from
the science of the body to the science of the mind. Born in Switzerland,
he initially trained as a biologist (Dembo, 1994) then moved into psychology and saw a connection between socializationhow individuals learn
to become functioning members of societyand cognitive development.
Piaget was interested in exploring what people knew and how they used
their knowledge to understand and operate in the world. To this end, he
spent 60 years trying to understand how children learnthrough their
eyes. His overall perspective was that the thought process was essential
in the human development process, and that children learn to think about
themselves and their environment in distinct ways at each of four stages
of development (Piaget, 1929). Each stage is accomplished when the child
acquires new skills. In developing these stages, Piaget was able to map the
development or maturation of the childs mind from a primitive level to
the level at which abstract thought occurs.
Piaget spent a lot of his time playing and talking with children (including his own). His preferred method of study was to observe children and
maintain the flexibility to ask them different types of questions. He was especially interested in wrong answers to his questions and firmly believed
that one could learn about the thought process by studying them.
30
Cognitive Assumptions
During the 1920s, Piaget began observing children and developing his
theory which proposed that children pass through a series of stages of cognitive development. His theory acknowledged that children could pass
through the stages at different rates, but maintained that all children went
through the stages in the same order. Some of the key assumptions underpinning Piagets theory are:
That people are active learners who possess internal
impulses and display specific patterns of development;
That people have the ability to construct their own world
and sense of reality; and,
That people are born with intelligence and that this intelligence is capable of adapting to whatever environments
people find themselves in.
These assumptions all underlie Piagets theory of cognitive constructivism
(Siegler & Ellis, 1996). This theory holds that children learn by actively constructing knowledge, rather than by passively receiving it. As they take in
new experiences, children build and expand upon their mental constructs,
or the patterns in which they organize knowledge. Constructivists call
these construct schemas.
Schemas
According to Piaget (Rumelhart, 1980), two processes affect these schemas:

adaptation and equilibrium.
Adaptation
Adaptation occurs when a person adjusts his or her mental constructs (or
schemes) or creates new ones in order to understand new information.
Within this concept, two sub-processes, assimilation and accommodation,
work together. When a child assimilates, he or she incorporates new information into an existing mental scheme. When a child accommodates, he or
she creates a new mental scheme or changes an existing one to understand
new information. For example, if a child visiting a zoo sees a tiger for the
first time, he or she may understand it as a big cat and thus assimilate
it into his or her scheme of cat. On the other hand, if he or she sees an
31
elephant for the first time, the concept of elephant may not fit into an
existing scheme like cat or dog or horse. He or she will then have
to accommodate the concept by creating a new scheme called elephant.
Equilibrium
Equilibrium is the balance people try to maintain between what they experience and the schemas they assemble to understand their experiences. According to Piaget, when a new experience or piece of information
presents itself, ones constructs are thrown into disequilibrium if he or she
cannot account for this experience or information. Equilibrium must then
be restored through adaptation. Achieving equilibrium allows children to
grow in development and process mental tasks.
Further Insights
Piagets 4 Stages of Cognitive Development
Piagets four stages of cognitive development, with their own logic and
particular skills, describe the roles that biological maturation and social experience play in a persons understanding of the world. Each stage represents how information is experienced and structured. As children mature,
they pass through multiple stages and multiple ways of organizing knowledge. A brief summary of Piagets four stages of cognitive development is
as follows (Lin, 2002):
Sensorimotor Period (occurs from the age of 0 to the age of 2) During this
stage, the child learns about himself and his world through sensation
and movement. Initially, the child does not perceive himself as a discrete
entity within his environments. However, by moving his body and perceiving and touching objects, he learns that objects and other people exist
independently from himself. By the time the stage is completed, the child
has learned that objects are stable over time, and continue to exist even
when he cannot directly perceive them. Piaget reasoned that various techniques could be used in this stage to assist the child with development.
For example, a parent or caregivers vocal pitch or facial expressions could
help the child to sense his or her attitude toward certain stimuli.
Preoperational Period (occurs from the age of 2 to the age of 7) During
this stage, the child learns to use language. Words are a type of symbol
that the child begins to use to represent people and places. For example,
32
some children will uses words such as papa and nana to represent their
grandparents. Upon hearing these simple words, they are able to identify
the grandparent in person, in a picture, or on the telephone. At this stage,
the child is also egocentric in that he understands the world purely from
his own perspective. For example, children at this stage will often engage
in long, repetitious monologues without considering how their speech is
received by their listeners.
Concrete Operational Period (occurs from the age of 7 to the age of 11)
During this stage, the child learns basic logical and abstract thinking and
understands that others perspectives may differ from their own. This
stage differs from the formal operational period, however, in that children
at this stage require a concrete object or illustration in order to understand
an abstract idea. For example, in order to initially understand the ideas
of addition and subtraction, the child may need to manipulate and count
discrete objects like buttons or building blocks.
Formal Operational Period (occurs from the age of 11 and up) During this
stage, the child learns to understand highly abstract ideas and hypothetical situations. The child does not need concrete objects in order to make
rational decisions because he has mastered deductive reasoning. Confronted with a difficult problem, he is able to consider multiple hypothetical solutions and use logic to decide which one to pursue. Further, a child at this
stage can evaluate the logic or truthfulness of purely linguistic statements
without reference to concrete illustrations or evidence. During this stage,
children with learning by asking them open ended questions or giving
them critical thinking problems. At this is the last stage, the child is considered to have mastered the cognitive process.
According to Piaget, the first three stages of development are universal
but the fourth stage depends on formal schooling (Giddens, 1993). Consequently, not all individuals may reach this stage.
Viewpoints
Piaget, Kohlberg & Moral Reasoning
Piagets work is believed to be one of the first contributions to the field of

moral development by a psychologist. One of his methods of study was
to watch how children processed moral issues by observing them playing
33
games and seeing how they perceived right and wrong (Piaget, 1965).
He believed that all stages of development are the result of some type of
action. This philosophy rests on the premise that people will process and
reprocess their knowledge of the world according to the various interactions that they have with their surroundings. His work concluded that
people defined morality according to their unique, individual experiences
and struggles.
His work on cognitive development laid the ground for identifying developmental differences in moral reasoning. For instance, he argued that
children younger than 10 years typically see rules as fixed and absolute
(what he referred to as immanent justice, 1965), while older children (as
they enter the stage of formal operations) are capable of seeing peoples
actions in terms of motives or intentions (Crain, 1985).
Lawrence Kohlberg, a contemporary of Piagets, reasoned that development of the capacity to morally reason might not stop at age 12 (which
Piaget suggested). Kohlberg developed Piagets work and explored how
the moral development process correlated with issues of justice and
expanded over a persons life (Kohlberg, 1958).
Kohlbergs study was based on the responses of 72 boys who grew up
in middle-class and lower-class environments in the Chicago area. These
boys were 10, 13, or 16 years of age. Kohlberg interviewed each boy and
presented examples of situations that required him to provide feedback on
what he would do. Kohlberg (1963) provided an example of one of these
scenarios as follows:
Heinz Steals the Drug
In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There
was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of
radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The
drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times
what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged
$4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick womans husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get
together about $2,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist
that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later.
34
But the druggist said, No, I discovered the drug and I am going to make
money from it. So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate
and considers breaking into the mans store to steal the drug for his wife.
Should Heinz steal the drug? (p. 19).
Kohlberg was not interested in whether or not the children thought Heinzs
action was right or wrong. Rather, he wanted to find out the reasoning the
children used to arrive at their decision about whether or not the action
was right or wrong. From these studies, he identified six distinct stages of
moral development which he grouped according to the moral reasoning
each employed. He later grouped theses six stages into three levels.
Some of the differences and similarities between Kohlbergs and Piagets
theories are as follows:
Table 1: Two Theories of Moral Judgment
Type of
Theory
Time Period
Piaget
Two-stage theory focused on
the cognitive development of
children.
A childs moral thinking tends
to change when they are 10 or
11 years of age. Younger children tend to base their moral
decisions on consequences,
whereas older children tend
to make their moral decision
based on judgment.
Kohlberg
Six stage theory broken down
into three levels and focused
on moral development over the
lifespan
An extension of Piagets theory.
Kohlberg proposed that moral
development is a continual
process that occurs throughout a
persons lifespan.
Conclusion
The socialization process describes how children develop into adults by

developing their sense of self, language skills, and intelligence. These
processes are considered successful when children learn the social behaviors (i.e. attitudes, values) that are the norms for their particular cultures.
Children largely learn these behaviors from their parents and other adults
in their lives as well as from their peers, social institutions like schools, and
35
Outcomes &
Implications
Assisted the field of education

in developing instructional
strategies that aid in
Providing a supportive
environment
Utilizing social interactions and peer teaching
Assisting children in
identifying fallacies and
inconsistencies in their
thinking (Driscoll, 1994).
Kohlbergs study lead to the

conclusions that:

A person must progress

through the moral stages in
order and cannot pass into a
new stage without mastering the lower level stages
A person cannot understand

moral reasoning at a stage
that is more than one stage
beyond where he or she is
currently located
It is possible for a person

to be physically mature but
not morally mature
Criticisms
Findings cannot be
transferred to the larger
population;
Some children may not
move to the next stage
of development as they
mature,
Environment and social
influences may also play a
role in cognitive and moral
development
Only 25% of the population ever reach the sixth, or

most advanced level and
most people only reach the
fourth level
In addition to moral reasoning, emotions may also be
critical motivators for a
persons action.
People may respond to a
moral dilemma differently
because they have different
temperaments not because
they are at different stages
of moral reasoning.
The theory is biased against
non-Western cultures
Values other than justice
may influence moral decision making.
the media. Jean Piagets work on cognitive development influenced how

cognitive psychology has researched and understood how children understand, make sense of and reason about the world. However, while cognitive psychology has somewhat shifted from Piagets work and indeed from
36
the study of meaning toward a more biologically inflected understanding of development that takes account of evolutionary change (Bjorkland,
1997), his influence on theories of moral reasoning and how children learn
about the world and their place in it remains strong.
Bibliography
Bartlett, F. (1932). Remembering: An experimental and social study. Cambridge, MA:
Cambridge University Press.
Bjorklund, D. (1997). In search of a metatheory for cognitive development (or, Piaget is
dead and I dont feel so good myself). Child Development, 68(1), 144. Retrieved March
27, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.
ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9707256819&site=ehost-live
Crain, W. (1985). Chapter seven: Kohlbergs stages of moral development. In, Theories
of development (118-136). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Retrieved March 22,
2008, from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/
html/kohlberg.htm
Dembo, M.H. (1994). Applying educational psychology. 5th Ed. New York: Longman.
Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn
& Bacon.
Kohlberg, L. (1958) The development of modes of moral thinking and choice in the years 10
to 16. Doctoral dissertation, the University of Chicago.
Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of childrens orientation toward a moral order. Vita
Humana, 6, 11-33.
Lin, S. (2002). Piagets developmental stages. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
Educational Technology. Retrieved February 26, 2009, from http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/
Articles/piaget/start.htm
Piaget, J. (1929). The childs conception of the world. New York: Harcourt, Brace
Jovanovich.
Piaget, J. (1965). The moral judgment of the child. New York: The Free Press.
Rumelhart, D. (1980). Schemata: The building blocks of cognition. In R. J. Spiro, B. Bruce,
& W. F. Brewer (Eds.), Theoretical issues in reading and comprehension (pp. 33-58).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Siegler, R.S. & Ellis, S. (1996). Piaget on childhood. Psychological Science, 7(4), 211215. Retrieved February 24, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search
Completehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9703041
847&site=ehost-live.
37
Suggested Reading
Kay, W. (1996). Bringing child psychology to religious curricula: The cautionary tale of
Goldman and Piaget. Educational Review, 48(3), 205. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from
EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9612200887&site=ehost-live
Mandler, J. (1984). Stories, scripts, and scenes: Aspects of schema theory. Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Markoulis, D., & Valanides, N. (1997). Antecedent variables for sociomoral reasoning
development: Evidence from two cultural settings. International Journal of Psychology,
32(5), 301-313. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic
Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN
=6658370&site=ehost-live
38
Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development

Marie Gould
Overview
Lawrence Kohlberg studied psychology at the University of Chicago and
wrote his dissertation in 1958. He was intrigued by the work of fellow
theorist, Jean Piaget, and sought to explore how children responded to
moral issues (Crain, 1985). Piaget was a well-known psychologist who
focused on human cognition, which is the manner in which people think
and understand. He was interested in studying what people knew and
how they used their knowledge to understand and operate in the world.
His four stages of cognitive development described how biological maturation and social experiences helped shape a persons understanding of the
world. Believing that moral reasoning was as important as moral development, Kohlberg elected to build on the foundation of Piagets work and
explore how the moral development process correlated with the issues of
justice and expanded over a persons life (Kohlberg, 1958).
Some of the differences and similarities between the two theories are as
follows:
Table 1: Piaget & Kohlbergs Theories of Moral Judgment
Piaget
Kohlberg
Two stage theory cognitive

development of children.
Six stage theory broken

down into three levels
39
Piaget
Kohlberg
A childrens moral thinking

changes when they are about
10 or 11 years of age. At this
age children stop basing their
moral decision on consequences and begin to consider
motive a key factor in assessing morality. While younger
children see rules as absolutes,
older children see them in more
relativistic terms.
Kohlberg extended Piagets

theory to propose that moral
development is a continual process that occurs
throughout a persons lifespan, rather than a single
shift that occurs during
childhood.
Piaget
Kohlberg
Criticisms:
Criticisms:
(1)findings cannot be transferred to the larger population;
(1) focuses heavily on

moral reasoning, but does
not take into account emotions that may be critical
motivators for a persons
action. Additionally, people
of different temperaments
may make different moral
judgments even if they are
at the same moral stage;
(2) doesnt consider that not all

children may move to the next
stage of development as they
mature;
(3) ignores environmental and
social factors that may influence moral development as
well as biological factors; and
(4) underestimates the ability of
a childs mind.
(2) may be biased toward

Western cultures; and
(3) overemphasizes the
concept of justice when
making a moral decision.
Kohlbergs theory was based on his study of 72 boys of 10, 13, and 16 years
of age who grew up in middle- and lower-class environments in the Chicago area. Kohlberg presented each boy with a series of moral dilemmas
and asked him to state what the characters in each dilemma should do and
why. Kohlberg (1963) provided an example of one of these scenarios:
40
that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later.
Kohlberg was not interested in whether or not the children thought Heinz
ought to steal the drug. Rather, he wanted to find out the reasoning the
boys used to arrive at their decisions. From these studies, he identified six
distinct stages of moral development which he grouped according to the
moral reasoning each employed. He later grouped theses six stages into
three levels.
Table 2: Kohlbergs Six Stages of Moral Development
Level
Classification Stage
Pre ObediConventional
ence and
punishment
orientation
Conventional Interpersonal
accord and
conformity
Children think
about how to
avoid punishment
(the consequences of a negative
Self-interest
action).
orientation
Children think
about what they
will get out of the
situation, and
weigh the benefits
and consequences of an action.
Authority and
social order
maintain
orientation
3
Focus
Post Social
Conventional
contract
orientation
Child thinks about

the type of behavior that is expected in society
either in relation
to his peers, or his
cultural norms
Principled
Conscience
Universal
ethical
principles
41
Each level covered two stages:

Level 1 Preconventional Morality
Stage 1: Obedience & Punishment Orientation: Kohlberg believed that this

was the earliest stage of moral development. At this stage, the child views
rules to be absolute without room for compromise. A person can avoid
punishment if he or she follows the rules that have been established. The
child is not concerned with whether or not the decision is morally right or
wrong, but rather with whether or not it will be punished.
Stage 2: Individualism & Exchange: Kohlberg believed that individuals are
able to rationalize at this stage. The child considers his or her individual
needs or best interests to determine what type of action to take. Interpersonal relationships at this stage are based on the needs that others can
fulfill for the child. In essence, there is a mentality of you do for me and I
will do for you. Children at this stage have some notion of fairness, in the
sense that one ought to return favors, but they see themselves as individuals rather than as members of a larger community or society.
Level 2 Conventional Morality
Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships: At this stage, emphasis is placed

on what a person needs to do in order to live up to a groups standards.
Children at this stage focus on meeting the expectations of their established
roles in order to be seen as a good and nice people. They feel a strong desire
to fit in and make choices that will maintain good relationships. Behavior
is based on intention. For example, a person can gain approval from the
group for being nice and meaning to do the right thing.
Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order: Kohlberg believed that this was the
stage in which people started to think about how their actions are viewed in
society as a whole. People in this stage are concerned with staying within
the boundaries of what is considered normal behavior, and want to follow
the law. Following the law can be defined as following the established
rules, performing ones civic responsibilities, and honoring those in power.
People at this stage focus on maintaining an orderly society.
Level 3 Postconventional Morality
Stage 5: Social Contract & Individual Rights: At this stage, people look to
the world outside of themselves and their immediate communities or so42
cieties to make moral decisions. They take into consideration that fact that
other societies in the world have different values, opinions, and beliefs.
However, people at this stage also believe that most just societies protect
peoples basic rights and allow them some power to govern themselves.
In essence, law and order are maintained while also taking into account
peoples diversity.
Stage 6: Universal Principles: In the final stage, people reason similarly to
those in the fifth stage: they, too, believe that societies ought to be democratic and protect peoples basic rights. However, in this stage, people also
recognize that there are universal principles of justice which can override
the democratic process and the need for law and order. Martin Luther King
and Gandhi are good examples of this type of moral reasoning in that they
challenged the laws of their societies in the name of universal principles of
justice.
Further Insights
Social Psychologists & Moral Development
The field of social psychology explores how social situations affect people.
Although many of the theorists in the field are both psychologists and sociologists, most are trained within the field of psychology. Regardless of the
field of study, all of the scholars view the individual as their point of reference. They focus on how a persons thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
affected by others. Two social psychologists who have conducted studies
in the field of moral development are Martin Hoffman and Jonathan Haidt.
Hoffman is a psychology professor at the New York University where he
conducts research in the area of empathy and how it relates to moral development. His basic premise is that moral socialization is a key factor in the
development and motivation of moral behavior. As such, Hoffman focuses
on parenting skills, especially on how parents discipline their children
(Gibbs, 2003). Moral development is a concern that many parents have as
they attempt to teach their children the different between right and wrong
and how to behave appropriately.
Eisenberg and Morris (2001), reviewing one of Hoffmans books, and
found that he:
43
Believes that empathy is the spark of human concern for

others, the glue that makes social life possible (Hoffman,
2000, p. 3).
Acknowledges how individuals may struggle to resolve
conflict between self-interest and social obligations
Examines the relationship between caring and justice (p. 95).
Jonathan Haidt is best known as a social intuitionist who has argued that,
oftentimes, moral judgment precedes moral reasoning. By asking research
subjects to form moral judgments about largely harmless acts that most
people would find abhorrent (like cooking and eating the family dog after
its been killed by a car), he found that people tended to judge the acts, then
reached for moral arguments to justify their judgments. When he discovered that people frequently cannot explain their revulsion, he coined the
term moral dumbfounding to describe the state in which a person has
a strong moral reaction to an act, but cannot marshal a moral argument
to justify this reaction (Sommers, 2005). His work has led him to draw the
conclusion that most peoples moral judgments are formed on the basis of
emotive or psychological factors rather than careful reasoning.
Viewpoints
Criticisms of Kohlbergs Theory
As with many theories, Kohlbergs and Piagets works have attracted

considerable criticism. What is interesting is that critics of both theories
focused on how each failed to address social issues. For example, one of
the criticisms of Piagets theory was the belief that all children moved to
the next stage of development as they mature. Even Kohlberg acknowledged that it was possible for a person to be physically mature but not
morally mature. Critics also highlighted how Piagets theory appeared to
ignore environmental issues such as the influence of social factors.
Critics of Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development tend to focus on three
distinct areas:
Correlation Between Moral Reasoning & Moral Behavior.There
are theorists and practitioners who believe that moral reasoning is not as crucial for determining moral behavior as Kohlberg
44
suggests. Some critics argue that people make moral decisions in

many ways, and that one does not have to necessarily engage in
a formal reasoning process. For example, social intuitionists like
Jonathan Haidt believe that people are capable of making moral
decisions without thinking about outside moral guidelines like
the law, human rights, and ethical values.
The Importance of the Concept of Justice in Moral
Decision. Making another criticism of Kohlbergs work is that
he overemphasizes justice at the expense of considering other
values. As a result, his theory does not address what happens
when people make moral decisions based on factors that do not
include, or deemphasize, justice. For example, in response to
Kohlbergs work Carol Gilligan has developed a theory that
instead centers on an ethic of caring. However, it should be
noted that Gilligans work has been criticized by other theorists,
such as Christina Hoff-Sommers, who argue that her research
does not provide adequate findings to support her claims.
The Ability of Kohlbergs Theory to be Used in Different
Cultures. Other critics believe that Kohlberg overemphasized
Western cultural values. These critics held that Kohlbergs
theory does not value collectivistic cultures, which center on
society and community. For example, Western culture tends to
value the good of the individual over the collective good of the
group (Miller, 1987). However, in some Eastern cultures, the
good of the group is placed at a higher value than the good of
the individual. Hundreds of years ago in China, for instance, if
a man committed a serious crime, his entire family would share
his punishment (Heckathorn, 1992). Because of these very different values and moral viewpoints, it is possible to argue that
Kohlbergs theory does not take into account cultural differences
and is therefore biased toward Western culture.
Conclusion
Kohlberg followed in the footsteps of Piaget by studying moral reasoning

to expand upon his mentors work on moral development. His studies of
45
pre-teen and adolescent boys revealed that moral development consists of

six stages, which he later grouped into three levels. In the years since his
initial studies, his work has received considerable criticism, though it is
still a touchstone for many psychologists and sociologists.
Bibliography
Cole, M. (1992). Culture in development. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.),
Developmental Psychology: An Advanced Textbook (pp. 731-789). Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Crain, W. (1985). Theories of Development (pp. 118-136). Upper Saddle River, NJ: PrenticeHall Retrieved March 22, 2008, from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.
htm
Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn
& Bacon.
Eisenberg, N., & Morris, A. (2001). The origins and social significance of empathy-related
responding. A review of empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and
justice by M. L. Hoffman. Social Justice Research, 14(1), 95-120. Retrieved March 24,
2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.
com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=11303993&site=ehost-live
Gibbs, J. (2003). Moral Development and Reality: Beyond the Theories of Kohlberg and
Hoffman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Heckathorn, D. (1992). Collective sanctions and group heterogeneity: Cohesion and
polarization in normative systems. In E. J. Lawler, B. Markovsky, C. Ridgeway, & H.
A. Walker (Eds.), Advances in Group Processes Vol. 9 (pp. 41-63). Greenwich, CT: JAI
Press.
Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and
Justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kohlberg, L. (1958). The development of modes of moral thinking and choice in the
years 10 to 16. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago, United States -- Illinois.
Retrieved March 22, 2008, from ProQuest Digital Dissertations Database. (Publication
No. AAT T-04397).
Humana, 6, 11-33.
Miller, J. (1987). Cultural influences on the development of conceptual differentiation in
person description. British Journal of Development Psychology, 5, 309-319.
Sommers, T. (2005, August). Jonathan Haidt. The Believer. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200508/?read=interview_haidt
46
Suggested Reading
Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of childrens orientations toward a moral order:
Sequence in the development of moral thought. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33.
Kohlberg, L., & Elfenbein, D. (1975). The development of moral judgments concerning
capital punishment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 45(4), 614-640.
Snarey, J., Reimer, J., & Kohlberg, L. (1985). Development of social-moral reasoning among
kibbutz adolescents: A longitudinal cross-cultural study. Developmental Psychology,
21(1), 3-17. Retrieved March 23, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with
Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=SN0357
84&site=ehost-live
47
Cooley & the Looking Glass Self

Overview
Charles Horton Cooley was one of the first generation American sociologists and taught in the sociology department at the University of Michigan
from 1892, although his degree was in economics. His approach differed
from those of his contemporaries, as his was a humanistic approach that
emphasized the significance of the mind in developing a sense of self. As
such, he opened up discussion about the impact of subjectivity and creativity on the production of society, in contrast to the rather objective approach
to the constitution of society taken by many of his contemporaries. Indeed,
Cooley saw himself as less of a sociologist than as a scholar fusing history,
philosophy and social psychology and drew on the work of philosopher
William James.
Cooleys most significant contributions to the field of sociology were the
concept of the looking glass self and what he termed primary groups
and secondary groups. The looking glass self was introduced in his book
Human Nature and the Social Order (1902) and primary group was introduced in Social Organization (1909). The concept of the looking glass
self describes how an individual develops his or her identity in response
to how he or she understands others perceptions of himself or herself.
The concepts of primary and secondary groups describe how interactions
between the individual and social groups can influence the individuals
48
socialization (Marshall, 1998). Cooleys work influenced that of George

