Socialization Study Guide

Socialization: the lifelong process of learning the norms, values, behavior, & social skills appropriate to your social position, such as age, gender, or social class; the social process through which children develop an awareness of social norms & values & achieve a distinct sense of self, but also continues to some degree throughout life A core aspect of socialization is that the lessons one learns must be appropriate to one’s level of maturity The lessons that parents deem essential for their children also very over historical time Socialization reflects not only the social position that a child has, but the positions that a child will someday occupy Socialization is the process whereby the helpless infant gradually becomes a selfaware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of his/her culture Vast majority of social roles we hold in life seem “natural” but actually involves intense socialization, or learning how to successfully navigate one’s roles & relationships throughout the life course Social reproduction: the process of perpetuating values, norms, & social practices through socialization, which leads to structural continuity over time During socialization, esp. in early years, children learn the ways of their elders, thereby perpetuating their values, norms, & social practices All societies have characters that endure over time, even though the individuals change Socialization connects different generations to one another  birth of a child alters the lives of the parents, leading to new learning experiences Although cultural learning is much more intense in infancy, & early childhood than later in life, learning & adjustment continue through the life course Basic Concepts Agents of Socialization Socialization occurs in two phases, involving numerous agents of socialization Agents of socialization: groups or social contexts within which processes of socialization take place Primary socialization: o Occurs in infancy & childhood o Most intense period of cultural learning o The time when children learn language & basic behavioral patterns that form the foundation for later learning o Family is main agent of socialization Secondary socialization o Occurs later in childhood & in maturity o Other agents of socialization, such as schools, peer groups, organizations, media, & workplace become socializing forces o Social interactions in these contexts help people learn the values, norms, & beliefs of their culture Family systems vary widely, so infant’s range of family contacts is not standard across cultures In modern societies, most early socialization occurs within a small-scale family context Most Americans grow up with a domestic unit containing mother, father, & siblings, while in other cultures, aunts, uncles, & grandparents are part of a single household & serve as caretakers Despite variations, the family normally remains the major agent of socialization from infancy to adolescence & beyond, in a sequence of development connecting the generations In premodern societies, the family determined the individual’s lifelong social position In modern societies, social position is not inherited, yet the region & social class of the family have a distinct effect on patterns of socialization  children pick up ways of behavior of their parents or others in their community Varying patterns of child rearing & discipline, together with contrasting values & expectations, are found in different sectors of large societies The very existence of a range of socializing agents in modern societies leads to divergences among the outlooks of children, adolescents, & parents Schools are agents of socialization in subtler respects (punctuality, discipline, accepting authority)  reactions of teachers affect the expectations children have of themselves Peer group: a friendship group composed of individuals of similar age & social status; traditionally formalized as age grades with ceremonies or rites that mark the transition from one age-grade to another Age-grades: the system found in small traditional cultures by which people belonging to a similar age group are categorized together & hold similar rights & obligations  those within a particular age-grade generally maintain close connections throughout their lives Gender Play (1993) – sociologist Barrie Thorne explores how children learn what it means to be male or female & examined how children actively create & re-create the meaning of gender in their interactions with one another Thorne spent two years observing fourth- & fifth-graders at two schools in Michigan & California, sitting in the classroom with them & observing their activities outside the classroom She watched their games to learn how children construct & experience gender meanings in the classroom & on the playground Thorne found that peer groups greatly influence gender socialization, particularly as children talk about their changing bodies Peer relations have a significant effect beyond childhood & adolescence Informal groups of people similar ages, at work & in other situations, are usually of enduring importance in shaping individuals’ attitudes & behavior Thorne’s research is a powerful reminder that children are social actors who help create their social world & influence their own socialization Mass media: forms of communication, such as newspaper, magazines, radio, & television, designed to reach mass audiences  important influence on socialization in all forms of society Most commonly researched topic is the effect of TV on propensities toward crime & violence George Gerbner (1986) analyzed samples of prime time & weekend daytime TV for all major American networks each year since 1967 o They charted the number & frequency of violent acts & episodes for a range of programs, defining violence as physical force directed against the self or others by which physical harm or death occurs o Database included observations on 2,816 television programs; they also coded 34,882 characters according to mathematic, demographic, & activity categories o On average, 80% of programs contained violence, w/ a rate of 7.5 violent episodes/hour o Children’s programs showed even higher number of