Week 4 — Socialization & the Self

Why this matters

A nurse learning how a hospital unit really runs and a teacher deciding what a classroom routine teaches beyond the lesson are both watching socialization: who teaches us to be who we are, and how a self forms in other people's eyes.

In plain language

Nobody is born knowing how to wait in line, what counts as rude, or who they are. This week is about how you learned all of that, a process called socialization (the lifelong learning of a culture and of a sense of who you are). You will meet the people and places that do the teaching, from your family to your phone. You will see how a self (your sense of who you are, separate from other people) grows out of the way other people respond to you. And you will see that the learning never stops: a new job, a new city, or retirement teaches you all over again.

• Already covered: Week 1 gave you the sociological imagination and the three perspectives; Week 2 showed how sociologists gather evidence; Week 3 showed what a culture is made of, from values to norms.
• This week: how you learn a culture and become a self, who does the teaching, and how a self can be rebuilt.
• How they connect: Week 3 described the culture; this week shows how each new member learns it, and the three lenses from Week 1 read the process at the macro and micro levels.
• Where we're going next: Week 5, Social Interaction, Groups & Organizations, follows the self you build here into everyday encounters and groups.

Focus

Who taught you to be you, and how does a self grow out of the way other people respond to you?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] name the six agents of socialization and what each teaches
• [ ] walk a scene through Cooley's looking-glass self
• [ ] place a scene in Mead's stages and explain the generalized other
• [ ] test whether a setting is a total institution

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 4 (about 40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Sociology in Action Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: walk one first day of your own through Cooley's three steps and name the theorist.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early.

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