SOCIOLOGY HAND OUT #5 (DEVIANT BEHAVIOR)

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

Sullivan (2001): It is a function of the pigment of a particular group who observes the behavior.

Deviant Behavior may be tolerated, approved, or disapproved. Modern societies encourage some amount of deviation, which moves in the direction of the ideal pattern of behavior.

Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms. One familiar type of deviance is crime, or the violation of norms a society formally enacts into criminal law. A subcategory of crime is termed juvenile delinquency, or the violation of legal standards by the young. Deviance encompasses a wide range of other acts of nonconformity, from variations in hair styles to murder.

Social Control Deviant people are subject to social control, or how members of a society try to influence each other's behavior. A more formal and multifaceted system of social control, the criminal justice system, refers to a formal response to alleged violation of law on the part of police, courts, and prison officials.

The Biological Context. During the later part of the nineteenth century, Caesare Lombroso, an Italian physician who worked in prisons, suggested that criminals have distinctive physical traits. He viewed them as "evolutionary throwbacks to lower forms of life." His research was scientifically flawed. Several decades later, Charles Goring, a British psychiatrist, conducted a scientific comparison of prisoners and people living in society and found no overall physical differences.

During the middle of this century, William Sheldon suggested that body structure was a critical link to criminal behavior. Subsequent research by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck supported this argument; however, they suggested body structure was not the cause of the delinquency.

Since the 1960s new knowledge in the field of genetics has rejuvenated interest in the study of biological causes of criminality. The connection between a specific pattern of chromosomes has been shown to be related to deviant behavior. However, in its attempt to explain crime in terms of physical traits alone, this approach provides a limited understanding of its causes. Overall, research findings suggest genetic and social influences are significant in affecting the patterns of deviant behavior in society.

Personality Factors. Psychological explanations of deviance concentrate on individual abnormalities involving personality. The containment theory posits the view that juvenile delinquency (among boys) is a result of social pressure to commit deviant acts in the absence of moral values and a positive self-image. Longitudinal research conducted by Walter Reckless and Simon Dintz during the 1960s supported this conclusion.

Weaknesses to psychological research are pointed out. First, most serious crime is committed by people who are psychologically normal. Second, cross-cultural differences in what is deemed normal and abnormal tend to be ignored. And third, the fact that people with similar psychological qualities are not equally as likely to be labeled deviant is not considered.

The Social Foundations of Deviance Both conformity and deviance are shaped by society. This is evident in three ways: (1) they exists only in relation to cultural norms, (2) people become deviant as others define them that way, and (3) both norms and the way people define situations involve social power.

STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

Durkheim: The Functions of Deviance Emile Durkheim asserted that deviance is an integral part of all societies and serves four major functions. These include: (1) affirming cultural values and norms, (2) clarifying moral boundaries, (3) promoting social unity, and (4) encouraging social change.

Merton's Strain Theory According to Robert Merton, deviance is encouraged by the day-to-day operation of society. Analysis using this theory points out imbalances between socially endorsed means available to different groups of people and the widely held goals and values of society. This structured inequality of opportunity makes some people prone to anomie. This leads to higher proportions of deviance in those groups experiencing anomie. Four adaptive strategies are identified by Merton: innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. Figure 8-1 (p. 206) outlines the components of this theory. Conformity, or the acceptance of both cultural goals and means, is seen as the result of successful socialization and the opportunity to pursue these goals through socially approved means.

There are some inadequacies to this approach. First, it is difficult to measure precisely how much deviance is actually caused by strain. Second, some kinds of deviance, like mental illness and homosexuality, are not adequately explained. Third, Merton is not precise about why one response to strain is chosen over another. And fourth, the extent to which the variability of cultural values creates different concepts of personal success is not adequately incorporated.

Deviant Subcultures Researchers Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin have attempted to extend the work of Merton utilizing the concept of relative opportunity structure. They argue criminal deviance occurs when there is limited opportunity to achieve success. They further suggest that criminal subcultures emerge to organize and expand systems of deviance. In poor and highly transient neighborhoods conflict subcultures (i.e., violent gangs) are more often the form this process takes. Those who fail to achieve success using illegitimate means are likely to fall into retreatist subcultures (i.e., alcoholics).

Albert Cohen found that deviant subcultures occur more often in the lower classes and are based on values that oppose the dominant culture. Walter Miller argued that the values which emerge are not a reaction against the middle-class way of life. Rather, he suggested that their values emerge out of daily experiences within the context of limited opportunities. He described six focal concerns of these delinquent subcultures--trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy.

Three limitations of the functionalist approach are pointed out. First, functionalists assume a single, dominant culture. Second, the assumption that deviance occurs primarily among the poor is a weakness of subcultural theories. Third, the view that the definition of being deviant will be applied to all who violate norms is inadequate.