Herbert Mead and contributed to the development of symbolic interactionism. In addition, his work has indirectly influenced feminist work on
gender identity and subjectivity.
Charles Horton Cooley
One might argue that Cooleys work was shaped by some of his early
life experiences. He was the son of a very successful law professor and
Michigan State Supreme Court justice. However, he did not have a highly
interactive, intimate relationship with his father. As a result, he developed
personality traits that are associated with passive individuals and experienced a number of illnesses that are believed to have been psychosomatic
(American Sociological Association, 2006). In order to compensate for
his perceived shortcomings, he created a self that was successful (i.e. a
self that had the traits of men like his father). This imagined self allowed
him to cope with living in the shadow of his father and up to his fathers
standards. Although his work was most widely embraced by sociologists,
Cooley always had topics such as the self at the top of his list. He wrote
extensively on the relationship between the self and society in books such
as Human Nature and the Social Order (1902), Social Organization (1909),
and Social Process (1918).
The Self in Sociology
At the beginning of the twentieth century the discipline of sociology

worked with Cartesian concepts of mind and body that viewed them as
separate, disconnected entities. However, a number of theorists, such as
William James, began rethinking this distinction. William James work
stretched across disciplines (physiology, psychology and philosophy) and
influenced thinkers in Europe and the U.S., contributing to both pragmatism and phenomenology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006).
His work on the self, and the idea that it contained within it the capacity to
reflect on itself, was especially influential on Cooley.
James divided the self into two parts: the phenomenal selfor the self
that is experienced as the selfand self thought, or the self that experiences and knows the self. He further divided the phenomenal self into
the material me, the social me, and the spiritual me. The material
49
me comprises the body and its physical surroundings; the social me is

created by how one believes others view oneself; and the spiritual me is
ones awareness of ones thoughts and emotions. Self thought, on the other
hand, is what orders these different phenomenal selves into an enduring
sense of identity (Wozniak, 1999).
Charles Cooley built on this framework in order to integrate mind and
body as an interconnected, organic whole. Moreover, foreshadowing sociologists who came to be associated with the development of symbolic
interactionism at the University of Chicago, Cooley argued that the individual and society could only be understood in relationship to each other,
and that each was mutually constitutive of the other. Rather than view the
individual as a solitary and discrete entity, Cooley believed that a persons
self is developed by his or her social interactions and therefore people are
always, through interaction, connected to other people. For Cooley, these
interactions create a process through which people come to view themselves as objects and are able to take on the roles of others. He used the
example of a looking glass to illustrate his theory (Coser, 1977).
Further Insights
The Looking Glass Self
In 1902, Cooley published Human Nature and the Social Order in which
he proposed a theory of the development of the self as a creative agent
(Waters, 1994). According to Cooley, a persons sense of self is created by
the ideas he or she believes others have about him or her. This self-development depends on interaction with others who reflect back to them
images of themselves. In short, we learn who we are from others and our
imagination of how we appear to them. We are literally looking at others
and imaging the image they have of us. As Cooley wrote:
As we see our face, figure, and dress in the glass, and are interested in them because they are ours, and pleased or otherwise with
them according as they do or do not answer to what we should
like them to be; so in imagination we perceive in anothers mind
some thought of our appearance, manners, aims, deeds, character, friends, and so on, and are variously affected by it (Cooley,
1902, p. 183).
50
Mirrors provide us with visual access to the external appearance of our

bodies, but the appearance of our bodies is mediated through what we
imagine others think of us (Howson, 2004). Thus, the metaphor of the
looking-glass, or mirror, provides a way to think about the importance of
visual information and the appearance of the body and for the development of what Cooley calls the self-idea, which emerges in three key stages:
First, we image how we appear to others (e.g., as intelligent, pretty, professional);
Second, the self-idea develops in relation to how we
imagine others perceive or judge us (e.g. did we attend
the right schools, do we wear attractive clothing, or do we
belong to the right professional groups?);
Third, the self-idea emerges through the self-feeling or
attitude we develop toward ourselves, based on how we
believe others perceive us (e.g. pride or embarrassment
about our intelligence, physical appearance, or professional status).
In essence, Cooley argues that the development of self is an interactive
process through which connections are made between the personal subjective self of the viewer and the external world of other people (Hepworth,
2000, p. 46). Its worth quoting Hepworth in full here because he puts it so
beautifully:
Because we have no direct access to the external reality of the
body, even with the existence of aids such as mirrors and the
wide range of technical apparatus available to us now (cameras,
video cameras and the like), the act of human perception is
always mediated symbolically by meaning. When we look into
a mirror we are therefore engaged in an act of the imagination
whereby the self is constructed symbolically as a portrait or
picture (Hepworth, 2000, p. 46).
However, this process of mediation is not error-free, and it is possible for
a person to develop a false interpretation of what others think and end up
with an erroneous self-perception (Coser, 1977).
51
Primary Groups & Secondary Groups
A primary group can be described as a group of individuals who share

an intimate relationship and face-to-face interaction. Examples of such
groups include families, close circles of friends, and neighborhoods. Group
members identify with the group, co-operate and sympathize with one
another, and share responsibilities and culture. Cooley was thinking in particular of the family and peer group as a primary group in order to establish a distinction between relationships among people that are characterized by intimacy and those that are more contractual (Andersen & Taylor,
2005). Researchers have persistently demonstrated the power in Cooleys
insight, in work, for instance, that explores the influence of peer groups on
childrens development of identity and self-esteem. Moreover, primary, or
peer groups, do not stop being influential as people grow older. Professional groups and other groups to which people belong have an impact on
identity and emotional experience. Cooley believed that primary groups
have a strong influence on a persons self, which is why they may last a long
period of time. These relationships can provide a source of support when
an individual experiences the high and low points of his or her life. Still,
others have pointed out that primary groups can demand that members
conform to strict codes of thought and behavior, and thereby stultify individuality (Giddens, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2007).
A secondary group, in contrast, tends to have few personal relationships
and be temporary and formed for a specific purpose. This nucleated
group is larger and more disparate and its members have far less, if any,
direct contact with each other. Examples of such a group would be coworkers, an organizations board members, the people in a neighborhood
and political groups. Such groups do not last as long as primary groups,
although they can occasionally take on the characteristics of a primary
group in circumstances of social change or stress (Andersen & Taylor, 2005).
For instance, when communities are affected by disasters (e.g. hurricanes,
floods or crime), they can, for a time, become more connected to each other
and coalesce around the event, and in doing so, become a primary group.
As Andersen and Taylor (2005) note, primary and secondary groups serve
different social needs. Primary groups provide opportunities for meeting
expressive needs such as emotional intimacy and companionship, while
52
secondary groups provide opportunities for instrumental needs, such as

playing games or sports (sports or athletic groups) or lobbying to create
political change (political groups). Secondary groups can evolve and
become primary groups (by providing an important source of identity for
its members); but in general, they serve a more functional, and often shortlived objective.
George Herbert Meads I & Me
Many scholars built on Cooleys work to create a general theory of the self.
One of the most influential scholars in the sociology of the self was George
Herbert Mead.
Mead taught social psychology at the University of Chicago at the end of
the nineteenth century. Although he published no books, his lectures were
collected and published posthumously and his work has been enormously influential in the sociology of the self (Waters, 1994). Drawing on the
approach developed by the German sociologist, Georg Simmel, Mead took
the view that humans are motivated by ideas and that society is constituted through the exchange of gestures and symbols. The self, in his view,
is the product of an on-going, never-ending social process characterized
by constant interaction not only between self and others but also between
different aspects of self (Howson, 2004).
For Mead there is a two-part self that is aligned, first, with what he refers
to as impulsive or instinctual habits (I) and second, to the set of organized
beliefs learned from the mirroring process described by Cooley (me). The
me, is an objective, social self that expresses the gaze of others and from
which I am capable of standing back from and reflecting upon. The I
and the me are in continual dialogue and interaction with each other.
The social self, or what he called the me, emerges from the unsocialized
I as it passes through three stages in childhood that are associated with
play, through which, Mead theorized, we learn to develop an awareness
of, anticipate and take on the roles of others.
During the first stage, the childs play imitates adult activities. Observing
his or her father hammering nails, for example, the child might bang a
stair step with a stick. During the second stage, the childs play will act
out adult roles. He or she might play house or pretend to be a soldier.
53
Mead called this taking the role of the other and believed that it helps
children develop a socialized me. During the final stage, play becomes
more complex and governed by rules. The child learns to play organized
games like hide-and-go seek. Mead believed that during this stage children
learn about fairness as well as their cultures values and morality (Giddens,
Duneier & Appelbaum, 2007).
Like Cooley, Mead argued that the self develops over the life course; it is
not fixed in time but is open to change and modification because its development occurs in interactions (Howson, 2004). The implication of this
approach is that through our interactions with others over time, our awareness of how others see us may change, and in turn, how we see ourselves
(Hepworth, 2000).
Viewpoints
Self & Social Perception: A Two-Way Relationship?
Cooleys concept of the looking-glass self assumes that a persons self perceptions are derived and internalized via the images provided by others.
However, researchers have begun to examine the direction of this relationship and explore the control that people have over how others perceive
them. For instance, Yeung and Martin (2003) sought determine whether
ones self-perceptions are an internationalization of perceptions of the
views of others or whether ones self-perception is created by ones
relative ability or inability to convince others to see oneself in a particular
way (Yeung & Martin, 2003, p. 843). Taking communes as their case study,
the researchers reasoned that because communes generally attract people
who are looking for a social environment in which they can develop personally (i.e. alter their sense of self), they would be places where people are
especially sensitive to how others perceive them.
The researchers collected and analyzed data from the Benjamin Zablocki
Urban Commune Project in 1974. Of the 60 communes studied in this
project, Yeung and Martin selected 56 communes for their own study.
These selected communes had between 5 and 40 members, though most
had about 10 members. In total, 422 commune members were included in
Yeungs and Martins study.
54
During Zablockis initial study, members were asked to complete a relationship questionnaire in which they were asked to name other members
whom they considered to have a variety of personality traits, such as
charisma, strength, passivity, and narcissism. A second questionnaire
asked each member which traits he or she believed he or she possessed.
Yeung and Martin analyzed the results of these surveys to determine if
members assessments of one another were similar to their assessments of
themselves and concluded that ones understanding of oneself is at least
partly formed by the internalization of the others beliefs about oneself.
However, their results also suggested that especially persistent people
could change others perceptions about themselves over time.
Gender Identity, the Looking-Glass Self & Representation
Cooleys concept of the looking-glass self has been directly and indirectly influential on how feminist researchers have conceived of the female
self, and in particular, the process of objectification that shapes feminine
identity. Identity building depends on the recognition of others and the
images they reflect back to us. Many feminists have argued that the images
of femininity reflected to young girls and women are images that have
the power to objectify. As John Berger, the art critic, noted, Men act and
women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being look
at. (1972, p. 48). In Western art and culture more generally, women are
represented as objects. A consequence of this representation is that women
are seen as visual objects of sorts, and that they are encouraged by Western
culture to treat their physical appearance as part of being on show.
Women, feminists argue, spend a lot of time and energy in making sure that
their appearance aligns with Western idealizations of female beauty. The
experience of being watched encourages women to be conscious of themselves and invest in their bodies as an expression of self (Brumberg, 1997).
This preoccupation with the body as an expression of self, and as a manifestation of the self-building process that is captured in Cooleys analogy
to the looking-glass, is a somewhat modern phenomenon. However, it
requires a high degree of internal control and discipline (Bordo, 1989)
and contributes to a constrained sense of self that creates psychic limitations for women. In this sense, the looking-glass self process appears to
be an endless process that locks women into identities that are potentially
limiting.
55
Conclusion
Cooleys approach to understanding the development of the self is

somewhat solipsistic, in that the self, in fact, slips from view and society
is viewed as a series of imagined imaginations. Moreover, Cooley saw
himself as contributing not to sociology as such, but to a more integrated approach to history, philosophy and social psychology. Nonetheless,
his work has captured the sociological imagination and continues to be
among the most influential concepts for understanding the selfsociety
relation, as a series of imagined imaginings through which self and society
are created in relation to each other.
Bibliography
Andersen, M.L. & Taylor, H.F. (2005). Sociology-understanding a diverse society. London:
Wadsworth.
Berger, J, (1972). Ways of Seeing. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Bordo, S. (1989). The body and the reproduction of femininity: A feminist appropriation of
Foucault. In A. Jaggar and S. Bordo (eds). Gender/Body/Knowledge. New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Charles Horton Cooley. (n.d.). Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from
EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete.http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=IXBCooley-C&site=ehost-live.
Charles Horton Cooley. American Sociological Association. Available at: http://www.
asanet.org/page.ww?name=Charles+H.+Cooley&section=Presidents. Accessed March
8, 2009.
Cooley, C. (1902). Human nature and the social order. New York: Scribners Sons.
Cooley, C. (1909). Social organization. New York: Scribners Sons.
Cooley, C. (1918). Social process. New York: Scribners Sons.
Coser, L. A. (1977). Masters of sociological thought: Ideas in historical and social context.
Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., & Appelbaum, R. (2007). Introduction to sociology. 6th ed. New
York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Hepworth, M. (2000). Stories of Ageing. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Howson, A. (2004). The body in society: An introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Marshall, G. (1998). Charles Horton Cooley. In Oxford dictionary of sociology (pp. 120).
(2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from http://
www.soci.canterbury.ac.nz/resources/biograph/cooley.shtml
56
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2006). William James. (n.p.) Available at: http://
plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/. Accessed March 7, 2009.
Yeung, K., & Martin, J. (2003). The looking glass self: An empirical test and elaboration.
Social Forces, 81(3), 843-879. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from EBSCO online database,
SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=si
h&AN=9426360&site=ehost-live
Wozniak, R. (1999). Introduction to the principles of psychology William James. In
Classics in Psychology, 1855-1914: Historical Essays. Bristol, UK: Thoemmes Press.
Retrieved April 21, 2008, from, http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/
wozniak.html
Zimbardo, P. G. & Gerrig, R. J. (1996). Glossary. In Psychology and life. New York:
HarperCollins.
Suggested Reading
Hartzler, B., Baer, J., Dunn, C., Rosengren, D., & Wells, E. (2007). What is seen through
the looking glass: The impact of training on practitioner self-rating of motivational
interviewing skills. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy, 35(4), 431-445.
Scheff, T. (2005). Looking-glass self: Goffman as symbolic interactionist. Symbolic
Interaction, 28(2), 147-166.
Scheff, T. (2003, August). Goffmans elaboration of the looking glass self. Paper presented
at the American Sociological Association 2003 Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
57
George Meads I & Me

Sharon Link
Overview
Background of George H. Mead
George Herbert Mead was a philosopher who has now entered the realm
of classical sociological thinkers (Alexander, 1989, p. 37 39; Athens,
2007a; Joas, 1997, XI; Rhea, 1981, XIV XI; Strauss, 1984, p. 1441 1443).
According to John Dewey (1931), Mead was the chief force in this country
of turning psychology away from mere introspection and aligning it with
biological and social facts and conceptions (p. 311 312). Aside from
Deweys famed comment, Athens (2007b) wrote, He is not only regarded
as a classic figure in sociology, but also as the progenitor of symbolic interactionsim, a major sociological perspective that is now taught in almost
every introductory sociology course (p. 137). Professionally, Mead was a
professor who served on the faculty at the University of Michigan. After
this appointment, Mead subsequently served as a member of the University of Chicagos Department of Philosophy for 20 years.
Mead was directly involved with the social survey movement and the
surveys role in producing improved outcomes for students in academic
settings, especially in undergraduate teaching (Cook, 2007). Dedicated to
the university, Mead (1915) wrote that the university is the community
organized to find out what culture is as well as to give it; to determine what
58
is proper professional training as well as to inculcate it; to find out what

is right andwrong as well as to teach (1915, p. 351). Mead further described the universitys role is to state and formulate research problems
and solve them; in general, to fix from moment to moment the changing
meaning of life and the fitting tools for appropriating it; to be continually
redefining education as well as administering it (p. 351; 357 358).
Mead (1934) also recognized that institutions are the building blocks upon
which society is constructed and understood that dominations impact the
polity (pp. 277; 310 316; Athens, 2007, p. 138). The six basic institutions
that Mead identified as comprising society, included:
Language;
The family;
The economy;
Religion;
The polity; and
Science.
Mead indicated that all institutions are rooted in social action, and social
acts included any activity that required the efforts of two or more persons
to be completed (Mead, 1932, pp. 180 182; 1934, pp. 8 11). However, he
also believed that the hope and salvation of human society did not rest on
these tenets, but rather on science, because Mead viewed science as having
the ability to provide much needed improvements in the operation of all of
the other institutions (1923, p. 264 266; 360 364).
Darwinian Influence
Central to Meads work was a Neo-Darwinistic perspective on self and the

operation of self within social environments. G. H. Mead made the most
ambitious and comprehensive attempt of the pragmatists to set forth a
[Darwinian] theory of mind and behavior (Thayer, 1973; Mead, 1934, 1936,
1938, 1956, 1964; Joas, 1985). Mead held the view that the social construct
of human beings paralleled Darwins view of human origins; however,
Meads social psychological story of human origins emphasized the emergence of the self-consciousness as a product of social and physical evolution with particular emphasis on social factors and the social genesis
59
of the mind. For improved understanding, Table 1 offers a perspective

parallelism between Darwins and Meads overview of human evolution
and development.
Table 1. Darwin/Mead Origin & Social Psychological Evolution of Species
Approximation of Years
Darwins Origin of Species
3.5 million years ago
Australopethicans appear
exhibiting habitual bipedal
locomotion and regular tool
use.
Life forms are driven to survive (at

least) and flourish (at best) under
changing and life threatening conditions.
Meads Social Psychological Origins
Homo genus appears are

able to manufacture tools.
The evolution of sentience and sociality

in group life forms permits reactions to
excitations in favor of the playing out
of complex, organized habits.
Homo erectus appears with

upright posture. Homo
erecus is able to control fire
and migrate extensively
throughout Africa, Europe,
and Asia.
Complex life forms are able to participate in shared activities and mutual
cooperation giving rise to communication through signs, signaling, and
gestures.
500,000 years ago
Archaic Homo Sapiens

(Homo heidelbergensis)
show dramatic increase in
brain size and cognitive
advances.
Taking attitudes of others this interaction allows perspective-taking and

perspective switching.
130,000 years ago
Anatomically modern Homo

sapiens appear in Africa with
modern brain size
Taking attitudes of group provides

conditions for reflexive social stimulation and response.
50,000 years ago
Behaviorally modern Homo

sapiens evolve possessing
technologically and cultural
innovation.
Draw on Organized Attitudes through

the use of significant symbols
11,000 years ago
Humans change from hunter- Reflexive Discourse emerges allowgatherers to agricultural

ing humans to anticipate responses of
foragers, exhibiting ethnic
others.
differences.
Adapted from Burke T. (2005). The role of abstract reference in Meads

account of human origins, Transactions of the Charles S.
Evolution of Communication
According to Mead, in the final stages of the account of human evolution, humans develop self consciousness and individual mind. This
increased evolutionary development of consciousness, allowed humans
further refinement, elaboration, and objectification enabling humans to
60
not only take common attitudes, but taking the same attitudes towards
oneself that the community takes (Burke, 2005, p. 571). The starting point
of Meads analysis began with the social experience and a conversation of
gestures. At this level, an organisms action acts as a catalyst for another
organism to respond which in turn becomes a catalyst for the adjustment
of the first organisms action.
The evolutionary breakthrough allowing the development of individuality enables humans to communicate and coordinate activities in the roles
of I and Me (Mead, 1956, 1964). Tomesello (1995, 1999) reported that
these evolutionary processes invites individuals in a species to engage in
new activities while Table 1. Darwin/Mead Origin & Social Psychological
Evolution of Species providing the stabilizing capacity to engage in these
new activities, which could arguably improve human interaction in society.
These evolved abilities in combination with Meads interest in perspective
taking and societal emphasis ultimately supported Mead in his research
regarding the I and Me as phases of human evolution, which was only
possible when humans passed from the conversation of the gestures to the
internalization of the other (Geniusas, 2006, p. 247).
Applications
The I & The Me
Meads interest in human consciousness and the private and personal

aspects of consciousness led him to study the biological nature of an
organism and the social nature of self, thereby equipping him with the resources to account for the development of mind and self-consciousness
(Geniusas, 2006, p. 243). I and Me can best be identified as phases of
the self, which was Meads attempt at narrowing his philosophies to the
discipline of psychology (Cook, 2007, p. 170). The two are separated in the
process, but they belong together in the sense of being parts of a whole
(Mead, 1962, p. 178).
Internalization & the Object Self
The internalization process can best be recognized as me or the self

we are aware of and the way in which humans internalize an organized
set of attitudes of others. In contrast, the I of the self is the response to
the attitudes that the organism offers. For further clarity, the I phase is
61
the side of freedom of initiative, while the me phase refers to attitudes,

roles, meanings, pressure, and values of others which are organized into
ones self through the agency of role-taking (Geniusas, 2006, p. 247). The
I phase refers to the part of the self which can be identified with impulse,
freedom, and creativity; everything which is unique, idiosyncratic, and uncertain. Essentially, Mead (1962) wrote that the I and me revealed the
distinguishing feature of the self, which was that as self is to be in object
to oneself. Mead posed the question, How can an individual get outside
of himself (experientially) in such a way as to become an object to himself?
This is the essential psychological problem of selfhood (p. 138). Mead
further wrote, The individual is not a self in the reflexive sense unless he
is an object to himself (p. 142). Lastly, Mead stated, The individual enters
as such into his own experience only as an object, not as a subject (p. 225).
Important to the understanding of I and me is that the model provides
an understanding of the dual nature of our own selfhood while also providing humans with a perceptive of how the two poles of our own selves
are given in experience. However, in most cases, Mead identifies the
me with the object self of experience (Geniusas, 2006, p. 248).
Mead distinguishes I as a response that originates from our bodily organisms and claims that this response is spontaneous and subjective
(Geniusas, 2006, p. 249). He stated, If one answered to a social situation
immediately without reflection, there would be no personalityany more
that there is personality in the nature of the dog or the horse (1962, p.
182). He further suggested that an inner response to what we may be
doing, saying, or thinking supplements a large part of our conscious experience, indeed all that we call self-consciousness (1964, p. 145). In this
way of thinking, meaning arises only through communication. Meaning
is implicit wherever there is present, a triadic relation of a gesture of one
individual, a response to that gesture by a second individual, and completion of the given social act initiated by the gesture of the first individual
(Mead, 1934, p. 81). Mead further wrote that animals live in a world of
events; man lives in a world of common meanings and meaning for Mead
is socially generated and sustained (1938, p. ix x).
The Meaning of Selfhood
The fundamental nature of I and me seems to be the transcendental

aspect of selfhood. Mead does not openly speak of the transcendental, but
62
arguably metaphysical resonances can be evidenced in his philosophies

of the I and me relationship: I do not want to discuss metaphysical
problems, but I want to insist that the self has a sort of structure that arises
in social conduct that is entirely distinguishable from this so-called subjective experience (1962, p. 166). His methodology immediately places
the self in a reciprocal structure with otherness, and repeatedly insists that
self can itself only as a me, and never as an I. Moreover, to overcome
the shortcomings of the metaphysical notions of the subject amounts to
bracketing metaphysical questions and in their stead accounting for the
self in terms of behavior (Geniasas, 2006, p 259). Indeed, the self must
safeguard the self as subjectivity; one needs to sacrifice the possibility of
its immediate givenness to consciousness: the I cannot be known simply
because the I is a subject, and not an object of experience (p. 260). According to Mead, each self is not only a me, but also an I because every
self has a unique and peculiar individuality, which manifests itself in free
and creative responses back against the society. There is a demand, a
constant demand, to realize ones self (Mead, 1962, p. 205). From a sociological perspective, the self is a model of social control. It is also the
primary source of social control whose origin lies in the experience of a
rudimentary demand to which one is obliged to respond a debt, which
one must, although never can, fully repay (Geniusas, 2006, p. 263).
Perspective-Taking
The most important aspect of Meads theory is his notion of the social
role. A key system is the formation of mind in the individuals capacity to
mentally adopt the standpoint of others. This notion of interpersonal perspective taking and intrapersonal perspective taking is the stronghold for
Meads theories and plays a vital role in the development of language, and
is present in other areas of conduct as well. Mead (1934) notes that children
display this kind of interaction when they adopt parental attitudes, such as
when playing with dolls, and these attitudes are both cognitive and emotional (p. 365 366). This attitude is the same as the generalized other,
which attitude the member must take if he is to act in a socially coordinated way (Mead, 1934, pp. 164 222). Most importantly in terms of sociology
and science, Mead did not diverge from the dominant views now held in
sociology (Fallding, 2001, p. 735).
Mead was a colleague and friend of John Dewey, who was considered the
father of education. Together they worked at the universities of Michigan
63
and Chicago in the 1890s and early 1900s. Their sociological constructs were
pivotal in a philosophical movement known as pragmatism. The pragmatists stressed the experimental and purposive nature of cognition. Meads
work was defined as not psychology. Meads social psychology stands
juxtaposed with orthodox cognitive social psychology, meaning that the
individual is not a social atom, but is instead a product of society. The
person in this sense is a social construction.
Theory of Mind
In this sense, there is no essential core or self to the person, and each
person could have been constructed differently. Once constructed by
society, individuals themselves then shape societies. Berger and Luckmann
(1967) described this relationship as a dialectic operation. The cornerstone
of this philosophy is that people are not born with what we think of as a
self, but develop it in their interaction with others. The unit of analysis in
this interaction is the social act. When humans begin the process of developing self-consciousness and are able to take on perspectives of others, this
role taking is known as theory of mind (Butt, 2008, p. 105 106). Mead
(1982) labeled this ability emergent property. He wrote:
We are conscious of our attitudes because they are responsible
for the changes in conduct of other individuals. A mans reaction
towards weather conditions has no influence upon the weather
itself. It is important for the success of his conduct that he should
be conscious not of his own attitudes, of his own habits of
response, but of the signs of rain or fair weather which a consciousness of ones own attitudes helps toward the control of the
conduct of others (p. 348).
After reading and analyzing this text, we may conclude that George
Meads central influence lies in two areas. First, Meads work is central
to the theoretical discipline of sociology. This sociological construct influences both the disciplines of philosophy and education. These concepts
are formative in structure of how human organisms come to know themselves and their interactions. Undergraduate students studying sociology
will become familiar with G. H. Mead and his beliefs regarding human
development and human interactions. Enthusiastic sociology students can
consider applying Meads work as a primary underpinning for other disciplines, and as a way of viewing societal constructs.
64
Issues
One of the central issues regarding Meads work could relate back to the
limitations of the theoretical construct upon which Mead based his work.
Puddephatt (2005) wrote: Meads contributions have a great deal to offer
the understanding of technological development, and the use of the technology by human communities (p. 358). In further analysis, Puddephat
indicated that Meads contributions to math and science were overlooked,
because of the intellectual divide of the Atlantic (p. 358). Most scientific contributions to math and science originated in Europe, and Mead
was considered an American pragmatist. A central issue attributed to this
philosophy is that Mead seemed to tie most of his viewpoints to perspective taking through the generative dialogue with the material world. By
engaging in interaction, humans could take the role of objects, objectify
their own actions, and generate meaning through this ongoing dialectical
relationship (p. 372). This opportunity seems to invite a solid theoretical
foundation for studying the development of technology. Sociologists could
utilize these theories as underpinnings into further study regarding technology, the meaning of technology, and human interaction with technology.
However, the main issue is that Mead in his day, time, and era seemed
to omit key implications, because of a lack of communication with other
scholars located on other continents (which ironically would have been
aided through more advanced technology). It is up to young scholars and
students of cultural and societal constructs to further elaborate and build
upon Meads work: If Meads work is to be saved from becoming irrelevant in sociology and is to remain an invaluable intellectual resource
for this field in the 21st century, then now is the crucial time to revise his
theory (Denzin, 1996, pp. 63 64, 74).
Conclusion
G. H. Mead (1862 1931) made the most ambitious and comprehensive
attempt of the pragmatists to set forth a [Darwinian] theory of mind and
behavior (Thayer, 1973; also Mead, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1956, 1964; Joas, 1985).
Mead proposes that humans construe the distinction between subjective
and objective elements of experience as a functional, rather metaphysical
experience (Mead, 1964). Famous for many theories, one of Meads most
well known theories and terms were identified as I and me and the
65
principles of self. In speaking of these terms, Mead sought to make the

point that the human individual or self could enter in two distinguishable senses. The me in this case functioned as an object, which holds
a mediating role within an ongoing process of experience or action and
the I functioning as the self in the disintegration and reconstruction of
its universe, the self functioning, the point of immediacy that must exist
within a mediate process (Mead, 1964). For sociology students, or any
academician interested in further understanding Meads contribution to
sociology, philosophy, psychology, and education, further research should
be done to facilitate deeper and more comprehensive learning, because
many researchers provide a solid argument for Meads historical and
lasting impact.
Bibliography
Alexandra, J. (1989). Structure and meaning: Rethinking classical sociology. New York:
Columbia University Press.
Athens, L. (2007a). Mead, G. H. In G. Ritzer, ed. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology.
2861 2864. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Athens, L. (2007b). Radical interactionism: Going beyond Mead. Journal for the Theory of
Social Behavior, 37(2), 137 165. Retrieved June 25, 2008 from EBSCO online database,
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b=aph&AN=25244839&site=ehost-live
Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York:
Doubleday.
Burke, T. (2005). The role of abstract reference in Meads account of human origins.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, XLI(3), 567 601. Retrieved June 25, 2008
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Dewey, J. (1931). George Herbert Mead. Journal of Philosophy, 12, 309 330.
Geniusas, S. (2006). Is the self of social behaviorism capable of auto-affection? Mead and
Marion on the I and the me. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 42(2), 242
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Fallding, H. (1982). G. H. Meads orthodoxy. Social Forces, 60(3), 723 737. Retrieved June
25, 2008 from EBSCO Online DatabaseAcademic Search Complete: http://search.
Joas, H. [1985] (1997). G. H. Mead: A contemporary re-examination of his thought.
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Mead, G. H. (1915/1964). Natural rights and the theory of the political institution. In A.
Reck, ed. Mead: Selected Writings, 150 170. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
Mead, G. H. (1923/1964). Scientific method and the moral sciences. In A. Reck, ed. Mead:
Selected Writings, 150 170. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
Mead, G. H. (1932). The philosophy of the present. A. Murphy, ed. La Salle: Open Court.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self & society, edited and introduced by C. Morris. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Mead, G. H. (1936). Movements of thought in the 19th century. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press.
Mead, G. H. (1938). Philosophy of the act. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Mead, G. H. (1956). On social psychology. A. Strauss, ed. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.
Mead, G. H. (1962). Mind, self, & society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist, ed. C.
W. Morris. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Mead, G. H. (1982). Social consciousness and the consciousness of meaning. In Thayer, H.
(ed). Pragmatism: The Classic Writings. 341 350. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Puddephatt, A. J. (2005). Mead has never been modern: Using Meadian theory to extend
the constructionist study of technology. Social Epistemology, 19(4), 357 380. Retrieved
June 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.
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London: Allen & Unwin.
Strauss, A. (1984). Review of David Millers the individual and the social self: Unpublished
writing of George Herbert Mead. American Journal of Sociology, 89, 1441 1442.
Tomasello, M. (1995). Language is not an instinct. Cognitive Development. 10,131-156.
Tomasello, M. (1999) Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Thayer, H. S. (1973). Meaning and action: A study of American pragmatism. Indianapolis:
Bobbs Merrill Company. [Shortened version of Thayer 1968].
Suggested Reading
Fuller, S. (2002). Social epistemology. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Mead, G. H. (2001). Essays in social psychology, edited by M. Deegan. New Brunswick:
Transaction.
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Sismondo, S. (1996). Science without myth: On construction, reality, and social knowledge.
New York: SUNY Press.
Sokal, A. & Bricmont, J. (1998). Fashionable nonsense: Postmodern intellectuals abuse of
science. New York: Picador.
Stringer, C. & McKie, R. (1996). African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity.
London: Jonathan Cape and New York: Henry Holt and Company.
68
Eriksons Eight Stages of Development

Overview
Social Psychology & Socialization
Social psychology deals primarily with socialization and face-to-face and

small group social interaction. Socialization is the process through which
people learn to become functional members of society. While some researchers have argued that this process is limited to the childhood years,
others have suggested that socialization is a continuous process that
stretches over a persons lifetime. Although some of the theorists in the
field of social psychology are both psychologists and sociologists, most are
trained within the field of psychology. Regardless of the field of study, all
of the scholars view the individual as their point of reference and focus on
how a persons thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by others
in ways that shape identity and individuality; and how people develop
the appropriate cognitive, personal, and social skills they need to function
as productive members their societies. One of these social scientists is the
theorist Erik Erikson, who perhaps more than any other social psychologist, worked to understand personal and social identity.
The word identity stems from the Latin idem, which evokes sameness and
continuity. Identity primarily became a focus for psychological scholarship
in the twentieth century, developing, first, from Freuds theory of identification and second, from Eriksons work on the connections between the
69
individual and his or her community. Where Freud emphasized identity

as a relatively continuous inner core of psychic structure (somewhat
stable, fixed and immutable), Erikson emphasized the processual nature
of identity: as emerging through interactions between the individual and
his or her immediate cultural and emotional environment. Consequently,
although Erikson drew from Freud, he is viewed as a neo-Freudian who
saw development as stretching beyond childhood (the age of 5, which is
where Freud saw development ending) across the life course (or as Erikson
put it, life cycle, 1980).
Identity & the Neo-Freudians
A number of psychoanalystssuch as Alfred Adler, Erick Fromm, Karen

