CH-3-4 Culture – Sociology in Modules : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 3 to 4 CHAPTER 3 CULTURE CHAPTER SUMMARY Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. A fairly large number of people living in the same territory are said to constitute a society. Members of a society are relatively independent of people outside their area, and participate in a common culture. Society is the largest form of human group. Members of a society learn culture and transmit it from one generation to the next. Language is a critical element of culture that sets humans apart from other species. Virtually all societies share common practices and beliefs known as cultural universals. Many cultural universals are created to meet basic human needs. Some common cultural universals include sports, cooking, funeral ceremonies, medicine, marriage, and sexual restrictions. While cultural universals are found in most every culture, the actual expression of a cultural universal may vary considerably from one society to the next. For example, while all cultures have an incest taboo, the specific restrictions imposed by the taboo may vary. Since most of us are embedded in a single culture for most of our lives, we come to think of our native cultural traits and practices as “natural,” “normal,” or right. Sociologist William Graham Sumner coined the term ethnocentrism to refer to the tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to others. The opposite of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism which means to view people’s behavior and beliefs from the perspective of their own culture. While sociologists stress the learned nature of culture, sociobiologists consider the biological basis of social patterns. Sociobiologists, for example, assert that differentiated gender roles are not the result of social learning but of genetic and hormonal differences between women and men. Innovation is the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture. Discovery involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. Invention results when existing cultural items are combined into a form that did not exist before. With globalization, more and more cultural expressions and practices are crossing national borders through a process known as diffusion. This process results in the melding of cultural traditions (McDonaldization is an example of such diffusion). Technology, in its many forms, has increased the speed of cultural diffusion and broadened the distribution of cultural elements. Globalization is not universally welcomed in all nations. Language is an abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. Language not only describes reality, it also serves to shape one’s perspective and experience of social reality. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis holds that language is culturally determined and serves to influence our mode of thought. Communication can also be nonverbal, such as gestures, facial expressions, symbols, and other visual images used to communicate thought. Norms are established standards of behavior maintained by society. Norms are classified as either formal or informal. Formal norms generally are written down and specify certain behaviors through laws and regulations. By contrast, informal norms are generally understood, but not precisely written. Norms are classified into mores and folkways. Mores are norms deemed necessary to the welfare of society, and demand obedience. Folkways play a role in shaping behavior, without the strict sanctions of obedience attached. Acceptance of norms is subject to change as the political, economic, and social conditions of a culture are transformed. Sanctions are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. Values are collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable, and proper, or what is considered bad, undesirable, and improper in a culture. Values may be specific or they may be more general. The values of a culture may change, but most remain relatively stable during any one person’s lifetime. Some sociologists conclude that there is increasing polarization over controversial cultural elements, suggesting an emerging culture war. Cultural beliefs are influenced by the dominant ideology. Within the dominant culture, segments of the populace may develop cultural patterns that differ from the patterns of dominant society. These aspects of cultural variation include subcultures and countercultures. Subcultures are smaller cultures within the larger culture. While distinct from the larger culture in some ways, subcultures remain compatible with, and are not threatening to, the larger culture. Countercultures are also smaller cultures existing within the larger culture but unlike subcultures, countercultures support values, beliefs, or behaviors which are not accepted by the larger culture. Culture shock occurs when a person feels surprised or disoriented due to experiencing cultural practices different from his or her own. Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency of a person to assume that one’s culture and way of life are superior to all others. Observing other cultures through value neutral standards is referred to as cultural relativism. It places priority on understanding other cultures, rather than dismissing them as strange or exotic. RESOURCE INTEGRATOR Focus Questions Resources 1. What is culture? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: culture, society, culture industry IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Video Resources: Culture; Culture, Time, and Place; Windows on Asia-Pacific: Asian Television Commercials REEL SOCIETY Videos Topic Index: Culture 2. What are the processes through which culture develops and changes? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: innovation, discovery, invention, diffusion, technology, material culture, nonmaterial culture, culture lag Boxes: Sociology in the Global Community: Life in the Global Village IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Cultural Diffusion: Baseball in Japan (3-1); Biological Influences on Human Behavior (3-2) Classroom Discussion Topics: Smoking (3-2); Desexing English (3-3) Student Research and Assignments: Cultural Change and Brazil’s Tribal People Video Resources: Culture; Do You Speak American?; The Heart of the Nation 3. What are the different types of variation within a culture? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: subcultures, argot, countercultures, culture shock Boxes: Sociology in the Global Community: Cultural Survival in Brazil; Sociology on Campus: A Culture of Cheating? IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Sexism in Languages (3-3); Conversational Distance (3-4) Classroom Discussion Topics: Desexing English (3-3); Youthful Values (3-4); Value Conflict in the Classroom (3-5); Religious Culture War in the U.S. (3-6) Video Resources: Culture: English Takes Center Stage; Do You Speak American? The Heart of the Nation REEL SOCIETY Video Topic Index: Norms 4. What role does language play in culture? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: language, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, symbols IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Conflicting Cultures (3-6); Reading Culture in National Geographic (3-7) Classroom Discussion Topics: Graffiti (3-1); Desexing English (3-3); Bilingualism (3-11) Student Research and Assignments: American Subcultures Video Resources: Everybody’s Ethnic; Interpersonal Relationships in a Multicultural World REEL SOCIETY Video Topic Index: Cultural Assumptions 5. What is meant by norms and values? What role do they play in culture? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: formal norms, law, informal norms, mores, folkways, sanctions, values, culture war, dominant ideology Boxes: Sociology on Campus: A Culture of Cheating?; Case Study: Culture at Wal-Mart IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Professional Football Players as a Subculture (3-8); The Skinhead Counterculture (3-9) Classroom Discussion Topics: African-American Autobiography (3-7); Cross-Cultural Interaction (3-8); Teaching Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity (3-9); Exotic Foods and Ethnocentrism (3-10) Student Research and Assignments: Bilingualism Video Resources: You Must Have Been a Bilingual Baby LECTURE OUTLINE I. What is Culture? • Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. • Culture consists of all objects and ideas within a society, not just those elements thought of as prestigious, popular, or status-giving. • Society is a large number of people living in the same territory, who are relatively independent of those outside their area and who participate in a common culture. A society is the largest form of human group. • A common culture simplifies day-to-day interactions. • Language, a critical cultural element, is the primary distinction between humans and other species. II. Development of Culture around the World A. Cultural Universals • Cultural universals are practices and beliefs found in most, if not all, cultures around the world. Anthropologist George Murdock uncovered several examples of cultural universals including sports, cooking, funeral ceremonies, medicine, marriage, and sexual restrictions such as “incest taboos.” • The specific expression of cultural universals varies from society to society. • Some sociologists refer to media businesses as the culture industry, with technology contributing to globalization of popular culture. B. Innovation • Innovation refers to the process of introducing new ideas or objects to a culture. Sociologists are interested in the consequences of innovation for a society. • Forms of innovation include discovery and invention. • The process of discovery involves making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. • Invention results when items are combined into a form that did not exist before. Example: automobile, Protestantism, and democracy. C. Globalization, Diffusion, and Technology • Globalization is the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. Example: Starbucks in China, bento boxes in USA. • Some view globalization as a natural result of advances in communication (e.g., the Internet). Others suggest the expansion of multinational corporations has created a world without borders. See Box 3-2. • Diffusion refers to the process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society. • George Ritzer’s McDonaldization is associated with the melding of cultures. McDonaldization refers to the adoption of characteristics originally associated with the fast food industry by many other industries, such as higher education, shopping, banking, and health care. • Periphery nations lose traditional values as they begin to identify with the core nation’s values. • Technology accelerates the diffusion process and transmission of culture. Example: The Internet being dominated by the English language. • Material culture refers to the physical or technological aspects of a culture; nonmaterial culture refers to the intangible aspects of a culture, such as customs, language, and beliefs. • Culture lag refers to the period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is struggling to adapt to new material conditions, according to Ogburn. Typically, material culture moves or advances at a faster pace than does nonmaterial culture. Example: Reproductive technologies have been designed and are available although many persons (and some religious denominations) disapprove of them on ethical grounds. D. Sociobiology and Culture • Sociobiology is a discipline which involves the systematic study of the biological bases of social behavior. This field relies on the principles of natural selection (Darwin) to study social behavior. • Sociobiology suggests that aspects of human biology program or determine social behavior. • Many sociologists argue that sociobiology deflects interest from the most important influence on social behavior, the social environment. Others fear sociobiological approaches could be used against disadvantaged people who are not competing successfully. III. Elements of Culture • Culture is learned and transmitted through human interactions within specific societies. A. Language • Language is the foundation of every culture. Language may be thought of as an abstract system of word meanings and symbols. 1. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis • This hypothesis suggests that language is culturally determined and leads to many different interpretations of reality. Example: Navajo term for cancer. • Language can transmit stereotypes. Example: Dictionary definitions of words such as “black” and “white.” There are more negative connotations associated with the word “black.” • Language can shape how we taste, smell, feel, and hear. 2. Nonverbal Communication • Nonverbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, and other learned visual images. • Symbols in the form of gestures, objects, and words, convey meaning to others. • Nonverbal communication varies from culture to culture. Example: The meaning of the “thumbs-up” symbol in the U.S. and Australia. B. Norms • Norms are established standards of behavior maintained by society. 