SYMBOLIC-INTERACTION ANALYSIS

The symbolic-interaction paradigm focuses attention on the creation of deviance as a social process and the extent to which definitions of deviance and conformity are flexible. Labeling theory, the assertion that deviance and conformity result, not only from what people do, but from how others respond to those actions, stresses the relativity of deviance. The Global Sociology box (p. 209) describes cockfighting and asks if it is a meaningful cultural ritual or simply a vicious abuse of animals.

Primary and Secondary Deviance Edwin Lemert has distinguished between the concepts of primary deviance, relating to activity that is initially defined as deviant, and secondary deviance, corresponding to a person who accepts the label of deviant.

Stigma Erving Goffman suggested secondary deviance is the beginning of a deviant career. This typically results as a consequence of acquiring a stigma, or a powerfully negative label that radically changes a person's self-concept and social identity. Some people may go through a degradation ceremony, like a criminal prosecution.

Labeling: Past and Future Retrospective labeling is the reinterpretation of someone's past consistent with present deviance. Projective labeling unfairly uses present deviance to evaluate future actions.

Labeling and Mental Illness Thomas Szaz has argued that the concept "mental illness" should stop being applied to people. He says only the "body" can become ill and therefore mental illness is a myth. He argues this concept is applied to people who are different and who jeopardize the status quo of society. It acts as a justification for forcing people to comply to cultural norms. The label of mental illness becomes an extremely powerful stigma and can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Medicalization of Deviance The medicalization of deviance relates to the transformation of moral and legal issues into medical matters. Our society's view of alcoholism in recent years is a good illustration of this process. Whichever approach is used, moral or medical, will have considerable consequences for those labeled as deviant.

The Significance of Labels Issues about labels include who responds to deviance, how people respond, and what assumptions will be held about the personal competence of the deviant. In the Seeing Ourselves box (p. 211), National Map 8-1 reveals where psychiatrists practice across the United States.

Sutherland's Differential Association Theory Edwin Sutherland suggests that deviance is learned through association with others who encourage violating norms. This is known as the differential association theory. Survey research supports this view.

Hirschi's Control Theory Travis Hirschi pointed out that what requires explanation is conformity. He suggested conformity results from four types of social controls: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.

Limitations of the social-interaction approach concern a lack of focus on why society defines certain behavior as deviant and other behavior as not deviant. Unlike other theories which focus on the act of violence, the focus of labeling theory is on the reaction of people to perceived deviance. This theory provides a relativistic view of deviance and overlooks certain inconsistencies in the actual consequences of deviant labeling. Further, the assumption that all people resist the deviant label and the fact that there is limited research on actual response patterns of members of society to people labeled as deviant are weaknesses to this approach.

SOCIAL-CONFLICT ANALYSIS

Deviance and Power Social inequality serves as the basis of the social-conflict theory as it relates to deviance. Certain less powerful people in society tend to be defined as deviant. This pattern is explained in three ways. First, the norms of society generally reflect the interests of the status quo. Second, even if the behavior of the powerful is questioned they have the resources to resist deviant labels. And third, laws and norms are usually never questioned as being inherently unfair; they are viewed as "natural."

Deviance and Capitalism Steven Spitzer suggested that deviant labels are attached to people who interfere with capitalism. Four qualities of capitalism are critical in determining who is labeled as deviant. This list includes: private ownership, productive labor, respect for authority, and acceptance of the status quo.

White-Collar Crime The concept white-collar crime, or crimes committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations, was defined by Edwin Sutherland in the 1940s. While it is estimated that the harm done to society by white-collar crime is greater than street crime, most people are not particularly concerned about this form of deviance.

Research has found that crime in the suites, as white-collar crime is often called, is typically dealt with in terms of civil law instead of criminal law. Civil law refers to general regulations involving economic losses between private parties and criminal law encompasses specific laws that define every individual's moral responsibility to society.

Social-conflict theory focuses our attention on the significance of power and inequality in understanding how deviance is defined and controlled. However, there are several weaknesses to this approach. The assumption that the rich and powerful directly create and control cultural norms is questionable given the nature of our political process. Further, the approach seems to overgeneralize the cost of white-collar crime relative to street crime. Finally, the approach suggests that only when inequality exists is there deviance; yet all societies exhibit types of deviance and, as Durkheim has pointed out, deviance can be functional.

TWO SERIOUS FORMS OF CRIMES

1. DRUG ABUSE: is a deviant which have aroused a sense of awareness among people the danger of such deviance and has developed common sense of morality.

It refers to the use of drugs, lawful or unlawful, which results in physical, emotional, social of behavioral impairment.