violent acts & episodes of any type of television program Robert Hodge & David Tripp (1986) emphasize that children’s responses to TV involve interpreting, or reading, what they see, not just registering content o They suggest that most research has not considered the complexity of children’s mental processes o Children read programs by relating them to other systems of meaning in their lives o It is not the violence alone that affects behavior but rather the general framework of attitudes w/in which the violence is both presented & read 60% of Americans regularly play computer or video games w/ average age of 31 Video Kids (1991) by Eugene Provenzo analyzes the effect of Nintendo o He concludes that video games have become a key part of the culture & experience of childhood today o Nearly 55% of parents believe playing video games helps families spend time together It is doubtful that a child’s involvement w/ Nintendo harms their achievement at school Research shows that video games may have positive consequences, such as helping young people hone skills that are relevant both to formal education & to wider participation in a society that depends on electronic communication Marsha Kinder (1993 media scholar) noticed that her son’s adeptness to Nintendo transferred to other spheres Recent work by neuroscientists also shows that young people who play fast, actionpacked video games have better vision, attention, & concentration that those who don’t & these benefits – esp. attention – help to enhance young people’s learning However, when these rapid-action games have very violent imagery, they may desensitize players to violence Work is, in all cultures, an important agent of socialization, although only in industrial societies do large numbers of people go to places of work separate from the home In industrialized countries, the work environment often poses unfamiliar demands, perhaps calling for major adjustments in the person’s outlook or behavior As individuals learn the specific tasks they will perform on the job, general skills that can be translated to a wide range of work settings, & cultural norms that guide appropriate professional behavior Sociologists have explored in-depth how individuals learn to manage their emotions in the workplace, focusing on ways that workers learn to hide negative emotions in order to foster good relationships with customers or how to manage the emotional distress they feel when they encounter sad to gruesome experiences on the job Individuals are socialized into varied & complex skills required to be successful in the workplace Social Roles Social roles: socially defined expectation of an individual in a given status/social position; learned through socialization Some sociologists, particularly assoc w/ the functionalist school, regard social roles as unchanging parts of a society’s culture; they are social facts o Individuals learn the expectations for social positions in their culture & perform these roles as largely as they have been defined o Through socialization, individuals internalize social roles & learn how to carry them out  this view is MISTAKEN Socialization is a process in which humans can exercise agency; they are not passive subjects waiting to be instructed or programmed  individuals come to understand & assume social roles through an ongoing process of social interaction Identity The cultural settings in which we grow up influence our behavior, but that does not mean that humans lack individuality or free will  from birth, our interactions condition our personalities, values, & behavior, but socialization is also at the origin of our individuality & freedom In the course of socialization, each of us develops a sense of identity & the capacity for independent thought & action Identity: the distinctive characteristic of a person’s or group’s character that relate to who he is & what is meaningful to him; main sources of identity include gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnicity, & social class Social identity: the characteristics that are attributed to an individual by others – markers that indicate who, in a basic sense, that individual is o These characteristics place that individual in relation to others who share the same attributes o All individuals have more than one social identity, thereby reflecting the many dimensions of their lives o Involves a collective dimension – they mark ways that individuals are the same as others o Shared identities, aside from forming an important base for social movements, serve as a powerful source of personal meaning or self-worth Self-identity: the ongoing process of self-development & definition of our personal identity through which we formulate a unique sense of ourselves & our relationship to the world around us o It is our constant negotiation with the outside world that shapes our sense of self, linking our own personal & public worlds o People’s identities are more multifaceted & less stable owing to urban growth, industrialization & the breakdown of earlier social formations o Individuals have become more socially & geographically mobile We are our own best resource in defining who we are, where we come from, & where we’re going The decisions we make in our everyday lives – about what to wear, how to behave, & how to spend our time – help make us who we are Through our capacity as self-conscious, self-aware human beings, we constantly create & re-create our identities Socialization through the Life Course The stages of the human life course are social as well as biological; they are influenced by cultural differences & material circumstances in various types of societies Childhood is a distinct stage of life b/w infancy & teen years In earlier societies, the young moved directly from a lengthy infancy into working roles w/in the community Philippe Aries (1965) has argued that childhood did not exist in medieval times Right up to the 20th century, the U.S. & most other Western countries, children were put to work at what now seems a very early age The ideas that children have rights & that child labor is morally repugnant are recent developments  societies now are in some respects more child-centered