1. Types of Norms • Formal norms are generally written down and specify strict punishments for violations. Typical formal norms include laws, regulations, and organizational rules. • Informal norms are generally understood, but not precisely recorded. Example: Standards of proper dress. • Mores are norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of society. Example: Prohibition of murder, treason, and child abuse. • Folkways are norms governing everyday behavior. They help shape behavior. Example: Folkways reinforcing gender hierarchies in Buddhist areas of Southeast Asia. 2. Acceptance of Norms • People do not follow norms in all situations. Weak norms will often be ignored. Example: Not shaking someone’s hand upon first meeting. • Norms may be violated due to norm conflict. Example: Reporting domestic violence after hearing screams at your neighbor’s house. • Adherence to norms is contingent on changes in political, economic, and social conditions of a culture. Example: Views on interracial marriage. C. Sanctions • Sanctions refer to penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm. • Conformity to a norm can lead to reward, such as a pay raise or verbal praise. • Sanctions for norms are a reflection of a culture’s values and priorities. D. Values • Values are collective conceptions about what is considered good, desirable, and proper. They can also be collective ideas about what is bad, undesirable, and improper. • Values serve to evaluate the actions of others. Often values, norms, and sanctions are directly related. Examples: It is normative to marry in the United States; it is also normative to have children. Family life and having a family of one’s own is highly valued (this is known as “pronatalism”). • Values and norms tend to remain relatively stable over one’s lifetime. IV. Global Culture War • Culture war refers to the polarization of society over controversial cultural elements. • Globalization has taken on an international significance, with public opinion of the United States becoming quite negative since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. V. Culture and the Dominant Ideology • Functionalists view culture as a stabilizing agent for society. Common cultural elements (such as language, values, and norms) ensure that members of a society will be able to coordinate their actions with one another. • Conflict theorists view culture as serving the interests of powerful groups. • Dominant ideology is a set of cultural beliefs and practices that help maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. Example: Male domination of females. • It is difficult to identify a “core culture” in America. VI. Cultural Variation within Societies • Within a single nation, certain segments of the populace develop cultural patterns that differ from the patterns of the dominant society. A. Aspects of Cultural Variation 1. Subcultures • A subculture is a segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the pattern of the larger society. Example: Ethnic villages such as “Little Italy” or “Chinatown.” Most consider the Amish to be a type of subculture. • Subcultures may develop a specialized language or argot. Example: Athletes who play parkour. • Subcultures may be based on common age, region, ethnic heritage, occupation, or beliefs. Example: Employees of call centers in India. • Conflict theorists suggest that variation in culture often reflects the inequality of social arrangements within a society. 2. Countercultures • A counterculture is a subculture that conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. Examples: Hippies of the 1960s; terrorists; hate groups such as the Aryan Youth Movement. 3. Culture Shock • Culture shock refers to the surprise and disorientation experienced when people encounter cultural practices different from their own. Example: Americans who encounter dog meat as a delicacy in China. B. Attitudes toward Cultural Variation 1. Ethnocentrism • Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others. Example: A Westerner looking down on India’s Hindu religion and culture, which views the cow as sacred. • Ethnocentric evaluations may serve to devalue groups and deny equal opportunities for some (This is representative of the Conflict Perspective). • Functionalists argue that ethnocentrism encourages a sense of solidarity. 2. Cultural Relativism • Cultural relativism refers to the viewing of people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture. VII. Social Policy and Culture A. The Issue • Bilingualism refers to using two or more languages in a particular setting, treating each language as equally legitimate. B. The Setting • About 18 percent of the population in the United States speaks a language other than English as their primary language. • Results of bilingual studies are mixed, and bilingual programs vary widely in their quality and approach. • Overview of 17 different studies suggests that students offered lessons in both English and their home languages make better progress than similar children who are taught only in English. C. Sociological Insights • Functionalist view (that language serves to unify members of a society) suggests that immigrants assimilate into the dominant culture and learn to speak the dominant language, English. • Conflict view suggests that bilingualism is a form of self-expression and that diversity or multiculturalism is an asset. D. Policy Initiatives • Nations vary in their tolerance of multiple languages. Example: China. • In some nations it is a regional issue (e.g., in Miami or along the Tex-Mex Border; Québec, Canada). • Federal policy has vacillated on bilingualism. In the 1970s, it was widely supported in school districts. In 1998, voters in California all but eliminated bilingualism in education. • In the U.S. there have been repeated efforts to create a constitutional amendment to make English the official language. • By 2006, 27 states had declared English their official language. KEY TERMS Argot Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture. Bilingualism The use of two or more languages in a particular setting, such as the workplace or schoolroom, treating each language as equally legitimate. Counterculture A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. Cultural relativism The viewing of people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture. Cultural universal A common practice or belief found in every culture. Culture The totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. Culture industry The worldwide media industry that standardizes the goods and services demanded by consumers. Culture lag A period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions. Culture shock The feeling of surprise and disorientation that people experience when they encounter cultural practices that are different from their own. Culture war The polarization of society over controversial cultural issues. Diffusion The process by which a cultural item is spread from group to group or society to society. Discovery The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. Dominant ideology A set of cultural beliefs and practices that help to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. Ethnocentrism The tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others. Folkway A norm governing everyday social behavior whose violation raises comparatively little concern. Formal norm A norm that has been written down and that specifies strict punishments for violators. Globalization The worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. Informal norm A norm that is generally understood but not precisely recorded. Innovation The process of introducing a new idea or object into a culture through discovery or invention. Invention The combination of existing cultural items into a form that did not exist before. Language An abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture; includes gestures and other nonverbal communication. Law Governmental social control. Material culture The physical or technological aspects of our daily lives. Mores Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society. Nonmaterial culture Ways of using material objects as well as customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication. Norm An established standard of behavior maintained by a society. Sanction A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis A hypothesis concerning the role of language in shaping our interpretation of reality. It holds that language is culturally determined. Society A fairly large number of people who live in the same territory, are relatively independent of people outside it, and participate in a common culture. Sociobiology The systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior. Subculture A segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the pattern of the larger society. Symbol A gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication. Technology Information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires. Value A collective conception of what is considered good, desirable, and proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper—in a culture. ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS 3-1: Cultural Diffusion: Baseball in Japan Baseball began in Japan in 1867 when a visiting professor from the United States, Horace Wilson, taught his students at Kaisei School (now the University of Tokyo) how to play the game. The first formal game was put on in 1873 by another teacher from the United States. The popularity of the sport skyrocketed in 1896 after newspapers reported an unprecedented event: the First Higher School in Tokyo defeated a team of Americans living in Yokohama by a score of 29 to 4. In two subsequent rematches, the Japanese again beat the representatives from the United States at their own game. In the view of one Japanese historian, “Foreigners could not hope to understand the emotional aspect of this victory, but it helped Japan, struggling toward modernization after centuries of isolation, overcome a tremendous inferiority complex it felt toward the West” (Whiting 1993:109–110). Japanese culture was receptive to baseball. The Japanese found the one-on-one battle between pitcher and batter psychologically similar to sumo and martial arts. Another visit by Americans—a 1934 tour by Babe Ruth and other baseball stars—led to the formation of professional baseball leagues in Japan. Today, baseball (or, as the Japanese call it, besuboru) is the country’s dominant spectator sport. Surveys indicate that one out of every two Japanese is a baseball fan, including the emperor. Each year, professional baseball attracts 12 million spectators and huge television audiences. Japan’s oldest and most successful team, the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, draws standing-room-only crowds throughout its 130-game season. Japanese baseball is an excellent example of cultural diffusion. While the structure of the game is similar to that of American baseball, the climate and texture of Japanese baseball have been deeply influenced by Japanese cultural values, such as self-discipline, self-sacrifice, politeness, and respect for authority. After a solid defensive effort, such as a double play, a pitcher will turn and bow respectfully to his infielders. A pitcher who hits a batter accidentally will tip his cap. Great emphasis is placed on wa (“unity” or “team harmony”). The Japanese are fond of the saying, “The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.” Consequently, any behavior viewed as overly individualistic or egotistical—violations of training rules, temper tantrums, moodiness, complaints to the media, attacks on umpires, salary disputes—is strongly discouraged. Team aspects of the game are valued highly: the home-run hitter is expected to make sacrifice bunts, the star pitcher to work as both a starter and a reliever. The argot of baseball changes a bit when it crosses the Pacific Ocean. “Hit by pitch” becomes “dead ball”; the “game-winning home run” is a “sayonara home run.” Also, since umpires reverse the call of balls and strikes, a full count is “2–3” (two strikes, three balls) in Japan, not 3–2 as in the United States. One of Japan’s most famous baseball players, Hiromitsu Ochiai, stands out as an exception to the collective orientation of Japanese baseball. Ochiai—who led his leagues in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average in both 1985 and 1986—is the highest-paid player in the history of Japanese baseball. Yet many Japanese refer to him scornfully as a goketsu, or “individual hero,” and dislike him. Ochiai has skipped practices, has held out for what is seen as an outrageously high salary, and has brashly predicted that he will lead the league in home runs and batting average. Unlike previous stars such as Sadaharu Oh (who hit 868 home runs in his career), Ochiai does not fit the expected Japanese mold of the polite, deferential “team man.” Baseball followers may be interested in some of the following aspects of baseball in Japan, some of which reflect the collective orientation of that culture: Players are not introduced before games individually but as a team, players often make less than their managers, and foul balls hit into the stands are quietly returned to the ushers by the fans. Japan’s emphasis on team harmony, however, has not led to full acceptance of foreign players. Two foreign athletes (known as gaijin) are allowed on each professional team. Some, notably Oklahoman Randy Bass, former American major leaguer Leron Lee, and home-run-hitting Cecil Fielder, have had highly successful careers in Japan. Yet almost all gaijin complain that they are treated as being nothing more than outsiders. “You’re an outcast, period,” noted Warren Cromartie. “You go 0–5 and it’s Yankee go home. You go 5–5 and nobody pays attention to you” (Whiting 1993:118). Similarly, Cecil Fielder recalls that if a gaijin pitched and the team lost, “it was our fault. We didn’t do anything. But if they won, it was that they [Japanese] did it. No, no, no—we [gaijin] didn’t do it. The Japanese did it” (Muskat 1986:22). In 1986, the executive committee of Japanese baseball voted unanimously to phase out all gaijin eventually, arguing that they are overpaid and unproductive—and that Japanese baseball should be played only by Japanese. However, in 1987, former Atlanta Braves star Bob Horner signed with a Japanese team and enjoyed spectacular success and great popularity. Nevertheless, the future of gaijin in Japanese baseball remains uncertain. Sources used for this essay include: Carrie Muskat, “Fielder’s Fire Stoked by a Japanese Season,” USA Today Baseball Weekly 2 (February 9, 1986): 25; Michael Shapiro, “A Place in the Sun, on Japanese Terms,” New York Times (June 18, 1986): D27–D28; Michael Shapiro, “A Japanese Hero Doing Things His Way,” New York Times (February 11, 1987): D27–D29; Eldon E. Snyder and Elmer A. Spreitzer. Social Aspects of Sport (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1989; Tom Verducci, “Away Games,” Sports Illustrated 81 (October 31, 1994): 30–31, 36–37; Robert Whiting, “East Meets West in the Japanese Game of Besuboru,” Smithsonian 17 (September 1986): 108–109; Robert Whiting. You Gotta Have Wa. New York: Macmillan, 1993, USA Today Baseball Weekly “Cover Report on Baseball in Japan,” 2 (February 9, 1991): 6, 18–24. 