Most Commonly Abused Drugs listed by DDB in the Philippines

a. SEDATIVES- which exert calming effects on the nervous system. (Barbiturates, tranquilizers, alcohol)

b. STIMULANTS- sometimes called “pep pills” which increase alertness and physical disposition. They hide fatigue and create exhilaration and a state of euphoria. The excessive use may lead to insomnia and later exhaustion and deep depression. (Amphetamine, cocaine, and caffeine)

c. HALLUCINATIONS- also called psychedelic, which affect sensation, thinking, self-awareness, and emotion. Taking them leads to changes in perception of time and space, delusion, or false beliefs. (LSD, mescaline, and marijuana)

d. NARCOTICS- which relieves pain, make one drowsy and relax and induce sleep. They are taken by injection, subcutaneously or intervenously. ( Shabu, Ecstasy)

2. CRIME: is a common violation of a norm codified into law and carries punishment for it.

CRIME and ITS ETIOLOGY (Dr. Cicero Campos)

a. FAMILY: exerts a great impact on the behavior, values, and attitudes of its members.

b. School: plays a crucial role in the integrated development, social maturation, and the preparation of the juvenile to become a well-adjusted, law-abiding, and productive member of society.

c. Peer Group: exerts strong influence on children.

d. Community: offers a wide range of services for the young as a supplement to the efforts of the family, the school and the state.

e. Mass Media: influence the development as well as the deterioration of the character of individuals.

CRIME SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

Index Crime:

1. Murder

2. Homicide

3. Physical Injury

4. Rape

5. Robbery

6. Theft

OTHER SANSATIONAL CRIMES (Mendoza)

1. Kidnap for ransom

2. Illegal drug trafficking

3. Bank Robberies

4. Illegal Gambling

5. Car napping

6. Petty Crimes (cellphone snatching, pick pocketing

SOCIAL CONTROL

It refers to the measures and pressures designed to ensure conformity to the approved standards of behavior in a group or society.

TWO TYPES of SOCIAL CONTROL

1. Informal- may be observed in small groups or remote rural where one knows everyone else and is in continued face-to-face contact with each other.

2. Formal- are mechanism which involve organized system of specialized agencies to set up rules, codes, standards of expected behavior and formal sanctions if they are not followed.

PHILOSOPHY HAND OUT #5 (VIRTUES)

CARDINAL VIRTUES:

1. TEMPERANCE : It is the moderation in action, thought, or feeling.

2. JUSTICE: It is the quality of being just, impartial, or fair.

3. PRUDENCE: It is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason.

4. FORTITUDE: It is doing the right thing even if everybody is doing the otherwise.

THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES:

1. FAITH: It is something that is believed especially with strong conviction.

2. HOPE: It is the desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.

3. LOVE: unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.

EVANGELICAL COUNSELS:

1. CHASTITY: It is the purity in thoughts, words, and action in one state of life.

2. SIMPLICITY: It is the simple ways of living and ignores the worldly things.

3. OBEDIENCE: It is the act of dutiful or submissive behavior.

PHILOSOPHY HAND OUT #4 (MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY)

Medieval philosophy: Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham

Faith and Reason: The tension in medieval philosophy.

The insights of natural knowledge were derived from the natural cognitive powers of the intellect and senses, and the insights of supernatural knowledge derived from divine revelation.

Generally it can be said that whereas philosophy embodied rational arguments based on premises derivable from naturally occurring powers of thought and the logical working out of those premises (particularly from the philosophers of the ancient world, especially Aristotle)

Theological arguments were based on divine Christian premises derived from God-in particular from the Bible and the opinions of the Church Fathers.

It is characteristic of the dominant intellectual framework of the scholars of the universities of the medieval period scholasticism- to reconcile the demands of rational philosophy and the demands of theological faith.

Reason in scholasticism was often used as a tool for supporting and deepening the understanding of what was already believed to be true as a matter of religious faith.

The source of medieval theological doctrine was the Bible and the Church Fathers; the problem presented to medieval thinkers was how to reconcile beliefs from these sources with the beliefs and logical arguments derived from Plato and Aristotle, and the attempts of Arabic and Jewish thinkers from the tenth century to the twelfth century to combine Plato and Aristotle.

Throughout the medieval period, ancient philosophy was a source of authority which toward the end of the period was used to oppose new arguments in philosophy and science.

St Augustine adopted, but profoundly modified, Platonism in the service of Christianity, to which he converted in AD 386 at the age of thirty-two.

By the end of the medieval period both Christianity and Aristotelianism, as the authoritative storehouses of correct opinions, were being replaced by a different vision of intellectual and moral advancement in the light of new philosophical and scientific ideas.

Apart from the thinkers discussed, among other important figures are Abelard (1079-1142), St. Anselm (1033-1109), St Bonaventure (1221-74) and Duns Scotus (c.1266-1308). Augustine, Aquinas and Ockham were chosen as representative of different important aspects of the period; they might be said to embody respectively medieval philosophy's inception, its consolidation, and the beginning of its dissolution.