than traditional ones Child-centered society is NOT one in which all children experience love & care from parents; in fact, physical & sexual abuse of children is a commonplace feature of family life in present-day society Roughly 3 million reports of child abuse are made to law enforcement authorities each year; roughly 78% of these cases involve neglect, followed by physical abuse (18%), sexual abuse (9%), & emotional abuse or mistreatment (9%) It is possible that as a result of changes in modern societies, the separate character of childhood is again diminishing Children today grow up fast b/c small children may watch the same television programs as adults, thereby becoming much more familiar early on w/ the adult world than did preceding generations The biological changes involved in puberty are universal, but the teenage phase didn’t exist till recently Yet, in many cultures, these do not produce the turmoil & uncertainty often found among young people in modern societies In cultures that foster age-grades, which hold ceremonies that signal a person’s transition to adulthood, the process of psychosexual development seems easier to negotiate  adolescents in such societies have less to “unlearn”, or break w/ childish pursuits In traditional cultures, in which children already work alongside adults, this process of unlearning is much less jarring In Western societies, teenagers are betwixt & between: they often try to act like adults, but they are treated by law as children Teenagers in the West live in between childhood & adulthood, growing up in a society subject to continuous change Young adulthood seems increasingly to be a stage in personal & sexual development in modern societies Scholars have observed a “delayed transition to adulthood” among young people in the late twentieth & early twenty-first century Sociologist Frank Furstenberg has identified five tasks that are considered critical to the adulthood transition: leaving the home of one’s parent, finishing school, getting married, having a child, & being financially independent In 1960, fully 65% of men & 77% of women had achieved all five milestones by age 30 In 2010, only 25% of men & 39% of women had done all five by age 30 Young adults today have the opportunity to pursue education & “try out” many professions & romantic partners before settling on one career or one spouse  this period of exploration allows young people to figure out a life that works best for them in the long term Young people today also have the option not to make particular transitions, w/out fear of stigma Young people themselves also adhere to a much broader view of what “adulthood” is, defining it in terms of abstract traits like self-reliance & happiness, rather than the attainment of particular milestones like homeownership Most young adults in the West can expect to live well into old age Death through sickness or injury was much more frequent among all age groups than it is today, & women faced a high rate of mortality in childbirth In current times, major uncertainties must be resolved in marriage, family life, & other social contexts The creation of sexual & marital ties now depends on individual initiative & selection rather than being fixed by one’s parents  this represents greater freedom for the individual, but the responsibility can also impose difficulties Keeping a forward-looking perspective in middle age has become particularly important in modern societies The midlife crisis is very real for many middle-aged people  a person may feel that she has thrown away the opportunity that life had to offer or that she will never attain goals cherished since childhood Growing older need not lead to resignation or despair; a release from childhood dreams can be liberating In traditional societies, older people were accorded with great respect  elders had a major say in matters of importance to the community & w/in families the authority of both men & women increased w/ age In industrialized societies, by contrast, older people tend to lack authority within both the family & social community There has been a great increase in the proportion of the population over 65 (4%  14%) Transition to the age-grade of elder in a traditional culture often marked the pinnacle of an individual’s status In a society in which many are physically healthy in old age, an outward-looking view will become more prevalent  those in retirement might find renewal in “third age”, in which a new phase of education begins Theories of Socialization One of the most distinctive features of human beings is that they are self-aware During the first months of life, the infant possesses little or no understanding of differences b/w human beings & material objects & has no awareness of self The problem of the emergence of self is much debated among contrasting theoretical perspective American philosopher & sociologist George Herbert Mead mainly considered how children learn to use the concepts of “I” & “me” Jean Piaget, the Swiss student of child behavior, studied many aspects of child development, but his best-known writing concern cognition Cognition: the ways in which children learn to think about themselves & their environment; human though processes involving perception, reasoning, & remembering G.H. Mead & the Development of Self Because Mead’s ideas underlie a general tradition of theoretical thinking, symbolic interactionism, they have a broad impact in sociology Symbolic interactionism emphasizes that interaction b/w human beings occurs through symbols & the interpretation of meanings Mead’s work also describes the main phases of child development, concentrating on the emergence of a sense of self Infants & young children develop as social beings by imitating the actions of those around them Children’s play evolves from simple imitation to more complicated games in which a child of four or five will act out an adult role  at this stage, children acquire a developed sense of self & achieve an understanding of themselves as separate agents – as a “me” – by seeing themselves through the eyes of others We achieve self-awareness when we learn to distinguish the “me” from the “I” “I” is the unsocialized infant, a