3-2: Biological Influences on Human Behavior Sociobiology, a perspective that seeks to explain human behavior by looking to genetic and biological factors, is experiencing resurgence in sociology. Though still extremely controversial, in recent years articles written from the perspective of sociobiology have been published in prestigious, mainstream sociology journals. The sociologist responsible for a substantial proportion of this new work, Satoshi Kanazawa, has argued that much of human behavior is driven by reproductive concerns. Men, according to Kanazawa, have an inborn drive to father as many children as possible, while women have an inborn drive to couple with men who will be able to support their children. For contemporary humans, these drives translate into men who seek out attractive women (beauty being an outward indicator of reproductive potential) and women who seek out strong, healthy men (health being an outward indicator of a man’s ability to support children) (Kanazawa 2001). Kanazawa has examined a wide variety of contemporary social patterns, and has argued that all can be traced to these reproductive drives. Lecturing on Kanazawa’s work is sure to provoke heated discussion about the ultimate sources of human behavior, and about whether or not Kanazawa’s strain of sociobiology contains sexist overtones. In one article, Kanazawa uses the sociobiology perspective to explain variation in contemporary world marriage patterns. In some contemporary societies, monogamy is the ideal form of marriage; in others, some form of polygamy is favored (most often, this is polygyny, a system in which one man has multiple wives). Moreover, polygamy tends to be present in societies that have a great deal of wealth inequality. Kanazawa argues that patterns of wealth inequality, coupled with the reproductive drives of men and women, can explain why societies “pick” one form of marriage over the other. In societies that have a great deal of wealth inequality, women are better able to fulfill their reproductive drives by marrying in the polygamous fashion, to a wealthy man. A rich husband shared with other women can still support a woman’s children better than a poor, monogamous husband can. By the same logic, in a society without much wealth inequality, a woman can better guarantee support for her children if she has sole access to her husband’s resources, through a monogamous marriage (Kanazawa and Still 1999). In another examination of human behavior, Kanazawa attempts to explain why people bother to participate voluntarily in social movements and other forms of collective behavior, when they could instead get a free ride on the work of others. The reason, he contends, is that participating in collective action gives young, poor men a chance to show off their potential for future wealth accumulation to women. According to Kanazawa, at the time in human history when basic human drives were established, most human communities were polygynous ones in which older men were able to dominate access to women. Younger men were largely shut out of the competition for women, because they had fewer years in which to accumulate resources. The kinds of public displays that are common to collective action are a way in which men who are poor in resources can show women that they at least have the capacity to acquire wealth, thereby making themselves more attractive to women. Likewise, women will want to participate in collective action, since it gives them a chance to evaluate the wealth potential of such men (Kanazawa 2001). In another study, Kanazawa ponders the fact that—whatever their professional fields—highly productive male “geniuses” tend to see a sharp decline in productivity as they age, while female “geniuses” do not. He argues that in modern societies, work productivity is a key way that men can compete for women, who interpret professional success as an indication of men’s ability to support their children. Once men marry and have no further need to compete for women, productivity declines rapidly. Empirically, genius productivity tends to decline at an age when most men would marry. But men who never marry see no such decline in their productivity (Kanazawa 2003; Wade 2003). Kanazawa argues through an analogous logic the reason why crime among men also declines with age. Men who commit crimes do so shortly after going through puberty, at a time they begin to compete for women. Their crime rates fall at an age when they are likely to have begun having children with a woman. At this point, men decline to compete for additional women altogether, in order to minimize their chances of dying a young, violent death. Death at a young age would prevent them from being able to support their children, thus putting those children at risk for death themselves (Kanazawa and Still 2000). Students may wish to consider the validity and weaknesses of such arguments. In particular, classes may wish to discuss the Conflict Perspective of arguments such as these. How do Kanazawa’s arguments reinforce patriarchy (the dominant ideology)? What arguments could be made about the ambitions or drives of homosexual persons? Why would men’s tendency toward productivity (or criminal activity) decline with age, given that their fertility (or ability to bear children) does not decline significantly with age? Why would they be satisfied with only one or two children? Wouldn’t this seem to be influenced by cultural norms regarding the “ideal” number of children? How would Kanazawa explain the use of modern contraception and/or abortion by millions of Americans? As sociology students, it is important to note the obvious flaws in his reasoning. Sources used for this essay include: Satoshi Kanazawa, “De Gustibus Est Disputandum,” Social Forces 79 (March 2001): 1131–1161; Satoshi Kanazawa, “Why Productivity Fades with Age: The Crime-Genius Connection,” Journal of Research in Personality 37 (August 2003): 257–272; Satoshi Kanazawa and Mary C. Still, “Why Monogamy?” Social Forces 78 (September 1999): 25–50; Satoshi Kanazawa, “Why Men Commit Crimes (and Why They Desist),” Sociological Theory 18 (November 2000): 434–447; Nicholas Wade, “Prime Numbers: What Science and Crime Have in Common,” New York Times (July 27, 2003). 3-3: Sexism in Languages—English and Japanese Nancy Henley, Mykol Hamilton, and Barrie Thorne (1995:169) suggest that the sexist bias of the English language takes three principal forms: “It ignores, it defines, it deprecates.” Ignoring: English ignores females by favoring the masculine form for all generic uses, as in the sentence: “Each entrant in the competition should do his best.” According to the rules of English grammar, it is incorrect to use “their best” as the singular form in the previous sentence. Moreover, usage of the “he or she” form (“Each entrant in the competition should do his or her best”) is often attacked as being clumsy. Nevertheless, feminist scholars insist that the common use of masculine forms as generic makes women and girls invisible and implicitly suggests that maleness and masculine values are the standards for humanity and normality. For this reason, there has been resistance to the use of terms like mailman, policeman, and fireman to represent the men and women who perform these occupations. Defining: In the view of Henley and her colleagues, “language both reflects and helps maintain women’s secondary status in our society, by defining her and her ‘place’” (1995: 170). The power to define through naming is especially significant in this process. Married women traditionally lose their own names and take their husbands’, while children generally take the names of their fathers and not their mothers. These traditions of naming reflect western legal traditions under which children were viewed as the property of their fathers and married women as the property of their husbands. The view of females as possessions is also evident in the practice of using female names and pronouns to refer to material possessions such as cars, machines, and ships. Deprecating: There are clear differences in the words that are applied to male and female things that reflect men’s dominant position in English-speaking societies. For example, women’s work may be patronized as “pretty” or “nice,” whereas men’s work is more often honored as “masterful” or “brilliant.” In many instances, a woman’s occupation or profession is trivialized with the feminine ending -ess or -ette; thus, even a distinguished writer may be given a second-class status as a poetess or an authoress. In a clear manifestation of sexism, terms of sexual insult in the English language are applied overwhelmingly to women. One researcher found 220 terms for a sexually promiscuous woman but only 22 for a sexually promiscuous man. While the English language ignores, defines, and deprecates females, the same is true of languages around the world. Indeed, in mid-1993, Japan’s labor minister challenged the society’s traditional practice of depicting women in government documents as always carrying brooms. The official term for women, fujin, is represented by two characters that literally mean “female person carrying broom” (Rafferty 1993). The expressions commonly used by girls and boys in Japan underscore gender differences. A boy can refer to himself by using the word boku, which means “I.” But a girl cannot assert her existence and identity that boldly and easily; she must instead refer to herself with the pronoun watashi. This term is viewed as more polite and can be used by either sex. Similarly, a boy can end a sentence assertively by stating “Samui yo” (“It’s cold, I say!”). But a girl is expected to say “Sumui wa” (“It’s cold, don’t you think?”). For girls, proper usage dictates ending with a gentle question rather than a strong declaration. Ellen Rudolph, a photographer from the United States who lives in Tokyo, reports that Japanese parents and teachers serve as “vigilant linguistic police” who remind children to use only those forms of speech deemed appropriate for their sex. Girls who violate these gender codes are told “Onnanoko na no ni,” which means, “You’re a girl, don’t forget.” Sources: Nancy Henley, Mykol Hamilton, and Barrie Thorne, “Womanspeak and Manspeak: Sex Differences and Sexism in Communication, Verbal and Nonverbal.” Pp. 168–185 in Alan G. Sargent (ed.); Beyond Sex Roles (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West, 1995; Kevin Rafferty, “Sexism Charge Brushed Aside,” The Guardian (London) (May 26, 1993): 20; Ellen Rudolph, “Women’s Talk,” New York Times Magazine (September 1, 1991): 8; J. P. Stanley, “Paradigmatic Woman: The Prostitute.” Pp. 303–321 in B; Shores and C. P. Hines (eds.), Papers in Language Variation. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1977. 3-4: Conversational Distance According to anthropologist Edward Hall, Americans and northern Europeans have invisible “bubbles” surrounding themselves. These bubbles are actually cultural standards for appropriate distances between us and those with whom we communicate. Using a framework employed by sociologists associated with the interactionist perspective, Hall suggests that we operate in four distance zones: • Intimate distance: up to 18 inches. That is the distance for making love, wrestling, comforting, or protecting. It can also be an area of confrontation, as in “Get your face out of mine!” This distance is not considered proper in public situations unless people are in a crowded environment, such as an elevator. • Personal distance: 18 inches to 4 feet. This is the conventional distance generally used with friends and acquaintances. • Social distance: 4 feet to 7 feet. Within this distance, we conduct impersonal business, such as purchasing products or interviewing strangers. • Public distance: 12 feet or more. This is viewed as the proper distance for public occasions. It will be used to separate a speaker from an audience or a famous person from admiring fans. It is important to note that these distances, while considered appropriate in American and northern European cultures are not universal. Southern Europeans, Arabs, and Latin Americans stand closer together when conversing and are more likely to touch one another and maintain eye contact. These differences underscore the extent to which folkways (like mores) represent culturally learned patterns of behavior. If you were visiting another country and someone asked the correct time, while standing only 15 inches away, you would be vividly reminded that not all peoples share American folkways. See Edward T. Hall. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Doubleday, 1966. 3-5: Socially Approved Cannibalism Cannibalism is not unknown in modern societies. Under extreme circumstances, people may be willing to violate mores against the consumption of human flesh and the disfigurement of corpses. During World War II, the people of besieged Leningrad faced starvation because the city was unable to obtain food. At first, toothpaste, bacon fat, and library paste were eaten. As time passed, corpses were buried with pieces missing, usually the fat thighs or arms and shoulders. Most recently, another group of people faced the choice between cannibalism and starvation. In 1973, a plane carrying a rugby team from Uruguay crashed in the Andes Mountains, near the Chilean border. Eventually, 16 survivors were recovered in this uninhabited area. They had lived in below-freezing weather for 60 days and had subsisted by eating melted snow, food from the plane, and (as the police later revealed) the decomposed remains of their dead companions. This incident was the subject of a 1993 motion picture, Alive. Despite such instances of cannibalism, mores against the practice remain strongly enforced. In Leningrad, for example, people totally despised anyone who appeared to enjoy the taste of human flesh. The revulsion felt by norm violators toward cannibalism reinforces the power of this particular norm. See Piers Paul Read. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1974. See also Harrison E. Salisbury. The 900 Days. New York: Harper and Row, 1969, pp. 479–481. 3-6: Conflicting Cultures There has been a lack of total consensus on certain values in the United States, but the increased immigration from non-European nations during the 1990s has brought new attention to conflict. Old World habits are clashing with New World laws. The following are four examples: Cruelty to animals or Asian cuisine? In Long Beach, California, charges were dismissed against two Cambodian refugees who clubbed a puppy to death and ate it, because dog meat is often food in Cambodia. In 1996, two Iraqi immigrants, resident aliens but not citizens, aged 28 and 34, married a pair of sisters in Lincoln, Nebraska. Shortly afterward, the men found themselves in jail because the girls were only 13 and 14, well below the state’s age of consent of 16 for marriage. They faced charges of rape and child abuse. The men were astounded to be prosecuted, because their actions were in keeping with their cultural traditions. To some observers this situation seemed to support the argument that immigration must be restricted still further. However, in actuality, it should be noted that two states do allow 13-year-olds to marry. Also in 1996, two Korean women, one a Methodist missionary visiting Los Angeles, the other the wife of a Chicago doctor, died from beatings as part of anchal prayer, or church rites to exorcise personal demons. The Chicago defendants were charged with the misdemeanor of battery and received probation. National attention focused in 1996 on the case of a 19-year-old woman from Togo who told U.S. immigration officials that she had fled her African home country in order to escape having her genitals cut off. The customs of infibulation (the stitching together of the labia to largely cover the vagina) or clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris, either partially or entirely), are practiced in 28 African nations as rites of passage. In these countries, the practice varies widely in its prevalence and the severity of the incisions. It is largely done as a way to control women’s sexual behavior before marriage. Countries outside of Africa vary in their handling of the situation. France has criminally prosecuted parents, while Canada has granted asylum to women seeking to avoid these procedures. In the United States, after debate, the federal government initiated a ban that took effect in 1997, on genital cutting. The act is punishable by up to five years in prison. Furthermore, federal health agencies have been ordered to reach out to the immigrant communities and educate them about the harm of genital cutting. Many observers applaud these efforts of the federal health agencies. However, some believe that by focusing on this as an African practice, rather than merely dealing with it through general statutes that prohibit violence against children, as France has done, the United States is unfairly stereotyping Africans as people who mutilate their children. Furthermore, the federal government has not authorized any money for educational programs, which implies to some that the government is more interested in criminalizing a cultural practice than it is in helping people to break with an ancient tradition. Each of these situations raises two questions of cultural relativism: When do we freely allow a different cultural practice to take place and when do we invoke sanctions to discourage, prohibit, or even punish the practice of norms different from our own? Sources for this essay include: Peter Annin and Kendall Hamilton, “Marriage or Rape?” Newsweek 128 (December 16, 1996): 78; Stephen Chapman, “Are Immigrants Destroying the ‘Common Culture’?” Chicago Tribune (December 29, 1996): 19; Paul Dean, “Cultures at the Crossroads,” Los Angeles Times (December 13, 1996): E1, E4; Celia W. Dugger, “New Law Bans Genital Cutting in United States,” New York Times (October 12, 1996): 1, 6; and Celia W. Dugger, “Tug of Taboos: African Genital Rite vs. U.S. Law,” New York Times (December 28, 1996): 1, 8. 3-7: Reading Culture in National Geographic National Geographic has introduced many students and adults to cultures dramatically different from those prevalent in the United States. Anthropologist Catherine A. Lutz and sociologist Jane L. Collins did a content analysis of about 600 photographs of non-Western peoples appearing in this monthly magazine from 1950 to 1986, examining them for race, gender, privilege, progress, and modernity. The researchers found an ethnocentric view of other societies. In more than half the pictures analyzed, non-Westerners are shown in indigenous dress, and nearly one-fifth of the photographs of non-Westerners feature people engaged in ritual. The subjects of the photographs often acknowledge and turn to the camera, and many of them are shown smiling. Until the late 1970s, photographs virtually eliminated the ill, the poor, the pockmarked, the deformed, or the hungry. By contrast, few pictures show violent encounters. When the subject is violence—the Korean War, for example—photographs treat the country as an interesting backdrop and the Koreans as people needing American help. In general, Lutz and Collins write that the National Geographic image tells us that the Third World is a safe place, that there is neither much poverty nor greater wealth, that the people who are hungry and oppressed have meaningful lives, and that the violence we hear of in the news occurs in a broader context of enduring values and everyday activities. Lutz and Collins argue that photographs of naked Black women—what they say is the center of the magazine’s photography of the non-Western world—conform to Western myths about Black women’s sexuality; namely, that a lack of modesty places Black women closer to nature. They say that with some recent exceptions, none of the hundreds of women whose breasts were photographed was white-skinned. In summary, the researchers found the people of the Third World were portrayed as exotic and idealized. For example, the Indian woman is often dressed not in an everyday sari, but in a gold-embroidered one festooned with jewelry. Readers of National Geographic are not introduced to typical members of the Third World. See Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L. Collins. Reading National Geographic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. See also Liz McMillen, “A New Book Examines How National Geographic Shaped Americans’ Views of the World,” Chronicle of Higher Education (October 6, 1993): A10, A13, Jack Nusan Porter, “America’s Explorer,” The Boston Review (January–February 1996): 8. 3-8: Professional Football Players as a Subculture Big salaries, motion picture contracts, commercial endorsements, and screaming fans—this is the world of professional football that most people see. Not all players enjoy this wealth and fame, but all share the same subculture because of their common occupation. Professional football players have an unusual work schedule. Their year is divided into very distinct segments: training, exhibition games, the “regular season,” playoffs, and the “off-season.” Members of a team not only work together; they also live together during training and when on the road. The extensive travel demands of professional football place obvious pressure on the players’ personal lives. Another source of strain is the insecurity inherent in this occupation. At any moment, an injury can end a player’s career as an athlete. In addition, there is the ever-present danger of a trade. A worker on a General Motors assembly line does not have to worry about receiving a phone call saying that he or she has been “sold” to Chrysler. A sociologist at Ohio State cannot be “traded” to the University of Texas. Yet a professional football player who has spent years living and working in Miami, and whose family has strong ties to the community, can abruptly learn on a Friday that he is now the “property” of the Seattle Seahawks and should report for work in Seattle on Sunday. Football games have often been likened to infantry warfare in which each side attempts to push back the opposition and capture territory. As in warfare, each individual must accept a hierarchical chain of command. John McMurty, a former Canadian professional football linebacker, has stated: “The one unforgivable sin of a player is to question someone above him. If he does that, he’s finished.” See Paul Hock. Rip Off the Big Game: The Exploitation of Sports by the Power Elite. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1972, pp. 9–89. The male subculture of professional football players has many dramatic parallels to that of soldiers involved in infantry warfare. Both the soldier and the professional football player must cope with insecure and even dangerous working conditions. In each case, survival may depend on being aggressive, disciplined, and tough. One must accept a fixed chain of command and rely on the actions of colleagues. Of course, these parallels should not be overstated. The professional football player is more likely to earn glory and riches; the soldier in warfare may return home in a coffin. 3-9: The Skinhead Counterculture Beginning in about 1968, a new counterculture surfaced in Great Britain. The Skinheads were young people with shaved heads who often sported suspenders, tattoos, and steel-toed shoes. In part, Skinhead groups emerged as vocal and sometimes violent supporters of certain British soccer teams. These young people generally came from working-class backgrounds and had little expectation of “making it” in mainstream society. They listened to music that extolled violence and even racism, performed by such groups as Britain’s Skrewdriver, France’s Brutal Combat, and the United States’s Tulsa Boot Boys. Most seriously, some Skinhead groups championed racist and anti-Semitic ideologies and engaged in vandalism, violence, and even murder. Immigrants from India, Pakistan, and the West Indies became a common target of Skinhead attacks. (However, other Skinhead groups were explicitly antiracist.) Throughout the 1970s, the Skinhead counterculture gradually spread from Britain to Europe, North America, and Australia. It is difficult to measure precisely the size of this counterculture, since Skinheads do not belong to a national or international organization. Nevertheless, according to one estimate, there were 3,500 Skinheads in the United States in 1993, and their numbers appeared to be growing. Skinhead groups in this country were responsible for at least 28 killings over the period from 1987 to 1993. While some Skinheads around the world adopt only the distinctive dress and music associated with this counterculture, most seem to espouse White supremacy and racial hatred. In almost all the countries where Skinhead groups exist, they have committed acts of reckless violence against racial and ethnic minorities, including Jews. In the 1990s, lesbians, gay men, the homeless, and people with disabilities also became targets of Skinhead attacks. It appears that Skinheads attack those viewed as “weaker” to bolster their own feelings of superiority. Skinheads constitute a youthful counterculture that challenges the values of larger societies. While they claim an allegiance to history and to their (White) cultural heritage, their dress and music represent a symbolic rejection of the traditions of previous generations. Although Skinhead groups tolerate certain older adults, generally members of White supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations, this counterculture nevertheless is dominated by young males who project a tough, macho image. Sources used for this essay include: Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Young Nazi Killers: The Rising Skinhead Danger. New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1993; Barry Came, “A Growing Menace,” Maclean’s 102 (January 23, 1989): 43–44; The Economist, “Thick Skins,” 314 (February 24, 1990): 26; Mark S. Hamm. American Skinheads: The Criminology and Control of Hate Crime. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993; Tom Post, “Teaching Sensitivity to Skinheads,” Newsweek 119 (April 27, 1992): 34. 3-10: Hostages to Tourism In developing nations, culture sometimes functions as a commodity; it is exhibited as a source of income in a way that can be exploitative. The revenue generated hardly offsets the country’s economic woes and is rarely received by the people most affected by (and displayed for) tourism. This is certainly true of the Paduang women of Burma. The Paduang are a tribe of about 7,000 members who live on the high plateaus of eastern Burma. Their appearance is remarkable to outsiders and tourists. Beginning at about five years of age, Paduang girls have coils of brass put around their necks by tribal spiritual doctors. These spirals are added sporadically, until each woman has 21 to 25 coils around her neck by the age of marriage. The spiral of coils may cumulatively reach one foot in height and weigh 20 pounds. It appears that the Paduang women have stretched necks, but the actual effect of the coils is to push down the collarbones and rib cage, distort the chest, and slope the shoulders. Over time, the Paduang custom of brass coils has faded, but it has not disappeared entirely. It certainly never fully disappeared from Burmese government tourist agency advertisements, which frequently featured photographs of Paduang women. Nevertheless, few tourists actually saw these women, since they live in a rather remote area of Burma. The case of the Paduang is far from unique. Closer to home, one can question the practice of tourism on Native American reservations in the United States. The trading of alleged Native American crafts and artwork often involves misrepresentations of the artist, who may not actually be a tribal member. Moreover, the growth of casino gambling on or near reservations does not necessarily benefit tribal members. Not all tourists are comfortable with what some regard as exploitation of local cultures. A modest growth industry has begun, known as ecotourism, through which travelers pursue adventure in a way intended to be sensitive to the local culture without being harmful to the environment. However, skeptics insist that, in most instances, ecotourism “is little more than a buzzword used to market the same old trips under the veneer of green” (Frank and Bowermaster, 1994:136). Sources used for this essay include: Peter Frank and Jon Bowermaster, “Can Ecotourism Save the Planet?” Condé Naste Traveler (December 1994), 134–137; Edith T. Mirante, “Hostages to Tourism,” Cultural Survival Quarterly 14 (No. 1, 1990): 35–38. For pictorial examples, see National Geographic (June 1979 and July 1995). CLASSROOM DISCUSSION TOPICS 3-1. Graffiti: The graffiti on a college campus or a community can provide insight into the different subcultures in an area. Have students analyze graffiti from both interactionist and functionalist perspectives. Note how graffiti serves as a nonverbal form of urban communication, an art form that frequently demands a high skill level, and a symbol of group pride and identity. 