Their views on the place of reason and faith can roughly be summarized as follows: Augustine there is no fundamental distinction because reason depends on divine help to grasp eternal truths; Aquinas there is a distinction on the basis of the natural and the divine but the two are complementary and to a degree overlapping; Ockham reason and faith are distinct and have no overlap.

Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)

Augustine was born in Thagaste and died in Hippo, both places in North Africa. Intellectually he straddles the gap between the philosophers of ancient Greece and those of medieval Christian. He lived through the decline of the Roman Empire, which led to the Dark Ages. At the age of seventeen he became a student of the University of Carthage where he became a teacher of rhetoric and, while there, lived a life of extravagant pleasure-including sexual pleasure-which was to contrast starkly with his later monkish life. He was converted to Christianity in AD 386, and was baptized the following year. He was then determined to enter the Church and renounced worldly pleasures. He eventually became Bishop of Hippo in AD 396. He never left North Africa for the last thirty-nine years of his life.

The character of Augustine's thought is distinctly religious, rather than purely philosophical; the discussion of certain philosophical problems is not that of the disinterested academic, but has the overriding purpose of identifying the path to the attainment of blessedness or beatitude.

The overall religious purpose is twofold: first, to show how we can become closer to God; secondly, to emphasize the importance of God by showing how everything is closely dependent on God.

A problem of particular concern to Augustine is how we come to know the universal necessary eternal truths described by Plato and the Neoplatonists.

He points to a range of things we clearly know to be true, which the sceptic cannot possibly deny. (a) We know the law of non-contradiction, whereby if something is true, it cannot also be the case at the same time that the opposite is true. (b) I know that I exist. "If I err, I exist" ("Si faIlor, sum"). This anticipates Descartes' cogito; but it is not used in the same way; Augustine is not concerned to use it to prove the existence of the external world. (c) Appearances cannot in themselves be false; I know infallibly what my subjective experiences are, how things appear to me: my "seemings". I can know infallibly what seems to be the case; it is my judgment, which goes beyond what seems to be the case, which introduces the possibility of falsehoods. (d) We clearly, even from the sceptic's point of view, have the capacity to doubt; so we know at least one truth: there is doubting. (e) We obviously know with certainty mathematical and geometrical truths. (f) We do not just know abs tract principles, we also know real existences. We know that we exist, that we are alive, and that we understand these facts. Augustine points out that even if our experience is really a dream, we nevertheless still know we were alive. We are also conscious that we will certain things.

The problem arises of how eternal truths and our knowledge of eternal truths are to be accounted for. Augustine agrees with Plato that, just as transient truths are accounted for by the mutable objects of the sensible world, so universal necessary eternal truths are accounted for by their being truths about eternal and immutable real objects.

Such objects immaterial impersonal essences-referred to by Plato as Forms, are identified by Augustine as ideas in the eternal, immutable mind of God-they are the content of the divine mind.

Such necessary truths are available to us in the areas of mathematics and geometry, but they are also possible in moral and aesthetic judgments.

The divine ideas provide perfect objects for the concepts of number and geometrical forms; they also provide objective standards for moral judgments concerning good and evil, and aesthetic judgments concerning what is, or is not, beautiful.

The problem remains of how such eternal truths are accessible to the non-eternal human mind.

The human mind, in seeking eternal truths, is seeking something beyond, and superior to, the mutable and temporal mind, and to know such truths we need help.

Such help emanates from God in the form of "divine illumination"; and as an illuminator God is present in us as He is present in all things.

All knowledge in Augustine is seen as a form of seeing. Just as the senses see independent objects when they are illuminated by the sun, so reason or intellect "sees" eternal truths when illuminated by the divine light.

God does not directly infuse our minds with the absolute concepts which constitute eternal truths, rather such concepts are latent in the mind as copies of the archetypes in God's mind; divine illumination enables us to see intellectually which are the eternal and necessary truths that are latent in our souls, and so to recognize them as eternal and necessary.

Knowledge of eternal truths is granted by a combination of natural human reason and supernatural divine illumination. To benefit from such illumination we have to turn towards God. This precludes the possibility of making a distinction between natural reason and divine faith, for both are always needed and mixed in the search for knowledge.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD)

Thomas Aquinas was born of a noble family at Roccasecca, Italy. From the age of five he began studying at the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino. In 1239 he went on to the University of Naples, where he studied the seven liberal arts of grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy; while at Naples he entered the Dominican Order.

His entry into this Order, with its emphasis on poverty and evangelism, was opposed by his family to such an extent that he felt the need to escape to Paris; but while on the road to Paris, he was abducted by his elder brother and locked up in the family castle at Monte San Giovanni.

He was later held prisoner in Roccasecca for over a year. His family was unable either to strip him literally of his Dominican robes, or to persuade him to renounce the Order. While he was imprisoned his brothers sent him a seductress; but he drove her from the room with a burning brand, and the event merely reinforced his commitment to chastity.