Horney and Carl Jungdeparted from Freuds approach to the unconscious
and the development of identity. Although they retained his emphasis on
the unconscious as a driving force in human behaviors, emotions and cognitions, they differed in the emphasis they placed on its immutability, the significance of childhood and the importance of social and cultural influences.
The Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung argued that the
unconscious was considerably broader in scope and impact than Freud
believed and that there were universal elements that were consistent across
cultural groups and historical periods. He disagreed with Freud about the
importance of sexuality, placed emphasis on the significance of spirituality
in human development and developed a theory built on the idea of the collective unconscious (Storr, 1991). Jungs Analytic Psychology argues how
we inherit primordial images from our ancestors, that are, in effect, an
unconscious representation of our pasts.
Alfred Adler, best known for his work on inferiority, parenting and birth
order, was also considered a neo-Freudian who pioneered Individual Psychology, a predictive approach to child conduct and which foreshadowed
what is known today as psychosomatic therapy (Brachfield, 1999). He
argued that humans are born with an inherent sense of inferiority and that
development is based on a struggle for superiority, which may at times
threaten to overwhelm and create an inferiority complex.
Finally, Karen Horney, one of the first German women to enter medical
school, was one of the founding members of the Berlin Psychoanalytic In70
stitute. She questioned the universality of the Oedipus complex and began
to explore the influence of social and cultural factors on the development
of identity, particularly female identity. Arguing against the idea that
there are biologically rooted psychological differences between men and
women, she provided the first full critique of Freuds theory of female psychology (Humm, 1989) and argued that all men resent women (countering Freuds emphasis on penis envy with the notion of womb envy). This
resentment expresses itself in phallocentric thinking, in the devaluation of
motherhood and more generally, in misogyny (Horney, 1967).
Freud emphasized the importance of the penis to psychosexual development and its contribution to masculinity as an active identity associated
with sexual aggression. Horney challenged Freud on the importance of the
penis, and, like other critics of Freud, argued that its importance was more
cultural than biological, that it stood as a symbol of power and control
rather than as the material basis for power and control. However, she did
not challenge Freudian notions about male superiority that are implied
by emphasis on the penis. In contrast, other neo-Freudians, such as Erik
Erikson, argued that female bodily experience was radically distinct from
male bodily experience. Therefore, the psychological development of
women should be understood in its own terms, rather than in comparison
to the psychological development of men (Golobok & Fivush, 1994).
Erik Erikson
Erikson was a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst who initially

followed and then departed in significant ways from the work of Sigmund
Freud. Unlike Freud, Erikson did not have a medical degree, and indeed,
when he immigrated to the US in the 1930s, he did not have an academic
degree at all (Weiland, 1993). Nonetheless, his work on human development is among the most powerful and important of the twentieth century.
First, while he accepted Freudian concepts such as the ego and the development of the self through various stages, he rejected the notion of universal drives and, rather, drawing on the work of anthropologists such as
Franz Boas and Margaret Mead, emphasized the significance of the role
of culture and society in the development of self. Second, he generated
a theory that empha-sized the developmental stages over the course of a
persons life, through adolescence, youth, young adulthood, middle and
71
old age. In doing so, Erikson suggested greater capacity for development
and change after childhood than Freud recognized.
A comparison of Freud and Eriksons work can be viewed in Table 1.
Table 1: Freuds & Ericksons Stages of Development
Erikson's Psychosocial
Crisis Stages
1. Trust v Mistrust
2. Autonomy v Shame
and Doubt
3. Initiative v Guilt
4. Industry v Inferiority
5. Identity v Role
Confusion
6. Intimacy v Isolation
7. Generativity v
Stagnation
8. Integrity v Despair
Freudian Psychosexual Stages

1. Oral Stage
2. Anal Stage
Age
Guide
0-1 yrs
1-3 yrs
3. Phallic Stage
4. Latency Stage
5. Genital stage
3-6 yrs
5-12 yrs,
11-18 yrs
No corresponding
Freudian stage.
No corresponding
Freudian stage.
No corresponding
Freudian stage.
18-30 yrs
30-50 yrs
50+ yrs
(taken from Boeree, 2006)
Further Insights
The Eight Stages of Development
The basic premise of Eriksons theory is that there are eight stages or
phases of development through which individuals must pass in order to
become competent, autonomous individuals. As they do so they confront
psychosocial conflicts that they must resolve. The stages begin at birth and
continue until death. According to Eriksons work, a person is at a crossroad, or turning point, at each stage of life. Each of the eight stages Erikson
identified presents a person with a psychosocial crisis. He or she must
either master a task, thereby acquiring a positive attribute or virtue, or,
by failing it, continue on to the next stage with a negative attribute that
can affect future development. He terms this process of growth, where
72
progress is dependent on completing tasks or resolving conflicts, as epigenetic (Erikson, 1980).

The first stage of development is trust vs. mistrust (Erikson, 1982), characterized by a sense of hope about what is possible. The second stage,
autonomy vs. shame, is characterized by a tension between the confidence to try new tasks or feeling hesitant about doing so (Capps, 2004).
The transition to independence characterizes the third stage of initiative vs.
guilt, while the fourth stage, industry vs. inferiority, focuses on acquiring
skills and developing self-awareness. The fifth stage focuses on identity
vs. identity confusion and attends to meaning-making activities and questions about an individuals social position and role, while the sixth stage,
intimacy vs. isolation, is associated with the development of intimacy with
others. Generativity vs. stagnation is the seventh stage, and is characterized by the tension between tending to the needs of the next generation and
self-absorption (Slater, 2003), while the final stage, integrity vs. despair, is
associated with self-evaluation (Erikson, 1982), especially as a person looks
back over his or her life (Erikson, Erikson & Kivnick, 1989).
In addition, Erikson argued that a persons ego and sense of identity can
change over the course of his or her life and that people can recover from
traumatic experiences by resolving issues stemming from these experiences later in life.
This identity development model has been used to examine not only
identity development throughout the life cycle but also the development of
identity as a process in professional or other terms (Studer, 2007). Erikson
made other significant contributions to the field of developmental psychology, and some of the most notable concepts that he introduced focus on
identity, spirituality, ethics and what he called psychobiography.
Development & Identity
Eriksons concept of identity crisis, which entered into psychological and

sociological debate in the 1970s, grew from his research on people during
World War II who seemed to have lost what he viewed as a sense of personal
sameness and historical continuity. As he developed his eight-stage model
of personality development, he identified a stage during which this sense
of loss seemed evident: youth (Erikson, 1975). Subsequently, as a conseThe Process of Socialization
73
quence of broader sociological changes following the Second World War,

which was a period of relative affluence in which the transitional routes
from youth to adulthood were disrupted, researchers drew on the concept
of identity crisis to describe the lack of clarity about young peoples social
positions and roles and how young people experienced this lack of clarity.
In general, Erikson used the concept of identity crisis to call attention to
and explain the different types of psychological and social issues that
youths face as they move from adolescence into adulthood. As Erikson
put it, during this stage, young people are not quite children but neither
are they yet adults. Their sense of self is shaky and youths search within
themselves in order to gain an understanding of who they are and where
they belong. Eriksons theory suggests that youths have to resolve this
issue during their adolescence in order to develop healthy attitudes before
entering adulthood.
Eriksons theory of identity and the crisis it engenders at a particular
moment in development departs from conventional psychological understandings of identity that view it as a property of individuals. In contrast,
Eriksons model of identity acknowledges the significance of social and
cultural influences. As such, his model has influenced both psychologists and sociologists and provided a platform for developing a synthesis
between the social and the psychological (Cot & Levine, 2002).
Researchers have noted that Eriksons first and last stages are similar to
stages in religions and philosophical traditions. For example, the first stage
is when life is first formed; which is the beginning of the journey. The last
stage occurs near the end of life, which implies finality and mortality. There
are some philosophers who believe that people reflect on their lives during
their final years and attempt to determine if they made the right choices
during their lives. In addition, this period of time is also an opportunity
for the younger generations to embrace the wisdom that may be passed on
from their elders.
Identity & Aging
During his final years, Erikson worked with his wife to develop a theory on
how the achievement of wisdom in the final stage is attributed to lessons
that were learned in the previous stages (Erikson, Erikson & Kivnick, 1989).
74
Table 2: Further Development of the 8 Stages
Psychosocial
Crisis Stage
1. Trust v
Mistrust
2. Autonomy v
Shame & Doubt
3. Initiative v
Guilt
4. Industry v
Inferiority
5. Identity v Role
Confusion
6. Intimacy v
Isolation
7. Generativity v
Stagnation
8. Integrity v
Despair
Basic Virtue &

Strength
Hope and Drive
Willpower and
Self-Control
Purpose and
Direction
Competence and
Method
Fidelity and
Devotion
Love and
Affiliation
Care and
Production
Wisdom and
Renunciation
Maladaptation &
Malignancy
Sensory Distortion
or Withdrawal
Impulsivity or
Compulsion
Ruthlessness or
Inhibition
Narrow Virtuosity
or Inertia
Fanaticism or
Repudiation
Promiscuity or
Exclusivity
Overextension or
Rejectivity
Presumption or
Disdain
The final contribution to his theory on psychosocial stages professed that a

persons level of wisdom is determined based on whether or not a person
has positively resolved the conflicts of the earlier stages. Indeed, developmental psychologists and sociologists interested in aging have built on his
work to explore how identity changes as people age; and in doing so have
questioned the implicit emphasis in his work on age-structured ages.
The concept of life stages have been exceed to some extent by the idea
of across the life course or life-span perspectives, in order to incorporate
social and cultural, as well as biological aspects of aging. To some extent,
this approach acknowledges how, in contemporary society, people have
become more forward-looking during midlife; moreover life expectancy
has expanded and people have opportunitiesindeed are encouragedto
pursue health and fitness (Featherstone & Hepworth, 1991). This change in
the experience of aging has contributed to the emergence of a new form of
identity crisisthe midlife crisis, during which a person may feel caught
between opportunities lost to the past and and an unknown future unThe Process of Socialization
75
bounded by roles as parents and/or productive workers. This crisis, as

Erikson would have termed it, brings with it a new transition into the
third age, which is potentially accompanied by new learning and potential (Giddens, 1997).
Applications
Psychobiography
Erikson also used psychoanalysis to create biographical snapshots of

the lives of prominent historical figures like Maxim Gorky, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther, and Mahatma Gandhi. He reviewed each leaders
life in order to assess how his psychosocial development related to
the public role he occupied, and how, in this role, he affected society.
For instance, he described the Protestant reformer Martin Luther as
a man whose life was influenced by an abusive relationship with his
own father and by digestive problems (Marty, 2004). This approach
opened up a tradition of writing about public and historical figures that
is evident in contemporary biographical writing. However, Eriksons
post-Freudian biographical work has been challenged by historians who
claim that such work is somewhat biased and lacks historical credibility.
Nonetheless, Eriksons work on Gandhi, Gandhis Truth: On the Origins of
Militant Nonviolence (1969), received a Pulitzer Prize in 1970.
Spirituality, Ethics & Moral Responsibility
Erikson studied ethical and moral responsibility and reported his findings
in Insight and Responsibility (1964). In this book he further developed his
developmental framework by identifying eight virtues to correspond with
each of his eight stages. These virtues were hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care, and wisdom. In addition, he developed the term
pseudospeciation, which describes how people make artificial distinctions between themselves and other people of different religious, racial,
and ethic groups to justify aggressive behavior, conflict, and war. Essentially, it is the arrogant placing of ones nation, race, culture, and (or)
society ahead of others; the failure to recognize that all of humanity was
of one species (Friedman, 1998, p. 357). This work is still being expanded
by contemporary researchers to explore the extent to which psychological
development is accompanied by moral development (Leffel, 2008).
76
In addition, Eriksons work has been especially influential in the work of

pastoral care and counseling (Bingaman, 2007). For instance, he wrote a
collection of essays that addressed how his eight stages of development
correlated with western religious thought (Schorr, 1980). Erikson continued to develop his stages by identifying eight virtues and strengths and
either maladaptations and malignancies that could arise from each stage
of development.
Conclusion
Erik Erikson has been credited for being a pioneer in the study of personal
and social identity. Although he considered himself to be a Freudian, many
identify him as a neo-Freudian who studied developmental stages over the
course of the lifespan and who, in contrast to Freud, emphasized the importance of society, culture and social interaction over biological drives in the
development of human personality. In addition, historians have challenged
the reliability of psychobiography, which Erikson championed; and the basis
for his theoretical framework has been criticized by feminist researchers for
being developed through observation of the experience of boys and men.
Some feminists have argued that since girls are socialized into relationality
and intimacy before boys, identity formation his model may not be applicable to women (Bingaman, 2007). Similarly, researchers have called into the
question the lack of attention to cultural detail and divergence in Eriksons
model, despite his obvious commitment to the significance of culture in the
formation of identity. Despite these criticisms, and despite some waning
of the popularity of his work, Eriksons approach to identity continues to
influence research and therapeutic practice in relation to pastoral care, spir
ituality, and life narrative methodologies in the social sciences,
Bibliography
Boeree, C. G. (2006). Erik Erikson. Personality Theories. Retrieved May 5, 2008, from
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html
Bingaman, K. A. (2007). The postmodern life cycle and pastoral care and counseling.
Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 9(1), 83. Retrieved 28 February, 2009 from
EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27706639&site=ehost-live
Brachfield, O. (1999). Inferiority feelings: In the individual and the group. London:
Routledge.
77
Cot, J.E. & Levine, C.G. (2002). Identity, agency and culture: A social psychological
synthesis. New York: Psychology Press.
Erikson, E. (1950). Children and society. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Erikson, E. (1980[1959]). Identity and the life cycle. NY: Norton
Erikson, E. (1964). Insight and responsibility. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Erikson, E. (1969). Gandhis truth: On the origins of militant nonviolence. New York: W. W.
Norton & Company.
Erikson, E. (1982). The life cycle completed (1st ed). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Erikson, E., Erikson, J., & Kivnick, H. Q. (1989). Vital involvement in old age: The experience
of old age in our time. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Featherstone, M. & Hepworth, M. (1991). The mask of ageing and the postmodern life
course. In M. Featherstone, M. Hepworth and B.S. Turner, (eds). The Body: Social
Process and Cultural Theory. London: Sage.
Friedman, L. (1998). Erik H. Eriksons critical themes and voices: The task of synthesis. In
R. S. Wallerstein & L. Goldberger (Eds.) Ideas and identities: The life and work of Erik
Erikson. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
Horney, K. (1967). Feminine psychology. New York: WW. Norton.
Humm, M. (1989). The dictionary of feminist theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Leffel, G. M. (2008). Who cares? Generativity and the moral emotions, part 1: Advancing
the psychology of ultimate concerns. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 36 (3),
161-181. Retrieved February 28, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search
Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=349993
29&site=ehost-live
Marty, M. E. (2004). A God-obsessed seeker which Luther? Christian Century, 121(3):3031. Retrieved on February 28, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search
87&site=ehost-live.
Schorr, G. (1980). Childhood and selfhood essays on tradition, religion, and modernity
in the psychology of Erik H Erikson [Book Review]. Journal for the Scientific Study
of Religion, 19(1), 77-78. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database
SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a
9h&AN=4898013&site=ehost-live
Slater, C.L. (2003). Generativity versus stagnation: An elaboration of Eriksons adult stage
of human development. Journal of Adult Development, 10 (1), 53-65. Retrieved on
February 28, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=10837965&site=ehost-live
Storr, A. (1991). Jung. London: Routledge.
Studer, J. R. (2007). Erik Eriksons Psychosocial Stages Applied to Supervision. Guidance &
Counseling, 21(3), 168-173. Retrieved February 27, 2009 from EBSCO online database,
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Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=a9h&AN=24649148&site=ehost-live.
Weiland, S. (1993) Erik Erikson: Ages, stages, and stories. Generations, 17(2), 17. Retreived
March 7, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.
ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=9308307011&site=ehost-live.
Suggested Reading
Brown, C., & Lowis, M. (2003). Psychosocial development in the elderly: An investigation
into Eriksons ninth stage. Journal of Aging Studies, 17(4), 415-426.
Conway, M., & Holmes, A. (2004). Psychosocial stages and the accessibility of
autobiographical memories across the life cycle. Journal of Personality, 72(3), 461-480.
Retrieved March 27, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=12886042&site=eh
ost-live
Suedfeld, P., Soriano, E., McMurtry, D., Paterson, H., Weiszbeck, T., & Krell, R. (n.d.).
Eriksons components of a healthy personality among Holocaust survivors
immediately and 40 years after the war. Journal of Aging and Human Development,
60(3), 229-248.
79
The Mass Media & Socialization

Marie Gould
Overview
a person interacts with other individuals. While some believe that this
process is limited to the childhood years, others argue that socialization is
a continuous process that stretches over a persons lifetime.
Psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers have studied socialization and social development over the past 100 years. As a result of their
work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory is especially
helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate ways to
guide a person through the process.
The socialization process enables one to develop a sense of self and of how
to relate to society at large. This connection is secured via the internalization of the values, beliefs, and norms of ones environment and culture.
Socialization plays a major role in identity formation and social functioning. Through it, people learn the behaviors appropriate to their cultures as
well as how to interact with other people within their cultures.
Mass Media & Socialization
People spend substantial time viewing mediated sources. In fact, the

average American high school student spends more time watching TV
80
than he or she did sitting in classrooms (Graber 1980). However, until

recent years, there was a dearth of research on the influence of the mass
media on socialization. As late as 1966, Gerson reported that nearly all of
the research that had been conducted on mass media had been only indirectly concerned with socialization. Rather, the majority of studies had
concentrated on understanding how persons with different statuses and
in different social structures use the media andthe resulting gratifications and consequences (Gerson, 1966, p. 41). Thus, these early efforts had
focused on how media exposure affects the interpersonal environment
rather than the individual (Gerson, 1966, p. 40).
At the time of Gersons (1966) report, researchers were just beginning to
propose that the mass media carried out many functions, of which socialization was just one. Perceiving the scarcity of research, Gerson carried out
his research on the assumptions that the mass media contributes to socialization by reinforcing existing values and attitudes, and by serving as a
source of norms and values which offer solutions to personal problems
(1966, p. 41)
Since Gersons time, sociologists have come to see the mass media as a
powerful agent of socialization. It has the power to dictate how we learn
about what is going on in the world, as well as how to appropriately
interact with one another. It connects people to various social institutions.
Furthermore, most of the information people believe is now based on what
they see and read in the media, rather than on personal experience.
For example, during election years the media provides full coverage of
the debates in addition to presenting expert analysis of these debates. As a
result, voters may be more powerfully swayed by what they see and hear
in the media than by what they learn about the candidates through attending town hall meetings or reading their campaign literature. The process is
similar with other mediated events such as professional sports commentary and analysis goes hand in hand with the actual event. In summary,
one could argue that the media helps shape human interaction.
To date, most research has studied the effects of visual, audio, and print
media like television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. However, another
medium that has the potential to simultaneously reach and influence many
cultures has been added to this list. The Internet has become an incredibly
81
accessible medium that enables individuals to exchange information and

opinions via constant visual and audio streams. Still, despite the Internets
popularity, television continues to be a powerful medium, as well. Those
who work in the television industry are very skilled at determining what
will appeal to the mass market and manipulating messages to encourage consumers to buy into ideas and products. For example, although in
previous decades most people got along fine without cell phones, today
many youth believe that they are a necessity. Sociologists who adopt
Marxist perspectives often cite the mass media as a powerful agent in the
maintenance of capitalist societies.
Applications
Children & the Media
Parents, educators, and sociologists have all argued that uncritical media
consumption can be harmful to children (Hadley & Nenga, 2004). Uncritical consumption, these groups say, can socialize children into an adult
culture that consists of sexist and racist stereotypes, sexuality, violence, and
commercialism (Hadley & Nenga, 2004, p. 515). Their research has largely
consisted of content analyses and effect studies. Researchers employing
content analysis have shown that media content targeting children is often
of a violent or sexist nature. Effect studies have found that as children are
exposed to greater amounts of media, they become more likely to develop
stereotypical beliefs about race and gender roles, be aggressive, and gain
adult knowledge about sex.
However, both of these approaches are based on the premise that children
only consume media passively, and never actively. Corsaro (1997) explains
that both content analyses and effect studies have focused on the deterministic model of socializationin which children passively internalize
and then re-enact sexist, racist, and violent mass media messages from the
adult world (Hadely & Nenga, 2004, p. 516). In recent years, researchers have challenged this assumption by studying how children interpret
media messages and incorporate media into their daily lives. Hadley and
Nenga (2004) conducted an ethnographic study that sought to understand
how Taiwanese kindergarteners and first graders incorporate media into
their daily routines as they engaged with the central Confucian values of
their culture (p. 515)
82
They used ethnographic data to examine how 4- to 7-year old Taiwanese

children incorporated media into their peer groups. One of the researchers conducted over 350 hours of participant observation at the Little Forest
Elementary School Attached Kindergarten, which is a public kindergarten
in Taipei City, Taiwan, during the second semester of the 2000-01 academic
year. The researcher returned to the school after the summer break and
conducted an additional 315 hours of participant observations in one first
grade classroom.
Teachers in the studied school were expected to both promote official goals
(e.g. good behavior, health, and academic and social skills) and undergird
them with Confucian philosophy. In other words, students were expected
to learn not only how to meet official goals, but also understand why
meeting these goals was philosophically important. These philosophical
beliefs were woven into the schools organization and academic activities
and reflected overall Taiwanese cultural values.
However, students at the studied school were also widely exposed to
the mass media. Classrooms contained toys that were based on television shows, and teachers often showed cartoons like Pokmon during the
school day. Children also brought paraphernalia like pens, book covers,
clothing, and backpacks into their classrooms which supported characters
from popular television shows. According to the study authors children
in these classrooms had a wide variety of media resources to draw on as
they constructed their peer cultures (Hadley & Nenga, 2004, p. 522). The
researchers found that the Taiwanese students used the media within their
peer groups in three ways:
They displayed their knowledge of media content by
engaging with the media and media related materials in
their classrooms. Additionally, they used these materials to
display academic skills like reading and writing.
They planned their play around shared media knowledge
by using known media characters to assign and enact play
roles.
They drew on their shared media knowledge during
drawing games and physical play for plotlines and characterization (Hadley & Nenga, 2004).
83
In all of these uses, the authors claimed, the children enacted, explored,
and occasionally resisted certain aspects of the Confucian values that were
pressed on them by teachers (2004, p. 522).
What were the results? Some of the conclusions of this study included:
The Taiwanese children in this study used media to
explore concerns and issues of importance to them, such as
how to create and sustain play episodes and how to better
understand the hierarchy central to being a good student
and family member.
The children showed a clear commitment to nurturing a
sense of sharing among peers. In addition, sharing media
knowledge unique to the peer group also brought the
children together, especially if the adults were not knowledgeable about the same topics.
The children creatively appropriated media messages to
address their own values and concerns within the context
of their peer cultures.
Overall, the authors concluded that the children were able to use the media
messages to address their own values and concerns, suggesting that their
media consumption was active, rather than passive. The children manipulated media messages for their own uses in both learning and play.
Issues
Anticipatory Socialization
Some development theorists believe preparation for adult employment is

one of the main purposes of adolescence. In addition, many argue that
this socialization begins before an individual even enters the workplace,
and continues throughout the lifespan. In his study on how individuals
enter and are assimilated into the workforce, Jablin (2000) identified anticipatory socialization as the process, which generally occurs during childhood and young adulthood, through which individuals learn about work
prior to entering the workforce. According to Levine and Hoffner (2006),
much of this learning happens through interactions with parents, peers,
schools, and the mass media. One part of their 2006 study sought to under84
stand how media messages can influence young peoples attitudes about
work in an effort to better design job training programs to produce effective workers.
Whats the impact of the media?
Reviewing previous research, the authors stated that television and movies
often transmit an inaccurate, stereotypic image of the world of work and
the ways that people behave and communicate in the workplace (2006,
p. 651). For example, Lichter, Lichter, and Rothman (1994) reported that
media depictions often
Showed characters who constantly conflicted with their
superiors, with few negative consequences.
Portrayed characters who were employed, but rarely
showed them at their workplaces.
Communicated that individuals spend a lot of time in
non-work related activities.
Emphasized the social and relational aspects of a job over
the task related aspects.
Glorified the exciting aspects of a job and rarely showed
the boring, daily tasks required to do the job (as cited in
Levine & Hoffner, 2006).
Levines and Hoffners (2006) study suggested that the mass medias portrayals of work can influence young peoples career aspirations. Additionally, though young people are generally skeptical about how accurately
the media portrays the workplace, it can lead young people to believe that
work is more easy, fun, or glamorous than it actually is. However, the
study concluded that young peoples parents played the largest role in the
formation of their attitudes about work. By and large, it was parents who
taught the studied adolescents job searching skills, appropriate workplace
behavior, the value of having a job, and the importance of having a good
work ethic.
Conclusion
work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socializaThe Process of Socialization
85
tion process. It has been found that social learning theory is especially
The socialization process enables one to develop a sense of self and of how
to relate to society at large. This connection is secured via the internalization of the values, beliefs, and norms of ones environment and culture.
Socialization plays a major role in identity formation and social functioning. Through it, people learn the behaviors appropriate to their cultures as
well as how to interact with other people within their cultures.
People spend substantial time viewing mediated sources. Up until recent
decades, most studies on the mass media concentrated on understanding how people of different social statuses used the media and with what
effects. More recently, researchers have turned their attention to how
the mass media connects people to cultural norms and supports existing
cultural values.
However, despite this trend, researchers are also questioning just how
people interact with media. Though parents, educators, and sociologist
have all claimed that media consumption can encourage children to accept
sexist and racist stereotypes, and engage in aggressive and consumerist
behavior, recent studies have found that children do not engage with media
uncritically. Rather, they creatively incorporate media messages into their
learning and play, suggesting that their consumption is more active and
critical rather than passive and uncritical (Hadley & Nenga, 2004). Additional research on young peoples attitudes about work also suggests that,
although the media portrayals do play a role in forming these attitudes, the
socialization provided through their parents carries a much greater weight
(Levine & Hoffner 2006). In sum, the relationship between individuals and
the mass media may be much more complex than previous research has indicated. If children can and do critically engage media messages, its influence as an agent of socialization may be much smaller than some parents,
educators, and sociologists have claimed.
Bibliography
Corsaro, W. (1997). The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Gerson, W. (1966). Mass media socialization behavior: Negro-White differences. Social
Forces, 45(1), 40-50. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX
86
with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=13