3-2. Smoking: Note the change in attitudes about smoking during the last century, from a culturally appropriate behavior to an activity that has been outlawed in most buildings and many public places as well. Discuss the changes in advertising from the early days of the Marlboro man to the warning labels that now appear in advertisements. Discuss restrictions on smoking recently implemented in restaurants and/or on college campuses. 3-3. De-sexing English: As noted in the text, language is a powerful force in shaping our images of the world around us. Ask the class to come up with examples of words that could be considered sexist. Note some relatively harmless changes (such as using bellhop instead of bellboy, or designating hurricanes by both male and female names). Discuss the history of the term “freshman” and whether or not it should be abolished in favor of a more inclusive term. 3-4. Youthful Values: Have the class observe children at a nursery school, kindergarten, or day-care center. What norms and sanctions can be found among the children, among the staff members, and between the children and the staff members? 3-5. Value Conflict in the Classroom: Samuel Stouffer provides a useful approach to understanding value conflicts, using an issue that some instructors might consider almost too explosive: cheating on an examination. Stouffer provides sufficient details so that you could replicate the study (conducted over 40 years ago) and compare your results with his. See Stouffer, “An Analysis of Conflicting Social Norms,” American Sociological Review 14 (December 1949): 707–717. 3-6. Religious Culture War in the U.S.: Show clips of television coverage or have students bring articles about the Child Protective Services’ removal of women and children from the Yearning for Zion complex near the town of Eldorado, Texas, in 2008. Discuss the subsequent court findings that the removals were unwarranted and the social outcry on both sides of this issue. What religious, family, and civil rights issues can be identified in this controversy? 3-7. African-American Autobiography: The following selections will not provide a well-rounded presentation of African-American autobiographies, but they will definitely stimulate a lively class discussion that can lead to a well-rounded presentation. See Nathan McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America, New York: Vintage, 1994. See also Claude Brown, Manchild in the Promised Land, New York: Signet, 1965; Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, New York: 1951. 3-8. Cross-Cultural Interaction: Use this exercise to explore issues related to cross-cultural interaction and communication. Daniel J. Myers, et al., “Signals, Symbols, and Vibes: An Exercise in Cross-Cultural Interaction,” Teaching Sociology 29 (January 2000): 95–101. 3-9. Teaching Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity: Suggested ideas for teaching these concepts are offered in Kim D. Schopmeyer and Bradley J. Fisher, Teaching Sociology 21(April 1993): 148–153. 3-10. Exotic Foods and Ethnocentrism: Teresa A. Sullivan invites her students to eat their fill of baby eels and smoked octopus, as a way of teaching them about ethnocentrism. See Technique No. 17 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas (eds.). Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993. 3-11. Bilingualism: Ask if any students in the class come from a bilingual home. Encourage discussion of whether or not these students plan to speak their native language to their children once they start a family. Encourage feedback from the class in general as to whether or not they feel that bilingual programs in schools are functional or dysfunctional for the students. 3-12. Using Humor: Joseph E. Faulkner has produced a monograph that includes funny examples that could be incorporated into lectures associated with Chapter 3. See Chapter 3 of Faulkner, Sociology Through Humor. New York: West, 1987. This book is out of print, but used copies are readily available. TOPICS FOR STUDENT RESEARCH AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION 1. Ask students to read Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (or watch the movie), and discuss the importance of language sharing to culture. Answer: Students should read Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange or watch the film and discuss how the use of a unique, invented language (Nadsat) in the movie reflects and shapes the subculture of the characters. They should explore how language sharing among the characters reinforces their group identity and separates them from mainstream society, highlighting the role of language in cultural cohesion and social boundaries. 2. Ask students to research the origins of ceremonial rituals associated with customary celebrations such as weddings, holidays, and funerals, and discuss how cultural beliefs influence social norms. Answer: Students should research the origins of ceremonial rituals for events like weddings, holidays, and funerals, examining how these practices reflect and reinforce cultural beliefs. They should discuss how these rituals influence social norms by shaping behavior, expressing values, and maintaining societal cohesion. This analysis reveals how deeply cultural beliefs are embedded in and perpetuated through traditional ceremonies. 3. Have students research the history of fairy tales, holidays, and themes pertaining to children’s literature. Students should note the influence of culture on the nature/content of fairy tales and holidays and the manner in which such traditions become instruments of social control. For example, how do figures such as Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy reinforce social norms and parental authority, thereby acting as social control mechanisms over children? A good book to aid in this activity is Flights of Fancy, Leaps of Faith: Children’s Myths in Contemporary America, by Cindy Dell Clark (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995). Answer: Students should research the history of fairy tales, holidays, and children’s literature to understand how cultural influences shape their content and purpose. They should explore how figures like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy serve as tools of social control by reinforcing norms and parental authority. Using resources like Cindy Dell Clark’s Flights of Fancy, Leaps of Faith, students can analyze how these traditions embed cultural values and regulate behavior in children. 4. Ask students to compare the number of American households with Internet access to those households without Internet access, and discuss the consequences of cultural lag for some members of our society. Explain to them what is meant by the “digital divide.” Answer: Students should compare American households with Internet access to those without and discuss how the "digital divide" creates disparities in information access, education, and economic opportunities. They should explore the consequences of cultural lag, where technological advancements outpace societal adaptations, leaving some individuals or communities disadvantaged. This analysis highlights the impact of unequal access to digital resources on social inequality. 5. Ask students to compare the number of foreign nations and corporations that have influenced American culture with the number of United States corporations that have influenced culture and social life in foreign nations. Discuss the relevance of ethnocentrism and xenocentrism to these issues. Answer: Students should compare the impact of foreign nations and corporations on American culture with the influence of U.S. corporations on cultures abroad. They should discuss how ethnocentrism, the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture, and xenocentrism, the preference for foreign culture over one's own, shape these interactions. This analysis reveals how cultural influence and perceptions of cultural superiority affect global social dynamics and cultural exchanges. 6. Ask students to identify examples of subcultures and countercultures, particularly those they may have been a part of. If applicable, have them identify subcultures on campus. Have them identify those traits or characteristics which differentiate the group as a subculture. Answer: Students should identify examples of subcultures and countercultures, including any they may have been involved in, such as fandoms, musical genres, or activist groups. On campus, they might pinpoint specific subcultures like academic clubs or sports teams. They should describe traits that distinguish these groups from the mainstream, such as unique values, symbols, or behaviors that create a distinct group identity. 7. Have students watch the documentary, The Devil’s Playground (Stick Figure Productions, 2002). Ask them whether or not they consider the Amish to be a subculture or a counterculture, noting that a case could be made for both. Have them identify material and nonmaterial aspects of Amish culture. Since this documentary is about Amish youth’s first experience with “mainstream” culture, it might be a good opportunity to have them discuss the concept of “culture wars” or culture clash as well as cultural diffusion (i.e., Has Amish life been influenced by modernization? If so, how?) Answer: After watching The Devil’s Playground, students should debate whether the Amish are a subculture or counterculture, considering arguments for both perspectives. They should identify material aspects (e.g., traditional dress, horse-drawn buggies) and nonmaterial aspects (e.g., values, religious practices) of Amish culture. Discussing culture wars and cultural diffusion, they can explore how modernization has influenced Amish life and the resulting cultural clashes experienced by Amish youth encountering mainstream society. 8. Have students watch the documentary, Knocking (PBS Series, 2006), which chronicles the values, beliefs, and norms of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States. Discuss why this group may be considered a counterculture. Discuss what belief systems or norms held by the group most clashes with those of the dominant culture. In what ways has this group experienced cultural lag (noting for example, the restriction on certain medical procedures, such as blood transfusions)? Answer: After watching Knocking, students should discuss why Jehovah’s Witnesses might be considered a counterculture due to their distinct beliefs and practices that challenge mainstream norms. They should examine how their rejection of blood transfusions and other medical procedures, along with their stance on military service and political neutrality, clash with dominant cultural values. Discussing cultural lag, they can explore how these beliefs result in conflicts with contemporary medical and social practices, reflecting a slower adaptation to modern advancements. SERVICE LEARNING ACTIVITIES America is certainly a nation that is “multi-cultural”. This is, in part, what helps to define us. Students must seek opportunities to expose themselves to other cultures in an effort to understand better the culture in which they exist. There are a number of service learning options for this chapter: Have students join an organization on campus that is made up of students from a country or culture that the student is unfamiliar with. Most campuses will have organizations such as Organization of Latin American Students, Asian Student Alliance, etc.; students will develop a greater respect for these cultures when they become more intimately involved. It will also help to build bridges instead of barriers. Have students volunteer to help with the production of a local festival or celebration that involves a culture other their own. Call the local newspaper to get information about what events are happening in the area. There are a number of different Chambers of Commerce in most cities. They can provide information as well. Help organize a multi-cultural festival on your campus or participate on the organizing committee if the festival is already being done at your college. Participate and add to the success of these types of programs. Try to experience as many cultures as possible. These events help students to shrink the world and combat ethnocentrism. CHAPTER 4 SOCIALIZATION AND THE LIFE COURSE CHAPTER SUMMARY Socialization is the process whereby people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. Socialization occurs through human interaction and helps us to discover how to behave properly. It provides for the transmission of culture from one generation to the next. Socialization ensures the long-term continuance of a society. Human development is greatly influenced by socialization. Under normal circumstances, environmental