Eventually his family relented and he returned to the Dominican Order, first at the University of Paris in 1248, then at Cologne under Albert the Great. During this time he became deeply versed in the works of Aristotle.

After his death the teaching of Aquinas and Thomism formed the official doctrine of the Dominicans, and this was adopted by some other Orders, but it was in general relatively neglected by the Catholic Church. However, in the nineteenth century Aquinas was commended by Pope Pius IX as the premier figure of Catholic philosophy and theology.

Aquinas' thought owes a great deal to Aristotle, and he attempts to reconcile the central tenets of Aristotelian philosophy with Christian dogma; these attempts deal with issues like the nature of God, our means to salvation, and our understanding of the nature of creation.

Aquinas' thought begins with the presupposition that the universe is, at least partly, intelligible to finite human intellects: the structures and laws of the universe can be understood.

Whereas our natural cognition works "from below" to know God through His effects as the creator of the world, divine revelation-supernatural cognition-works "from above" to know God as cause. Thus faith (fides) and scientific knowledge (scientia) are sharply distinguished not by object, but by method.

Within theology we can make a distinction between supernatural and natural theology: respectively, truths revealed about God and other elements of Christian doctrine which depend on divine revelation (grace, which derives from the Latin gratia, meaning favor), and those that can be known through natural powers of cognition.

So the totality of truths grasped by the human mind has three parts. (A) That which is believed only in virtue of divine illumination or revelation. (B) That which is believed by divine revelation and is known by being provable by natural cognition. (C) That which is known by natural cognition.

The intellect forms concepts-universal ideas-of things by abstracting general ideas from sense-experience; the intellect thinks of the nature of those things and how they are connected to other things by understanding those general concepts.

Real things are real substances and are always compounded of two elements.

(a) Essence (essentia, quidditas, natura). This is "whatness"; viewed epistemologically through a definition it tells us what a thing is. (b) Existence (esse, which is a form of the Latin verb "to be"; but esse is also used as a noun). This is the fact that a thing is.

The terms above in (a) and (b) roughly correlate with the following.

(a') potential (potentia, potency); (b') actuality (actus, act).

Essence and existence are never found in separation; nothing simply is, a thing always is a determinate kind of thing; to be is to be a "so-and-so" ; to be is always a determinate way of being.

The relation between essence and existence, and between potency and actuality, applies to any substance whatsoever.

The analysis of material things introduces another pair of terms,

(i) form (morphe) ; (ii) matter (hyle).

Three-level hierarchy of being.

(1) Corporeal substances. These are matter an d form; they are perishable and finite.; (2) Incorporeal limited substances. These are pure form-spiritual entities, which although imperishable are finite. (3) Incorporeal unlimited substance. This is pure act; all aspects of the positive essence receive existence (esse).

Universals are general concepts or categories with which we talk about the world and with which we classify particulars into kinds or sorts.

He rejects the full realism of Plato, whereby universals exist as real entities in a world of intelligible Forms independently of the world of sensible things.

He also rejects conventionalism, whereby universal concepts are mere arbitrary, subjective mental constructs, for which the most that can perhaps be said is that they are made for our convenience.

Aquinas compromises: universals are objective in being real, extramental and immutable, but they exist in instances of individual kinds of things and cannot exist apart from those instances.

The world divides itself into kinds, so to speak; the kinds are real and there to be discovered, and are independent of our subjective mental classifications.

Knowledge of the forms, through real definitions, is derived from sensory experience and the intellectual faculty of abstracting general concepts from the resembling essential nature of instances of individuals of the same sort. Thus although universals do not exist as separate entities, they are objective in reflecting the extra mental common defining real natures of individuals.

William Ockham (1285-1349 AD)

William of Ockham was born in the village of Ockham outside Guildford near London. Of his early life nothing definite is known. We know that he was ordained subdeacon in 1306. He became a student at the University of Oxford around 1309 and soon a member of the Franciscan Order.

The chief problem was still to reconcile Aristotle and Christianity.

A sharp distinction is found in Ockham's thought between reason and faith. The truths of theology are based on revelation and are a matter of faith, and they are neither provable nor refutable by any process of natural cognition in secular philosophy.

Theology retreats to a domain of truths about which natural reason can have nothing to say.

Ockham rejected outright the idea that there was a common nature existing in the many individuals we call by a common name. No universal exists outside the mind; everything in the world is singular.

Universals are not things but signs, single signs representing many things. There are natural signs and conventional signs: natural signs are the thoughts in our minds, and conventional signs are the words which we coin to express these thoughts.

Ockham’s view of universals is often called nominalism; but in his system it is not only names, but concepts, which are universal.

The problem of universals centers on the problem of the relationship between the universality of concepts and our apparently encountering as independent objects only particulars.

Ockham objects to the idea of some literally common nature shared by all and only individuals of the same kind; if this common nature is singular and indivisible, then it cannot be shared by many individuals, and if the common nature is many, then each instance of the many must be singular and itself individual and cannot be shared in common between various individuals.