Graber, D. (1980). Mass Media and American Politics. Washington, DC: Congressional
Quarterly Press.
Hadley, K., & Nenga, S. (2004). From Snow White to Digimon: Using popular media to
confront Confucian values in Taiwanese peer cultures. Childhood, 11(4), 515-536.
Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=15385998&site=e
host-live
Jablin, F. (2000). Organizational entry, assimilation, and disengagement/exit. In F. M.
Jablin & L. L. Putman (Eds.), The New Handbook of Organizational Communication
(pp. 732-818). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Levine, K., & Hoffner, C. (2006). Adolescents conceptions of work: What is learned from
different sources during anticipatory socialization? Journal of Adolescent Research,
21(6), 647-669. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search
657&site=ehost-live
Lichter, S., Lichter, L., & Rothman, S. (1994). Prime time: How TV portrays American
culture. Washington, DC: Regnery.
Suggested Reading
Kotz, H. (n.d.). Mass media and political socialisation: A South African case study.
International Political Science Review, 7(4), 415-434. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from
EBSCO Online Database International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. http://
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ioh&AN=707637&site=ehost-live
Salama, M. (n.d.). Role of mass media in socialization of person. Vestsi natsyianalnai
akademii navuk Belarusi. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.
aspx?direct=true&db=ioh&AN=2752751&site=ehost-live
Wei, R., & Leung, L. (1998). A cross-societal study on the role of the mass media in political
socialization in China and Taiwan. Gazette: International Journal for Communication
Studies, 60(5), 377. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic
Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1
87
Socialization in Families
Marie Gould
Overview
Socialization can be defined as the type of social learning which occurs
when a person interacts with other individuals. While some believe that
this process is limited to the childhood years, others argue that socialization is a continuous process that stretches over a persons lifetime.
work, practitioners have been able to use the information to guide people
through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning
theory has been especially helpful in understanding socialization and the
most appropriate ways to guide a person through the process.
Group Socialization Theory
Theorists like Turner, Tesser, and Brewer (1987; 1988; 1991) have all shown
how social-cognitive approaches can illuminate otherwise inexplicable
aspects of human group behavior. One of these aspects is how people can
belong simultaneously to many groups and can shift their allegiance from
one to the other, without moving an inch, in response to changes in relative
salience (Harris, 1995, p. 465). Because of this ability, a person can identify
with a group even if (1) the group is never all present in one location, or (2)
the person never meets all or any of the group members.
88
Judith Harris group socialization theory, which is based on the four fundamental predispositions which humans and primates hold in common, is
used to explain these unique human behaviors (1995). The four predispositions, which can be correlated with the basic types of behavior, are:
Group Affiliation: by indentifying themselves as part of a group,
group members tend to favor each other above non-group and
out-group members.
Fear: group members exhibit apprehension about or aggression toward strangers. If group members demonstrate strong
in-group favoritism, this predisposition may manifest itself as
out-group hostility.
Within-group Jockeying for Status: group members attempt to
raise their prestige within the group in order to gain greater
power over group resources.
Seeking Close Dyadic Relationships: group members attempt to
develop loving relationships with other group members (Haris,
1995).
Harris (1995) was able to summarize many of the basic assumptions surrounding the study of Group Socialization Theory:
The Assumptions of Group Socialization Theory
In urban societies, school-age children spend most of their time outside of

their homes among other children of the same age and sex. These groups
usually do not include siblings (Harris, 1995. Therefore, one could question
whether or not the family should be considered a part of the childs group.
The answer is dependent on who is asking the question.
In many Asian cultures, the family group is seen as important and the family
relationship is valued above individuals autonomy or independence. For
instance, hundreds of years ago, if a Chinese man was found guilty of committing a serious crime, both he and his family were punished. In essence,
the entire family would have to pay the price for a family members crime
(Heckathorn, 1992, as cited in Harris, 1995).
89
On the other hand, Western culture tends value the individual over the
group. (Miller, 1987, as cited in Harris, 1995). According to Harris (1992),
this tendency extends into the family, too. When they are at home together,
I believe that they function as individuals, each with her own agenda, his
own patch of turf to defend, Harris writes (1995, p. 474). If Harris is correct,
then the family may not be recognized as a group in Western culture.
Regardless of ones point of view on the familys socialization influence,
one could argue that the manner in which a child behaves and adjusts to
his or her family can predict how well that child will function in the world
as an adult.
Applications
Divorce
Most of research conducted on family socialization highlights the process

through which parents hand down their values to their children. However,
this research tends to assume that most individuals have lived in two different types of family environments during the course of their lives: the
family of origin and the family into which they marry. It has been suggested that a person learns behavior from the family of origin, and that he
or she later transmits these behaviors into the marital family.
Unfortunately, the results of these various research projects have tended
to not take into consideration the effects of divorce and remarriage on the
family socialization process.
However, other research as compared the children of divorced
parents to the children of parents who remained together. It has
been found that the children of divorced parents may experience more
behavioral and emotional problems (Krantz, 1989). Economic effects have
been seen as the number one issue concerning children of divorced parents,
but the issue of childrens emotional well-being is a close second. Seltzer
(1994) believes that the concern for emotional survival is very real due to
the following facts:
In the short term, children experience anxiety and depression,
and may engage in disruptive behavior. Because of methodological problems, it is less well known what how divorce effects
90
children in the long term, although initial evidence from the

National Survey of Children shows that such emotional distress
can be present for extended periods of time.
Children define themselves as part of a family. They define their family
by who lives with whom. When a parent leaves the family unit, children
experience loss and anxiety about their place in the world. Parental conflict
harms children. Usually, there is conflict between parents during the time
leading up to divorce. Children who spend time in a high-conflict household experience emotional problems similar to children growing up in
single-parent households. As parents find themselves unable to cope with
the conflict of divorce and child rearing, the parent-child relationship deteriorates.
Household disruptions such as relocation, change in mothers employment, loss of income, changes in childcare, disruption of routine, erratic
child-rearing practices, and loss of parental control all negatively affect
childrens emotional well-being. Multiple disruptions such as divorce, remarriage, and divorce inflict more trauma on children (Seltzer, 1994, Smartlibrary.org).
In addition, research has suggested that adults whose parents
are divorced tend to have a higher risk of marital failure (Glenn and
Kramer, 1987), which suggests that a divorce can have lasting effects.
However, group socialization theory has a different explanation for these
results. According to Harris (1995),
Divorce may be inheritable. It has been found that characteristics like impulsivity, disagreeableness, and alcoholism which
children can inherit from their parents can make divorce more
likely among the children of divorced parents (McGue and
Lykken, 1992; Loehlin, 1992).
Childrens behavioral problems may not be caused by a divorce. Long
before their parents divorce, many children of divorced parents have behavioral problems, suggesting that these problems are not the result of the
divorce. Rather, the problems may be the result of the family conflict that
existed prior to the divorce.
91
Divorce often means moving to a new home. According to one study, thirty-eight percent of custodial mothers moved during the first year after a
divorce. A move tends to have negative effects on children because they
(1) lose their peer groups as well as their status among their peers, and (2)
have find a new peer group and gain their status among them.
Divorce often results in a lower socioeconomic status. When children
move as a result of a divorce, the type of neighborhood they live in may
also change. Of all the homes headed by single mothers, half are below
the poverty line. As Harris explains the change in socioeconomic status
means that there may be a change in the norms of the childs peer group
(1995, p. 480).
Viewpoints
Socialization of African American Adolescents
Another crisis situation that some children may face has to do with their
assimilation into the mainstream culture. Some researchers believe that
racism and discrimination can be developmental mediators in the lives
of African Americans across their life spans (Comer, 1989; Duncan, 1993).
It has been found that many African American adolescents have a difficult time developing and maintaining a healthy racial identify given the
conflicted state of race relations in the US (Stevenson, Reed, Bodison, and
Bishop, 1997). Developing a healthy racial identity may be a challenge for
this group because they must balance multiple cultural experiences simultaneously (Boykin, 1986, Thornton, 1997). These researchers have defined
three types of cultural experiences with which African Americans meet:
Mainstream experiences: experiences related to the dominant
culture of the United States.
Minority experiences: experiences representing political and
social injustices associated with being a numerical and social
minority in the United States.
African American experiences: Black cultural and community experiences represented within the African American community.
92
Some psychologists have suggested that exposure to racism and discrimination can lead to low self-esteem in some people. In addition, a persons
self-esteem can influence his or her academic performance in school. According to Constantine and Blackmon (2002), the link between self-esteem and academic performance among Black American adolescents may
be related to how they process achievement experiences at school and
in other areas of their lives (p. 323). Seeking to better these understand
the relationship between parents racial socialization efforts and African
American teenagers self-esteem, these researchers surveyed 115 middleschool students at a predominantly Black parochial school by asking them
complete a racial socialization scale, a self-esteem scale, and a demographic questionnaire.
The results of the surveys suggested that the adolescents self-esteem was
positively correlated to socialization messages that reinforced cultural
pride. This result supports the notion that African American peer groups
confirm the racial values and practices that African American parents and
caregivers try to instill in their children. It can also be inferred that family
and peer groups, by fostering self-esteem in adolescents, prepare them to
deal with the world outside of these supportive environments.
The study also produced another significant finding. The results suggested
that as adolescents adopt mainstream racial socialization messages, their
self-esteem suffered as well as their perceptions of their academic abilities.
This finding helps explain why some African American parents choose to
enroll their children in predominantly Black schools. By doing so, children
are able to learn about their culture in an educational setting, develop skills
and abilities that pertain particularly to their culture and race, and be protected from racism until theyve learned coping strategies.
Conclusion
In the past, psychoanalytic theory played a prominent role in the field of

developmental psychology. Psychoanalytic theory holds that children
around the ages of 4 and 5 have the ability to learn how to behave by identifying with their parents. If a child successfully completes this phase, the
theory claims, the superego is formed and enforces good behavior. Frailberg (1989) used this hypothesis to support the belief that most children
tend to learn family rules and are less inclined to violate them as they grow
93
older. Children in our society spend the early years discovering that they
cannot do most of the things they see their parents doing making messes,
telling other people how to behave, and engaging in many other activities
that look fun to those who are not allowed to do them (Harris, 1995, p. 474).
how social-cognitive approaches can illuminate otherwise to inexplicable
with a group even if (1) the group is never all present in one location, or
(2) the person never meets all or any of the group members. Judith Harris
group socialization theory, which is based on the four fundamental predispositions which humans and primates hold in common, is used to explain
these unique human behaviors (1995).
According to Seltzer (1994), children of divorce commonly exhibit a
number of ill effects like emotional disturbances and behavioral and
academic problems. Some psychologists have suggested that exposure to
racism and discrimination can lead to low self-esteem in some people. In
addition, a persons self-esteem can influence his or her academic performance in school.
Bibliography
Boykin, A. (1986). The triple quandary and the schooling of Afro-American children. In
U. Neiseser (Ed.), The school achievement of minority children: New perspectives (pp.
57-92). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Brewer, M. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482.
Cole, M. (1992). Culture in development. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.),
Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (pp. 731-789). Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Comer, J. (1989). Racism and the education of young children. Teachers College Record,
90(3), 352-361. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database PsycINFO.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1989-29025001&site=ehost-live
Constantine, M., & Blackmon, S. (2002). Black adolescents racial socialization experiences:
Their relations to home, school, and peer self esteem. Journal of Black Studies, 322-335.
94
Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Complete. http://
Duncan, G. (1992). Racism as a developmental mediator. Educational Forum, 57, 360-370.
Frailberg, S. (1992). Thinking is for doing: Portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype
to laserphoto. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 877-889.
Glenn, N., & Kramer, K. (1987). The marriages and divorces of the children of divorce.
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 811-825. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO
Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx
?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=5280428&site=ehost-live
Harris, J. (1995). Where is the childs environment? A group socialization theory of
development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from
http://www.apa.org/journals/features/rev1023458.pdf
Heckathorn, D. (1992). Collective sanctions and group heterogeneity: Cohesion and
polarization in normative systems. In E. J. Lawler, B. Markovsky, C. Ridgeway, & H.
A. Walker (Eds.), Advances in group processes (Vol. 9, pp. 41-63). Greenwich, CT: JAI
Press.
Krantz, S. (1989). The impact of divorce on children. In A. S. Skolnick & J. H. Skolnick
(Eds.), Family in transition (6th ed., pp. 341-363). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Loehlin, J. (1992). Genes and environment in personality development. Newbury Park,
CA: Sage.
McGue, M., & Lykken, D. (1992). Genetic influence on risk of divorce. Psychological
Science, 3(6), 368-373. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database
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McLanahan, S., & Booth, K. (1989). Mother-only families: Problems, prospects, and
politics. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51(3), 557-580. Retrieved March 25, 2008
from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.
com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=5280971&site=ehost-live
Miller, J. (1987). Cultural influences on the development of conceptual differentiation
inperson description. British Journal of Development Psychology, 5, 309-319.
Seltzer, J. (1994). Consequences of marital dissolution for children. Annual Review of
Sociology, 20(1), 235-266. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database
Seltzer, J. (1994). Effects of divorce on childrens emotional needs. Divorce and Childrens
Emotional Needs. Retrieved March 25, 2008 from Smart Library, http://www.children.
smartlibrary.org/NewInterface/segment.cfm?segment=1924&table_of_contents=1487
Stevenson, H. (1997). Managing anger: Protective, proactive, or adaptive racial socialization
identity profiles and African-American manhood development. Journal of Prevention
& Intervention in the Community, 16, 35-61.
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Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L.

Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 81-227). San
Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Thornton, M. (1997). Strategies of racial socialization among Black parents: Mainstream,
minority, and cultural messages. In R. J. Taylor, J. S. Jackson, & L. M. Chatters (Eds.),
Family life in Black America (pp. 201-215). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Turner, J. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford,
England: Basil Blackwell.
Suggested Reading
Nordquest, M., & Nordquest, M. (2007). Family mealtime as a context of development and
socialization. The Journal of Collaborative Family Healthcare, 25(2), 219-221. Retrieved
March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier. http://search.
Robbins, M., Szapocznik, J., Mayorga, C., Dillon, F., Burns, M., & Feaster, D. (2007). The
impact of family functioning on family racial socialization processes. Cultural Diversity
& Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(4), 313-320. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO
Online Database PsycARTICLES. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru
e&db=sih&AN=27435546&site=ehost-live
Wong, J., & Tseng, V. (2008). Political socialization in immigrant families: Challenging topdown parental socialization models. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(1),
151-169. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search
Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=2760136
5&site=ehost-live
96
Gender Socialization
Jennifer Kretchmar
Overview
As topics of study, both gender and gender socialization are relatively new
areas of interest within sociology, and the social sciences more generally.
As Chafetz (1999) explains, with few exceptions, the best that can be said
for our classical tradition [of sociology] is that gender issues were peripheral (p. 4). With the advent of the womens movement in the late twentieth century, however, feminists began criticizing the academic disciplines
for their male bias and demanded that women be included as subjects of
study. As a result of their efforts, courses on the sociology of women were
added to the core curriculum in what became known as the add women
and stir approach (Wharton, 2005, p. 5). Gradually, however, the sociology of women morphed into the sociology of gender with the recognition
of gender as relational; that is, sociologists began to recognize that understanding what women are or can be requires attention to what men are or
can be (Wharton, 2005, p. 5).
The increasing focus on gender introduced as many new questions as it
answered. When do children first develop a gender identity, recognizing
themselves as a member of one sex group or the other? Are our behaviors
as males and females determined by our environment through culture,
our interaction with others, our social institutions or are they determined
by biology and genetics? Sociologists admit that the answer to such quesThe Process of Socialization
97
tions remain elusive. Stockard (1999) writes, the extent to which physiological factors influence differences between the sex groups is an active
and contentious issue and will probably not be resolved any time soon (p.
217). Nevertheless, sociologists believe that social influences matter most,
and as a result, have turned their attention to the study of gender socialization, the processes through which individuals take on gendered qualities
and characteristicsand learn what their society expects of them as males
or females (Wharton, 2005, p. 31).
Definition of Gender
One of the first steps sociologists take in defining gender is to distinguish

it conceptually from the term sex. Burn (1996) writes, In most contexts,
psychologists prefer the word gender because it includes the idea that
many differences between men and women are culturally created while
the word sex implies that the differences are caused directly by biological
sex (p. xix). Thus, when referring to anatomical or reproductive differences between men and women, many social scientists use the term sex;
when referring to differences not directly caused by biology for example,
different hair or clothing styles of men and women social scientists prefer
the term gender.
Unfortunately, the distinction between sex and gender is not quite so clear.
Whereas defining key conceptual terms typically clarifies, the varying definitions of sex and gender often muddy the waters. As Wharton (2005)
explains, there is no firm consensus on the appropriate use of these two
terms among gender scholars. Some reject the term sex altogether and
refer only to gender. Others use the terms almost interchangeably (p.
18). The confusion stems largely from the varying degrees of emphasis
placed on biology and culture in understanding what it means to be male
and female. On one end of the spectrum are those who believe gender is
entirely socially constructed, and therefore not grounded in any physiological reality (Wharton, 2005). On the other end are those who believe the
two sexes are a biological fact. And in the middle is the biosocial perspective, the idea that gender is constructed within limits already established
by our biology.
Although most agree that biology and society interact to shape human
behavior, sociologists place their emphases on the social influences on our
98
behavior. Accordingly, one of the working definitions of gender used by

many sociologists features three characteristics:
Gender as a process rather than a fixed state;
Gender as a characteristic of society as well as individuals;
and
Gender as a system that creates differences and inequalities (Wharton, 2005).
In addition, sociologists often study gender using different frameworks.
Some emphasize gender as a characteristic of the individual, some as a
product of social interactions, and others as a characteristic of social institutions (Wharton, 2005). Wharton (2005) explains that all frameworks
are necessarily partial and selective and that none alone is sufficient for
understanding gender. Those who are interested in socialization processes, however, usually study gender as a characteristic of the individual; as
such, much of the theoretical work on socialization is drawn from psychology as well as sociology (Burn, 1996; Wharton, 2005).
Theoretical Approaches to Gender Socialization
Several theories that attempt to explain gender socialization social

learning theory, and gender schema theory, for example - fall within the
category of learning theories more broadly (Wharton, 2005). Such theorists understand the processes by which children learn gender appropriate
behavior in the same way children learn in general. Other theories focus
on gender and sexuality exclusively. Psychoanalytic theory, for example,
emphasizes the unconscious processes involved in developing gender
identity. Stockard (1999) suggests that all three theories help explain the
process of gender socialization, even though evidence for some as comprehensive, stand-alone, explanatory theories is lacking.
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory, most closely associated with the work of psychologist Albert Bandura, is an outgrowth of the behaviorist tradition, which
defines learning in terms of stimulus and response. According to this
perspective, children are reinforced both positively and negatively for
gender appropriate and inappropriate behavior (Burn, 1996; Wharton,
99
2005). A young boy playing with dolls, for example, might be ignored by
his father; the lack of attention serves as a negative reinforcement, so that
the boy eventually stops playing with dolls altogether. Or, parents might
hug a young girl who cries the hug serving as a positive reinforcement
thereby increasing the likelihood the girl will cry again in the future. In
this way, the theory suggests, boys and girls learn which behaviors are
expected of them. Boys learn that playing with dolls is inappropriate;
girls learn that expressing emotion is consistent with being female. Social
learning theory also suggests that children learn by observing and imitating the behavior of same-sex adults. A young girl learns what it means to
be female by observing her mother, whereas a boy learns what it means to
be male by observing his father.
First proposed in the 1950s and 1960s, social learning theory has not withstood the test of time. Research has shown, for example, that parents who
themselves exhibit sex stereotypical behaviors are not more likely than other
parents to have children who exhibit strong sex stereotypical behaviors,
thus discrediting the idea that children imitate same-sex adults (Stockard,
1999). In addition, children and especially boys display gender appropriate behaviors even in the absence of reinforcement (Wharton, 2005).
Finally, evidence is mixed with regard to the extent to which parents reinforce male and female children differently. All of which suggests, critics
argue, that children are more actively engaged in their socialization than
the theory acknowledges. Wharton (2005) writes, To simplify somewhat,
we can say that social learning theory tends to view children (and other
targets of socialization) as lumps of clay that are modeled by their environment (p. 32).
Cognitive Development Theory
Cognitive theories of gender socialization offer a different perspective, emphasizing the developmental nature of the socialization process, as well
as the active role the child plays in the construction of his or her gender
identity (Stockard, 1999). Lawrence Kohlberg, best known for his theory
of moral development, was one of the first to apply theories of cognitive
development to gender identity. Specifically, he argued that childrens
views of appropriate gender roles ...change as they grow older, reflecting
their changing cognitive development (Stockard, 1999, p. 218). Younger
children between the ages of five and eight tend to have the most rigid
100
definitions of gender, and apply the most severe sanctions for violations of
gender norms. As they age, however, children are able to develop more
complex and flexible definitions of gender (Martin & Ruble, 2004). In
general, however, Kohlberg believed that once children develop gender
constancy the recognition of themselves as male or female and the stable,
unchanging nature of their gender they become more motivated to demonstrate gender appropriate behavior (Wharton, 2005).
Critics of Kohlbergs theory pointed to contradictory evidence the fact
that children demonstrate gender-typed behavior as young as two or three
years of age, long before they develop gender constancy to discredit his
theory (Martin & Ruble, 2004). They also argued that Kohlbergs theory
failed to explain why children use gender, rather than some other construct, to organize their view of the world (Wharton, 2005).
Gender Schema Theory
In response, Sandra Bem introduced a second cognitive theory of gender socialization known as gender schema theory. According to Bem, in cultures
where distinctions between men and women are emphasized, children
learn to use gender as a way to process information about the world. The
cognitive structures, or gender schemas, help children organize information, and maintain a sense of consistency and predictability (Stockard,
1999). For Bem, two characteristics of gender schemas are particularly
noteworthy. She argues that gender schemas tend to be polarized, so that
children believe what is acceptable and appropriate for females is not acceptable or appropriate for males (and vice versa) (Wharton, 2005, p. 34).
And secondly, gender schemas tend to be androcentric; that is, children internalize the message that males and masculinity are the standard or norm,
and are more highly valued than females and femininity (Wharton, 2005).
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalytic theory differs from both social learning and cognitive developmental theories in two important respects; it isnt a learning theory,
and it suggests that some aspects of gender identity result from unconscious psychological processes, rather than more conscious processes
such as modeling or actively seeking information consistent with schemas
(Wharton, 2005). The psychoanalytic approach was founded by Sigmund
101
Freud, but its application to gender socialization was more fully outlined
in the late 1970s by Nancy Chodorow. For Chodorow, the key factor in
the development of gender identity is the role of the mother as the primary
caregiver (Stockard, 1999). Because children spend more time with
mothers than fathers, Chodorow argues, their first identification is with the
feminine. Eventually, however, children need to develop a sense of themselves as separate, as individual identities. For girls, the process is easier
because by identifying with the mother she has already learned how to be
female. Boys however, in developing a male gender identity, must first
reject their identification with the feminine. Because the boy knows most
intimately what is feminine, Stockard (1999) writes, he comes to define
masculine as being not feminine (p. 222). In the process of separation,
boys often learn to devalue femininity as well. The psychoanalytic theory,
like other socialization theories, has not escaped criticism. Gender scholars
argue that its difficult to verify empirically, that it reinforces gender stereotypes that women seek connection, whereas men prefer separation,
for example and that it places too much emphasis on the unconscious
(Wharton, 2005).
Further Insights
Theory has been used to conduct gender socialization research in many
ways. Various themes introduced above reinforcement, the child as
active participant in the socialization process, and developmental changes
will be discussed in relation to research findings. Some findings are more
conclusive than others. The gender-segregated nature of childhood play,
for example, is demonstrated repeatedly in study after study. The belief
that parents treat male and female children differently, however, has been
met with mixed results. As a relatively new field of study, gender socialization research will continue to evolve.
Parents as Socialization Agents
According to those who study gender using the individualist framework

gender as a characteristic of the person parents are believed to be the
most significant source of gender socialization. In one of the first studies to
document the differential treatment of male and female infants, researchers asked parents to indicate the extent to which a list of adjectives described their babies (Rubin et al., 1974, as cited in Wharton, 2005). Parents
102
of female infants selected adjectives such as soft, fine-featured, little,

and inattentive more often than parents of male infants. The researchers
concluded that because the infants were physically very similarparents
were not reacting to real differences between children as much as they
were applying gender stereotypes that could possibly result in differential
treatment of their male and female children (Wharton, 2005, p. 124). More
recent research continues to document differences. Clearfield and Nelson
(2006) showed that mothers engage in more conversation with female
infants and also interact more with female infants. Even first-hand observations of new parents often reveal differential treatment. As Coltrane
(1998) writes, male and female infants are similar to one another, but most
adults go to great lengths to make them appear dissimilar (as cited in
Wharton, 2005, p. 123).
On the other hand, a significant amount of evidence suggests that parents
do not treat male and female children differently. Lytton and Romney
(1991, as cited in Wharton, 2005) conducted a meta-analysis of over 150
published studies and concluded that parental treatment of boys and girls
has become significantly less differentiated over the last sixty years. Their
research suggests that in areas such as encouragement of achievement or
dependency, warmth of interactions, restrictiveness, and disciplinary practices, parents tend to treat boys and girls similarly (Stockard, 1999, p. 217).
Although much of the research on parent socialization is ambiguous, it is
more conclusive in one respect with regard to parental attitudes toward
toys, games, and activities. Research demonstrates that when given a
choice, parents tend to offer different toys to boys and girls (Stockard, 1999,
Wharton, 2005). They are more likely to choose a football for a boy, for
example, and a doll for a girl. In addition, the choice of toy influences the
types of activities parents engage in with their children; parents play with
boys and especially the play of fathers tends to be more physical, roughhouse play (Wharton, 2005). Research also shows that parents have different attitudes toward cross-gender play for boys and girls. As Freeman
(2007) notes, researchers who describe adultsresponses to cross-gender play consistently report that boys who engage in girls games are
more likely to be criticized by parents [and] teachersthan are girls who
enjoy activities and materials labeled as for boys (p. 58). Additionally, it
appears that fathers react most negatively to cross-gender play, especially
103
when engaged in by their sons. Such evidence supports the notion that
gender roles for girls and women are expanding, while those for boys and
men are narrowing (Freeman, 2007).
Peer Group Socialization
Gender scholars who study peer group interaction bring a different perspective to our understanding of socialization. Too much socialization
research, they argue, has been conducted using the transmission model
of socialization the idea that socialization is a hierarchical, top-down
process in which adults socialize children (Tholander, 2002). They prefer
a dialogical model instead, studying the ways in which children socialize
one another. Those who study peer groups view gender through a different lens focusing on interactions between children, rather than on characteristics of the individual children themselves (Tholander, 2002).
One of the most consistent findings in peer group socialization research is
the sex-segregated nature of childhood play. Both boys and girls, beginning by age three, prefer same-sex playmates (Wharton, 2005). This preference is found across various cultures, is not influenced by adults, and
generally lasts until adolescence. Although the preference first appears in
girls, boys become more rigid about gender segregation than girls, and are
less likely to interact with adults as well. As a result of this self-segregation, boys and girls learn about what it means to be male and female from
same-gender peers. Stockard (1999) refers to this as a cult of childhood;
a pattern of games, activities, norms, and roles passed down from one
generation to the next. It is not easily influenced by adults, and is highly
gendered, with distinct roles for males and females, and severe sanctions
against those who violate them.
Research provides one possible explanation for gender-segregated play;
boys and girls play very differently, and therefore may actively seek others
whose play style is most similar (Stockard, 1999). Specifically, girls tend
to form close, intimate friendships with one or two other girls. They are
more likely to take turns speaking, and express agreement. Boys, on the
other hand, play in larger groups, engage in rougher activities that take
up more space, and use interruptions, threats, and boasts (Stockard, 1999).
As Stockard (1999) explains, both boys and girls successfully influence
others in their interactions; they simply tend to do so through differently
104
styles (p. 221). While girls successfully influence other girls, they find it
more difficult to influence boys; as a result, Maccoby (1990) suggests, girls
intentionally avoid boys, thereby reinforcing gender segregation (as cited
in Stockard, 1999). The theory is less successful, however, in explaining
why boys avoid girls.
On a final note, it is important to acknowledge that peers, like parents,
significantly influence cross-gender behavior. Just as parents have more
negative attitudes toward cross-gender behavior for boys, peers also seem
to punish boys for engaging in girl behaviors and activities more than
they punish girls for behaving like boys. The term tomboy, for example,
was found to be a label rarely used to describe girls who act like boys, even
though it was widely understood; on the other hand, the use of the term
sissy was widespread for boys acting like girls, and was used consistently
as a negative label (Thorne, 1993, as cited in Wharton, 2005). As Wharton
(2005) concludes, Girls seem to face less pressure than boys to conform to
gender stereotypes, are more likely than boys to cross gender boundaries,
and girls receive less negative attention than boys when they do participate in activities or games with the other gender (p. 133).
Media Socialization
In addition to parents and peers, the media television, computer games,

and literature also communicate ideas about what is gender appropriate
behavior for boys and girls. Research has shown that childrens books,
for example, are beginning to portray girls and boys in non-stereotypical
ways; however, many of the books that predate this change are still available in libraries and book stores everywhere. These classic books tend to
portray girls in traditionally gender-appropriate ways doing household
chores, for example while showing boys engaging in a wider variety of
activities. They also show girls holding household cooking and cleaning
objects, while they are more likely to show boys using outdoor tools or
building things (Burn, 1996).
Content analyses of television shows also reveal a significant male bias
in programming. Male characters typically outnumber female characters, female characters are significantly younger than male characters,
and female characters are less likely to be portrayed as working women,
according to several studies conducted in the early 1990s (Burns, 1996).
105
Atkins (1991) reviewed over 500 television characters and concluded that
the vast majority [of female characters] conformed to male fantasies of
scantily clad half-wits who need to be rescued (as cited in Burns, 1996, p.
15). In commercials too, the voice of authority is typically a male voice, and
men and women are portrayed stereotypically. Researchers estimate that
by the time children graduate from high school they will have spent more
time watching television than in the classroom (Davis, 1991, as cited in
Burns, 1996). Indeed, correlational studies show that children who watch
more TV tend to have more sex-stereotypical views of men and women;
other studies show that watching sex-stereotypical models on TV influences choice of toys, career aspirations, and self-esteem (Burns, 1996).
Viewpoints
One of the major assumptions adopted by scholars who study gender from
the individualist view is that differences between men and women are
greater than differences within each group (Wharton, 2005). Indeed, much
of the research on gender socialization attempts to explain how men and
women become different. What this perspective obscures, many argue, is
the reality that men and women are more alike than they are unalike (Burn,
1996). Even Maccoby and Jacklins 1974 classic The Psychology of Sex Difference, which was intended to be a catalogue of differences between men
and women, concluded that differences between men and women were
fewer and of less magnitude than many had assumed (Wharton, 2005,
p. 24). Feminists argue that the emphasis on differences is problematic,
because such differences have often been used to justify unequal treatment
(Wharton, 2005). Demonstrating similarities, on the other hand, could help
eradicate gender inequality.
For feminists, however, emphasizing our similarities isnt just about eradicating unequal treatment of women. As mentioned in the introduction,
the sociology of gender has evolved from its focus on women, to a focus
on men and masculinity as well. The way in which we are socialized, and
the roles and behaviors we adopt as a result, feminists argue, arent just
limiting to women, theyre limiting to men as well (Burn, 1996). Watts
and Borders (2005) document, for example, that boys begin feeling gender
role conflict during their teenage years. They experience pressure to
succeed and to dominate, and intentionally avoid expressions of affection
106
with peers, believing the only appropriate emotion they should express
is anger. Researchers have begun looking for a link between gender role
conflict in males and some of the academic problems they experience, like
poor grades and dropping out of school (Watts & Border, 2005).
In the end, one of the basic intentions of gender scholars is to bring to
our attention a topic that is often taken for granted. Because gender is
such a pervasive aspect of social life, in many ways it goes unnoticed. As
Wharton (2005) writes, challenging the taken-for-granted is one essential
component of the sociological perspective. In fact, sociologists argue that
what people view as unproblematic and accept as the way things are may
be most in need of close, systematic scrutiny (p. 2). Indeed, by demonstrating the ways in which we learn to become men and women through
parents, peers, and media and the ways in which such roles and behaviors might be limiting, gender scholars suggest a different, and perhaps,
better social arrangement.
Bibliography
Burn, S.M. (1996). The social psychology of gender. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Chafetz, J.S. (1999). The handbook of the sociology of gender. New York, NY: Plenum
Publishers.
Clearfield, M. W., & Nelson, N. M. (2006). Sex differences in mothers speech and play
behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-month old infants. Sex Roles, 54, 127-137. Retrieved May 2,
2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://search.ebscohost.
Freeman, N. (2007). Preschoolers perceptions of gender appropriate toys and their
parents beliefs about genderized behaviors: Miscommunication, mixed messages, or
hidden truths? Early Childhood Education Journal, 5, 357-366. Retrieved May 2, 2008
Martin, C.L., & Ruble, D. (2004). Childrens search for gender cues: Cognitive Perspectives
on gender development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 67-70.
Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier, http://
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=12644336&site=ehostlive
Stockard, J. (1999). Gender socialization. In J.S. Chaftez (Ed.). The hHandbook of the
sociology of gender (pp. 215-227). New York, NY: Plenum Publishers.
Tholander, M. (2002). Cross-gender teasing as a socializing practice. Discourse Processes,
34, 311-338. Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search
107
Premier, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7386010
&site=ehost-live
Watts, R. H., & Borders, L. D. (2005). Boys perceptions of the male role: Understanding
gender role conflict in adolescent males. The Journal of Mens Studies, 13, 267-280.
Retrieved May 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database, Gender Studies Database, http://
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fmh&AN=15851714&site=ehostlive
Wharton, A. S. (2005). The sociology of gender: An introduction to theory and research.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Suggested Reading
Franklin, S. (Ed.). (1996). The sociology of gender. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar
Publishing, Ltd.
Lucal, B., & Blackstone, A. (Eds.). (2007). The sociology of gender: Syllabi and other
instructional materials. New York, NY: American Sociological Association.
108
Gender & Morality

