Unit 4: Socialization, Groups, and Social Control
Socialization describes the lifelong process of learning about our culture and developing our personality. We learn not only the language, the key to all socialization, but the values, beliefs, and norms of our culture. Scientists have debated the impact of nature (genetics and biology) and nurture (environment) for years. Today, most scientists agree there is a complex relationship between these two concepts – our biology and experiences.
As social beings, humans spend much of their lives interacting with various groups. Consider the impact our primary groups have on our behavior and socialization during our lifetime. These include ingroups, outgroups, and reference groups. We will discuss the types and functions of secondary groups, which often become formal organizations. Notice the central characteristics of bureaucracies, organizations designed to promote efficiency and rationality.
Deviance is a violation of the norms or rules of a society. It can be positive or negative and is often met with methods of social control through sanctions to encourage good behavior and discourage bad. Every society exhibits instances of social deviance ranging from mild breaches of etiquette (folkways) to extreme violations of cultural taboos (mores).
Although deviance varies by time, location, and audience, most societies respond with efforts to maintain social order using informal and formal, positive and negative sanctions. At the end of Unit 4, we explore different types of crime which are a violation of our written rules. Discretion is possible at each stage from policing, courts, and corrections. Race and social class can impact our response.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- define elements of socialization;
- compare psychological and sociological theories of self-development;
- compare nature vs. nurture agents of socialization and over the life course;
- define types of groups and how groups impact individual behavior;
- define bureaucracies and the concept of McDonaldization;
- compare functional, conflict, and symbolic interaction perspectives on deviance and the nature of deviant behavior; and
- define crime typologies and how race impacts the criminal justice process.
4.1: Theories of Self-Development
Psychology focuses on the individual mind and experiences, while sociological theories study the impact of society and the environment on self-development. The psychologists Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Erik Erikson (1902–1994), Jean Piaget (1896–1980), and Harry Harlow (1905–1981) offered insight into how we form our personalities. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) studied how we internalize and learn about ourselves and our world through social interaction. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987) and Carol Gilligan (1936–) examined theories of moral development, such as how we learn to judge right and wrong.
Read this text on the difference between psychological and sociological theories of self-development. Be sure you can explain the similarities and differences between these approaches. Consider your own experiences through each theoretical lens.
4.2: Why Socialization Matters
The nature vs. nurture debate compares the innate skills we were born with, with those we learn from our experiences and from others. In the following reading, we study the example of Chris Langan. Many deemed him the smartest man in the world, but he lacked the social skills to succeed at a high level. What does this mean? To unpack this statement, we must evaluate our cultural norms and values to determine what constitutes intelligence and "success at a high level" in our society. Note the various agents of socialization, such as family, peers, institutions, schools, work, religion, government, and the media.
Read this text to discover why socialization and the nature vs. nurture debate matter. Pay attention to the discussion about Chris Langan. It also describes the impact of social isolation on development.
Watch this video on the impact of nature and nurture. How has the debate changed over time?
4.3: Agents of Socialization
What impact do our family and peer groups have on our early socialization? As we age, most socialization transfers to institutional settings such as schools, religious institutions, work, the media, and government. As you review this material, make sure you can explain the difference between informal and formal agents of socialization.
Read this text on the major agents of socialization. Think about your experiences with each of the institutions it explores. How has your family shaped your socialization? How has your social class, race, ethnicity, and language impacted you?
Watch this video to learn about agents of socialization. We go through socialization and resocialization as we grow up, get married, have children, experience the death of a loved one, and retire from work. Most of us rely on our family and friends to help orient us through these stages, guide us and give advice on how to respond, adjust, and behave. Which agents of socialization helped you understand social norms during these life stages?
Many of our experiences with resocialization are age-related. Read this text to learn about socialization over the life course as it relates to age-related transitions and formal resocialization through institutions. Notice how some cultural expectations are forced through laws and others are learned through interactions with groups and institutions.
4.4: Types of Groups
We belong to many different types of groups throughout our lives. These groups vary in size and function. Primary groups are close-knit groups that have an expressive function of managing the emotional needs of their members. A family is a good example. Secondary groups have an instrumental function of serving some type of goal. Ingroups are groups we feel we belong to, and reference groups are groups we compare ourselves to. What is an example of an ingroup from your life?