For Ockham, universality is a property primarily of thoughts, secondarily of language which expresses thoughts, and not of entities or natures distinct from the individual characteristic s of things in the world.

Ockham's view is roughly equivalent to saying that universals are concepts, along with the commitment that the being of the concepts is as mental states.

Nominalism holds that the only thing strictly in common between individuals falling under a universal name is that they all fall under that name.

The question arises as to why we apply the same universal name to many individuals. By maintaining that there are no literally common real essences graspable by the intellect, but only individuals apprehended by the senses between which we perceive similarities in the individuating characteristics, and it is from these albeit objective but nevertheless contingent similarities that we derive the meanings of universal terms and their range of application to a determinate class of individuals.

Thus the connotation or meaning of a universal term such as "humanity" is whatever characteristics we perceive as similar between all those individuals whereby we classify them as human. This list of characteristics defines "humanity" and gives us criteria for deciding whether any given individual should be included under that heading.

(HAPPINESS) PHILOSOPHY PAPER

WHAT IS YOUR HAPPINESS IN LIFE? WHY?

SOCIOLOGY REACTION PAPER

Based from the Theories of development of Piaget, Freud, and Erikson, where can you best associate yourself now and why?

PHILIPPINE HISTORY

WHY RIZAL IS THE GREATEST FILIPINO HERO?

SOCIOLOGY HAND OUT #3 SOCIALIZATION

SOCIAL EXPERIENCE: THE KEY TO OUR HUMANITY

SOCIALIZATION, or the lifelong social experience by which individuals develop human potential and learn patterns of their culture. Socialization is the foundation of personality, referring to a person's fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking, and feeling.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: NATURE AND NURTURE

Charles Darwin: The Role of Nature Naturalists during the later nineteenth century, applying Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, claimed that all human behavior was instinctive.

The Social Sciences: The Role of Nurture In the early part of this century, psychologist John Watson challenged this perspective and developed an approach called behaviorism, claiming that all human behavior was learned within particular social environments and rooted in nurture. The work of anthropologists illustrating the great cultural variation existing around the world supports Watson's view. Contemporary sociologists do not argue that biology plays no role in shaping human behavior. The current position among sociologists is that nature and nurture are not so much in opposition as they are inseparable.

UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

Sigmund Freud: The Elements of Personality Sigmund Freud's most important contribution was the development of psychoanalysis. Basic Human Needs Freud (1856-1939) saw biological factors as having a significant influence on personality, although not in the form of simple instincts. He claimed humans had two basic needs. One he labeled eros, or a need for bonding. Another he called the death instinct, or thanatos, which related to an aggressive drive.

Freud's Model of Personality Freud's perspective combined both these basic needs and the influence of society into a unique model of personality. He argued the personality is composed of three parts. One is the id, rooted in biology and representing the human being's basic drives, which are unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction. Another, representing a person's conscious efforts to balance innate pleasure-seeking drives with demands of society, he labeled the ego. Finally, the human personality develops a superego which is the operation of culture within the individual in the form of internalized values and norms. There is basic conflict between the id and the superego which the ego must continually try to manage. If the conflict is not adequately resolved personality disorders result.

Personality Development Culture controls human drives in a process Freud called repression. Often a compromise between society and the individual is struck, where fundamentally selfish drives are redirected into socially acceptable objectives. This process is called sublimation.

While controversial, Freud's work highlights the internalization of social norms and the importance of childhood experiences in the socialization process and the development of personality.

Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a prominent psychologist whose work centered on human cognition, how people think and understand. He was concerned with not just what a person knew, but how a person made sense of the world. He identified four major stages of cognitive development which he believed were tied to biological maturation as well as social experience.

The Sensorimotor Stage The sensorimotor stage is described as the level of development in which individuals experience the world only through sensory contact. This stage lasts for about the first two years of life.

The Preoperational Stage The preoperational stage was described by Piaget as the level of development in which individuals first use language and other symbols. This stage extends from the age of two to the age of six. Children continue to be very egocentric during this time, having little ability to generalize concepts.

The Concrete Operational Stage The third stage in Piaget's model is called the concrete operational stage and is described as the level of development at which individuals first perceive causal connections in their surroundings. This period typically covers the ages of seven to eleven. The ability to take the perspective of other people emerges during this stage.

The Formal Operational Stage The fourth stage is the formal operational stage and is described as the level of development at which individuals think abstractly and critically. This stage begins about age twelve. The ability to think in hypothetical terms is also developed.

Piaget viewed the human mind as active and creative. Research now is focusing on the cross-cultural relevance of this model and to what extent males and females develop differently through these stages. Further, some evidence suggests that almost one-third of the adults in the U.S. do not reach stage four.