Marie Gould
Overview
Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg studied psychology at the University of Chicago, and

wrote his dissertation in 1958. He was intrigued by the work of fellow
theorist Jean Piaget, and sought to explore how children responded to
moral issues (Crain, 1985). Piaget was a well known psychologist who
focused on human cognition, which is the manner in which people think
and understand. Piaget was interested in studying what people knew and
how they used their knowledge to understand and operate in the world.
His four stages of cognitive development described how biological maturation and social experiences helped shape a persons understanding of
the world. Believing that moral reasoning was as important as moral development, Kohlberg elected to build on the foundation of Piagets work
and explore how the moral development process correlated with issues of
morality and justice over a persons lifespan (Kohlberg, 1958).
Kohlbergs theory of moral development is based on his study of 72 boys
who grew up in middle- and lower-class environments in the Chicago area.
The boys were all either 10, 13, or 16 years of age. Kohlberg presented each
boy with a series of moral dilemmas and asked him to state what the characters in each dilemma should do and why. Kohlberg (1963) provided an
example of one of these scenarios:
109
that his wife was dying and asked him to see it cheaper or let him pay later.
Kohlberg was not interested in whether or not the children thought Heinz
ought to steal the drug. Rather, he wanted to find out the reasoning the
boys used to arrive at their decisions. From these studies, he identified six
distinct stages of moral development which he grouped according to the
moral reasoning each employed. He later grouped these six stages into
three levels.
Each level covered two stages:
Level 1 Preconventional Morality
Stage 1: Obedience & Punishment Orientation: Kohlberg

believed that this was the earliest stage of moral development. At this stage, the child views rules to be absolute
without room for compromise. A person can avoid
punishment if he or she follows the rules that have been
established. The child is not concerned with whether or
not the decision is morally right or wrong, but rather with
whether or not it will be punished.
Stage 2: Individualism & Exchange: Kohlberg believed that
individuals are able to rationalize at this stage. The child
considers his or her individual needs or best interests to
determine what type of action to take. Interpersonal rela110
tionships at this stage are based on the needs that others

can fulfill for the child. In essence, there is a mentality
of you do for me and I will do for you. Children at this
stage have some notion of fairness, in the sense that one
ought to return favors, but they see themselves as individuals rather than as members of a larger community or
society.
Level 2 Conventional Morality
Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships: At this stage,

emphasis is placed on what a person needs to do in order
to live up to a groups standards. Children at this stage
focus on meeting the expectations of their established roles
in order to be seen as a good and nice people. They feel a
strong desire to fit in and make choices that will maintain
good relationships. Behavior is based on intention. For
example, a person can gain approval from the group for
being nice and meaning to do the right thing.
Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order: Kohlberg believed
that this was the stage in which people started to think
about how their actions are viewed in society as a whole.
People in this stage are concerned with staying within the
boundaries of what is considered normal behavior, and
want to follow the law. Fol
lowing the law can be defined as following the established
rules, doing ones civic duty, and respecting authority. People at this stage focus on maintaining an orderly
society.
Level 3 Postconventional Morality
Stage 5: Social Contract & Individual Rights: At this stage,

people look to the world outside of themselves and their
immediate communities or societies to make moral decisions. They take into consideration that fact that other
societies in the world have different values, opinions, and
beliefs. However, people at this stage also believe that
most just societies protect peoples basic rights and allow
them some power to govern themselves. In essence, law
111
and order are maintained while also taking into account

peoples diversity.
Stage 6: Universal Principles: In the final stage, people
reason similarly to those in the fifth stage: they, too, believe
that societies ought to be democratic and protect peoples
basic rights. However, in this stage, people also recognize
that there are universal principles of justice which can
override the democratic process and the need for law and
order. Martin Luther King and Gandhi are good examples
of this type of moral reasoning in that they challenged the
laws of their societies in the name of universal principles
of justice.
Further Insights
Gender & Moral Development
Much of the discussion surrounding morality and the development of

moral reasoning and decision-making has stemmed from Carol Gilligans
critique of Kohlbergs theory. According to Woods (1996), virtually all
of the literature on moral development is based on the argument between
these two individuals (p. 377). At the heart of the argument is the question
of whether or not the concept of morality centers exclusively on justice.
This question has been studied with both empirical (Ford and Lowery,
1986; Skoe and Diessner, 1994) and nonempirical methods (Alston, 1971;
Mwamwenda, 1991; Peters, 1971) and.
Gilligan began her career at Harvard University in 1967 where she taught
alongside Kohlberg and Erik Erikson (Dim, 2001). While at Harvard she
began working as Kohlbergs research assistant, focusing her scholarship
on girls moral development. Although she was working with one of the
best scholars in the field of moral development, Gilligan began to criticize her mentors work. Most of the flaws she saw stemmed from the fact
that when females participated in Kohlbergs studies, they tended to score
lower than males: the majority tested at third stage of development, while
men usually tested at the fourth and fifth stages. Gilligan concluded that
there were two basic flaws in Kohlbergs work:
112
That, by forming his moral development model on the

basis of studies of primarily male subjects, Kohlberg had
introduced a bias against females into his model.
That because women were socialized to value interpersonal relationships, rather an impersonal conception of justice,
Kohlbergs hierarchy was, again, biased against women,
because it classified their moral values as inferior to those
of men (Prose, 1990).
Gilligan laid out her criticisms of Kohlbergs theory as well as her own
theory of moral development in In a Different Voice: Psychological
Theory and Womens Development. When the book was published in
1982, Gilligan became known as the pioneer for what was called difference feminism or ethics of care theory. Essentially, her theory argues
that females tend to view morality in terms of caring and responsibility,
whereas males generally perceived morality in terms of justice. Neither
view is superior, Gilligan believed, they are simply different.
Viewpoints
Criticisms of Gilligans Work
Many feminists did not support Gilligans view that moral frameworks
can be distinctly masculine or feminine. One of Gilligans critics was Christina Hoff Sommers, whose book The War Against Boys pointed out some
flaws in Gilligans work. Some of Sommers concerns included
that Gilligans research did not follow proper standard
protocol;
That Gilligans results are drawn from a small sample size
The lack of peer review surrounding Gilligans work; and,
Gilligans refusal to allow other researchers to review her
raw data.
As a result of the criticisms Sommers raised, Gilligans work is viewed as
invalid in some circles of the academic community. One professor at Tufts
University, Zella Luria, suggested that while Gilligans work was intriguing, it was not substantiated (Luria, 1986). Another feminist psychologist,
113
Naomi Weisstein, also found significant flaws. She argued that Gilligans
work was nothing more than a version of the sexist essentialism that had
typified psychological views of women during the 1960s.
Regardless of the criticism, Gilligans work hasnt yet been disproved,
though it hasnt been clearly proved either. Though Walkers (1989) study
found that there were no sex differences between boys and girls, Skoe and
Goodon (1993) countered that Walkers study may have lost crucial information on sex differences through the way that they grouped their research
subjects. When Skoe and Goodon (1993) conducted their own study, they
found that girls tended to be more concerned with hurting others and
maintaining friendships while boys worried more about leisure activities
and avoiding trouble (Skoe and Gooden, 1993, p. 154).
Conclusion
Although the controversy surrounding Kohlberg and Gilligans work continues, some scholars believe that research on moral development ought
not be guided by these two theorists alone. In reality, both theories still
lack critical components. In addition, these scholars have argued that both
theories have little bearing on the moral concerns that face our society
today. They say that it is now time to move on, to focus on current issues.
Woods (1996) wrote that scholars should move away from whether or
not there are differences between the sexes and broaden the scope of the
study by moving to the next level and integrating issues such as biological,
religious and cultural differences (p. 382).
Kahn (1991) made an effort to clarify the issue by identifying the four major
foundational concerns that many scholars encountered when studying the
topic of moral development. He believed that these four foundation points
will assist scholars with understanding the field and setting parameters on
discussion (Woods, 1996).
Kahns (1991, as cited in Woods, 1996) four foundational points are:
Moral Definition According to Kahn, there are two types
of moral definition: consequentialist and deontological.
Individuals who seek to produce the best possible outcome
in moral decision making are called conseqentialists, while
individuals who believe that certain actions are always
114
prohibited or compulsory no matter what outcomes they

produce are called deontologists. An example of consequentialism would be a person who commits a mercy
killing, believing that it is the best thing to do for a terminally ill person, despite the laws and taboos that condemn
the action. An example of deontologicalism is a judge who,
lacking sufficient evidence for a conviction, rules in favor
of someone he or she believes is guilty because of his or
her belief that one must never convict someone without
sufficient evidence.
Moral Ontogeny Moral ontogeny is the moral development process. Kahn believed that psychologists could
explain this development in four ways: endogenous examination, or the development of morality through internal
mechanisms; exogenous explanation, or external development such as those which might be stated by behaviorist
theories; interactionist explanations, or a combination of
endogenous and exogenous explanations; and structural
interaction [which] occurs through the balancing of mental
structures (Woods, 1996, p. 376).
Moral Variation Moral variation describes the differences in moral thinking that one finds between people and
groups. One of the main focuses of this point is understanding and accounting for these differences
Epistemology The study of moral development in terms
of how individuals acquire knowledge of morality.
Bibliography
Alston, W. (1971). Comments on Kohlbergs from is to ought. In T. Mischel (Ed.),
Cognitive development and epistemology (pp. 269-283). New York: Academic Press.
Carol Gilligan. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2008, from http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/
gilligan.html
Crain, W. (1985). Chapter seven of theories of development. Retrieved March 22, 2008,
from http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm
Dim, Joan M. (2001). Renowned psychologist Carol Gilligan joins NYU faculty. Retrieved
April 30, 2008, from http://www.nyu.edu/publicaffairs/newsreleases/b_gilligan.
shtml
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Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn
& Bacon.
Ford, M., & Lowery, C. (1986). Gender differences in moral reasoning: A comparison of the
use of justice and care orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50,
777-783. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=16690191
&site=ehost-live
Kahn, P. (1991). Bounding the controversies: Foundational issues in the study of moral
development. Human Development, 34, 325-340.
Kohlberg, L. (1958) The development of modes of moral thinking and choice in the years10
to 16. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Chicago, United States -- Illinois. Retrieved
March 22, 2008, from ProQuest Digital Dissertations database. (Publication No. AAT
T-04397).
Humana, 6, 11-33.
Luria, Z. (1986). A methodological critique. Signs, 11(20), 316-321.
Mwamwenda, T. (1991). Graduate students moral reasoning. Psychological Reports, 68,
1368-1370.
Peters, R. (1971). Moral development: A plea for pluralism. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Cognitive
development and epistemology (pp. 237-2267). New York: Academic Press.
Prose, F. (1990, January 7). Confident at 11, confused at 16. New York Times. Retrieved
April 30, 2008 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D91030
F934A35752C0A966958260
Skoe, E., & Diessner, R. (1994). Ethic of care, justice, identity, and gender: An extension
and replication. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 272-289.
Skoe, E., & Gooden, A. (1993). Ethic of care and real-life moral dilemma content in male
and female early adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 13, 154-167.
Woods, C. (1996). Gender differences in moral development and acquisition: A review of
Kohlbergs and Gilligans model of justice and care. Social Behavior and Personality,
24(4), 375-384. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a2h&AN=87
Suggested Reading
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communication research. Communication Quarterly, 38(3), 244-254. Retrieved March
21, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.
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Gilligan, C. (1987). Moral orientation and moral development. In E. Feder & D. T. Meyers
(Eds.). Women and moral theory. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
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Johnston, K. (1988). Adolescents solutions to dilemmas in fables: Two moral orientations-two problem solving strategies. In C. Gilligan, J. Ward, I. Taylor & B. Bardige (Eds.).
Mapping the moral domain: A contribution of womens thinking to psychological
theory and education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Shogun, D. (1988). Gender and moral agency. Atlantis, 13(2), 87-91.
117
Socialization in Peer Groups

Marie Gould
Overview
Harris (1995) defined socialization as the process by which an infant
becomes an acceptable member of his or her society one who behaves appropriately, knows the language, possesses the requisite skills, and holds
the prevailing beliefs and attitudes (p. 461). While some believe that this
a continuous process that stretches over a persons lifetime. People have
the capability to continue to learn from every social experience that they
encounter, they say.
work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory has been especially helpful in understanding socialization and the most appropriate
ways to guide a person through the process.
Children begin to form peer groups roughly around the age of three,
usually with other children who are neighbors, classmates, or siblings. In
these groups, children learn how to interact with other children of their
own age, as well as how to engage in more complex group behavior like
leadership, cooperation, and compromise. Peer groups become critical
118
during adolescence as teenagers break away from their families. Within

these groups, teenagers learn how to engage in group behavior without
adult supervision, and may explore their sexuality. As teenagers age into
adults, however, the influence of peer groups will often give way to the
demands of work, school, or family.
Research
The key factor to understanding a childs behavior is to observe the context

in which the child socializes. The manner in which a child reacts to a situation
or person tends to be different based on his or her environment. Like adults,
childrens behavior at home in the presence of parents and family members
can be very different from their behavior outside of the home among peers.
According to Ironstrack, Klee, McKay, and Minera (2005), childrens peers
can play as large a role their families in their socialization. They claim
that from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes more sense for children
to learn from more people than just their parents because they can learn
about innovations that came from people other than their parents (Ironstrack, Klee, McKay and Minera, 2005, p. 1).
The first step in human group affiliation is the categorization of people
into groups (Harris, 1995, p. 466). Experts disagree on when humans
develop the ability to categorize: Jean Piaget claimed that children developed this ability by the time they were toddlers, but more recent research
indicates that infants can categorize people, too. (Harris 1995). Regardless of age, though, most people categorize others according to age, sex,
and race (Harris, 1995). Young children are the exception, as most do not
begin to make racial distinctions until they reach preschool age (Harris,
1995). Infants, however, are believed to recognize differences in age and
gender by the time they are a year old (Harris, 1995). Interestingly, infants
also demonstrate a preference for other infants, and, by the time they are
two years old, begin to prefer children of their own sex (Harris, 1995).
These predilections in a large part determine how children form their peer
groups: they are more likely to associate with children of similar of ages,
sexes, and races than children who are dissimilar.
Corsaro (1993) defines childhood socialization as the production of and
movement through a series of peer cultures (p. 361). According to Corsano
(1993), all childhood peer groups create their own culture. And, as Harris
119
notes, though this series of cultures is capable of adapting to changing times,

it is also capable of remaining relatively unchanged while cohort after cohort
of children passes through it (Harris, 1995, p. 470). Through these series
of unique childhood peer cultures, children pass down group norms
to younger children as they age and move into older peer groups. For
example, a group of eight and nine year olds may teach a six year old to
play hide and seek or speak Pig Latin even as they are growing older and
learning from other, older children how to play basketball or a complicated
card game. In this way, groups norms are passed down from generation
to generation.
Applications
Group Socialization Theory
how social-cognitive approaches can illuminate otherwise inexplicable
with a group even if (1) the group is never all present in one location, or (2)
the person never meets all or any of the group members.
Judith Harris group socialization theory, which is based on the four fundamental predispositions which humans and primates hold in common, is
used to explain these unique human behaviors (1995). The four predispositions, which can be correlated with the basic types of behavior, are:
Group Affiliation: By indentifying themselves as part of
a group, group members tend to favor each other above
non-group and out-group members.
Fear: Group members exhibit apprehension about or aggression toward strangers. If group members demonstrate
a strong in-group favoritism, this predisposition may
manifest itself as out-group hostility.
Within-group Jockeying for Status: Group members
attempt to raise their prestige within the group in order to
120
gain greater power over group resources.

Seeking Close Dyadic Relationships: Group members
attempt to develop loving relationships with other group
members (Haris, 1995).
Harris (1995) was able to summarize many of the basic assumptions surrounding the study of group socialization theory:
Component
Assumptions
Source of outside-the-home
Primates are predisposed, for evolution-
socialization
ary reasons, to affiliate with and adapt to

a group.
Humans have the ability to identify with

more than one group; the group identification that is salient at any given moment depends on social context.
The group that children identify with
when they are outside the home is the

peer group-a group of others who share
socially relevant characteristics such as
age, gender, ethnicity, and (in adolescence) abilities and interests.
Identification with a group entails taking
on the groups attitudes and norms of

behavior. This is a within-group process
that results in assimilation-the group
members become more alike.
Transmission of culture via

group processes
Parents do not transmit their culture
directly to their children. Culture is

transmitted from the parents peer group
(and from other cultural sources) to the
childrens peer group.
Children transfer behavior learned at
home to the peer group only if it is a

shared by, and approved by, the majority
of members of the peer group. Children
who come from atypical homes do not
transfer they atypical home behaviors to
the peer group.
Childrens peer groups create their own
culture by selecting and rejecting various aspects of the adult culture and by
making cultural innovations of their own.
During childhood, children move through
a series of these child-created cultures.
121
Component
Assumptions
Between-group processes
In-group favoritism and out-group hostil-
that widen differences

between groups
ity derive from adaptive mechanisms

acquired through evolution and found in
humans and other primates.
In humans, in-group favoritism and out-
group hostility produce group contrasts

effects, which widen differences between
groups or create differences if there were
none to begin with.
Within-group processes
that widen differences
among individuals
Status hierarchies within the group-differ-
ences in dominance or social power-exist

in all primate groups. Differences in status tend to persist and, in humans, may
have lasting effects on personality.
Social comparisons within the peer group

give children information about their own
strengths and weaknesses and result in
typecasting of individuals by other members of the group.
Assimilation and differentiation
Within-group assimilation and between-
group contrast are most likely to occur

when group identity is salient. Group
identity is most salient when other groups
are present.
Within-group assimilation and within-
group differentiation are not mutually

exclusive. Children can become more
similar to their peers in some ways (socialization) and, over the same period of
time, less similar in other ways.
(quoted from Harris, 1995, p. 467).
Viewpoints
Group Behavior
Ironstrack, Klee, McKay and Minera (2005) have identified five basic types
of group behavior:
In-Group Favoritism: Members of a group prefer their own
group over other groups even if the original grouping was
random.
122
Out-Group Hostility: When the tendency to favor the

in-group is accompanied by hostility toward the outgroup.
Between-Group Contrast: Not only do members of a group
assume differences between themselves and other groups,
but they also act to increase
these differences.
Within-Group Assimilation: Since the urge to conform
often comes from within the person/group, overt peer
pressure tends not be necessary.
Within-Group Differentiation: Each individual in a group is
different and the members are not interchangeable (p. 2-3).
Turners (1987) self-categorization theory is also useful in understanding
how group socialization can affect identity. This theory describes how individuals self-categorize themselves on a continuum ranging between an
identity as a unique individual and an identity as a member of a group.
Individuals who identify themselves as members of a group tend to adopt
the groups rules, standards, and beliefs about appropriate conduct and
categories (Turner, 1987, p. 1), as part of the process of within group assimilation. Individuals who categorize themselves as individuals, on the
other hand, seek to differentiate themselves from group members.
However, it is rare for a person to identify him or herself entirely with
either of these extremes, rather Turner (1987) writes individual identity
and group identity are not dichotomous choices; rather, they will tend to
operate simultaneously most of the time (p. 50). Thus, even as group assimilation occurs, group members seek to distinguish themselves from
other members by adopting unique identities.
Bibliography
Brewer, M. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475-482.
Brooks, J., & Lewis, M. (1976). Infants responses to strangers: Midget, adult, and child.
Child Development, 47, 323-332.
Corsaro, W. (1993). Interpretive reproduction in the scuola materna. European Journal
of Psychology of Education, 8, 357-374.
123
Diamond, K., LeFurgy, W., & Blass, S. (1993). Attitudes of preschool children toward peers
with disabilities: A year-long investigation in integrated classrooms. Journal of Genetic
Psychology, 154(2), 215-221. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database
Eckerman, C., & Didow, S. (1988). Lessons drawn from observing young peers together.
Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica, 77, 55-70.
Eimas, P., & Quinn, P. (1994). Studies on the formation of perceptually based basic-level
categories in young infants. Child Development, 65(3), 903-907. Retrieved April
Fagot, B. (1985). Beyond the reinforcement principle: Another step toward understanding
sex role development. Developmental Psychology, 21(6), 1097-1104. Retrieved April
ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=SN011988&site=ehost-live
Fiske, S. (1992). Thinking is for doing: Portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to
laserphoto. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 877-889.
development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from
EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://www.apa.org/journals/
features/rev1023458.pdf
Hirschfeld, L. (1993). Discovering social difference: The role of appearance in the
development of racial awareness. Cognitive Psychology, 25(3), 317-350. Retrieved
April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Complete. http://
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9308316942&site=ehostlive
Ironstrack, T., Klee, A., McKay, S., & Minera, J. (2005). How do peer groups affect learning.
Retrieved March 10, 2008, from www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw/EDP603SM2005/
EDP60sm05-group-paper.doc
LaFromboise, T., Coleman, H., & Gerton, J. (1993).
Psychological impact of
biculturalism: Evidence and theory.
Psychological Bulletin, 114(3), 395412. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic
Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN
=9404120270&site=ehost-live
Leinbach, M., & Fagot, B. (1993). Categorical habituation to male and female faces: Gender
schematic processing in infancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 317-332.
Mandler, J. (1992). How to build a baby: II. Conceptual primitives. Psychological Review,
99(4), 587-604. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search
124
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children.

Universities Press.
New York:
International
Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L.

Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 21 (pp. 81-227). San
Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Turner, J. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford,
England: Basil Blackwell.
Suggested Reading
Buzzi, C. (1980, March). Peer group and socialization. Studi di Sociologia, 18(1), 65-78.
Retrieved March 11, 2008, from SocINDEX with Full Text database. http://search.
ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=15462657&site=ehost-live
Hargrave, G., & Hargrave, M. (1979). A peer group socialization therapy program in the
school: an outcome study. Psychology in the Schools, 16(4), 546-550. Retrieved March
11, 2008, from SocINDEX with Full Text database. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.
aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=SN101655&site=ehost-live
Jensen, G., & Rojek, D. (1992). Contexts for socialization: Family, school, & peer groups
(from delinquency & youth crime (2nd ed.) (pp. 261-316). Retrieved March 11, 2008
from SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&
db=sih&AN=SM134939&site=ehost-live
125
Socialization in Schools
Marie Gould
Overview
a person interacts with other individuals. While some believe that this
a continuous process that stretches over a persons lifetime.
work, practitioners have been able to guide people through the socialization process. It has been found that social learning theory is especially
Selecting Peer Groups
The first step in human group affiliation is the categorization of people

into groups (Harris, 1995, p. 466). Experts disagree on when humans
develop the ability to categorize: Jean Piaget claimed that children developed this ability by the time they were toddlers, but more recent research
indicates that infants can categorize people, too. (Harris 1995). Regardless
of age, though, most people categorize others according to age, sex, and
race (Harris, 1995). Young children are the exception, as most do not begin
to make racial distinctions until they reach preschool age (Harris, 1995).
126
Infants, however, are believed to recognize differences in age and gender

by the time they are a year old (Harris, 1995). Interestingly, infants also
demonstrate a preference for other infants, and, by the time they are two
years old, begin to prefer children of their own sex (Harris, 1995).
Peer Groupings & Socialization
Corsaro (1993) defines childhood socialization as the production of and

movement through a series of peer cultures (p. 361). According to Corsano
(1993), all childhood peer groups create their own culture. And, as Harris
notes, though this series of cultures is capable of adapting to changing
times, it is also capable of remaining relatively unchanged while cohort
after cohort of children passes through it (Harris, 1995, p. 470). Through
these series of unique childhood peer cultures, children pass down group
norms to younger children as they age and move into older peer groups.
For example, a group of eight and nine year olds may teach a six year old to
play hide and seek or speak Pig Latin even as they are growing older and
learning from other, older children how to play basketball or a complicated
card game. In this way, groups norms are passed down from generation
to generation.
Childrens Groupings
Drawing on Harris group socialization theory, Ironstrack, Klee, McKay,

and Minera (2005) write, culture may not be transmitted from individual
to individual, but from group to group (p. 3). If Harris is correct, it can
be said that children learn primarily from their own peer groups as well
as from older groups including their parents peer groups rather than
from their parents directly. It can also be inferred that cultural transmission occurs from parents peer groups to childrens peer groups rather
from parent to child directly.
Though there may be cultural variations in parenting practices, the childrens play group is universal (Harris, 1995). Across cultures, small play
groups will include both boys and girls and a wide range of ages; large
play groups, though, tend to divide along the lines of sex and age (Harris,
1995). And although large groups of girls tend to split up into dyads and
triads, these smaller groups will usually be made up of girls who belong
to similar social categories, such as age (Harris, 1995). These tendencies
127
demonstrate that children see themselves as members of social categories,

even though they may not know all the members of a category, and even if
the members of a category are not all located in one place.
For example, in many cultures, a communitys children are brought
together to attend school. These groups of children tend to be large and
composed of individuals of the same age, but that is where the similarities
tend to end. Although schools generally group children together by age,
children tend to choose to group themselves according to sex as well, even
when school authorities disapprove of this segregation (Harris 1995). For
example, during lunchtime children will often divide themselves according to sex (Harris, 1995). The girls may sit together at one table while the
boys sit together at a separate table. In schools that have a high degree of
racial or ethnic diversity, children may also separate themselves according
to these distinctions. However, sex tends to be the most important distinction that children make (Harris, 1995).
Once children reach adolescence, sex segregation diminishes. Instead, adolescents group themselves according to other criteria like athletic, social
or academic interests; race, ethnicity, social class; and proclivities such
as drug use and delinquency (Harris, 1995). According to Harris (1995),
two changes occur between early and mid-adolescence: gender ceases to
be the primary indicator of group identity, and size ceases to be a useful
indication of age and status (p. 471). Adolescents who live in societies that
do not confer adulthood upon them as soon as they reach physical maturation tend to categorize themselves as belong to an adolescent group that is
distinct from adult groups. Harris (1995) uses this tendency to argue that
much of adolescent behavior results from adolescents desire to distinguish
themselves from adults, rather than from their aspiration to become adults,
as other researchers have argued. To make this distinction, Harris (1995)
says, adolescents may dress, speak, and behave differently from adults.
However, others disagree with Harris. Moffitt (1993) asserts that adolescent delinquency must be a social behavior that allows access to some desirable resource and suggests that the resource is mature status, with its
consequent power and privilege (p. 686).
128
Application
Childrens Peer Groups in Schools
The Social Networks research group, which is comprised of faculty and

