Week 4 — Readings & Resources · Socialization & the Self

Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Adeyemi
Objective covered: Objective 3 — Analyze how culture and socialization shape the self, using the major sociological theories of self-development.

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser, the same way you'd open a YouTube link. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and there is nothing to buy.

This week's load is light: a short video + 2–3 brief readings, grouped by the ideas from the lecture. Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 40–50 minutes if you do everything, far less if you pick one per group.

Reading order that matches the lecture: ① what socialization is (and nature and nurture) → ② the theories of the self (Cooley & Mead) → ③ the agents of socialization → ④ resocialization & the life course.

A habit to keep going: before you trust any claim about socialization — in these readings, in the news, or from a chatbot — ask the sociologist's questions from class: Is this a pattern or just an anecdote? Correlation or causation? Is the looking-glass self being credited to the right thinker (Cooley)? Are Mead's stages in the right order (imitation → play → game)?

① What Socialization Is · and Why It's Nature AND Nurture

Maps to Lecture Segment 2. Socialization is the lifelong process of learning a society's culture and developing a self; "nature vs. nurture" is a false choice — it's both, interacting.

Video — "Socialization: Crash Course Sociology #14"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-RvJQxqVQc
Why it earns the click: a lively ~10-minute tour of how socialization works and the major agents — family, the school's hidden curriculum, peers, media — plus total institutions and resocialization, which lines up with Segments 3 and 5. Hosted by Nicole Sweeney.
⏱ ~10 min

Reading — "Theories of Self-Development" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §5.1)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/5-1-theories-of-self-development
Why it's assigned: opens with the nature-and-nurture framing and the sociology-vs-psychology distinction, then gives the cleanest plain-language version of Cooley's looking-glass self and Mead's stages — exactly the Segment 4 core. (It also summarizes the psychological theories — Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan — as useful background; our sociological spine is Cooley and Mead.) Free to read online in your browser.
⏱ ~12 min

② The Theories of the Self — Cooley & Mead

Maps to Lecture Segment 4. Keep them straight: Cooley = the looking-glass self (we see ourselves in others' imagined judgments); Mead = the stages (imitation → play → game → the generalized other) and the "I" vs. the "me."

Reading — "Theories of Self-Development" (OpenStax §5.1) — the sociological section
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/5-1-theories-of-self-development
Why it's assigned (read this part closely): the "Sociological Theories of Self-Development" portion lays out Cooley (the looking-glass self, 1902) and Mead (the self, role-taking, the imitation → play → game stages, and the generalized other, 1934) one at a time, with examples — the same contrast we drew in class. If you read only one thing this week, read this section.
⏱ ~10 min (same page as group ①; focus on the sociological-theories portion)

③ The Agents of Socialization

Maps to Lecture Segment 3. Match each agent to what it teaches: family (first; language, values, earliest self), peers (belonging, adolescent identity), school (the formal and the hidden curriculum), media (norms and what's "normal").

Reading — "Agents of Socialization" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §5.3)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/5-3-agents-of-socialization
Why it's assigned: walks through the agents — family (including the documented class-difference pattern in what families emphasize), peer groups, school and the hidden curriculum, the workplace, religion, government, and mass media — the same tour as the Segment 3 slide. Free to read online.
⏱ ~12 min

④ Resocialization, Total Institutions & the Life Course

Maps to Lecture Segment 5. Socialization is lifelong; anticipatory socialization rehearses a future role; resocialization rewrites the self; a total institution (Goffman) is a setting cut off from society where the self can be re-made.

Reading — "Socialization Across the Life Course" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §5.4)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/5-4-socialization-across-the-life-course
Why it's assigned: covers how socialization recurs at age-related transition points, anticipatory socialization, and resocialization in total institutions (with Goffman's degradation-ceremony idea) — the heart of Segment 5. Free to read online.
⏱ ~10 min

Optional one-stop reference (free online text)

If you'd like one optional reference to skim, OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e, Chapter 5 ("Socialization") covers everything in this week — theories of the self, the agents, and socialization across the life course — in one place.
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/5-introduction
Why it's here: a reputable, currently-available reference you can return to — entirely optional this week.

Pick-one quick path (≈22 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these two and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Watch Crash Course Sociology #14 — Socialization (groups ① + ③ + ④).
2. Read the sociological part of "Theories of Self-Development" (group ②) — get Cooley and Mead, and the order of Mead's stages, locked in.

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Adeyemi and use the OpenStax Chapter 5 reference above in the meantime. These links are provided for access only — no claim is made about their licensing or reuse terms.