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT (Giddens, 1989; Crain, 2000)

1. Oral Stage: from birth to one year old. The source of major satisfaction is eating. Sucking the mother’s breast is the most important thing for the baby. It is described as the stage of primary narcissism or self-love. Frustration or overindulgence at this stage can lead to overeating or alcoholism in later adulthood.

2. Anal Stage: from ages 1 to 3 years old. The anal zone becomes the center of the child’s sexual interest. The influencing factor at this stage is toilet training. People who are fixated at this stage are grasping and stingy.

3. Phallic Stage: between the ages of 3 to 6 years old. The great source of pleasure comes from the sex organs. This is when the child desires the parent of the opposite sex. (Oedipus and Electra Complex)

4. Latency Stage: from ages 6 to 11 years old (early adolescence). The child enters this period with strong defense against the Oedipal feelings. The children turn their attention to people outside their families, like teachers and friends; erotic impulses are dormant. Their energies are redirected into concrete, socially acceptable pursuits such as sports, games, and intellectual activities. The child possesses new composure and self-control.

5. Genital Stage (Puberty): girls, 11; boys, 13. The Oedipal feelings reoccur, and the child develops contempt for parents. The child tries to avoid all physical pleasures and instead adheres to asceticism. They may also adhere to intellectualism and delve into abstract, intellectual projects. Eventually, they focus on the opposite sex, look around for a potential love partner, prepare for marriage and adult responsibilities.

Lawrence Kohlberg: Moral Development Lawrence Kohlberg identifies three stages of moral development: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. In the first stage moral reasoning is tied to feelings of pleasure and avoidance of pain. In the second stage, specific cultural norms dominate moral reasoning. In the third stage more abstract ethical principles are involved.

Many of the same criticisms raised about Piaget's model apply to Kohlberg's work. Also, he used only males in his research, preventing generalization of his results to all people.

Carol Gilligan: Bringing In Gender Carol Gilligan's research focuses on a systematic comparison of moral development for females and males. Her work indicates that the moral reasoning of girls and boys is different. Girls tend to use a care and responsibility perspective, while boys tend to use a justice perspective. An important question is whether the differences are the result of nature or nurture.

CULTURE and PERSONALITY

Cultural determinism, the personality development theory held by anthropologist, views the cultural environment as the main factor for determining human behavior. Franz Boaz view is that personality development results from learning what is found in the culture, and that significant differences in personality are learned.

Ruth Benedict maintained that individual personalities of members of a society are tiny replicas of their overall culture, with the culture as a summing-up of their personalities.

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

This theory poses that self-identity is developed through the social interaction with others, mediated by language in the process of socialization. Human behavior differs from animals because humans use symbols with meaning attached to them.

George Herbert Mead: The Social Self Questions such as What exactly is social experience? and, How does social experience enhance our humanity? were central to his research on the socialization process. George Herbert Mead's analysis is often referred to as social behaviorism.

The Self Mead understood the basis of humanity to be the self, a dimension of personality composed of an individual's self-awareness and self-image. For Mead, the self was a totally social phenomenon, inseparable from society. The connection between the two was explained in a series of steps--the emergence of the self through social experience, based on the exchange of symbolic interaction, and occurring within a context in which people take the role of the other, or take their point of view into account during social interaction. A fourth argument of Mead's was that people become self-reflective in this process of taking the role of the other.

The Looking-Glass Self. The process of taking the role of the other can be more clearly seen using Charles Horton Cooley's concept of the looking-glass self--or the self-image we have based on how we suppose others perceive us.

The I and the Me. An important dualism is suggested by Mead's idea that the self thinks about itself. The two components include: (1) the self as subject by which we initiate social action--the I, and (2) the self as object, or objective part, concerned with how we perceive ourselves from the perspective of others--the Me.

Development of the Self. Mead minimized the importance of biology in personality development. The key was social experience, not maturation. Mead saw infants as responding to others only in terms of imitation, or mimicking behavior without understanding. As the use of symbols emerges the child enters a play stage in which role-taking occurs. Initially, the roles are modeled after significant others, especially parents. Through further social experience children enter the game stage where the simultaneous playing of many roles is possible. The final stage involves the development of a generalized other, or the general cultural norms and values shared by us and others that we use as a point of reference in evaluating ourselves.

Erving Goffman and the Dramaturgical approach. “All the world is a stage.” Individuals are performing and acting for their audience in everyday life. He said that our behavior continually follows complicated patterns as we follow contained instructions that influence their role behavior.

