4.7 Applying the Sociological Literacy Framework to Culture and Socialization
Sociological Eye
Definition
Focusing on how group membership shapes human behavior and attitudes.
Selected Examples
- How age structure can drive cultural change
- How norms and laws may change because of an aging population
- Development of subcultures with a focus on Deaf culture
- Narratives of illness identity
- Culture shock, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism related to toileting norms
Social Structure
Definition
The relationships and patterned interaction connecting different individuals, groups, and organizations that endure and shape behavior and attitudes.
Selected Examples
- Institutions with a focus on medicine
- How social institutions socially construct health and illness
- How age is associated with roles and status
Socialization
Definition
The process by which people learn about their culture.
Selected Examples
- Role of values in the development of disordered eating
- Agents of socialization
- Development of the self (role-taking, looking-glass self, double consciousness, and impression management)
Stratification
Definition
The systematic and unequal distribution of power, status, and resources.
Selected Examples
- How long-term care for older people is correlated with social class
- Symbolic boundaries for age-based classification
- The looking-glass self for women athletes
- Impact of double-consciousness for Black people’s impression management
- Job seeker’s impression management to deter age-based discrimination
Social Change and Social Reproduction
Definition
The process by which people transform and maintain social arrangements and social structure.
Selected Examples
- Medical and social models as frames for understanding disability
- Changes in the socialization of neurodivergent people
- Socialization