bundle of spontaneous wants & desires “Me” is the social self: the identity conferred upon an individual by the reactions of others Individuals develop self-consciousness: awareness of one’s distinct social identity as a person separate from others A further stage is at 8-9 yrs old, when children take part in organized games rather than unsystematic play & begin to understand the values & mortality that govern social life Children at this stage also learn generalized other: a concept in a theory that suggests that the individual comes to understand the general values of a given group or society during the socialization process Jean Piaget & the Stages of Development Piaget emphasized the child’s active capabilities to make sense of the world  children do not passively soak up information, but instead select & interpret what they see, hear, & feel 1. Sensorimotor Stage o From birth to age two o Infants learn mainly by touching objects, manipulating them, & physically exploring their environment o Until 4 months or so, infants cannot differentiate themselves from their environment  objects are not differentiated from persons, & the infant is unaware that anything exists outside his/her range of vision o The main accomplishment of this stage is children’s understanding that their environment has distinct & stable properties 2. Preoperational Stage o Last from age 2-7 o Children master language & use words to represent objects & images in a symbolic fashion o Children are not yet able to use their development mental capabilities systematically o Children are egocentric in the sense that they interpret the world exclusively in terms of their own position o Children are not able to hold connected conversation w/ another person o With egocentric speech, what each child says is more or less unrelated to what the other speaker has said  children talk together but not to one another in the same sense as adults o Children have no general understanding of categories of thought that adults take for granted: concepts such as casualty, speech, weight, or number 3. Concrete Operational Stage o Lasts from 7-11 o Children master abstract, logical notions such as casualty  they become capable of carrying out the mathematical operations of multiplying, dividing, & subtracting 4. Formal Operational Stage o Lasts from 11-15 o During adolescence, the developing child becomes able to grasp highly abstract & hypothetical ideas o When faced with a problem, children are able to review all the possible ways of solving it & go through them theoretically to reach a solution o They can understand why some questions are trick ones According to Piaget, the first three stages of development are universal; but not all adults reach the formal operational stage The development of formal operational thought depends in part on processes of schooling Adults of limited educational attainment tend to continue to think in more concrete terms & retain large traces of egocentrism Freud’s Theory of Gender Identity Most influential, & controversial, theory of the emergence of gender identity is that of Sigmund Freud The learning of gender differences in infants & young children centers on the possession or absence of the penis Freud is careful to say that it is not just the anatomical distinctions that matter; the possession & absence of the penis are symbolic of masculinity & femininity Age 4-5, the theory goes, a boy feels threatened by the discipline & autonomy his father demands of him, fantasizing that the father wishes to remove his penis  the boy gives up his love for his mother out of an unconscious fear of castration by his father Girls, on the other hand, supposedly suffer from “penis envy” b/c they do not possess the visible organ that distinguishes boys  the mother becomes devalued & when the girl identifies with the mother, she takes over the submissive attitude involved in the recognition of being “second best” Once this phase is over, the child has learned to repress his or her erotic feelings The period from five years to puberty, according to Freud, is one of latency – sexual activities are suspended until the biological changes of puberty reactivate erotic desires  the erotic period, covering the early & middle years of school, is the time at which same-sex peer groups are most important in the child’s life Many objections were raised against Freud’s theory o First, Freud seems to identify gender identity too closely with genital awareness; other, subtler factors are surely involved o Second, the theory seems to depend on the notion that the penis is superior to the vagina, which is thought of as just a lack of the male organ o Third, Freud treats the father as the primary disciplining agent, whereas in many cultures the mother is more significant in imposing discipline o Fourth, Freud believed that gender learning is concentrated at age four or five  later authors have emphasized the importance of earlier learning, beginning in infancy Chodorow’s Theory Sociologist Nancy Chodorow argues that learning to feel male or female derives from the infant’s attachment to the parents from an early age She emphasizes much more than Freud the importance of the mother rather than the father Children have become emotionally involved with the mother b/c she is the most dominant influence in their early lives  at some point this attachment has to be broken for the child to achieve a separate sense of self – to become less closely dependent, but it is different for both boys & girls Girls remain closer to the mother  she develops a sense of self that is more continuous with other people; her identity is more likely to be merged with or depend on another’s: first her mother’s, later a man’s In Chodorow’s view, this process of development fosters sensitivity & emotional compassion in women Boys gain a sense of self via a more radical rejection of their original closeness to the mother, forging their understanding of masculinity from what is not feminine Boys are relatively unskilled in relating closely to others; they develop more analytical ways of looking at the world  they take a more active view of their lives, emphasizing achievement, but they have repressed