students from the Department of Psychology at Portland State University,
has focused its research on childrens peer networks. Its members are primarily concerned with how peer group processes can promote or undermine intra-individual change in a childs academic development (Sage,
Hillier, Weaver, Newton-Curtis, & Kindermann, 2002, p. 3). One facet of
the groups research as been how children join, leave, and exclude other
children from their groups, as well as how childrens groups impact their
group members. The researchers have identified three categories of processes.
Selection: the expression of childrens associative preferences through the
bids they make to join certain peer groups, and through their attempts,
once they belong to a group, to maintain existing or recruit additional
members (Sage et al., 2002, p. 2).
Elimination: processes in which children attempt to exclude
others, or actually leave a group themselves (Sage et al., 2002,
p. 2).
Socialization: processes by which peer groups influence individuals (Sage et al., 2002, p. 2).
The research group conducted a study that examined peer group processes
in four mixed 4th/5th grade classrooms in a suburban elementary school.
The research team wanted to observe and evaluate the relationships
between a childs school motivation or engagement, processes of selection
of peer group members, and socialization influences from group members.
The 112 children and 4 teachers participating in the study were asked
to complete questionnaires and engage in a series of interviews over the
course of a school year to glean information about how childrens peer
groups relate to their academic motivation. The findings revealed that
children tended to associate with other children of similar levels of motivation, and that the level of a groups motivation was maintained by
129
adding new members and excluding members whose level of motivation

had changed. Further analysis showed that individual childrens levels of
motivation changed relative to the level of motivation within their original
peer groups.
Viewpoint
Home Schooling
According to the Department of Education, between 250,000 and 300,000

children were homeschooled during the 1990-1991 school year, an enormous
increase from the estimated 15,000 children who were homeschooled at the
beginning of the 1980s (Aiex, 1994). Why is there such growth? According
to Mayberry (1991), more and more families, perceiving the public schools
as battlegrounds for the political and social interests of a wide variety of
social sectors, are becoming disillusioned with the quality and content of
state-sponsored education (p. 2). She argues that the decision to home
schoolrepresents a political response by people who perceive a threat in
the current organization and content of public education (1991, quoted in
Aiex, 1994).
There are many reasons why parents are choosing to home school. According to Mayberry (1991) three of the most popular reasons are that
The family lives in a rural area that does not have a school
nearby
The parents are concerned about school violence
The parents feel they can provide a better education than
the public school system.
However, Mayberry (1991) also found that an ideology can also prod parents
to home school their children. Of the 1600 Oregon home schooling families
Mayberry (1991) studied, groups she identified as deeply religious
parents and New Age parents emerged as the predominate groups that
homeschooled children for ideological reasons. These groups responses led
her to conclude that they perceived home schooling as a means to control
what and how their children learn and, thereby, to pass their beliefs and
values onto their children.
130
Although there are many legitimate reasons for why home schooling has
become popular, there is a concern about the effects homeschooling has
children, especially as it relates to childrens ability to socialize. Based on
homeschooled childrens relative isolation from the socialization that formal
schooling offers, one may be lead to conclude that homeschooled children
do not develop the skills they need to interact with environments outside
of their homes. Some critics have argued that a homeschooled childs self
concept can suffer because of this isolation (Aiex, 1994). Other critics believe
that parents who home school may be too protective of their children
and prevent them from developing strategies for coping with the outside
world. Still others defend homeschooling, saying that during early childhood a degree of protection is needed in order to foster growth (Aiex, 1994).
A 1992 study comparing children between the ages of 7 and 14 from 30
home-schooling families and 32 conventionally schooling families found
that home-schooled children were able to develop the necessary skills,
knowledge, and attitudes needed to function in societyat a rate similar
to that of conventionally schooled children (Stough, p. 19). The study also
found that there was no difference in self concept between two groups
(Stough 1992). These findings supported an earlier study of 45,000 homeschooled children which found that their self-concept scored in the 91st
percentile, or 47% higher than the average child attending a conventional
school (Taylor 1987).
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Corsaro, W. (1993). Interpretive reproduction in the scuola materna. European Journal
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Diamond, K., LeFurgy, W., & Blass, S. (1993). Attitudes of preschool children toward peers
with disabilities: A year-long investigation in integrated classrooms. Journal of Genetic
Psychology, 154, 215-221.
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categories in young infants. Child Development, 65, 903-907.
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sex role development. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1097-1104.
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laserphoto. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 877-889.
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development of racial awareness. Cognitive Psychology, 25, 317-350.
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case of childrens motivation in school. Developmental Psychology, 29, 970-977.
LaFromboise, T., Coleman, H., & Gerton, J. (1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism:
Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 395-412.
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Suggested Reading
Achhpal, B., Goldman, J., & Rohner, R. (2007). A comparison of European American and
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of pre-school children. International Journal of Early Years Education, 15(1), 1-13.
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socialization via video production in secondary schools. Learning, Media, &
Technology, 33(1), 1-10. Retrieved March 11, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database
Academic Search Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a
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134
Socialization for Lifelong Learning

Overview
Socialization Processes
Weidman (1989), quoting Brim, stated that socialization is the process by
which persons acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that make
them more or less effective members of their society (Brim, as cited in
Weidman, 1989, p. 293). Dunn, Rouse, and Seff (1994) echoed Weidman
by stating that socialization is the process by which individuals acquire
the attitudes, beliefs, values and skills needed to participate effectively in
organized social life (p. 375). Socialization can also be described as the
process through which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge,
orientations, and practices that enable him or her to participate effectively
and appropriately in the social life of a particular community (Garrett &
Baquedano-Lopez, 2002, p. 339). Bragg (1976) further indicated that the
socialization process is the learning process through which an individual
acquires the knowledge and skills, the values and attitudes, and the habits
and modes of thought of the society to which he or she belongs (p. 3).
While culture can be described as the sum of activities in a given organization or community, socialization can be described as the processes by
which individuals acquire and incorporate an understanding of those activities (Tierney, 1997). Culture within an organization or community is
relatively constant and can be understood through reason. An organizations culture, teaches people how to behave, what to hope for, and what
135
it means to succeed or fail (Tierney, 1997, p. 4). Within this framework,

some individuals become competent, and others do not. From a learning
standpoint, socialization determines key attitudes that proactively direct
or re-direct change for human well-being and development (Preece, 2006,
p. 307). These attitudes directly impact the individuals attitude toward
learning.
Postmodernists have expressed concerns with these definitions and have
argued that:
The modernist assumption is that socialization is a process
where people acquire knowledge,
Socialization is viewed as a one-way process in which the
initiate learns how the organization works, and
Socialization is little more than a series of planned learning
activities (Tierney, 1997).
The postmodernist lens offers a different methodology of thinking about
culture and socialization. Bloland (1995) argued, Postmodernism points
out that totalization hides contradictions, ambiguities, and oppositions
and is a means for generating power and control (p. 525). McDermott and
Varenne (1995) noted, Being in the world requires dealing with indefinite and unbounded tasks while struggling with the particular manner in
which they have been shaped by the cultural process (p. 337). Moreover,
socialization involves give-and-take where new individuals make sense
through their own unique backgrounds and current contexts (p. 337).
Lifelong Learning
Lifelong learning is a concept that describes ways that people learn many
things in a variety of spaces throughout their lives, both inside and
outside educational institutions (Schugurensky & Meyers, 2003, p. 328).
For purposes of informed theoretical understanding, lifelong learning
can be understood in a broader category rather than just education, and
instead encompasses formal, non-formal, and informal learning, whether
the learning is intentional, incidental, or unconscious (p. 330). From a
Freirean approach, Elliot (2000) argued that lifelong learning has great potential for extending citizenship for women that encourages critical awareness, political skills, and civic participation. Regardless of context, learning
136
itself is an uninterrupted, complex, and dynamic lifelong and life-wide

process in which agency and structure constantly interact (cited in Schugerensky & Meyers, 2003, p. 331). Important also to this discourse is the
understanding of the three types of learning settings: formal, non-formal,
and informal.
Formal learning refers to the institutional system that extends from preschool to higher education, which is organized in a sequential system and
is controlled, regulated, and funded by the state typically dictated by a
prescribed curriculum.
Non-formal education refers to all organized educational activities
such as workshops or short courses that are outside the formal education
system, which can be organized by a variety of agencies such as government, professional associations, non-profits, business groups, business
groups, churches, or unions.
Informal learning is a residual category that is comprised of learning that
occurs outside of formal and informal settings. This learning typically
consists of activities that are either self-directed, incidental, or socialization
(Schugerensky & Meyers, 2003, p. 331).
5 Mechanisms of Learning Socialization
According to Ainsworth (2002), within the context of lifelong learning, socialization is especially relevant, because the sense-making involved in the
socialization processes can be activated through five interrelated mechanisms that specifically impact learning and education attitudes (specifically in urban environments). Specifically, these five interrelated mechanisms
include:
Collective socialization,
Social control,
Social capital,
Differential occupational opportunity, and
Institutional characteristics (Ainsworth, 2002).
For purposes of enhanced understanding these will be examined within
the context of school socialization and neighborhood environments.
137
Collective Socialization
Collective socialization can be described in the context of neighborhood

characteristics that shape the role models youth are exposed to outside the
home. Neighborhoods in which most adults work steady jobs foster behaviors and attitudes that are conducive to success in school work. From this
standpoint, children in such advantaged neighborhoods are more likely
to value education, adhere to school norms, and work hard because that
is what they see modeled for them by neighborhood adults (Ainsworth,
2002, p. 119). Wilson (1991) argued that life can become incoherent for
youth because of the lack of structuring norms modeled by working
adults. With potentially fewer positive role models in the neighborhood,
children may be less likely to learn important behaviors and attitudes that
lead to success in school (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 119).
Social Control
A second mechanism for determining lifelong learning is social control,

which can be described as the monitoring or sanctioning of deviant
behavior. Neighborhoods with fewer adults or adults with limited time
to influence the lives of youth may experience stronger peer-group influences which may create anti-school attitudes and behaviors (Ainsworth,
2002, p. 120).
Social Capital
Social capital or social networks is a third mechanism through which

neighborhood context can influence educational (learning) outcomes.
Sampson and Groves (1989) and Wilson (1996) argued that children who
live in advantaged neighborhoods are more likely to be exposed to supportive social networks or adults who can provide positive resources, information, and opportunities that may be educationally beneficial. These
opportunities may include the use of personal computers, job opportunities, or help with projects. Neighborhood socialization context was also
supported by Wilsons (1996) argument that in impoverished neighborhoods children are disadvantaged because the social interaction among
neighbors tends to be confined to those whose skills, styles, orientations,
and habits are not as conducive to promoting positive social outcomes as
are those in more stable neighborhoods (p. 63).
138
Differentiated Occupational Opportunity
Perceptions of differentiated occupational opportunity have a positive

effect on educational outcomes. Most individuals are socialized to believe
that anyone can be successful if they work hard enough; however, the
degree to which this ideology is supported by the concrete experience of
adolescents and may vary by neighborhood context (Massey, Gross, &
Eggers, 1991; Turner, Fix, & Struyk, 1991; Wilson, 1992; Wilson, 1987). (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121). Circumstances and educational outcomes strongly
determine youth learning outcomes which are impacted by how educational opportunity impacts employment (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121).
Institutional Characteristics
Ainsworth outlines a fifth mechanism through which neighborhood

context can influence educational outcomes:
. . . the neighborhoods impact on institutional characteristics,
such as schools or other educational institutions. Wacquant
(1996) argued that students from disadvantaged neighborhoods
are more likely to attend inferior schools that spend less time on
teaching and learning (cited in Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121).
Resulting strains could decline school atmosphere and the schools resources regarding student behavior. Simcha-Fagan and Schwartz (1986)
postulated that neighborhood effects on an individuals association with
delinquent peers are primarily indirect and mediated through weak attachment to school (cited in Ainsworth, 2002, p. 121). Social workers
working in urban districts should consider these mechanisms as potential
indicators to mediate adult and student success.
While each of these five mechanisms can be activated through neighborhood environment, generalizability can be drawn between neighborhood
environments and other community environments. Organizations and the
culture of lifelong learning can also be viewed through these five mechanisms. The research from which these mechanisms were examined explicitly draws connections between structural factors and individual-level processes of learning and outcomes (Ainsworth, 2002, p. 144). Schugerensky
and Myers (2003) posit that other settings of potential socialization can be
explored include:
139
Family socialization;
Elementary schooling;
Secondary schooling;
Pre-service training;
Higher education programs;
The media;
Non-formal education;
Political engagement and community involvement;
Civics instruction; and
Other sources (p. 326).
Applications
Some Roles for Social Workers
Social investment, dialogue, and community building are essential

elements of effective and authentic public engagement (Tagle, 2003, p.
49). From a socialization perspective, the creation of learning pathways
could foster the individuals capacity to access information regarding
personal planning and goal setting, and facilitate access to further education, training, and employment (Shrestha, Wilson, & Singh, 2008, p. 140).
Social workers hold the responsibility for mediating social constructs for
marginalized individuals. For example, individuals from urban backgrounds with limited access to learning opportunities or attitudes regarding lifelong learning could benefit from mediation strategies aimed at
facilitating strategies and outcomes underscored by effective understanding, communication, and collaboration (p. 140). Social workers operating
within these environments play a vital role in understanding and developing socialization allowing deeper learning and training outcomes, providing possibilities for building employment-related competencies (p. 140).
Another important consideration from a sociological perspective is increased social capital for marginalized individuals. The opportunity to
build a sense of belonging in a new homeland offers the construction of
social capital for socially marginalized individuals like newly formed
ethnic groups operating in relative social isolation (Shrestha, Wilson, &
140
Singh, 2008). Social workers working with marginalized social groups

operating in social isolation are advised to better understand different
socialization methodologies and the impact of language and socialization. Language socialization research seeks a holistic and integrative perspective and draws on anthropological and psychological philosophies
to human development. Language socialization examines how young
children and other novices (like newly introduced ethnic groups) acquire
the knowledge and practices necessary to function as competent members
of their community. Language socialization enables individuals to recognize, negotiate, index, and co-construct diverse types of meaningful social
contexts, making it possible for [individuals] to engage with others under
an increasingly broad range of circumstances and to expand their social
horizons by taking on new roles and statuses (Garrett, Baquendo-Lopez,
2002, pp. 340 342).
Factors that Impede Learning
In socialization for lifelong learning, several factors determine attitudes

and outcomes regarding how individuals view the importance of lifelong
learning, the ability and applicability for individuals, and the desire to
continue pursuing learning goals. For example, specific cultures may not
value learning or understand the potential benefits or applicability of
lifelong learning. Specifically, residents in disadvantaged neighborhoods
may be more socially alienated, communicate less often, and experience
an erosion of social connectedness that impedes the development of social
control networks espousing the benefits of learning (Brody, Ge, Conger,
Gibbons, McBride-Murry, Gerrard, & Simons, 2001, p. 1232). Another issue
impeding socialization and lifelong learning is that individuals in neighborhoods may not know how to successfully facilitate a collective socialization process that would enable individuals in the neighborhood to gain
greater pro-social competence (p. 1232).
Another issue that could impede socialization for lifelong learning is the
purpose for the learning and the requirements of the learning. Depending on whether the learning is formal, informal, or non-formal, or if the
learning is job-related or aimed at personal growth are factors which
motivate interest and the intensity of the learning. For social workers mediating the learning process, expectations regarding performance have
also been shown to directly impact learning performance and outcomes
141
(Parsons, Kaczala, & Meece, 1982, p. 323). Social workers may consider the
possibility of facilitating or prescribing opportunities for positive learning
by organizing more opportunities for individuals to spend time with peers
in supervised settings either at school or in other organized community
contexts rather than allowing individuals to hang out in non-supervised
activities (Pettit, Bates, Dodge, & Meece, 1999).
Another central issue is trust, particularly in a work setting where lifelong
learning may be promoted but not provided. Critical to this issue is in determining whether workers are motivated to seek learning due to personal
or professional reasons. Employers should consider trust as a platform on
which the foundational context of the work is constructed always remaining savvy in their ability to listen well, offer value judgments on the learners request, respond honestly, and promote the works success (Shrestha,
Wilson, & Singh, 2008, p. 133; Bambino, 2002; Costa & Callick, 1993).
Viewpoints
Framed within institutional and non-institutional settings, three main
schools of thought can be identified as key indicators of lifelong learning.
These include: human capital, neoliberalism, and progressive humanism
(Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 328).
Human Capital View
In the human capital model, education can be understood as a social

investment in the training of employees for market needs. According
to Schugerensky and Myers (2003), this theoretical model approaches
lifelong learning as a new incarnation of previous ideas using labels such
as further education, continuing education, lifelong education, and
education permanente aimed at recycling workers to catch up with
new technologies of the workplace. This framework is constructed upon
the belief that in the context of increasing globalization and organizational changes, workforce training is necessary to keep nations economically
competitive is the training and development of flexible and autonomous
workers (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 328). The outcome of this school
of thought is equated with professional development equated with work
skills; hence, becoming worklong learning (p. 329).
142
Neoliberalist View
Schugerensky & Myers posit that the neoliberal concept of lifelong learning
places the responsibility for learning on the individual. This model conceives individuals as citizens possessing the right to education funded
and provided by the state, while being viewed as potential consumers of
educational products and services whose right consists of choosing among
several options in the marketplace (p. 329). This model can be viewed as
a commodity creating a shift from workplace training and state provision
of public education to self-recovery or for-profit courses paid for by the
learner rather than the organization. Concerns exist that this construct
of lifelong learning can become an excuse for the public sector to resign its
prime responsibility in educational provision thereby increasing the gap
between workers who can afford training (haves) and those who cannot
(have-nots) (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 329).
Progressive Humanist View
The progressive humanist tradition claimed that education for all could
never be achieved within the confines of traditional education (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 329). For some operating within this context,
the lifelong learning concept individualizes collective political movements, promotes competition and individual entrepreneurship. The main
contrast between this model of lifelong learning and other models is the
view that lifelong learning offers a liberating and transformative potential,
which should be shaped as an inclusive, holistic, and critical
learning project that supports learners as they negotiate changing life,
learning and work conditions. Operating from this framework, lifelong
learning has the potential to emancipate society through social transformation and democracy (p. 330).
These schools of thought regarding lifelong learning impact societal views
regarding learning, transformation, and cultural change. Individuals interviewed for a study regarding socialization and lifelong learning indicated that family socialization was cited as the most powerful influence
for shaping political orientations, political knowledge, and civic participation (Schugerensky & Myers, 2003, p. 340). On the other hand, while
some indicated positive lifelong learning attributes obtained from family,
other participants indicated that family socialization was a negative expeThe Process of Socialization
143
rience resulting in a decreased interest in extended learning. Regardless

of produced negative or positive socialization outcomes, the family was
indicated as a powerful influence (p. 341).
Conclusion
As sociologists examine the role of socialization for lifelong learning, the

first strategy for understanding this work is in determining how the two
concepts overlap. As defined earlier, socialization is a process through
which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations, and
practices that enable him or her to participate effectively and appropriately
in the social life of a particular community (Garrett & Baquedano-Lopez,
2002, p. 339). Additionally, lifelong learning is a crucial mechanism
for learning to change in a world that is constantly changing, in which
humans must drive, rather be driven by those changes (Preece, 2006, pp
307 308). However, individuals themselves may not recognize the need
or be exposed to the necessary constructs that encourage lifelong learning.
Without these building blocks, theorists have suggested that humans will
not understand the values of citizenship, democracy, and social justice
(Coffield, 2000, p. 38).
Regardless of how socialization and lifelong learning is interpreted, sociologists continue to play a key role in helping society define key social movements and strategies for implementation. Within this construct, lifelong
learning is an important concept enabling society to reflectively learn from
itself, evaluate progress, and learn from other societies. In conclusion, sociologists enable citizens to realize these tenets through planning and communicating socialization strategies.
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148
Social Exclusion
Geraldine Wagner
Overview
It is perhaps not surprising that a discussion of social exclusion is a discussion about poverty in the U.S. Many Americans believe that the U.S. is
a classless society where people have reasonable expectations to be free,
happy and relatively well off. However, experts believe that the United
States is one of the most stratified countries in the world and has the distinction of keeping its poor in their state of being for longer amounts of
time and more often than any other western country (Stephen, 2007).
What is Stratification?
Because the United States is divided into social classes based on wealth,
prestige, and power, it is said to have a system of stratification, a hierarchical system that puts those with the most wealth, power, and prestige at the
top of the hierarchy, and those with the least at the bottom.
Several classes have been identified in American society, beginning with
those in the upper class. This part of the hierarchy comprises only about
15 % of the population, including the old-money rich, sports and entertainment figures, and highly educated professionals, but people in this class
tend to have a great deal of influence on the economy and society (Gilbert,
2003). They also own approximately 40% of the nations wealth, while everybody else shares the remainder (Rothchild, 1995).
149
Following that, another 60% of the population makes up the middle and
working classes. The middle class includes white collar and skilled blue
collar workers, while the working class includes factory, clerical and retail
sales workers.
Below these two categories, the working poor, about 20% of the population,
includes laborers and service industry workers. These people are called the
working poor because while they work full-time, they do not earn enough
to support themselves or their families. Many single mothers belong to this
class, as do African Americans and Latino/as (Gilbert, 2003).
Finally, there is the underclass, about 5% of the population, made up of
temporary, seasonal, or part time workers, many of whom also receive
some form of public assistance. This group is generally uneducated and
does not work consistently, essentially remaining jobless much of the time
(Gilbert, 2003).
How is Social Class Determined?
Some people have more of everything than others, which is a good way to
begin a definition of relative poverty. If people experience relative poverty,
it means that they can provide for the basic necessities of life such as food,
shelter and clothing, but compared to those around them, they cannot
afford the other material goods and services that are available. If people
cannot provide even the basic necessities of life, they are said to experience
absolute poverty. The ability to obtain material goods, as well as to accumulate wealth, power, and prestige, is linked to a persons socioeconomic
status (SES), and to social class. The U.S. is a class system, which uses
stratification, the institutionalization of inequality that distributes societys
resources based on ones class.
Most Americans believe in a meritocratic system, where those who attain
higher incomes, more prestige, and more wealth, must deserve their
bounty. This belief goes back to what Max Weber called, Protestant Work
Ethic (Weber, Parsons, & Tawney, 2003). Today, it is simply called work
ethic, but it means basically the same thing: that hard work and effort will
produce the fruits, or rewards, of ones labor. Yet inequalities exist that go
against this belief and these inequalities often run along race, age, class and
gender lines. A growing segment of the U.S. population is falling below
150
the poverty line and actually lies outside its boundaries. This underclass
includes people who experience what is called social exclusion, and who
have little or no chance of achieving the American Dream.
To compound and perpetuate the poverty problem is the fact that the U.S.
economy is blind to the needs of these people who have fewer resources than
others. Thus, a large group of Americans making up the underclass are not
only poor, but also less able to participate fully in society (Koepke, 2007).
The Underclass
People identified as part of the underclass often have no measurable living

wage. Their employment tends to be seasonal, or sporadic at best, and they
have to rely on public assistance programs to achieve even the dire levels
of absolute poverty. Their children have only a fifty-fifty chance of rising
out of the same poverty themselves (Gilbert, 2003).
The underclass is not simply poor for a short period of time; its members
are chronically or long term deprived because of their lack of education,
jobs skills, and access to income. African Americans and single mothers
make up a large part of the underclass (Gilbert, 2003).
Many social scientists believe that training and employment opportunities
are the only things that can bring people out of this type of poverty. The
underclass must have jobs that pay a living wage and that offer them some
type of medical insurance. They need safe housing and neighborhoods,
and healthy food for themselves and their children (Fine & Weiss, 1998).
But these people are victims of social exclusion poverty.
Further Insights
Social Exclusion Another Name for Poverty
To exclude is to leave out. The very poor in America, the underclass, make
up about 5% of the population. While efforts to help the poor are historic
since the reform movements of the 19th century and later in the 20th
century, poverty is still with us. In the 1930s, the U.S. government made
efforts to create social programs to help people out of the poverty caused by
the Great Depression. In the 1960s, more social programs to fight poverty
were implemented. But in recent years, the funding for these programs has
151
begun to decline and education and training, decent housing and health
care insurance have been lost to many poor Americans (Carrillo, 2006).
Who Are the Poor in America?
In 1963, the War on Poverty was launched with the Social Security Administrations concept of poverty and measures of poverty thresholds (http://
www.irp.wisc.edu).
National statistics on poverty are calculated using the official Census definition of poverty, the same definition that was coined in the 1960s. Poverty
is determined by comparing pretax cash income with the poverty threshold, the federal poverty measure, which adjusts for family size and composition. In 2006, according to the official measure, 36.5 million people,
12.3% of the total U.S. population, lived in poverty (Institute for Research
on Poverty, 2007).
In 2006, 17.4% of individuals under age 18 lived in poverty. Poverty rates
among black and Hispanic children are very much higher than among
white children and have been so since the Census Bureau began making
separate estimates (Institute for Research on Poverty, 2007).
Abruptly said, being poor means being short of money. which we define
here as access to and provision of basic life needs including food, clothing
and shelter. But research and experience with antipoverty programs have
proved too, that poverty involves not just a lack of money, but some very
complex, interrelated and sometimes intractable socioeconomic, family,
and individual issues. According to Haveman (2008), these include:
Attaining minimum standards of food and shelter
Sufficient available time for home production/child care
Access to important social institutions
Cognitive and non-cognitive skills
Educational attainment (e.g., less than a high school
degree)
Labor force and employment status (e.g., living in a jobless
household)
The quality of housing (e.g., crowding, lacking plumbing
or kitchen facilities)
152
Health and disability status (e.g., number of disabling conditions, presence of a severe mental health problem)
Transportation availability
Being linguistically isolated.
In other words, the U.S. needs vastly improved information on nationallyrepresentative households in order to develop policies that would reduce,
or eradicate, poverty in this country.
Root Causes of Poverty in the U.S
When we think of what causes poverty, some may look at the individual
and say it is the persons own fault for his or her condition. Others look at
social issues such as discrimination or the economic climate of the country.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights recently reported that
there is a strong and continuing link in the U.S. between poverty and race.
The report states that a persons well-being is linked to the ability to lead
a life of value, to do or be something that the person chooses (Carrillo,
2006). There are numerous, often subtle and systemic issues that perpetuate the problem of poverty:
The Feminization of Poverty
Women experience much more poverty than men. Even in the United
States, the richest country in the world, social policies fail to keep women
and their children from the ranks of the poor. This is known as the feminization of poverty, or the concentration of poverty among women, a concept
coined in the 1970s by Diana Pearce (Thibos, Lavin-Loucks, & Martin,
2007). While there have been improvements in the poverty of women with
more women doing paid work, and a closing of the wage gap between men
and women, higher divorce rates that leave women as the single heads of
households with children have driven them back into the ranks of the poor,
underclass, and the working poor. Another factor that puts more women
in poverty is that they tend to live longer than men, and older women need
more income for a longer period of time. But higher rates of poverty for
young women also mean that their children are living in poverty, too. This
could send poverty into a cyclical pattern, with the children now living in
poverty, remaining poor in their own adult lives (Thibos, Lavin-Loucks, &
Martin, 2007).
153
The Working Poor Earning a Living Wage
The economic realities that low-income people face today are directly
related to the failure of the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation.
In other words, people who are working full-time are not earning enough
to pay for basic necessities of living such as food, shelter and clothing.
Massive cuts in welfare in recent years, as well as the related welfare to
work programs have sent ill-prepared people into the workforce, only to
find service sector jobs that pay very little. Some would also argue that
corporate welfare programs that allow companies to operate with little
or no payment of taxes to towns and municipalities, depletes tax dollars
while keeping workers poor. Living wage campaigns throughout the U.S.
define the living wage as equivalent to the poverty line for a family of
four, (currently $9.06 an hour. They are also lobbying for other community
standards such as health insurance, time off, and safe work environments
(Living Wage Resource Center).
Job Sprawl & Spatial Mismatch
The effect of job sprawl on minority employment is a major concern of

poverty study. Job sprawl has an effect on elements of both social and
economic life, including health, pollution, and prevalence of poverty. Researchers study the high concentrations of minority households in physically cut off inner-city neighborhoods and how this segregation affects employment outcomes. Physical distance between employment opportunities
in metropolitan areas and black residential areas increased in the latter half
of the 20th century, despite increases in mobility. Minority residences have
remained in older urban areas, while jobs have moved to the exurbs (Stoll,
2005). This sprawling could affect blacks distance from jobs, particularly
because relatively few blacks own cars and must rely on public transportation to reach distant jobs.
Viewpoints
Solving the Problem of Poverty in the U.S.
Welfare Reform
Welfare reform questions Americas notions about quality of life and the
distinction between personal and public responsibilities. Do we take care
154
of the nations children, or do we punish the parents who seemingly fail