factors interact with hereditary factors. Case studies, such as those of Isabelle and Genie, and primate studies support the necessity of socialization in development. Conversely, twin studies have addressed the influence of hereditary factors on personality development. The self is a distinct identity that sets us apart from others. It continues to develop and change throughout our lives. Sociologists Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead (pioneers of the interactionist approach), and Erving Goffman have all furthered our understanding about development of the self. Cooley’s looking-glass self suggests that our sense of self results from how we present ourselves to others, how others evaluate us, and how we internalize or assess those evaluations. Mead outlined a process by which the self emerges in early childhood: the preparatory stage, in which children merely imitate those around them; the play stage, in which children become aware of symbols and begin to act out the roles of other people; and the game stage, in which children become involved in complex social situations involving multiple positions or roles. Instrumental to Mead’s view are the concepts of the generalized other (attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society) and significant others (individuals most important in development of the self). Goffman suggested that many of our daily activities involve attempts to convey impressions (impression management) of who we are. His view has been termed the dramaturgical approach. Psychologists, such as Sigmund Freud, stressed the role of inborn drives in the development of the self. Child psychologist Jean Piaget identified four stages of personality development in his cognitive theory of development (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational). Piaget viewed social interaction as key to development. Lifelong socialization involves many different social forces and agents of socialization. Family is considered the most important of the socialization agents. Schools are another agent of socialization concerned with teaching students the values and customs of the larger society. Peer groups often serve as a transitional source to adulthood. The mass media have an impact on the socialization process that sociologists have also begun to consider. Workplaces can serve as socialization agents by teaching appropriate behavior within an occupational environment. Additionally, social scientists have increasingly recognized the importance of religion and the state as agents of socialization because of their growing impact on the life course. Sociologists use the life course approach in recognizing that biological changes mold, but do not dictate, human behavior. Over the course of our lives, we may encounter points at which certain stages are dramatized or validated outwardly; these stages are known as rites of passage. Two types of socialization occur: anticipatory socialization (refers to the process of rehearsing for future roles), and resocialization (refers to discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones). Resocialization is particularly intense when it occurs within a total institution, an institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority. Goffman identified four common traits of total institutions. Goffman suggested people often lose their individuality within total institutions and may undergo what is known as a degradation ceremony. RESOURCE INTEGRATOR Focus Questions Resources 1. In what ways is socialization important? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: socialization, personality IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Early Socialization in Orphanages (4-1); Nature versus Nurture (4-2); Reverse Socialization and Gender Roles (4-3) Classroom Discussion Topics: Mass Media and Socialization (4-3) Video Resources: 7 Up in the Soviet Union; 7 Up in South Africa; 42 Up; Socialization 2. How have sociologists conceptualized the self? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: self, looking-glass self, role taking, generalized other, significant others, impression management, dramaturgical approach, face-work Boxes: Sociology on Campus: Impression Management by Students Additional Lecture Ideas: Early Socialization in Orphanages (4-1); Nature vs. Nurture (4-2); Larry: Case History of a Mistake (4-6) Video Resources: Socialization; Larry 3. How have psychologists conceptualized the self? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: cognitive theory of development Additional Lecture Ideas: Early Socialization in Orphanages (4-1) 4. What are the major agents of socialization? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: gender role Boxes: Research Today: Online Socializing: A New Agent of Socialization; Taking Sociology to Work: Rakefet Avramovitz, Program Administrator, Child Care Law Center IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Reverse Socialization and Gender Roles (4-3); Hutterites Coming of Age (4-4) Classroom Discussion Topics: Black Picket Fences (4-1); Mass Media and Socialization (4-3); The Nunnery as a Total Institution (4-4) Student Research and Assignments: Adolescent Parenting; Impact of Divorce on Childhood Socialization; Socialization and African Americans Video Resources: Sexual Stereotypes and the Media; What a Girl Wants; Whisper: The Women 5. How does socialization occur across the life course? IN THE TEXT Key Terms: rites of passage, life course approach, anticipatory socialization, resocialization, total institution, degradation ceremony IN THE INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL Additional Lecture Ideas: Rethinking the Life Course (4-5) Classroom Discussion Topics: Lifeline (4-2) Student Research and Assignments: Generations; Adolescent Parenting; Impact of Divorce on Childhood Socialization; Socialization and African Americans; Socialization and Sociologists; Philippines and Aging; Exploring Activity Theory Further; Acting Your Age Video Resources: 7 Up in the Soviet Union; 7 Up in South Africa; 42 Up; Green Winter; Identity Crisis LECTURE OUTLINE I. The Role of Socialization • The nature vs. nurture debate has evolved to a general acceptance of interaction between the variables of heredity, environment, and socialization. A. Social Environment: The Impact of Isolation • The need for human interaction is evident in actual case studies. 1. Isabelle and Genie: Two Cases • Isabelle lived in seclusion for six years. She could not speak and did not display reactions or emotions typical of humans. After a period of intense language and behavioral therapy, Isabelle became well adjusted. • Genie was confined in isolation from the age of 20 months until she was found at age 13. No one had spoken to her and there was no television or radio in the house. Despite efforts at socialization, she never achieved full language ability. 2. Primate Studies • Harry Harlow tested rhesus monkeys for the effects of isolation and concluded that isolation had a damaging effect on the monkeys. B. The Influence of Heredity • Twins studies reveal that both genetic factors and socialization experiences are influential in human development. Example: Oskar Stohr and Jack Yufe. • The validity of twin studies has been questioned because of small sample sizes. II. The Self and Socialization • The self is a distinct identity that sets each of us apart from others. The interactionist perspective is useful in understanding development of the self. A. Sociological Approaches to the Self 1. Cooley: Looking-Glass Self • According to Cooley, the self is a product of social interactions with others. There are three phases in the looking-glass self: (1) We imagine how we present ourselves to others; (2) we imagine how others evaluate us; and (3) we develop a feeling about ourselves. Example: A student’s sense of self is changed after receiving criticism from a teacher. 2. Mead: Stages of the Self • The preparatory stage (also known as the “mimic stage”) consists of children imitating people around them. Gradually, children begin to understand the use of symbols. • The play stage consists of children pretending to be other people, like an actor “becoming” a character. Role taking is the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. Through role-taking, children learn to see the world from the perspectives of other people. • During the game stage, children grasp their own social positions, as well as everyone else’s position around them. Games serve as a microcosm of society. Through this process, children learn to assume their position (or status) relative to the positions of others. • The term generalized other refers to the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of others in society that an individual takes into account before acting in particular way. Example: Children behave differently with other children on the playground than they do if they are having Thanksgiving dinner with family members in a formal dining room. 3. Mead: The Theory of the Self • Children picture themselves as the focus of everything around them. As people mature, the self changes and begins to consider the reactions of others. • Mead used the term significant others to refer to those individuals who are most important in the person’s development. 4. Goffman: Presentation of the Self • Impression management involves an individual slanting his or her presentation of the self to create a distinctive appearance and to satisfy particular audiences. • The dramaturgical approach is based on people behaving as actors by putting forth an image believed to be pleasing to others. • Goffman’s face-work involves people trying to maintain or save an image or face. Examples: An individual may feign employment to avoid embarrassment. We may choose to ignore a pedestrian who stumbles on a sidewalk in order to assist that individual in his/her presentation of self. B. Psychological Approaches to the Self • Freud stressed the role of inborn drives. Self has components that work in opposition to each other. Part of us seeks limitless pleasure, while another part seeks rational behavior. • Piaget found that newborns have no sense of a looking-glass self. In his theory of cognitive development, Piaget identified four stages of child development: (1) sensorimotor stage (child uses senses to make discoveries), (2) preoperational stage (child begins to use words and symbols), (3) concrete operational stage (child engages in more logical thinking), and (4) the formal operational stage (adolescent is capable of sophisticated abstract thought, and can deal with ideas and values in a logical manner). • Social interaction is the key to development. III. Agents of Socialization A. Family • Most important socializing agent. Parents minister to the baby’s needs by feeding, cleansing, carrying, and comforting. • Parents guide children into gender roles deemed appropriate by society. B. School • Explicit mandate to socialize children to societal norms. • Functionalists indicate schools fulfill a function by socializing children, whereas conflict theorists suggest schools reinforce divisive aspects of society, especially social class. Example: A teacher praising boys may reinforce sexist attitudes. C. Peer Group • As a child grows older, family becomes somewhat less important in social development, while peer groups increasingly assume the role of Mead’s significant others. D. Mass Media and Technology • Television can be both a negative and a positive influence on children. • Additional impact of the Internet, cell phones, and pagers. E. Workplace • Learning to behave appropriately within an occupation. • The U.S. has the highest level of teenage employment of all industrialized nations, with growing concern regarding adverse effects of work on schooling. • Workplace socialization changes when a person shifts to full-time employment. F. Religion and the State • State-run agencies increasingly influential in life course. • Government and organized religion have reinstituted some of the rites of passage once observed in earlier societies. IV. Socialization throughout the Life Course A. The Life Course • Celebrating rites of passage is a means of dramatizing and validating changes in a person’s status. • Socialization continues through the life course. Some of the most difficult socialization challenges are encountered in the later years of life. Example: midlife crisis and sandwich generation concerns. B. Anticipatory Socialization and Resocialization • Anticipatory socialization refers to a person rehearsing for a role they will likely assume in the future. Example: high school students preparing for college by looking at college websites. • Resocialization refers to discarding the former sense of self and behavior patterns and accepting new behavior patterns. Example: prisons, indoctrination camps, and religious conversions. • Goffman suggested resocialization is particularly effective in a total institutional environment (prisons, mental hospitals, and military organizations). • Individuality is often lost in total institutions as the individual becomes secondary in the environment and experiences the humiliations of degradation ceremonies. V. Social Policy and Socialization: Childcare around the World A. The Issue • Day-care centers have become the functional equivalent of the nuclear family. Seventy-three percent of employed mothers depend on others to care for their children, and 30 percent of mothers who aren’t employed have regular care arrangements. B. The Setting • Research suggests good day care benefits children. • There are no significant differences between infants who receive extensive non-maternal care vs. those who are cared for solely by their mothers. C. Sociological Insights • Conflict theorists raise concerns about the cost of day care, especially for lower-class families. • Feminist theorists suggest that funded child care is opposed because it would facilitate women’s employment (and thus, their ability to compete with men economically). D. Policy Initiatives • Sweden and Denmark subsidize childcare for one-third to