their ability to understand their own feelings & those of others Masculinity, rather than femininity, is defined by a loss, the forfeiting of continued close attachment to the mother Male identity is formed through separation; thus men later in life unconsciously feel that their identity is endangered if they become involved in close emotional relationships w/ others Women, on the other hand, feel that the absence of close relationships to other people threaten their self-esteem These patterns have been passed on from generations  women express & define themselves mainly in terms of relationships, while men have repressed these needs & adopt a more manipulative stance toward the world Janet Sayers (1986) has suggested that Chodorow does not explain the struggle of women, particularly in current times, to become autonomous independent beings o Women (and men) are more contradictory in their psychological makeup than Chodorow’s theory suggests Femininity may conceal feelings of aggressiveness or assertiveness, which are revealed only obliquely or in certain contexts Chodorow has also been criticized for her narrow conception of the family based on a white middle class model Chodorow’s ideas remain important, as they teach us a good deal about the nature of femininity & help us understand the origins of “male inexpressiveness” – the difficulty men have in revealing their feelings to others Gilligan’s Theory Carol Gilligan (1982) further developed Chodorow’s analysis, concentrating on the images adult women & men have of themselves & their attainments Women, she agrees with Chodorow, define themselves in terms of personal relationships & judge their achievements in terms of their ability to care for others as their traditional role is of a caretaker & helpmate The qualities developed in the tasks of women are devalued by men  women’s concern with relationships appears to men as a weakness rather than as the strength that it is Gilligan carried out intensive interviews w/ about 200 American women & men of varying ages & social backgrounds  she asked a range of questions concerning their moral outlook conceptions of self When asked, “What does it mean to say something is morally right or wrong?” the men mentioned abstract ideals of duty, justice, & individual freedom, whereas the women raised the theme of helping others  the women were more tentative in their moral judgements than men, which reflects the traditional situations of women, anchored in caring relationships, rather than the outward-looking attitudes of men Women’s views themselves as are based on successfully fulfilling the needs of others, rather than on pride in individual achievement Research on Socialization Today Race Socialization Race socialization: the specific verbal & nonverbal messages that older generations transmit to younger generations regarding the meaning & significance of race, racial stratification, intergroup relations, & personal identity Sociologist Tony Brown & other psychologist Chase Lesane-Brown investigated the messages that parents teach, how these messages have changed over time, & the effects of this socialization on children’s lives Their work rests on the assumption that ethnic minority parents must socialize their children to be productive members of society Their research shows that while parents of all racial & ethnic groups discuss their heritage with their children, parents of colour – esp. black people – do so more often than white parents The odds of discussing children’s ethnic/racial heritage in non-white families were 1.9 to 4.7 times the odds for white families Lesane Brown, Brown, & colleagues (2005) developed a detailed index capturing the specific messages & lessons that parents pass down to their children Among the messages encompassed in race socialization are colour blindness (“race doesn’t matter”), individual pride (“I can achieve anything”), group pride (“I’m proud to be black”), distrust of other racial or ethnic groups (“don’t trust white people”), & deference to other racial or ethnic groups (“whites are better than blacks”) Most useful lessons were those that emphasized pride & colour blindness In a 2006 study, Brown & Lesane-Brown examined data from a sample of black Americans who were ages 17 to 101 in 1980  the subjects were asked about the racial lessons they had learned from their parents The researchers classified people based on the time period in which they turned age 16 to explore the ways that historical context might have shaped their early socialization experiences Subjects were classified based on whether they came of age pre-Brown v. Board of Education (before 1957), during the era of civil rights protests (1957-1968), or after the peak of the civil rights protests Brown & Lesane-Brown identified five main themes: individual pride, racial group pride, deference to & fear of whites, colour blindness, & the belief that whites are prejudiced The frequency w/ which these themes were mentioned varied across generations Black parents were more likely to transmit messages about deference to & fear of white during periods of blatant racial segregation & legalized brutality It was found that messages of racial equality were more frequently transmitted to children during the early pre-Brown v. Board of Education era; the researchers concluded that black parents may feel particularly compelled to assert that all groups are equal during the historical period when that assertion was contested most passionately by whites Brown & Lesane-Brown (2006) found that the message one receives during childhood have far-reaching implications for one’s political attitudes & behaviors In other research, these scholars found that ethnic/racial socialization is linked with better academic performance in elementary school They found a curvilinear association, meaning that the positive effects of race socialization were most evident among children who had received moderately frequent messages, yet the protective effects were less evident among those who had parent-child conversations about their racial background either very frequently or very infrequently With our increasingly global society, children & young people will