Explain theory of socialisation
Explain theory of socialization.
A theory provides an explanation for something and is a set of ideas.
A sociological theory.
A sociological theory is a set of ideas that provides an explanation for human society.
Thus, Patrick Baert and Filipe Carreira D Silva define social theory as ‘a relatively systematic, abstract and general reflection on the workings of the social world’.
Like all theory, sociological theory is selective. No amount of theory can hope to explain everything. Some of the most well-known theories of socialization are as follows –
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Mead and his theory of development of self
George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) is generally regarded as the founder of symbolic interactionism.
In Mead view, human thought, experience and conduct are essentially social. They owe their nature to the fact that human beings interact in terms of symbols, the most important of which are contained in language.
Symbols provide the means whereby humans can interact meaningfully with their natural and social environment.
Without symbols there would be no human interaction and no human society. Human interaction and human society is possible by the existence of common symbol, but actually accomplished by means of a process that Mead termed ‘role taking’ Mead argued that, through the process of role taking individuals develop a concept of “self”.
Mead claimed that the idea of a self can only develops if the individual can ‘get outside himself in such a way as to become an object to himself’.
Therefore, origin and development of a concept of self lie in the ability to take the role of another.
Mead saw two main stages in its development.
The first, known as the play stage.
According to him, young children begin to develop as social beings by imitating the actions of those near them ‘Play’ is one of the ways by which children often imitate what adults do.
For example, children may play at being a parent, a doctor, a teacher or a nurse.
The second stage in the development of self is known as the game stage.
In playing a game, children come to see themselves in the roles of the others in order to appreciate their own particular role in the game.
In order to play a game such as football or cricket, children must become aware of their relationship to the other players.
According to him socialization depends upon the child’s understanding of others’ views as important in her/his life.
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Cooley and his concept of the looking glass self
Charles Horton Cooley, the American sociologist is best known for his concept of the “looking glass self”.
Children develop a concept of themselves with the help of others around them.
She/he forms an idea about oneself based on the opinions of others about her/him.
The knowledge about ourselves develops in us through the opinions and reactions of others around this.
The social “looking glass self” consists of these other people through whom we build an image of ourselves. This knowledge about one’s self is first obtained from the parents and later it is reformed by the judgements of others.
The way in which the mirror helps us to form an opinion about ourselves through the clothing we put on, our face and figure/physique, in a similar manner we try to imagine how in another person’s mind we might appear through our behaviours, manners, and so on.
For example, a child who is in the mood to create some mischief might want to lie to her/his parents.
However, before creating mischief, the child might reflect and think that if someone catches their lie, it will give their parents a bad impression of them.
According to Cooley, there are three main features that make up the idea of the self.
The first consists of our imagination of how we appear to the other person. The second feature consists of our imagination of the judgement that the other person makes by our appearances.
The third feature consists of some feeling of self-importance, shame or self-doubt based on the imagination of the other person’s judgements about our appearances.
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Freud and his Psychoanalytic Theory