Martha Hernandez

January 21, 2016

Sociology 1

Socialization Nature vs Nurture

1. Nature and Nurture: What do twin studies tell us about nature/nurture?

Also, discuss the influence of heredity in explaining the process of ones
personality and intellectual development. Provide examples.

Nature and nurture are two different approaches into our behaviors. Nature implies that
we owe our behavior on genetics rather than nurture, which is the love and care that we
grow up in. Twin related studies have led mostly towards the nature side especially those
of identical twins. Even though its rare to find identical twins separated at birth there has
been a few cases of these pursuing a similar career, developing same hobbies/interests
and having a sense of the other twins feelings. For example, in 1979 twin brothers Jim
Lewis and Jim Spring were separated at birth met for the first time after 39 years of
separation. They found that both had similar habits, both liked beer, suffered from
migraines, drove same type of car and smoked cigarettes. The importance of nature in our
behavior has been heavily studied in psychology where as for example, it has been found
that anti-social and social behavior is a trait that has been passed through the genetic
makeup.

2. What is the self? According to Charles Horton Cooley, explain the looking
glass self (discuss the three phases). George Herbert Mead also discusses the
stages of the self: identify differences between I and Me. What is meant by
significant others? How are significant others related to the self? Identify
Meads three-stage process of self-development.

According the Charles Horton, self is arises from the interaction we have with others. We
define ourselves out of our everyday interactions and what others see of ourselves
rather than who we really are. The looking glass self is a three step process where in
the first step our mind makes an image of how we appear, the second step goes based on
the interactions we have with others we make a view of ourselves and the third step we
use our own standpoints of how others see us to develop our feelings. Additionally,
George Herbert Mead also brings out a three-stage process of our self, the preparatory,
play and game stage. The first stage is where when we are young and not aware of the
consequences of our actions or words. We imitate others and their actions. The second
stage is when we begin to play but do not go by the rules, but we begin to be aware of the
outside world and our relation to it, this stage stops at around age 6-7. And the third stage
is where we develop a sense of understanding and begin to follow the different aspects of
rules in life. He also has discussed the differences between I and Me, whereas me is a
representation of our learned behaviors from others and society, it is the sense of
ourselves in the past. The I is the individualized decision of our present and future
based on the behaviors we have learned on the past me. A significant other is a person
who has great influences in our life, whose advices and opinions are important to us.
They help us shape our self because their interaction with us is trusted and can help us
with out life decisions.

3. Explain the dramaturgical approach. What occurs on front-stage? What

happens in backstage? How can Erving Goffmans idea of impression
management and face-work be used to understand social behavior?

The dramaturgical approach was developed by sociologist Erving Goffman arguing that
life is like a play where we are all actors in life. The way the way we socialize in our
everyday life is based on this approach. He described the front stage of the dramaturgical
approach as our everyday interactions with others, where some times we have to act
accordingly to the situation to portray a good view of ourselves to others. And the back
stage referring to where we can be true selves such as being at home, hanging out with
friends, practicing our interests, etc According to Goffman, the idea of impression
management and face work aids in understanding societys behavior because it allows us
to have control over the situation. It provides an understanding of how us as individuals
try to adhere to society and leave a unique remark of us to others. It shows that our
behavior is heavily influenced by what we want others to see of us.

4. Identify the agents of socialization. What is the role of schools in gender role
socialization? How has technology (computer, cell phone, email, & TV)
influenced the socialization process?

Socialization occurs from the day we are born to the day we die. We must learn to
socialize with others in order to get through life; the main influences of socializations are
family, school, media and our peers where our interaction happens. The role of schools in
gender role socialization is major because we spend a majority of our time interacting
with both sexes; we learn the skills of each gender, their interests, hobbies and behaviors
of each. We begin learning the differences between boys and girls as we study in school
over the years and we see them with our own eyes. Technology has had a major influence
in our socialization because our face-to-face interaction has diminished and we
community mainly by text or email. Back in the days, people would write each other
letters, have more physical encounters, call each other for interaction compared to now
where we prefer to send a text over a phone call to communicate. However, with
technology we are more prone to begin a conversation with someone over the internet
through either social media or any online platform than in the streets.

5. What are total institutions? Identify Goffmans four traits of total

institutions. Discuss how a degradation ceremony is used to mortify ones sense
of self.

A total institution is a notion of a social system where individuals spend time isolated
from society and their life is controlled and monitored by an authority. These can be
prisons, metal hospitals, military bases, convents, etc The four traits of total institutions
are life being controlled inside a specific place, activities taking place inside the setting
are preformed by the companionship of others who share the same conditions,
establishing rules by an authority without the consent of the individuals, and all of the
traits are set in order to fulfill the purpose of the institution. A degradation ceremony is
where one loses its unique self in order to fit into the new society they are being put into.
For example in prison, prisoners have to wear a matching uniform with the rest, in
convents the same situation applies where they cannot wear normal clothes and must
adhere to the uniform. We often obtain our uniqueness by what we wear and how we look
on the outside but once we enter a total institution we are obligated to look like the rest.

6. How does society deal with an elderly population? Discuss differences

between disengagement theory and activity theory? Finally, provide solutions to
ageism.

Society deals with an elderly population by providing some benefits to seniors, such as
discounts, pensions, social gatherings for the elderly, free rides, senior exclusive housing,
care homes, but this all varies from country to country. However, at the same time the
elderly get disengaged from society as they cannot preform as equally as they young and
their views of the world are distinct from the present. The disengagement theory claims
that its acceptable for the elderly to withdraw from society because as we age we cannot
keep up with the changing world and the meaning of our life changes. The activity theory
refers to aging as the process of how we feel about ourselves, if we continue to be social
and include ourselves into the fast pacing world; we wont be left behind and will remain
young on the inside. Ageism refers to the discrimination and perception of someone
based on his or her age. The way that ageism can be diminished is by acknowledging the
elderlys talents rather than their physical appearance or physical capabilities, raising
awareness of ageism and provide care to those who have been affected by it to get them
back on their feet, see beyond age and realize that we are all humans regardless of our
age and we all have something to learn from each other. Set the elderly as our main
educators, they have been here longer so therefore their knowledge and history is richer.