Read this text to learn the basics of group size and function. Pay attention to the goals and purposes of each type of group.
4.5: Group Size
Read about how group size and leadership impact individual behavior. We categorize leadership styles as democratic, laissez-faire, and authoritarian. Group leaders can promote conformity and groupthink. Groups also impact individual behaviors, such as when we are less likely to get involved when other bystanders are present. Sociologists call this diffusion of responsibility.
Read this text. Groups can have darker consequences on individual action through conformity and diffusion of responsibility. Have you been in a bystander situation? Was your reaction what the research would have predicted?
Watch these two videos on the Stanford Prison Experiment. Philip Zimbardo, an American social psychologist, created an experiment in 1971 to research group conformity and the effects of power structures and labeling in a prison setting. He invited students from Stanford University to participate in a prison-like experience. What does this experiment tell us about power and authority? What does it tell us about obedience and conformity?
Watch this example of the infamous Robbers Cave experiment. Pay attention to the three stages of ingroup formation, friction, and conflict resolution. What are four things researchers learned about group conflict?
4.6: Formal Organizations
Many secondary groups are large, impersonal, goal-oriented groups or formal organizations. Many formal organizations are complex bureaucracies. George Ritzer said that many of today's formal organizations operate according to a principle he called McDonaldization to promote efficiency (the division of labor), predictability, calculability, and control (monitoring). Many of our societal institutions function according to these principles.
Read this text on how formal organizations function. Compare the characteristics of bureaucratic institutions and McDonaldization.
Watch this video, which summarizes George Ritzer's book McDonaldization of Society. Pay attention to the four elements of McDonalization: efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through technology. Do you belong to an institution that has been McDonaldized? What are some of the costs and benefits of this model?
4.7: Social Deviance and Social Control
There are several theoretical explanations for crime and deviance. Social deviance is relative – it varies widely by culture, time, and audience. Responses to deviance usually involve positive and negative sanctions, which are meant to promote social order. What is an example of a sanction you may have experienced growing up?
Read this text to learn about the definition of deviance and why it is more encompassing than crime. Societies use positive and negative various sanctions to enforce social control (Table 7.1).
Read this text, which explores crime and deviance from the perspectives of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Functionalists focus on the inevitability of deviance and how it impacts society. Conflict theorists discuss how deviance is related to power and inequality in society. Symbolic interactionists explore how society identifies individual experiences as deviant. Table 7.2 compares the cause and function of deviance according to these three theories. Make sure you can define labeling theory and secondary deviance. Can you recall a situation when a label others gave you may have affected your behavior?
Watch this video on the labeling theory. It uses medical marijuana laws to demonstrate primary and secondary deviance. Creating and assigning the label involves social power. Note that the reaction to the behavior often matters more than the behavior itself.
Watch this video on differential association theory, which states deviance is a learned behavior through interaction with intimate groups. According to this approach, individuals commit crimes when the benefits of breaking the law outweigh their rationale for obeying it. The video outlines nine rules for becoming a criminal.
Watch this video on deviance, labeling theory, strain theory, and differential association. It offers examples of deviance, its relativity, and its connection to social power.
4.8: Crime and Law
This section explores how societies give political entities the authority to establish legal codes and laws to enforce formal social control. Those who violate these laws or rules incur negative formal sanctions. Normally, we adjust the severity of the punishment to match the egregiousness of the crime, according to the value or importance society has given to the damage the deviant behavior has caused. As we shall see, however, other factors influence criminal sentencing. In the United States, the local, state, and national governments gather statistics on crime from Uniform Crime Reports (official methods) and National Crime Victimization studies (unofficial methods), which rely on self-report studies or unreported crimes.
Read this text on government and self-report sources for statistics on crime. It summarizes the criminal justice system process – from policing to the courts and corrections. See how race impacts an individual's experience in the American criminal justice system. Figure 7.9 shows that the United States and other parts of the world have experienced a steep increase in hate crimes. Why do you think this is?
Unit 4 Assessment
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Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
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