one-half of children under age three. • In the U.S., child care workers often only make about $19,605 annually. KEY TERMS Anticipatory socialization Processes of socialization in which a person “rehearses” for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. Cognitive theory of development Jean Piaget’s theory that children’s thought progresses through four stages of development. Degradation ceremony An aspect of the socialization process within total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. Dramaturgical approach A view of social interaction in which people are seen as theatrical performers. Face-work The efforts of people to maintain the proper image and avoid public embarrassment. Gender role Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. Generalized other The attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. Impression management The altering of the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. Life course approach A research orientation in which sociologists and other social scientists look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death. Looking-glass self A concept that emphasizes the self as the product of our social interactions with others. Midlife crisis A stressful period of self-evaluation that begins at about age 40. Naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) An area that has gradually become an informal center for senior citizens. Personality A person’s typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior. Resocialization The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life. Rite of passage Ritual marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another. Role taking The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. Sandwich generation The generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children. Self A distinct identity that sets us apart from others. Significant other An individual who is most important in the development of the self, such as a parent, friend, or teacher. Socialization The lifelong process in which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. Total institution An institution that regulates all aspects of a person’s life under a single authority, such as a prison, the military, a mental hospital, or a convent. ADDITIONAL LECTURE IDEAS 4-1: Early Socialization in Orphanages Recent, well-publicized accounts of Americans who have adopted internationally show the importance of early-childhood socialization. In many of the resource-poor orphanages from which these children were adopted, chronic malnutrition, fetal alcohol syndrome, birth defects, and other medical problems create difficulties for the children who start their lives there. In addition, it is believed that the lack of close and consistent care from adults often results in serious cognitive and emotional problems. Most of the media attention on early-childhood socialization among internationally adopted children has focused on children adopted from Eastern European orphanages. Americans have adopted more than 25,000 children from Eastern European orphanages since 1990, when they were opened up to foreign adoption (Judge 1999). Many of these children have been in institutional care for years before being adopted; two to four years is not at all uncommon. And, unfortunately, Eastern European orphanages tend to have a very high child-to-caregiver ratio—about 10:1 for infants and 20:1 for children over the age of three (King and Hamilton 1997). For this reason, no one caregiver is able to spend much time with a particular child. In general, children receive far less adult attention than would be typical in a family. In fact, observers of Eastern European orphanages note that the children are often left to themselves most of the time (Talbott 1998). The fact that children in orphanages spend so little time with adult caregivers is thought to lead, in many cases, to two distinct sets of problems. First, a number of developmental problems may result. Children reared in orphanages are often behind for their age in terms of speech development, cognition, and motor skills. In addition, institutionalized children often lack sensory stimulation like touch, sight, smell, or sound, since they are deprived of the stimulation that would come from an infant’s parent. As a result, American parents often find that their adopted children are either over- or under-sensitive to sensory stimuli like noise and pain (Judge 1999). Many adopted children from Eastern Europe are also known for having developed attachment disorders. It is believed that when a child lacks the opportunity to form close relationships with adults very early in life, he or she may have difficulty forming them later in life. Many adopters of Eastern European children have told of making great efforts to develop a loving and trusting relationship with their child, only to find that the child is completely unresponsive. At the same time, the child may be inappropriately friendly with complete strangers. Attachment disorder can also be associated with disruptive behavior, such as frequent tantrums, and, some parents report, violent behavior (Judge 1999, King and Hamilton 1997, Talbott 1998). Fortunately, some adopted children with developmental or emotional problems “grow out” of them over time, once placed in a family that is willing to give the child special care. Recovery is especially prevalent among children who spend the least amount of time under institutionalized care. However, some children, it appears, will be developmentally and emotionally impacted by their lack of early-life socialization for the rest of their lives (Judge 1999). Sources used for this essay include: Victor Groza, Daniela Ileana, and Ivor Irwin, A Peacock or a Crow? Stories, Interviews, and Commentaries on Romanian Adoptions, Euclid, OH: Williams Custom Publishing, 1999; Sharon Lesar Judge; “Eastern European Adoptions: Current Status and Implications for Intervention,” Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 19 (Winter 1999): 244–253; Patricia King and Kendall Hamilton, “Bringing Kids All the Way Home,” Newsweek (June 16, 1997); Margaret Talbott, “The Disconnected: Attachment Theory, the Ultimate Experience,” New York Times (May 24, 1998). For an empirical study considering the effects of institutional care (such as orphanage care) on development in early childhood see Harold M. Skeels, and Harold M. Dye, “A study of the effects of differential stimulation on mentally retarded children.” Proceedings and Addresses, American Association for Mental Defectiveness, 44, 114–115 (1939). 4-2: Nature versus Nurture The interplay between hereditary and environmental factors is evident in a fascinating study involving a young chimpanzee named Gua. (See Winthrop Kellogg and Luella Kellogg. The Ape and the Child. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1933. See also Cathy Hayes. The Ape in Our House. New York: Harper, 1951.) In 1931, Winthrop and Luella Kellogg took Gua, then 7-1/2 months old, into their home with the intention of rearing the animal in the same way as they were rearing their nine-month-old son, Donald. The two babies lived together as companions and playmates for nine months of the experiment. Kellogg and Kellogg attempted, as far as possible, to treat, feed, and clothe their two “children” similarly. The Kelloggs tried to teach skills to both Donald and Gua and did not “train” Gua as one usually trains a household pet. What were the results of this experiment, other than the many strange looks the Kelloggs got from their neighbors as they went walking with Donald and Gua? For one thing, they noticed interesting differences in rates of development. Gua actually learned more quickly than Donald did in areas requiring strength, agility, and muscular coordination. For example, the chimpanzee climbed into a high chair at age 7-1/2 months, whereas Donald could not fully accomplish this until age 18-1/2 months. However, Gua did not surpass Donald in all areas. Donald demonstrated a much better grasp of language and use of symbols. Initially, Gua seemed to understand comments such as “Open the door” better than Donald did. The Kelloggs attributed this to Gua’s greater ability to move around. In terms of speech, they foresaw that Gua would not advance beyond a few rudimentary sounds. Even at this young age, the most significant aspect distinguishing the behavior of ape from that of child involved language skills. The Kelloggs’ experiment reveals an intriguing interplay of hereditary and environmental factors. Biology seemed to limit Donald’s adaptation to walking and Gua’s potential for verbal and symbolic communication. On the other hand, socialization may well have stretched the chimpanzee’s language skills. Certainly, this unusual research attests to the importance of nature in development. Also see Lionel Tiger, “The Return of Human Nature,” The Wilson Quarterly XX (Winter 1996): 13–32. 4-3: Reverse Socialization and Gender Roles Conventionally, social scientists examine how parents create gender roles for children from birth through adolescence. Lawrence Ganong and Marilyn Coleman have found that children can also affect their parents’ gender roles. They administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory to 306 parents (153 couples) who had daughters only (N = 41), sons only (N = 41), or an equal number of sons and daughters (N = 71). Fathers with sons had lower “femininity” scores than fathers with daughters only. Mothers with sons were significantly more “feminine” than those who only had daughters. These results do not support the “common sense” expectation that socializing daughters would have a feminizing effect on parents and that socializing sons would have a masculinizing effect. Ganong and Coleman contend that parents become more sex-typed (that is, fathers become more masculine than feminine and mothers more feminine than masculine). Parents seem to respond to sons by becoming clearer role models of masculinity and femininity. Daughters, on the other hand, have no such effect because there is relatively less concern for teaching them a rigid gender role. The study supports yet another interactionist dimension to gender roles, that the child-parent relationship is mutually influential. See Lawrence Ganong and Marilyn Coleman, “Effects of Children on Parental Sex-Role Orientation,” Journal of Family Issues 8 (September 1987): 278–290. 4-4: Hutterites Coming of Age Child-rearing practices differ among peoples of the world. The practices of one group in North America, the Hutterites, are at variance with those typically found in Canada and the United States. Although the Hutterites number about 30,000, few Americans know much about them. Today’s Hutterites are descended from Russian immigrants who came to North America in 1874. They live together in some 250 communal villages, called Bruderhofs, in western Canada, the Dakotas, Montana, Washington, and Texas. Their religious faith is Anabaptism, they practice adult baptism, and they are firmly pacifistic. Both economically and theoretically, the Hutterites practice communalism. They live and work together for the good of the community. When Hutterites use the pronoun we, they refer not to their own family but to the Bruderhof. They do not knock before entering each other’s residences; they drop in unannounced at all hours. As they see it, seclusion by individual families is unnecessary and lessens group loyalty. Accordingly, the goal of child rearing among the Hutterites is young adults’ voluntary decision to submit themselves to the community. The sense of community will is transmitted very early in life. Only for the first 13 weeks of an infant’s life is the mother relieved of her responsibilities to the Bruderhof; after that, the mother returns to her previous responsibilities, such as helping in the community kitchen. The community essentially dictates a schedule for babies, specifying times for feeding, playing, and sleeping. A child’s hands are held together in the position of prayer before each feeding. Children pray voluntarily before each meal by the time they are one year old, a procedure they will follow for the rest of their lives. Children are believed to be completely innocent until they are observed to strike someone or try to comb their own hair. Either activity is believed to indicate a level of comprehension sufficiently high to understand discipline. Young children learn that they can avoid adult displeasure if, after hitting someone, they immediately hug and kiss. Infants and young children are watched over by all members of the Bruderhof. At age three they enter kindergarten, where as one Hutterite minister put it, “they learn to obey, sing, sleep, memorize, and pray together.” Punishment tends to emphasize that exclusion from the group is most unpleasant. The most important birthday for a Hutterite is the 15th, since on that day the schoolchild becomes an adult. Almost as a rite of passage, the child is moved from the children’s dining room to the adults’ dining room and from the playgroup into the adult work force. Since these changes involve a single individual, and whereas the Hutterites emphasize the colony as a whole, the movement into adulthood goes uncelebrated. Gradually, the Bruderhof awards the new adults various gifts that reflect their altered situation. Both boys and girls are given a wooden chest with a lock, in which to keep their personal belongings. Boys are given tools; girls receive a scrubbing pail, a broom, and knitting needles. The first years of adulthood are occupied in apprenticeships to older people, but soon each young person enters a jobs considered suitable for his or her gender. Despite being surrounded by the culture of Canada and the United States, Hutterite youngsters grow up to accept the Hutterites’ philosophy of life, economic communalism, and religious beliefs. See Gertrude Huntington, “Children of the Hutterites,” Natural History 90 (February 1981): 34–47. See also William Kephart and William Zellner, Extraordinary Groups (7th ed.). New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. 