to take care of their offspring? Are those who have been on the welfare
rolls exhibiting individual irresponsibility or do societal barriers such as
discrimination feed the cycle of welfare dependency? The debate continues whether the underlying reasons for welfare reform is simply to save
money, or to raise a people out of its debilitating clutches. (http://www.
irp.wisc.edu/research/welreform.htm, 2005) The answer has not yet been
determined, yet welfare reform goes on, and people are being taken off
the system, sent to training programs, to basic education classes, and to
low paying jobs. Very often, welfare mothers join the ranks of the working
poor. Are they any better off?
Social Exclusion, Stigma & Discrimination
Social exclusion, the process where certain groups are not able to participate in and benefit from societys institutions, is often linked to stigmatization and discrimination. This leads to low self-esteem, self-fulfilling
prophecy and powerlessness, and alienation and isolation from the community (Stewart et al, 2008). In the U.S., as well as in other societies, people
want to have psychological and social distance from those deemed undesirable, what sociologist Howard Becker called, a taste for discrimination (Figart & Mutari, 2005).
Social exclusion can occur for other reasons than economic ones, although
the social discrimination that takes place because of disabilities, mental
illness, lack of education, and sexual preference, for example, can overlap
with economic discrimination. There is also an economic element to exclusion for social reasons in that people are willing to pay what their
incomes allow them to and to maintain their social distance from what
they find distasteful (Figart & Mutari, 2005). For example, some are willing
to pay tuition for their children to attend private schools, avoiding what
they might consider an unfavorable environment in the public schools for
which they pay taxes.
Healthcare
Some 44 million people are without health care insurance in the U.S., most
under the age of 65. The cost for medical care for the uninsured falls on
the American public, and even the working poor pay through taxes even
155
though they are often uninsured and underinsured themselves. This lack
of health care obviously can affect a persons health and well-being, excluding millions of people from the American ideal of living a long, healthy
life while the U.S. health care system spends billions of dollars on health
care for only select groups, while disenfranchising others at the same time
(Falen, 2004).
Disabilities
When we set people apart because we have labeled them as having special
needs, we are practicing social exclusion. Consider for example, being
deaf, or hard of hearing and wanting to use the public library, for example.
Some of the exclusionary tendencies are public announcements with no
visuals to accompany them; people who mumble, or who fail to repeat
information; poorly contrasting backgrounds, making lip-reading difficult
or impossible. This makes it difficult for deaf or hard of hearing people to
communicate with library staff, and to avail themselves of services and
library materials (Playforth, 2004). They are socially excluded, regardless
of the socioeconomic status.
The Elderly
U.S. society tends to age-stratify its population. Consider that infants and
pre-school age children are put into day care or pre-school environments,
school age children into public or private schools, working-age adults into
office buildings and factories and the elderly into senior citizen complexes
or nursing homes (Longfield, 2008). Some of these placements are deemed
more desirable than others. For example, the media and many services
tend to cater to working adults. Children and especially the elderly, tend to
be socially isolated from any intergenerational activities that allow different strata to associate. And while children may have the opportunity and
the encouragement to look toward their futures, the elderly are not represented in television programs, or in advertisements, unless the products
are for more active elders who have not reached the nursing home stage.
This increases the tendency toward social exclusion and can affect the selfesteem, isolation and social exclusion of older Americans.
Conclusion
Social exclusion causes many social problems for those who are experiencing the poverty, isolation, alienation and powerlessness that it creates.
156
Solutions to social exclusion are many and varied. They require, first and
foremost, a bridging of the economic gap between the haves and the havenots. But perhaps before that happens, there must be a change in prejudicial attitudes toward minority groups such as African Americans, Latinos,
Native Americans, women, and gays, to name a few. These are not just
changes that will happen overnight. Because they are systemic in nature,
woven into the fiber of the American culture, they may never change to
any measurable degree for every affected group. To eliminate social exclusion, we must practice social inclusion on a large level. The leadership for
this must come, it seems, from current government administrations to set
public policies that will deliver shared wealth, and a more inclusive, equal
society.
Bibliography
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Falen, T. (2004). U.S. health care policy and the rising uninsured: An alternative solution.
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online database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?di
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Figart, D. & Mutari, E. (2005). Rereading Becker: Contextualizing the development of
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2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.
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Fine, M. & Weis, L. (1998). The unknown city: The lives of poor and working class young
people. Boston: Beacon.
Gilbert, D. (2003). The American class structure in an age of growing inequality. 6th ed.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Haveman, R. (2008). What does it mean to be poor in a rich society? Power point
presentation, presented at 2008 Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) Low Income
Workshop, Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from http://www.irp.
wisc.edu/newsevents/other/lampman/HavemanLampmanLect2.pdf
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Institute for Research on Poverty. (2007). Website accessed August 11, 2008 http://www.
irp.wisc.edu/
Koepke, D. (2007). Race, class, poverty and capitalism. Race, Gender & Class 14 (3/4), 189205. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:
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People Now. 18-18. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX
with Full Text: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=327
Playforth, S. (2004). Inclusive library services for deaf people: an overview from the social
model perspective. Health Information & Libraries Journal 21 (Supplement 2), 54-57.
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Rothchild, J. (1995, Jan. 30). Wealth: Static wages, except for the rich. Time Magazine, 145 (4), 52.
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Left out: Perspectives on social exclusion and inclusion across income groups. Health
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Discussion Paper no. 1304-05, Institute for Research on Poverty. Retrieved August 11,
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Thibos, M., Lavin-Loucks, D., & Martin, M. (2007). The feminization of poverty. Report for
the 2007 Joint Policy Forum on the Feminization of Poverty, sponsored by the Williams
Institute and the YWCA. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from http://www.ywcadallas.
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Hills, J., Le Grand, J., & Piachaud, D. (2002). Understanding social exclusion. Oxford:
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exclusion. Antipode, 39 (1), 1-7. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database
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Sapon-Shevin, M. (2003). Inclusion: A matter of social justice. Educational Leadership, 61
(2), 25-28. Retrieved August 18, 2008 from EBSCO online database Academic Search
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3&site=ehost-live
159
Social Isolation & Human Development

Overview
Socialization is the process through which people learn to be competent
in their societies; it therefore teaches people their own societys definition
of human behavior while also transmitting the societys idea of culture.
Without socialization, there could be no societies. Sociologists believe that
socialization is impossible without human contact. Studies of children who
have been raised in isolation or confined to institutions suggest that contact
with other people, especially contact that provides cognitive, physical and
emotional stimulation, are crucial for human development. Studies of
animals raised in isolation support these claims. While there is generally
agreement that isolation stunts development, the manner in which contact
with others influences development is debated by sociologists and other
scientists.
What is Socialization?
Socialization is the process through which humans learn the values, behavioral norms, knowledge, and skills of their societies. Socialization serves
two important functions for a society; it teaches new members of the
society how to act according to social expectations, and it also transmits the
societys culture to a new generation. The socialization process is interactive and lifelonghumans never finish the process of mastering new areas
160
of cultural competence and learning new roles. As humans mature, their

agents of socialization change. Initially socialization takes place within the
family, and later it is continued by schools, religions, peers, the media and
the workplace.
Human Nature & Isolation
Humans are less governed by instinct and more governed by culture than
other animals. As Geertz (1973) says,
Culture is not just an ornament of human existence but
an essential condition for it. What this means is that culture,
rather than being added on, so to speak, to a finished or virtually
finished animal, was ingredient, and centrally ingredient, in the
production of that animal itself. We are, in sum, incomplete
or unfinished animals who complete or finish ourselves through
culture (pp 46, 47, 49).
Biological stimuli might tell humans that they need to eat, that they need
shelter, or that they are of an age to reproduce, but the knowledge and
skills that allow them to accomplish these needs are culturally dictated.
Because in many areas of life, humans rely on culture where other animals
rely on instincts, socialization is vital to human development and survival.
Up for debate, though, is the question of what humans might be without
culture. This is referred to as the nature versus nature debate, and it
considers which human characteristics are innate (inherited, biological,
genetic) and which are influenced by interaction with the environment and
other humans.
What would a human be like if raised in isolation? This question has intrigued sociologists, biologists, anthropologists and psychologists, yet it
of course remains unanswerable since there is no ethical way to conduct
isolation experiments on human infants. There is evidence to suggest that
humans raised in isolation would lack many of the features that we generally think of as human. This evidence comes from studies of children
who have been raised in extreme isolation, studies of institutionalized
children, and studies of isolated animals.
161
Applications
Isolated & Institutionalized Children
While cases of socially isolated children are rare, a few exist that show
the deleterious effects of lack of human contact. One of the earliest documented cases is the Wild Boy of Aveyron, a boy called Victor found in
1798 when he was seven years old. He was supposedly raised by animals
in a rural area of France, and was captured in January of 1800. Modern
speculation suggests that he was probably an abandoned child, and might
be the first documented case of autism. He died at the age of 40 at an annex
of the Paris Institution des Sourds-Muets (Appelbaum & Chambliss, 1997).
The most recent case of isolation to achieve widespread publicity is the
case of Genie. Genie was discovered on November 4, 1970. She had been
locked in a room by herself, tied to a potty seat and physically abused by
her father for about ten years. When she was discovered, she understood
very few words. After she was removed from her home, her mental and
physical capacities improved but she never developed a grasp of grammar
and sentences and never understood norms of interaction (basic rules
about touching, space, and private versus public behavior). Her care after
rescue was uneven; she was studied intensively by researchers, but was
returned to state care-- including placement in an abusive foster home
once funding for her study ran out (Henslin, 2002; Hughes, Kroehler, &
Vander Zanden, 2002).
Two of the more famous cases of isolated children two girls known as
Anna and Isabelle-- were used by Kingsley Davis (1949, 1993) to illustrate
issues involving social isolation. The lives of the girls provide evidence for
the need for human contact and also provide a little hope that in some situations children may be able to recover from neglect. Both girls were born to
unwed mothers in the early 1930s; the stigma of illegitimacy contributed
to each girls isolation. Annas mother lived with her own father, who disapproved violently of his illegitimate granddaughter, causing Anna to be
moved from unhealthy foster home to unhealthy foster home as an infant.
Returned to her mothers home around the age of six months old, she was
kept in a bed in an attic and fed only milk. Apparently her mother ignored
her and rarely moved or cleaned her. When she was discovered around
the age of six years old, she could not walk or talk. After two years spent
162
in various institutions she learned to walk and could comprehend simple

words, although she did not speak herself for another two years and her
speech never progressed beyond the level of a two-year-old. It is not clear
how far her progress would have continued since she died from jaundice
when she was ten.
Isabelles case was remarkably similar, insofar as she was illegitimate and
locked in a room for her first six years. However, she had company her
mother who was deaf and mute stayed in the room with her and by all
accounts tried to look after her. When she was discovered (as in Annas
case, this happened around the age of six), Isabelle could not talk, was so
unresponsive to aural stimuli that people wondered if she could hear, and
generally scored at the level of an infant on most tests. However, she made
amazing strides toward recovery. Although the specialists working with
her first thought that she was hopelessly feebleminded, she was able to
reach a normal level of development by the time she was eight and a half
years of age.
These four cases suggest that social isolation of children can prevent
them from developing the most basic skills needed to function in society.
Talking and even walking upright are human traits that need to be learned
from others. The differences between the casesthe lack of recovery of
Anna, Victor and Genie, compared to Isabelles remarkable change-- raise
many questions. It is not clear whether the differences were caused by
some innate problems in the former three (some believe that Anna, Genie
and Victor were born with mental deficiencies), by the higher quality of
Isabelles post-discovery treatment, or by the emotional nurturing that
Isabelle received from her mother, compared to the early neglect and abuse
of the other three (Davis, 1949; Henslin, 2002; Hughes, Kroehler, & Vander
Zanden, 2002).
One study that supports the claim that emotional nurturing is necessary
to human development was conducted by H.M. Skeels and H. B. Dye in
the 1930s. These two psychologists questioned why children raised in
orphanages had lower IQs and more trouble establishing relationships
than children raised in families. Believing that the problem was the lack of
emotional and cognitive stimulation found even in the better orphanages,
they took thirteen infants who had been labeled severely retarded out of a
163
good orphanage and placed them in an institution for mentally retarded

women, giving one child to each ward. The children received a high level
of attention and cuddling from the women. After two years, when Skeels
and Dye compared these infants to a slightly less retarded control group,
they found that the infants who had been moved had on average gained
28 points on their IQ tests while the infants left behind lost 30. When the
children reached adulthood, these differences became more pronounced
the children who had been raised with more emotional and physical stimulation were much more highly educated, much more likely to be married,
and much more likely to hold a job (Henslin, 2002). This study, like Isabelles case, suggests that isolation is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Even
when a childs physical needs are cared for, lack of stimulation and interaction can affect the ability to form bonds and integrate fully into society, and
can also negatively affect intelligence.
Animal Studies
Harry and Margaret Harlow (1958) conducted studies with rhesus monkeys
raised in isolation. Baby monkeys were given two mothers--one made
of soft terrycloth, and one mother made of wire that provided food via a
baby bottle. When startled by experimenters, the monkeys would run to
their cloth mothers instead of their wire mothers, which showed that the
cuddling comforting physical contact-- not the ability to provide food,
was seen as more important by the baby monkeys. In another experiment,
the Harlows showed that baby monkeys could recover social skills affected
by short periods of isolation, but not from being isolated for more than six
months (Harlow, 1958; Henslin 2002).
Viewpoints
Theories of Socialization
The above studies suggest that human contactsocialization into a

societyis necessary for proper development. This is a basic point of
argument for many sociologists, psychologists and biologists. However,
the mechanism through which this development occurs is heavily debated.
Most sociologists (especially symbolic interactionists) argue that the self is
acquired through interaction with others, psychologists put more emphasis
on the unconscious nature of this process, and sociobiologists believe that
behavioral patterns have a biological root.
164
Symbolic Interactionism
Sociologists who study symbolic interaction (a branch of social psychology that explores how people create meanings and socially construct and
order their worlds) believe that social interaction is needed to create the
self; there can be no social self that arises in isolation. This idea was developed by Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) through the concept of the
looking-glass self. Cooley theorized that people see themselves indirectly,
through the reflection of the impressions they make on others. There are
three steps to this process: people imagine how they look to others, they
imagine the reactions that others have to them, and then they experience
some sort of self-feeling about thispride, shame, satisfaction and so on,
which gradually develops their self-concepts.
The idea that the self was developed through interaction with others was
further developed by George Herbert Mead (1863-1931). Mead believed
that the self is a process, an ongoing conversation between two parts-- an
I and a me. The Ithe part of the self that reacts to stimuli, the spontaneous part-- is related to consciousness while the me the self-aware
part that is responsible for social control-- is related to self-consciousness.
After it acts, the I enters into the awareness of the me. When the I
reacts to a situation, it brings out the me as the self immediately interprets its own action from the point of view of others. The I and the me
are in constant interaction within the self. Thought is this inner conversation in which the self is the object to itself.
Mead believed that the I and the me are developed throughout early
life. Small children begin to develop selves through play. When playing,
children take on the roles of othersfirefighters, astronauts, nurses,
mothers and fathersand begin to learn that other people have different
perspectives. Children thus learn to see themselves from the viewpoints of
others through play. When they have mastered the play stage of development, they move to the game stage. In a game such as softball, participants
must not only be able to take the role of others to participate, but they must
also be able to have a sense of the viewpoint of every other player on the
field simultaneously. They must understand the games rules and internalize all possible roles that are involved in the game. Mead called this ability
to assume the viewpoint of the entire community the acquisition of a gen-
165
eralized other. Once a child has mastered the game stage and acquired a
sense of the generalized other, he or she has developed a social self. For
Mead and Cooley, then, development of the self was a social process; in
the absence of others, neither the looking glass self not the I and me
could form.
Psychological Theories
Freud & Erikson
Like Cooley and Mead, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) believed that the self
developed during interaction with the world. Unlike them, he believed
that much of peoples response to the world happened on an unconscious
level. Freuds theory focused on how a childs personality is developed
when he or she is an infant, a process that is the result of the child attempting to control his or her physical urges. In Freuds model the self
is divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is
the host for the persons innate biological urges. The egothe conscious
part of the self-- assists the individual with understanding the world rationally. The superego develops as children learn to control the oral, anal
and phallic impulses of the idas they learn to eat on a schedule, become
toilet trained, and absorb societys restrictions on sexuality. The superego
is responsible for providing the person with an understanding of what is
acceptable in society and urges the person to value moral and ethical decisions. As with Meads and Cooleys theories of the self, Freuds theory
saw the completed self as being developed through interaction. Unlike the
symbolic interactionists, he visualized society as potentially damaging to
the budding self.
Freuds work was extended by Erik H. Erikson, who believed that ego development continued throughout the entire life cycle. He separated this
development into eight stages of ego development. Each stage presents
new problems; if these identity crises are resolved successfully, then the
person moves on to the next stage and next crisis. Eriksons eight stages are
Trust versus mistrust in infancy,
Autonomy versus shame and doubt as a toddler,
Initiative versus guilt in the preschool years,
Industry versus inferiority from ages 6-13 (approximately),
166
Identity formation versus confusion in adolescence,

Intimacy versus isolation as a young adult,
Generativity versus self absorption as a mature adult, and
Integrity versus despair as an older person
(Erikson, 1963).
Piaget
Some theorists have given less prominence to the role of society in human
development. For example, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) developed a theory that
focused less on childrens imitation of others as a major factor in socialization. He pointed out that all the children he studied passed through the
same phases when they were learning to talkthat is, they made the same
sorts of mistakes at the same point in the process, and these mistakes were
not the result of imitating adults. This suggests that there are some factors
in human development that are innate the stages of linguistic development in this case. In Piagets scheme, children first develop sensory-motor
intelligence as they learn to deal with the physical world, then progress to
intuitive operations as they learn to think creatively and imagine. This is
followed by a concrete operational stage in which they learn to think logically, and a formal operational stage in which they learn to think abstractly
(Henslin, 2002).
Sociobiologists also place more emphasis on the role of heredity and less
emphasis on environment. Some, like Edward Wilson, believe that complex
behavioral patterns evolved over time through natural selection (Wilson,
1978). Others focus more narrowly on topic such as the biological basis of
gendered behavior.
Bibliography
Appelbaum, R., & Chambliss, W. (1997). Sociology: A brief introduction. New York:
Longman.
Cooley, C.H. (1902). Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner.
Davis, K. (1940). A case of extreme social isolation of a child. American Journal of Sociology
45: 554-564.
Davis, K. (1949). Human society. New York: Macmillan Company.
Davis, K. (1947). Final note on a case of extreme isolation. American Journal of Sociology
50: 432-437.
167
Erikson, E. (1963). Childhood and society(2nd ed). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Haas, J., & Shaffir, W. (1978). Shaping identity in Canadian society. Scarborough, Ontario:
Prentice-Hall of Canada
Harlow, H. (1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 12, 673-685.
Henslin, J.M. (2002). Essentials of sociology (4th ed). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Hughes, M., Kroehler, C.J., & Vander Zanden, J.W. (2002). Sociology: the core. 6th ed. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, self and society. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Wilson, E.O. (1978). On Human Nature. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Suggested Reading
Cattan, M., White, M., Bond, J., & Learmouth, A. (2005). Preventing social isolation and
loneliness among older people: a systematic review of health promotion interventions.
Ageing & Society, 25(1), 41-67.
Freud, S. (1961). Civilization and its discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Hawthorne, G. (2006). Measuring social isolation in older adults: Development and initial
validation of the friendship sale. Social Indicators Research, 77(3), 521-548. Retrieved
April 1, 2008 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.
ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=21129184&site=ehost-live
Pavlov, I. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the
cerebral cortex. London, England: Oxford University Press.
Watson, J. (1928). The ways of behaviorism. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers Pub.
168
Resocialization & Total Institutions

Overview
Socialization refers to the process through which people become members
of society, both by internalizing shared norms and values and learning
to perform social roles (e.g. as workers, wives and friends). Socialization
occurs in different settings and institutions such as the family, the education system and the workplace. While socialization was once assumed to
be a process primarily associated with childhood, there is reasonable consensus that it is a continuous, lifelong process that prepares people for the
transitions they will make between one phase or stage of life and another.
Although there is variation in how those transitions are defined or distinguished, there is consensus that change and adaptation is an ever-present
characteristic of human development.
At times people may experience resocialization. This occurs when, first,
people are required to learn new norms and values associated with an
unfamiliar social environment (such as when entering prison) or, second,
they are required to relearn norms and values associated with their culture
or context of origin. They may have, at one point, left this context and are
now re-entering (such as returning to civilian life after time in prison). Resocialization is often associated with total institutions, which are a distinct
category of social organization characterized by bureaucratic regimentation and social isolation, as described originally by Erving Goffman in his
169
book Asylums (1961). Goffman identified prisons, mental hospitals and

monasteries as examples of total institutions, and his insights have since
been explored and expanded by a number of studies.
The Socialization Process

Much of the insight into socialization is grounded in a symbolic interactionist tradition to the study of social life. This approach emphasizes that
social life largely depends on a shared sense of reality that defines how to
act in particular social situations and how to interact with others in ways
that make sense and contribute to social order. In the symbolic interactionist approach, social reality is not external to the individual, but is built up,
or constructed, through interaction (e.g. gestures, conversations, symbols).
Reality is therefore unstable, though dynamic; what is defined as real
could shift at any moment and in this framework, successful interaction
with others depends on the importance of the actors ability to interpret the
social world (Ritzer, 1992).
Because socialization is ongoing throughout the life course, researchers
have identified different forms of socialization. First, primary association
occurs within institutions such as the family, schools and the media. Such
socialization can be both formal (through explicit rules) and informal (via
coded messages and the hidden curriculum in which the values associated with a particular culture, such as capitalism, are embedded in the
structure and organization of education). Second, anticipatory socialization occurs when people take on the norms and values of a role they desire;
such as when those learning a particular occupation (e.g. nursing) take on
the role-set (the professional identity of nurses) they seek to occupy (Lurie,
1981). Similarly, the high school student who begins wearing college student-type clothes once he has been accepted to a university is engaging
in anticipatory socialization (Henslin, 2004). Third, resocialization occurs
when people learn a new set of behaviors, practices and attitudes associated with a new context (Henslin, 2004). This form of resocialization could
be associated with entering college, or even getting married.
These forms of resocialization are largely informal and voluntary. Resocialization can also be formal, and involuntary, and in such cases is mostly
associated with institutional settings, such as the workplace, or total institutions.
170
Further Insights
Total Institutions
The concept of total institution was developed by the sociologist Erving

Goffman as a result of research he conducted at St. Elizabeths Hospital in
Washington D.C. while he was a visiting scientist at the National Institute
of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The research was published as a
book, Asylums in 1961. The hospital was a federal mental institution with
more than 7000 patients and Goffman viewed it as a place that encompassed the whole of the lives of its inmates. Accordingly, he described a
total institution as a specific type of place where:
a large number of like-situated individuals, cut off from
wider society for an appreciable amount of time, together lead
an enclosed, formally administered round of life (Goffman, 1961,
p. xiii).
Goffman identified several characteristics of total institutions and argued
that they control all aspects of the daily lives of inmates, subject their residents to standardized activities, and apply formal rules and rigid scheduling to all activities.
In the total institution, inmates are separated from the outside world physically. For instance, total institutions are, in Goffmans definition, built environments that are segregated from everyday life through spatial barriers
such as barbed wire and walls and interaction between inmates and people
from the outside is physically prevented through devices such as locks
and barred windows. Suttons (2003) recent study of missions and reserves
in Australia, using photographs as evidence, shows how the spatial and
physical design of such missions were similar to 19th century workhouses, prisons, concentration camps and mental institutions. These missions
removed indigenous people from public Australian life and played a role
in the colonial control of indigenous peoples by breaking up Aboriginal
families. Moreover, the experience of separation and control within the
missions made it difficult for inmates to adjust to life outside and contributed to emotional disorders, an inability to live with others and make
friends and increased the likelihood of illnesses such as diabetes and heart
conditions (Sutton, 2003).
171
Total institutions also socially separate inmates from the outside world,
though there are points of potential contamination that can threaten this
separation. For instance, messy quarters can remind the inmate of the world
beyond the institution and when an inmate loses control over who is observing her in the institution, or who knows about her past, she is contaminated
by a forced relationship to these others. Other interpersonal contaminations
or forced relationships include rape, sexual assault, or when the inmates
possessions are handled by officials or other inmates. Thus, for Goffman,
a key characteristic of the total institution is that there is always a tension
between the institution and the outside world and this tension is used
as strategic leverage in the management of men (Goffman, 1961, p. 13).
The total institution controls the minute details of the inmates life, and
staff expect the inmates to be obedient to them. Inmates occupy a routinized lifestyle where meals, recreation, work and bedtimes are all tightly
scheduled and uniforms may be required (such as in prisons, boarding
schools or the military). Indeed, in total institutions, people are processed
as things or objects whereas, in contrast, on the outside, people are typically identified through personal characteristics and qualities (Sparks,
Bottoms & Hay, 1996). These detailed rules and repetitive routines enable
the institution to establish control and authority over the lives of inmates
and ensure a power differential between those in charge and subordinates.
Thus, a key goal of resocialization within the context of the total institution
is altering a persons behavior to fit the needs of the institution by controlling their immediate environment. Such control occurs via specific regimes,
tight supervision, and routinization and entails a two-stage process: first,
the new inmate is separated from her old life and the self is broken down;
and second, a new self is developed via a system of rewards and punishments. Through resocialization processes that attack the self, people are
batched into relatively undifferentiated groups (e.g. inmates or nurses).
While Goffman explicitly referred to prisons and mental institutions, other
studies have examined and expanded the concept of total institution to
include a range of institutions, such as assisted living centers, specialized hospitals for infectious diseases (such as tuberculosis and leprosy),
training institutions (e.g. boarding schools, academies, and boot camps),
and retreats associated with religious purposes or recovery (Manning,
2007). While these studies have challenged some of the characteristics that
172
Goffman identified as crucial to the definition of a total institution, there is

some consensus that the processes of resocialization he described create a
paramount reality that is distinct from what new residents or inmates are
familiar with.
Resocialization
The first step in resocialization occurs upon entering an institution. The

staff immediately seeks to break the new inmates by undoing or destroying their self-image and independence (Stanko et al., 2004). Goffman
referred to this process of undoing as the mortification of the self. It entails
the use of entry rituals that strips a person of her former (outside) identity
and replaces it with symbols of her new identity, such as haircuts, numbers
or uniforms (Sparks, Bottoms & Hay, 1996). For instance, a study of nursing
homes (Brogden, 2001) noted that when elderly people enter them, staff
routinely begin using baby-talk in a way that infantilizes people and encourages dependence rather than independence. The dependence of residents makes it easier to run institutions like nursing homes. Similarly, a
study of dementia (Askham, Briggs, Norman & Redfern, 2007) found that
when dementia sufferers entered custodial care, taken for granted but significant aspects of their former lives (such as driving a car) were removed
or taken from them in ways that made the new residents feel as thought
they had lost their identities. Such mortification is a necessary precursor
to the next step in resocialization, which emphasizes conformity to institutional norms, which are established via routines, rules and timetables.
However, this two-step process is not always successful. While some individuals may conform in institutional contexts, others may become hostile
and rebellious, or find ways to escape.
Resistance to Resocialization: Escape Attempts
Because of the potential for totalizing control over the self that the resocialization process and the regimes of the total institution establish, inmates
may seek ways to win back some sense of self autonomy (Cohen & Taylor,
1992). In their study of psychological survival in a British maximum-security prison, Cohen and Taylor (1992) refer to this phenomenon as escape
attempts. They argue that inmates in total institutions who are serving
long sentences find subtle ways to make time pass, because time control by
173
the institution (e.g. through time tables and indeed by having so much relatively unstructured time to pass) is one of the critical ways that inmates
lives and identities are regulated. Therefore, inmates develop subtle activities and practices to help them get through the business of every day. For
these inmates, getting by is a precarious process because it requires that
inmates balance the conformity that is required of them with attempts to
escape from that conformity in order to hold onto a sense of self that is
not subsumed by their identities as prisoners. They need to balance being
in the prison world with not being of it.
While the power of Goffmans study of asylums lies in his categorization
of a particular kind of social institution that is distinct from other spheres
of social life and that is characterized by specific, identifiable properties, Cohen and Taylor extended their analysis of psychological survival
in prisons (as an exemplar of resocialization in a total institution). They
argued that the subtle activities that prison inmates engage in to pass
time and to create a distinction between their lived sense of self and
the identities imposed on them through prison regimes, are all ways of
escaping from the prison as their paramount reality; that is, as their realm
of everyday experience. While everyday life outside the prison cannot be
defined as a total institution (in Goffmans terms), it nonetheless presents a
paramount reality that constrains and limits people. Consequently, argued
Cohen and Taylor, people seek to escape from this paramount reality
through various activities and practices (e.g. hobbies, travel) and in doing
so, protect a sense of self that is distinct from the identities bestowed on
them by their everyday lives.
Issues
The Dehumanizing Impact of Total Institutions
While Cohen and Taylor discuss symbolic escape attempts as a form of