need to develop the skills & capacities to negotiate multicultural contexts in their everyday lives Children of all ethnic & racial backgrounds will require the skills & attitudes to think positively about racial, ethnic, & cultural diversity Parents, teachers, & other agents of socialization must also promote positive racial attitudes, counter negative attitudes, & enable effective responses to racism when it occurs Early Child Care & Youth Development To explore how differences in child care experiences influence children’s development, the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) initiated the Study of Early Child Care & Youth Development A team of researcher, led by Dr. Jay Belsky of Birkbeck University of London tracked more than 1.300 children from birth through sixth grade  they collected detailed data on how the children were cared for & what proportion of their lives they spent in a variety of different care settings The study’s authors were particularly interested in comparing children who were cared for by relatives, by nonrelatives, & by paid child-care providers They also measured the “quality” of the care received, based on periodic observations of the child-care centers  they examined whether the site, duration, & quality of care were associated w/ outcomes such as performance on vocabulary tests, social skills, work habits, emotional adjustment, behavior problems, & relationships w/ their teachers Children who spent more time in child care centers had more behavior problems in school The researchers honestly noted that the effect sizes were very modest – that is, that the differences in behavior problems b/w those children in day care & those in family care were trivial They also believed that several of their other findings were much more important First, they found that children who were in high-quality child-care settings went on to have higher vocab scores that other children Second, they found that the quality of parenting mattered much more than where a child was cared for One reason parents matter more than child-care arrangements is that they are an enduring presence in the children’s lives, while day care is just a short-term experience Unanswered Questions Gender role socialization: the learning of gender roles through social factors such as schooling, the media, & family Gender roles: social roles assigned to each sex & labeled as masculine & feminine Are Gender Differences Caused By Social Influences Many studies have examined the degree to which gender differences are the result of social influences Studies of mother-infant interaction show differences in the treatment of boys & girls even when parents believe their reactions to both are the same Gender learning by infants is almost certainly unconscious  before a child can label itself either a boy or girl, the child receives preverbal cues Systematic differences in dress, hairstyle, & so on provide visual cues for the infant in the learning process By age two, children have a partial understanding of what gender is Not until age five or six does a child know that a person’s sex does not change, that everyone has gender, & that sex differences b/w girls & boys are anatomically based Children’s toys, picture books, & television programs all tend to emphasize male & female attributes  toy stores & department stores usually categorize their products by gender Vanda Lucia Zammuner studied the toy preferences of children b/w 7 & 10 years of Italy & Holland On average, the Italian children chose gender-differentiated toys b/c more often than the Dutch children – a finding that conformed to expectations, b/c Italian culture holds a more traditional view of gender divisions than does Dutch societies As in other studies, girls from both societies chose gender-neutral or boys’ toys far often than boys chose girls’ toys 1970s, Lenore Weitzman & her colleagues analyzed gender roles in some of the most widely used preschool children’s books & found several clear differences in gender roles Males played a much larger part in the stories & pictures than did females, outnumbering females by a ratio of 95 to 1  the males engaged in adventurous pursuits & outdoor activities demanding independence & strength, but women were portrayed as passive & confined to indoor activities The research shows that the bulk of children’s literature remains the same; children’s books feature many more men & boys as leads than women & girls Analyses of children’s television programs match the findings about children’s books; in most popular cartoons, most leading figures are males & males dominate the active pursuits Is it possible to Practice Nonsexist Child Rearing? June Statham (1986) studied a group of parents committed to nonsexist child rearing Thirty adults in 18 families consisted of the researching party, also including children from ages 6 months to 12 years. The parents were middle class Most of the parents did not simply try to modify traditional gender roles by seeking to make girls more like boys, but wanted to foster new combinations of the feminine & masculine They wished boys to be more sensitive to others’ feelings & capable of expressing warmth, while they encouraged girls to seek opportunities for learning & selfadvancement Clearly, gender socialization is very powerful, & challenges to it can be upsetting  once a gender is “assigned”, society expects individuals to act like females & males It is in the practices of everyday life that these expectations are fulfilled & reproduced The research embodies a core element of socialization theory: that individuals continue to learn the norms, values, behaviors, & social practices of the particular (and often overlapping) subgroups to which they belong over the life course The lessons & values passed down from generation to generation can shift dramatically over time, reflecting historical shifts in the social & economic opportunities that young people face, & the roles that they will someday occupy Systems of gender & racial inequality have changed dramatically over time These changes will continue to reshape the ways that gender & racial socialization processes unfold for future cohorts of young people