4-5: Rethinking the Life Course As we live longer and frequently healthier lives, various researchers have rethought the standard life course. The classic description of the life course that is presented in many sociology and psychology texts was developed by Erik Erikson. He divides the life course into eight stages that have served as a model for several generations. A classroom presentation or discussion could certainly focus on the applicability of Erikson’s model to our society 100 or 200 years ago, when the life expectancy was much shorter than it was when he was writing. One could also examine his stages with respect to gender, race, and social class issues, and ask whether his stages are appropriate for each of these groups. However, another way to examine the life course would be to examine some of the popular views of how the life course has changed in recent years that reflect our longer life expectancy. One author who has written commercially and critically successful books about these types of alterations in the life cycle is former New York Magazine writer Gail Sheehy. Her initial foray into this area of investigation was in the now classic book, Passages. However, she has followed up on that initial examination with several other stimulating reassessments. In particular, New Passages suggests thought- and discussion-provoking modifications in the life course model. (NOTE: Older students who read this book in its entirety consider it to be a provocative, eye-opening assignment. Younger students do not relate to the book as well; they believe that it explains their parents’ lives and not their own.) Sheehy’s model of adult socialization, which she developed in New Passages: Mapping Your Life across Times, divides adult socialization into three stages, each with one or more substages. Stage I is “Provisional Adulthood” (18–30) that includes the “Tryout Twenties,” and in which an individual moves through “Catch 30: Passage to First Adulthood” to reach Stage II. Stage II is the “First Adulthood” (30–45), which includes the “Turbulent Thirties” and the “Flourishing Forties,” and which concludes with the “Passage to the Age of Mastery.” Stage III is the “Second Adulthood,” (45–85+), which includes the “Flaming Fifties,” the “Serene Sixties,” the “Sage Seventies,” the “Uninhibited Eighties,” the “Nobility of the Nineties,” and the “Celebratory Centenarians.” For details and alternative models, see Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society, New York: W. W. Norton, 1950. See also Erik H. Erikson, Identity and the Life Cycle, New York: W. W. Norton, 1980; Gail Sheehy, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1977; Gail Sheehy, New Passages: Mapping Your Life Across Times, New York: Random House, 1996; Gail Sheehy, The Silent Passage: Menopause, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998; Gail Sheehy, Understanding Men’s Passages: Discovering the New Map of Men’s Lives, New York: Ballantine, 1999; Daniel Levinson, The Seasons of a Man’s Life, New York: Random House, 1979; and Daniel Levinson and Judy D. Levinson, The Season’s of a Woman’s Life, New York: Random House, 1997. 4-6: Larry: Case History of a Mistake In the 1950s, an infant boy named Larry was wrongfully diagnosed as mentally retarded. For the next twenty-six years, he is confined to a series of mental institutions. It is not until his mid-20s that a nurse begins to notice indications of normal intelligence. Believing in his potential, she begins a period of intensive social, behavioral, and cognitive therapy with Larry. After a relatively short period of time, the real Larry, a person of normal intelligence and sociability, emerges and captivates those who know and support him. This compelling docudrama, featuring Academy Award winner Frederic Forrest, Tyne Daly (Cagney and Lacey), Katherine Helmond (Soap, Benson), and Ted Lange (The Love Boat), brings the issues of socialization, institutionalization, resocialization, and looking-glass self to bear. Students will be intrigued by the frightening realization that virtually all behaviors (including basic comportment, including the ability to walk, frown, or smile) are determined by environmental factors and reinforcements and that a normal individual could be transformed into a “retarded” one simply by social learning. Source: Larry (VCI Home Video, 1974, 1999, 78 minutes); available through Amazon.com. CLASSROOM DISCUSSION TOPICS 4-1. Black Picket Fences: Questions about Mary Pattillo-McCoy’s ethnographic research can include: Does the relationship between Charisse’s parents seem “typical” of divorced parents? Does Charisse seem to be harmed by her parents’ divorce? Is the relationship that Charisse and her sister have with their neighbors the kind of relationship that many students in the class have with their neighbors? What role does the neighborhood family play in the socialization process? Does Charisse’s fickle interest in older boys reflect the stages adolescents go through while maturing? How does the Catholic Church in this neighborhood appear to be affecting the socialization process of children like Charisse? 4-2. Lifeline: Seat a large group in a circle. Ask each participant to take a large sheet of drawing paper or easel paper (about 36 inches square) and depict on it his or her “lifeline.” The lifeline should be a drawing or some other kind of graphic representation of the person’s progress as child, student, young adult, and so on, to the present. It should include such things as important events, significant influences from other people, major trips, important educational or career milestones, and anything else that has made each student the person he or she is today, both personally and professionally. Stress that this assignment requires no artistic ability. It is simply an attempt to let people describe themselves in other than strictly verbal terms. (It may be necessary, when you are giving the instructions, to show your own lifeline as a sample. If possible, however, you should not reveal your lifeline until the participants have drawn theirs.) Allow about 10 to 15 minutes for drawing the lifelines. Then divide the large group into several smaller groups of no more than seven or eight members each. In these small groups, each person in turn spends about five minutes describing his or her lifeline. After all the lifelines have been described, the group should discuss points of interest or common elements in the various lifelines. It is not necessary to discuss this exercise again in the large-group setting, but there can be a brief discussion by the large group if time permits. The participants should write their names on their lifelines (at the top), but advise the students to reveal only as much about themselves as they are comfortable revealing, and remind them that this is not an effort to pry into their private lives. If the exercise includes a good introduction and warm-up, very few people will refuse to take part in it. Note: The “lifeline” exercise has been used successfully in the Personal Growth in Higher Education course at Western Illinois University and lends itself to self-exploration of one’s own socialization. 4-3. Mass Media and Socialization: Following a showing of the film Sexual Stereotypes in Media: Superman and the Bride (listed under Audiovisual below), divide the class into small groups and encourage them to discuss the media’s continuing role in reinforcing sexual stereotypes. 4-4. The Nunnery as a Total Institution: Jennifer Dabbs describes a movie clip and discussion ideas, through which a nunnery can be used as an extended example of a total institution. See James Sikora and Teodora O. Amoloza (eds.), Introductory Sociology Resource Manual (5th ed.), Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 2000, pp. 151–152. 4-5. Stereotyping: Several weeks before covering the topic of age stratification, have each class member list four adjectives that describe a 15-year-old and four adjectives that describe a 70-year-old. Compile the responses and share the results with the class. This approach is taken from a class exercise developed by Mike Hoover at Missouri Western State College. See Technique No. 60 in Edward L. Kain and Robin Neas, (eds.), Innovative Techniques for Teaching Sociological Concepts, Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 1993. 4-6. Using Humor: Joseph E. Faulkner has produced a monograph that includes funny examples that could be incorporated into lectures associated with Chapter 4. See Chapter 2 in Faulkner, Sociology Through Humor, New York: West, 1987. This book is out of print, but used copies are readily available. TOPICS FOR STUDENT RESEARCH AND CLASSROOM DISCUSSION 1. Ask students to identify particular phrases or symbolic gestures they may use today that they learned from their parents, and discuss the impact of socialization on development of one’s personality. Also, ask students to reflect on phrases, expressions, conditions/phenomena, or gestures which have come and gone over the years, such as “like,” “dude,” and road rage. You may wish to explore the recent phenomenon of text language and symbolism as part of this discussion. Answer: Students should identify phrases or gestures learned from their parents and discuss how these contribute to personality development. They should also reflect on changing expressions, like "dude" or text language, and their impact on communication and social norms. 2. Ask students to identify (anonymously) behaviors they have performed that would shock their friends and family, and discuss Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to the self. An interesting way to present this activity to the class is to have them jot down these behaviors on index cards and then to read them aloud to the class. This exercise can also be done to introduce the concept of deviance. Answer: By anonymously sharing behaviors that might shock friends or family, students can explore Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to the self, illustrating how individuals manage impressions and engage in deviance. 3. Ask students to identify various rationalizations they may use to explain why they received low grades on exams, and discuss face-saving attempts they may have employed. The topic of impression management may also be explored in the context of first dates and job interviews. Answer: Students should analyze rationalizations for low exam grades and discuss face-saving strategies. They can also apply impression management concepts to social situations like first dates and job interviews. 4. Ask students to identify which socializing agents beyond their family that they consider influential in their life, and discuss how socializing agents can be both positive and negative in development of the self. Answer: Students should identify influential socializing agents beyond their family, such as peers or media, and discuss how these agents positively or negatively affect self-development. 5. Ask students to search for evidence in advertising, movies, and television shows that reinforce the traditional age-specific roles assigned to both men and women, and discuss the influence of social construction in the formation of age norms. Answer: Students should examine how advertising, movies, and television reinforce traditional gender roles and discuss the role of social construction in shaping age-specific norms and expectations. 6. Ask students to identify any family rituals they may use to celebrate rites of passage. Answer: Students should identify family rituals for rites of passage, such as bar mitzvahs, graduations, or anniversaries, and discuss their cultural significance in marking transitions and reinforcing family and societal values. 7. Ask students to discuss their views about aging rock musicians (e.g., the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, or the Who) going out on concert tours, and discuss disengagement and activity theories on aging. Answer: Students should discuss their views on aging rock musicians continuing to tour, and analyze this through disengagement theory, which suggests a gradual withdrawal from roles, and activity theory, which advocates for maintaining engagement to stay active and fulfilled. 8. In 1997, a church in Berryville, Arkansas closed its day care center in an effort to keep mothers in the home. In other words, the church felt that by offering child care it was facilitating women’s employment and perhaps, violating a Biblical mandate about the role of women. Discuss this incident from both a functionalist and a conflict point of view. Answer: The closure of the church's day care center can be examined from a functionalist perspective as reinforcing traditional family roles and social stability. From a conflict perspective, it can be seen as enforcing gender norms and restricting women's participation in the workforce. SERVICE LEARNING ACTIVITY Socialization can explain a number of problems that occur throughout society, problems that range from treatment of children to treatment of the elderly. Relevant to “nature versus nurture” is the function of the agents of socialization. From generation to generation, changes in the process of socialization can either be considered as constructive or destructive, and certainly American society has experienced accelerated change in the last few decades. Who best to address these changes than senior citizens? Below is an exciting service learning activity: Get involved in Adopt-a-Senior Programs. Check with local senior facilities that will allow college students to visit and develop friendships with senior citizens. Many of the residents of these facilities are isolated and desire someone to talk to. Conversations with the elderly can yield a bounty of valuable information about how far we have come and where we are headed as a nation. They can assess the changes and influence of the agents of socialization. This project can be very rewarding. Senior citizens like to talk and good researchers like to listen. Instructor Manual for Sociology in Modules Richard T. Schaefer 9780078026812, 9780071318419