resistance to resocialization practices within total institutions, studies of
prisons and asylums generally show them to be brutal spaces of incarceration. For instance, many such institutions in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries were places where physically and developmentally disabled individuals were incarcerated. Indeed, many people were incarcerated in such
institutions because they failed to conform to prevailing social expectations
or flouted social conventions (such as having a child outside marriage). Researchers have documented how inmates of such institutions experienced
174
degradation and humiliation (Malacrida, 2005), despite the claims of the

institutions themselves to be places of care and rehabilitation. For instance,
the Michener Center in Alberta, Canada, was described as a training
school for retarded children and young adults (Malacrida, 2006). However,
eugenics was a key policy and the center, like other similar institutions
in Western Europe and North America, practiced a sterilization program.
Moreover, the center used punishments such as ward lock-downs and
time out rooms to discipline inmates who were seen to misbehave (e.g.
those who refused to eat institutional food, adhere to bedtimes or were aggressive toward staff) or who attempted escape. Such punishments were
a central form of physical and psychological social control reactive and
proactive social control (Malacrida, 2006, p. 528).
In Malacridas (2006) study, one inmate survivor, Glen, described his experiences inside the Time-Out Room:
The staff could look in from a window in the door but I couldnt
see out of it. There was no toilet, and when I had to go, I had
to bang on the door with my feet. But most of the time, no one
would come, so I wet myself. I had to sit like that sometimes for
hours until staff would come. That hurt my feelings (Malacrida,
2006, p. 531).
Such research is a reminder of how central dehumanization is to the daily
routines and practices of total institutions and how central such institutions
have been, historically, to the oppression of certain categories of people in
the West (Davies, 1989). Indeed, in recognition of this dehumanization, in
both the US and the UK from the 1970s onward, total institutions such as
asylums and other places incarcerating the physically and developmentally disabled were gradually closed down in favor of care in the community. However, despite their closures, some practices associated with power
and control continue to be practiced (such as antidepressant prescription,
psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy) (Brecht, 2004).
Beyond the Total Institution
Because socialization is an ongoing process, life beyond the total institution

must also involve resocialization, as those who were previously inmates
175
or residents must learn to adjust from living in an environment where

their lives are highly prescribed to their new, non-institutionalized roles
and environments. Studies of this form of resocialization (e.g. of Vietnam
veterans, ex-cult members and Catholic priests and nuns who have
departed their Orders) show this process is no less problematic and challenging than being resocialized into a total institution. One study (Mapel,
2007), for instance, followed five Western ex-Buddhist monks to life after
being in a monastery for several years. Although Buddhist monasteries
do not demand lifetime vows (as for example, required of those entering
the Catholic priesthood), and monks are free to leave the monastery at
any time, adjustment was challenging as they tried to deal with issues
of grief, delayed development, missing out on life experiences, difficulties
with intimacy, money, identity, depression, anxiety and confusion. This
was combined with the hope and promise of many newly found freedoms
involved in establishing a new life and identity. For these monks, resocialization involved moving from a context where life is highly routinized
(albeit voluntarily) to a context where life is highly individualized.
Conclusion
The concept of resocialization refers to a process wherein a person must cast

off a previous identity and learn a new one. Goffmans work on asylums
as total institutions provides the definitive discussion of resocialization as
a consequence of involuntary residence. In this context, resocialization is
necessary for social control, which is further supported by spatial, physical
and social separation and highly structured routines. For Goffman, the total
institution represents a system that is beyond society, but is still charged
with caring for or rehabilitating its inhabitants. However, other researchers have expanded the properties he ascribed to total institutions beyond
physical entities (such as prisons) to social processes (such as colonialism).
Yet, total institutions may not be as homogenous as Goffman observed
(Davies, 1989) because there are significant differences in their degrees
of bureaucratization, their physical and social closedness, and how compliance from inmates is elicited. In practice, institutions such as prisons,
nursing homes and monasteries vary in their underlying functions, contradictions, and modes of entry and exit.
Despite some disagreement over what defines a total institution, Goffmans account of asylums led to the systematic study of total institutions as
176
places of incarceration. While in the past, such incarceration was deemed

necessary for rehabilitation (e.g. in relation to crime and mental illness),
research has shown that the resocialization practices associated with total
institutions were often brutally dehumanizing. They entailed the persistent
destruction of the human self, such that resocialization from the institution back into society was, and is, accompanied by adaptation challenges.
However, there is some evidence that people who have experienced resocialization in total institutions find ways to hold onto a sense of self that is
beyond the institution: to escape, if not literally, then at least, symbolically.
Bibliography
Askham, J., Briggs, K., Norman, I. & Redfern, S. (2007). Care at home for people with
dementia: As in a total institution? Ageing & Society, 27 (1), 3-24.
Brogden, M. (2001). Geronticide: Killing the elderly. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Brecht, P. (2004). Birds-eye view of the asylum. Nursing Standard, 19(4), 22. Retrieved
March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete http://
Cohen, S. & Taylor, L. (1992). Escape attempts: The theory and practice of resistance in
everyday life. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge.
Davies, C. (1989). Goffmans concept of the total institution: Criticisms and revisions.
Human Studies. 12(1/2):77-95. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database,
SocINDEX with Full Text http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=si
h&AN=11678729&site=ehost-live.
Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other
inmates. New York: Anchor Books.
Henslin, J. (2004). Essentials of sociology: A down-to-earth approach. 5th Ed. London:
Allyn and Bacon.
Lurie,
E.
(1981).
Nurse
practitioners:
Issues
in
professional
socialization.
Journal
of
Health
and
Social
Behavior,
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(1), 31-48. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=1254961
7&site=ehost-live
Manning, P.K. (2007). Total institutions. In G. Ritzer (ed). Blackwell Encyclopedia of
Sociology. Oxford: Blackwell.
Malacrida, C. (2005). Discipline and dehumanization in a total institution: Institutional
survivors descriptions of time-out rooms. Disability & Society, 20(5), 523-537. Retrieved
March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text http://search.
ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=17575649&site=ehost-live.
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Malacrida, C. (2006). Contested memories: Efforts of the powerful to silence former

inmates histories of life in an institution for mental defectives. Disability & Society,
21(5), 397-410. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with
Full Text http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=22483078
&site=ehost-live.
Mapel, T. (2007). The adjustment process of ex-Buddhist monks to life after the monastery.
Journal of Religion & Health, 46(1), 19-34. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online
database, Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=
true&db=a9h&AN=24091458&site=ehost-live.
Ritzer, G. (1992). Contemporary sociological theory (3rd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Sparks, R., Bottoms, A. & Hay, W. (1996). Prisons and the problem of order. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Sutton, M-J. (2003). Re-examining total institutions: A case study from Queensland.
Archaeology in Oceania, 38(2):78-88. Retrieved March 23, 2009 from EBSCO online
database, Academic Search Complete http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=
true&db=a9h&AN=10878103&site=ehost-live.
Stanko, S. Gillespie, W. & Crews, G.A. (2004). Living in prison: A history of the correctional
system with an insiders view. Westport CT: Greenwood Press.
Suggested Reading
Fischer, M., & Geiger, B. (2006). A twenty year follow-up of the kibbutz resocialization
program: Did it work and why? Conference Papers -- American Society of Criminology,
2006 Annual Meeting.
McHugh, P. (1966). Social disintegration as a requisite of resocialization. Social Forces,
44(3), 355-363. Retrieved April 13, 2008, from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with
Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=1352413
8&site=ehost-live
Stolley, K.S. (2005) The basics of sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
178
Terms & Concepts
I and Me: Meads terms to describe the two parts of the self; the I
acts, and the me is self-aware and judges the I.
I: I is a subject, and not an object of experience. The I phase refers
to the part of the self which can be identified with impulse, freedom, and
creativity; everything which is unique, idiosyncratic, and uncertain.
Me: Me can be identified with the object self of experience. It can also
be described as the self we are aware of.
Absolute Poverty: The inability to provide basic needs to sustain human
life.
Adolescence: The period of physical and psychological development from
the onset of puberty to maturity.
Anticipatory Socialization: The process of through which an individual learns the values and attitudes of a group in expectation of joining the
group.
Between Group Contrast: A basic type of behavior wherein members of a
group highlight the differences between themselves and other groups. In
addition, these groups seek to increase their differences from other groups.
Cognitive Developmental Theory: Cognitive developmental theories of
gender socialization emphasize the active role of the child in gender con-
179
struction, and the developmental changes in children that allow them to

conceptualize gender differently over time.
Collective Socialization: Collective socialization can be described as
neighborhood, societal, or community characteristics that shape the role
models that youth are exposed to outside the home.
Conscious: The aware part of our cognitions, with which we have
regular and easy access.
Constructivism: A theory which holds that knowledge is constructed by
the knower.
Defense Mechanisms: The unconscious part of our Ego that serves to rehabilitate any potential damage that might be incurred through situational
dynamics, and revert the Ego back into a state of normalcy.
Desocialization: Process in which the residents rights are relinquished
and they submit to the control of the staff of the institution.
Developmental Psychology: The branch of psychology which studies the
progressive behavioral changes in humans from birth until death.
Developmental Stages: Stages through which individuals pass as their
cognitive abilities develop. According to Piaget, children go through four
distinct stages in the cognitive development process. Most psychologists
and sociologists agree that a person has to master some type of skill or
behavior as he goes through each stage. According to most theories of
cognitive development, the stages have to be mastered in order.
Differentiated Occupational Opportunity: Differentiated occupational
opportunities can be described as ways in which circumstances and educational outcomes strongly determine potential employment opportunities.
Discrimination: Unfair treatment of people because of prejudicial attitudes.
Divorce: The legal ending of a marriage.
Ego Ideal: An offshoot of the Superego that represents the ultimate, archetypical person we strive to become.
Ego: The part of our psyche that functions to moderate the oppositional
forces of the Id and the Superego, as well as environmental and societal
influences.
180
Elimination: Processes through which children exclude others, or remove

themselves from a group.
Epigenetic Stages: A theory of development that claims that development
is influenced by both genetics and environmental forces.
Ethics of Care: Gilligans contention that women have traditionally been
taught a different kind of moral outlook that emphasizes community,
caring, and relationships.
Ethnography: A qualitative research method in which a group of people
is studied through participant observation or interviews.
Expressive Ties: Relationships associated with primary groups that are
characterized by being an end in themselves.
Feminization of Poverty:
poverty.
A growing number of women falling into
Fixation: According to Freud, a persistent preoccupation with the erogenous area associated with a particular psychosexual stage. A fixation forms
when a child does not successfully complete the corresponding stage.
Gender Schemas: Gender schemas are cognitive structures that allow
children to organize information efficiently, and maintain stability and
predictability. Gender schema theory, proposed by Sandra Bem, is considered a cognitive developmental theory of gender socialization. Bem
believes that gender schemas are androcentric and polarized.
Gender Segregation: One of the most consistent findings in gender socialization research is that children, beginning by age three, choose to play
with same-sex peers. The self-selected segregation is not influenced by
adults, occurs in different cultures, lasts until adolescence, and is accompanied by rigid definitions of gender appropriate behavior and roles.
Gender: Although gender scholars use the term gender differently, it
is typically used to communicate the idea that many of the differences
between men and women are culturally constructed, as opposed to biologically or genetically determined. Gender is studied using different
frameworks as a characteristic of the individual, as a product of social
interaction, and as a characteristic of social institutions.
181
Genetic Epistemology: The study of how knowledge is generated. Piaget

pioneered the field.
Group Socialization Theory: A theory developed by Judith Harris that
is based on the concept that although the influence of parents on children
is great, the influence of peers actually has a greater impact on a childs
development.
Home Schooling: Alternative form of education in which parents or guardians assume the responsibility for the education of their children without
sending them to any type of formal school
Human Development: The study of how people develop on physical, intellectual and social levels.
Id: The inborn component of our psyche that is quick-tempered, ego-centric, and indulgent.
Identity Crisis: A critical period in emotional maturation and personality
development which often occurs in adolescence and involves the reworking and/or abandonment of childhood identifications and the integration
of new personal and social identifications.
Ideology: A body of ideas that reflect the social needs and aspirations of an
individual, group, class, or culture.
Individualization: To consider or treat individually; particularize.
Inequality: Usually has to do with income, with some people having less
than others.
In-Group Favoritism: A basic type of behavior wherein members of a
group tend to prefer other group members over non-group members, even
if the original grouping was random.
Innate Behavior: Behavior which normally occurs in all members of a
species even when environmental influences fluctuate.
Instrumental Ties: Relationships associated with secondary groups that
are characterized by being goal or task-oriented.
Internalization: The internalization process can best be recognized as me
or the self we are aware of and the way in which humans internalize, or
182
adopt a set of beliefs, which are an organized set of attitudes of others.

Internet: A worldwide system of computer networks that allows users to
retrieve data from other users computers.
Justice: Universal principles of fairness.
Kohlberg, Lawrence: A development psychologist famous for his research
on moral education, reasoning, and development. He identified six stages
of moral development.
Libido: According to Freud, the psychic energy rooted in the id.
Lifelong Learning: Lifelong learning can be understood in a broader
category rather than just education, and instead encompasses formal, nonformal, and informal learning, whether the learning is intentional, incidental, or unconscious.
Living Wage: A minimum amount of money and benefits to provide for
the well-being of a person and his or her dependents.
Looking Glass Self: A theory of the self which hold that ones sense of
self is created through 1) how one believes oneself to appear to others 2)
how one believes other perceive oneself and 3) how one responds to ones
beliefs about how others perceive oneself.
Mass Media: Types of communication such as television broadcast
stations and networks, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor displays that
are designed to reach the large numbers of people.
Meritocracy: A system in which rewards are given to those who have extraordinary talents, abilities, or have made extra efforts.
Moral Development: The process through which children are taught to
display proper attitudes and behavior to other individuals in society, especially as they relate to social and cultural norms as wells as rules and laws.
Moral Reasoning: The process through which, according to Kohlberg,
moral decisions are made.
Moral Relativity: The idea that moral and ethical propositions are neither
objective nor universal. Rather, morality is dependent upon factors such as
social, cultural, historical and personal context.
183
Mortification of Self: Practices and rituals that strips a person of her former
(outside) identity and replace it with symbols of her new identity.
Nature versus Nurture Debate: Debate regarding the importance of
heredity and environment in a persons development and socialization
process.
Paramount Reality: The taken for granted reality of everyday life that
shapes our identities and experience.
Parental Socialization: According to those who study gender from an individualist perspective, parents are the primary source of gender socialization. Research on parents as socialization agents is mixed, however, with
some research demonstrating differential treatment of male and female
children especially with respect to choice of toys, games, and activities
and some research demonstrating similar treatment of male and female
children especially with respect to nurturance, warmth, and disciplinary
practices.
Peer Formation: The manner in which an individual selects other individuals to be part of a group.
Peer Group Socialization: Some researchers study gender as a product
of social interactions. Rather than viewing socialization as a hierarchical,
top-down process - as when parents influence children they study socialization as a dialogical process of mutual influence between peers. Indeed,
because of the gender-segregated nature of childrens play, same-sex peers
are often the primary source of information for children about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior for boys and girls.
Peer Groups: Groups made up of of people who share common social
characteristics such as age, class, occupation, or education, and interact on
a level of equality.
Personality Development: The progression to the organized pattern of
behaviors and beliefs that make a person unique.
Perspective Taking: A central issue attributed to this philosophy is that
Mead seemed to tie most of his viewpoints to perspective taking through
the generative dialogue with the material world. By engaging in interaction, humans could take the role of objects, objectify their own actions,
and generate meaning through this ongoing dialectical relationship.
184
Piaget, Jean: A developmental psychologist well known for his studies of

children, his theory of cognitive development, and his work founding the
field of genetic epistemology.
Poverty: Having little or no money or material possessions.
Prejudice: A negative opinion toward a group of people without knowing
them.
Primary Groups: A concept developed by Cooley, primary groups are
characterized by close, enduring relationships among group members.
These groups are marked by members concern for one another, shared
activities and culture, and endurance over a long period of time.
Pseudospeciation: A process in which people make artificial distinctions
between themselves and other people of different religious, racial, and
ethic groups to justify aggressive behavior, conflict, and war. Essentially,
it is the failure to recognize that all of humanity was of one species
(Friedman, 1998, p. 357).
Psychoanalytic Theory: Psychoanalytic theory, founded by Freud, emphasizes the unconscious processes that influence gender identity. According
to psychoanalytic theorists, gender identity development is a more difficult process for boys because they must separate from their primary identification with the mother. Boys learn to define maleness as the negation
of the feminine.
Psychosexual Development: Freuds theory of personality development.
It holds that a childs personality develops as he or she passes through five
stages and that during each the child derives pleasure from a particular
erogenous area. If a child receives too much or too little pleasure during
a stage, he or she will become fixated on the erogenous area and develop
psychological problems as an adult.
Relative Poverty: The ability to provide basic necessities of life, but none
of the extra goods and services a society has to offer.
Resocialization: Occurs when people are required to learn new norms and
values associated with an unfamiliar social environment (such as when
entering prison) or when they are required to re-learn norms and values
associated with their former culture or context of origin.
185
Schema: A pattern imposed on a new complex reality or experience to

assist in explaining it, mediate perception, or guide response.
Secondary Groups: A concept developed by Cooley, secondary groups
tend to be temporary and are formed to achieve a specific goal. Secondary
group members have few if any close personal relationships.
Segregation: The policy or practice of separating people of different races,
classes, ethnic groups, religious groups, or genders, often in a way that
puts the minority group at a disadvantage.
Selection: The expression of childrens associative preferences through the
bids they make to join certain peer groups, and through their attempts,
once they belong to a group, to maintain existing or recruit additional
members (Sage, et al., 2002).
Self: The irreducible unit out of which the coherence and stability of a
personality emerge (Zimbardo & Gerrig, 1996, G-11).
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Negative beliefs about oneself lead to negative
behaviors, thus fulfilling the negative beliefs.
Sex: Gender scholars typically use the term sex to refer to differences
between men and women like anatomical and reproductive differences that are biologically or genetically determined.
Social Capital: Social capital is a mechanism through which neighborhood context can influence educational (learning) outcomes. Individuals
who live in advantaged neighborhoods may be more likely to be exposed
to supportive social networks or adults who can provide resources, information, and opportunities that may be educationally beneficial.
Social Control: Social control can be described as the monitoring or sanctioning of deviant behavior in specific groups.
Social Development: Any change in society that leads to new or more
complex relations between individuals or groups within that society.
Social Exclusion: Lack of access to opportunities and benefits of society.
Social Intuitionist: An approach to understanding moral judgments which
holds that they are made largely on the basis on emotional or psychological factors with moral reasoning serving to justify these judgments after
they have been made.
186
Social Isolation: The minimizing of social contact and interaction by separating an individual from that which is familiar.
Social Learning Theory: Social learning theory is an outgrowth of the
behaviorist tradition, which defines learning in terms of stimulus and
response. According to this perspective, children are reinforced both
positively and negatively for gender appropriate and inappropriate
behavior. In addition, social learning theorists believe children learn
gender appropriate behavior by observing and modeling their same-sex
parent. Evidence in support of the theory is mixed; social learning theory
is also criticized for its passive characterization of the child.
Social Learning: A change in behavior that is controlled by environmental
influences rather than by innate or internal forces.
Social Network Research Group, The: A group comprising faculty and
students from the Department of Psychology at Portland State University
that is dedicated to studying social networks.
Social Order: Social infrastructure which imparts the normal behaviors
and actions of a society; infrastructure includes social structures, social institutions and social practices.
Social Psychology: The branch of psychology that deals with the behavior
of groups and the influence of social and cultural factors on humans.
Social Self: The self is produced through interaction with other people.
Socialization: The process in which children learn to get along with others
and to model behavior to that of other people in order to be accepted within
the group.
Socializing Agents: People and groups that influence an individuals selfconcept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior.
Sociobiology: Area of sociology that believes that human behavior can be
explained at least partially in terms of biology.
Socioeconomic Status (SES): An individuals social and economic status
within society; determined by such elements as income, educational level,
and occupation.
187
Spatial Mismatch: Jobs are located far from the neighborhoods of the
people who can fill them.
Stigma: A condition whereby a person is labeled in a way that causes a loss
of prestige, esteem, and perhaps even material well being.
Stratification: Institutionalized inequalities in wealth, power and prestige.
Superego: The moral component of our psyche that serves to determine
that which is right and wrong.
Symbolic Interactionism: An approach to the self-society relation that
emphasizes face-to-face interaction, impression management, information
control and being ever attentive to what our bodies and faces are telling
others.
Theory of Mind: When humans begin the process of developing self-consciousness and are able to take on perspectives of others, this role taking is
known as theory of mind
Total Institution: An organizational and physical environment in which
all aspects of an individuals life are subordinate to and dependent upon
the authorities of the organization.
Unconscious: The hidden portion of our cognitions that serves as a storehouse for repressed memories, events, and fears.
Underclass: About 5% of the U.S. population, characterized by under-education, little or no regular work and extreme poverty.
Within-Group Assimilation: A basic type of behavior where members
tend to conform and there is no need for overt peer pressure.
Working Poor: People who work for a living, but do not earn a living wage,
enough to provide basic necessities of life.
188
Contributors
Marie Gould is an Associate Professor and the Faculty Chair of the

Business Administration Department at Peirce College in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. She teaches in the areas of management, entrepreneurship,
and international business. Although Ms. Gould has spent her career in
both academia and corporate, she enjoys helping people learn new things
whether its by teaching, developing or mentoring.
Alexandra Howson, Ph.D., taught Sociology for over a decade at several
universities in the UK. She has published books and peer reviewed articles
on the sociology of the body, gender and health and is now an independent
researcher, writer and editor based in the Seattle area.
Jennifer Kretchmar earned her Doctorate in Educational Psychology from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works as a
Research Associate in undergraduate admissions.
Sharon Link is an educator, presenter, and mother of a child with autism.
She has worked extensively in public education and has researched education and its relationship to autism disorders and other disabilities for the
last ten years. Dr. Link currently is the Executive Director for Autism Disorders Leadership Center, a non-profit research center and is co-founder of
Asperger Interventions & Support, Inc. a professional development center.
Both organizations are education and research centers seeking to improve
189
education by creating a system of diversity and inclusion in Americas

schools. To learn more, visit: Asperger Help at http://aspergerhelp.net.
Cynthia Vejar received her Doctorate from Virginia Tech in 2003, and has
had extensive experience within the realm of academia. She has taught at
both the undergraduate and graduate levels at several universities, and
has functioned as a clinical supervisor for counselors-in-training. For five
years, Dr. Vejar worked as a school counselor in a specialized behavioral
modification program that targeted at-risk adolescents and their families.
She has also worked as a grief and career counselor. Moreover, Dr. Vejar
firmly believes in contributing to the research community. She has published in professional journals, served on editorial boards, and has written
book reviews.
Geraldine Wagner holds a graduate degree from Syracuse Universitys
Maxwell School of Citizenship. She teaches Sociology at Mohawk Valley
Community College in upstate New York and Professional Writing at
State University of NY, College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
She has authored numerous writings including journalism articles, OP-ED
columns, manuals, and two works of non-fiction: No Problem: The Story
of Fr. Ray McVey and Unity Acres, A Catholic Worker House, published
in 1998 and Thirteen Months To Go: The Creation of the Empire State
Building, published in 2003. She divides her time between upstate New
York, Bar Harbor, Maine and coastal North Carolina.
190
Index
A
Absolute Poverty, 150, 151
Adaptation, 31
Adler, Alfred, 10
Adolescence, 8, 71, 74, 84, 104, 119, 121,
128, 131, 167
Anal Stage, 7
Anticipatory Socialization, 84, 170
B
Between-Group Contrast, 123
C
Children & the Media, 82
Cognitive Assumptions, 31
Cognitive Development Theory, 100
Collective Socialization, 141, 145
Concrete Operational Period, 33
Conscious, 5, 6, 14, 15, 19, 20, 23, 55, 62,
64, 101, 166
Constructivism, 31
Conventional Morality, 42
Cooley, Charles Horton, 48
D
Defense Mechanisms, 6, 9, 22, 24
Developmental Stages, 11, 71, 77

Differentiated Occupational Opportunity, 139
Disabilities, 156
Discrimination, 92-94, 153, 155
Displacement, 22
Divorce, 90, 92, 94, 95, 153
Dreams, 16
E
Ego, 6, 8, 9, 20, 71, 73, 166
Ego Ideal, 20
Elderly, The, 156
Epistemology, 115
Equilibrium, 32
Erikson, Erik, 10
Escape Attempts, 173
Ethics of Care, 113
Evolution of Communication, 60
F
Fear, 89
Feminization of Poverty, 153
Fixation, 6, 7, 8
Formal Operational Period, 33
Freud, Sigmund, 4, 5, 14, 25, 29, 30, 71,
101, 166
191
G
Gender Schemas, 101
Gender Schema Theory, 101
Gender Segregation, 104, 105
Gender Socialization, 99
Genetic Epistemology, 30
Genital Stage, 8
Gilligan, Carol, 45, 112, 115
Group Socialization Theory, 88, 89, 120
H
Healthcare, 155
Home Schooling, 130, 131, 133
Horney, Karen, 10
Human Capital View, 142
Human Development, 29, 30, 64, 70, 71,
141, 160-163, 167
I
I, 53, 58, 61, 62, 65, 165, 166
I and Me, 61
Id, 6, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23
Identity Crisis, 11, 73, 74, 75
Ideology, 130, 139
Inequality, 106, 150
In-Group Favoritism, 122
Institutionalized Children, 162
Internalization, 55, 61, 80, 86
Internet, 81, 82
J
Job Sprawl, 154
Jung, Carl, 10
Justice, 34, 36, 39, 40, 43-46, 49, 109,
112, 113, 144
K
Kohlberg, Lawrence, 34, 39, 100, 109
L
Latency Stage, 8
Learning Socialization, 137
192
Lifelong Learning, 136, 137, 138, 139,

140, 141, 142, 143, 144
Living Wage, 151, 154
Looking Glass Self, 48, 166
M
Mass Media, 81-86
Me, 53, 58, 61, 62, 65, 165, 166
Mead, George Herbert, 58
Media Socialization, 105
Moral Anxiety, 9
Moral Definition, 114
Moral Development, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36,
39, 40-43, 45, 46, 76, 100, 109, 110-115
Moral Ontogeny, 115
Moral Reasoning, 30-41, 43, 44, 45, 47,
109, 110, 112
Moral Responsibility, 76
Moral Variation, 115
N
Neo-Darwinistic Perspective, 59
Neo-Freudians, The, 10
Neoliberalist View, 143
Neurotic Anxiety, 9
Neurotic Behavior, 16
O
Oral Stage, 7
Out-Group Hostility, 123
P
Paramount Reality, 173, 174
Parapraxes, 16
Parental Socialization, 96
Peer Groups, 118, 126, 129
Peer Group Socialization, 104
Personality Development, 4, 5, 6, 11, 73
Perspective Taking, 61, 63, 65
Phallic Stage, 7
Piaget, Jean, 29, 30, 36, 39, 109, 119, 126,
167
Pleasure Principle, The, 17

Postconventional Morality, 42
Poverty, 92, 149-154, 156
Preconventional Morality, 42
Preoperational Period, 32
Primary Groups, 48, 52, 53
Progressive Humanist View, 143
Projection, 22
Pseudospeciation, 76
Psychoanalytic Theory, 101
Psychobiography, 76
Psychosexual Development, 5, 7, 10,
11, 71
R
Reaction Formation, 22
Reality Anxiety, 9
Regression, 22
Relative Poverty, 150
Repression, 23
Resocialization, 169-177
S
Schema, 99, 101
Secondary Groups, 48, 52, 53
Segregation, 104, 105, 128, 133, 154
Selection, 129, 133, 167
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, 155
Selfhood, 62
Sensorimotor Period, 32
Social Capital, 140
Social Class, 128, 150
Social Control, 63, 138, 141, 165, 175
Social Development, 80, 85, 88, 118,
126, 132
Social Exclusion, 149, 151, 156, 157

Social Intuitionist, 44
Social Isolation, 140, 141, 162, 163, 169
Social Learning, 4, 29, 80, 86, 88-101,
118, 126
Social Learning Theory, 99
Social Order, 41, 56, 170
Social Psychology, 24, 43, 48, 53, 56, 64,
69, 165
Social Self, 53, 165, 166
Social Workers, 140, 141
Socioeconomic Status (SES), 150
Spatial Mismatch, 154
Spirituality, 76, 77
Stigma, 162
Stratification, 149, 150
Sublimation, 23
Superego, 6, 14, 17-23
Symbolic Interactionism, 49, 50
T
Theory of Mind, 64
Total Institution, 171-176
U
Unconscious, 15, 19
Underclass, 150-153
W
Welfare Reform, 154
Within-Group Assimilation, 123
Within-Group Differentiation, 123
Working Poor, 150, 153, 155
193

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SOCIOLOGY REFERENCE GUIDE

The Editors of Salem Press

Published by Salem Press

Socialization is broadly defined as the learning of behaviors, values, and

Sociology Reference Guide

This volume provides an introduction to the development of individual