Erik H. Erikson: Eight Stages of Development. Compared to the previous theorists, Erik Erikson (1902-1994) offered a broader view of socialization, believing personality changes throughout the life course. The stages he identified include:

1. Infancy: the challenge of trust (versus mistrust)

2. Toddlerhood: the challenge of autonomy (versus shame and doubt)

3. Pre-school: the challenge of initiative (versus guilt)

4. Pre-adolescence: the challenge of industriousness (versus inferiority)

5. Adolescence: the challenge of gaining identity (versus confusion)

6. Young Adulthood: the challenge of intimacy (versus isolation)

7. Middle Adulthood: the challenge of making a difference (versus self-absorption)

8. Old Age: the challenge of integrity (versus despair)

According to Erikson, gaining success at one stage sets the stage for happily resolving the challenge of the next stage. Critics suggest not everyone confronts these challenges in this exact order. It is also not clear whether failure at one stage negatively affects the next stage.

PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION

How an infant develops into a functioning social being and emerges with self-identity, a social self, and a personality is called socialization. It is a lifelong process which begins at birth and ends at death.

Medina (1991) enumerates some functions of socialization: 1. An agent in the transmittal of values, customs, and beliefs from one generation to another. 2. Enables the individual to grow and develop into a socially functioning person. 3. A means of social control by which members are encouraged to conform to the ways of the group by internalizing the group’s norms and values.

Landis (1998) states two levels of socialization: PRIMARY: occurs in childhood through which one becomes a member of society. It takes place in the family where the child usually has no choice but accepts and internalizes the family’s view of the world. SECONDARY: occurs when the individual moves into and internalizes knowledge and attitudes of new sectors of life. And one can also be more objective. This is usually gradual and changes that take place are usually minor.

SOCIALIZATION FOR ROLES

Societies have developed two types of statuses: the ASCRIBED are those assigned to the individual from birth and which involve little personal choice, like age and sex. The ACHIEVED is acquired by choice through merit and individual effort is made possible through special abilities or talents, performance, or opportunity. The choice in occupation, of whether or not to get married, of whether to join a political party illustrate achieved status.

AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION

The Family is identified as the most important agent of socialization. The process of socialization within this institution is discussed as being both intentional and unconscious. The social life of the family has been shown to have a considerable bearing upon the values and orientations children learn.

Schooling is within the context of school that children begin to establish contact with people from diverse social backgrounds. The stated purpose of the school experience is imparting knowledge in the areas of, math, reading, and so on. However, there exists a hidden curriculum which also teaches children important cultural values. Schooling is critical for obtaining the knowledge and skills necessary for adult roles.

The Peer Group is a social group whose members have interests, social position, and age in common. Some research provides evidence suggesting that the conflict between parents and their adolescent children is more apparent than real. A major feature operative during adolescence is anticipatory socialization, or social learning directed toward gaining a desired position.

The Mass Media are impersonal communications directed to a vast audience. This includes television, newspapers, radio, and so on.

The Church.

The Workplace.

Gender Socialization is the interaction with the family and other agencies of socialization.

SOCIALIZATION AND THE LIFE COURSE

While focus is given to childhood, the significance of socialization is lifelong. Social experience is viewed in this section as being structured during different stages of the life course.

Childhood In industrial societies, childhood lasts roughly the first twelve years. It is a period characterized by freedom from responsibilities.

Some historians suggest that in medieval Europe, childhood as we know it did not exist. Such research is used to suggest that childhood is far from just being an issue of biological maturation.

Adolescence The adolescent period emerged as a distinct life course stage during industrialization. This period corresponds roughly to the teen years. The emotional and social turmoil often associated with this stage appear to be the result of inconsistencies in the socialization process as opposed to being based on physical changes. Examples concerning sexuality, voting, and drinking are discussed to illustrate these inconsistencies.

Adulthood Adulthood begins somewhere between the late teens and early thirties, depending on social background. The concept of "midlife crisis" is discussed using Eleanor Roosevelt to illustrate.

Early Adulthood Early adulthood is the period between age twenty and forty. Breaking free from parents, establishing an intimate relationship with a mate, parenthood, and employment are all typical experiences during this period. Many conflicting priorities are often juggled.

Middle Adulthood Middle adulthood, roughly ages forty to sixty, is a period during which people begin to sense that their life circumstances are pretty well set. The assessment of actual achievement compared to earlier expectations occurs. Differences in the experience of middle adulthood for women and men are discussed, including issues involving family, work, and appearance.

Old Age This period begins during the mid-60s. The proportion of the U.S. population over the age of sixty-five over the course of this century has increased dramatically.

Dying Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has written extensively on the process of death as an orderly transition involving five distinct stages--denial, anger, negotiation, resignation, and acceptance.

RESOCIALIZATION: TOTAL INSTITUTIONS

A total institution is a setting in which individuals are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff. Erving Goffman has identified three distinct qualities of total institutions: (1) they control all aspects of the daily lives of the residents; (2) they subject residents to standardized activities; and (3) they apply formal rules and rigid scheduling to all activities. This structure is designed to achieve the policy of resocialization--or radically altering an inmate's personality through deliberate manipulation of the environment. The process of institutionalization often occurs whereby residents become dependent on the structure of the institution and are unable to function outside the institution.