III Match the noun on the left with the correct definition on the right

1. value	a) the act of disagreeing or questioning something
2. knowledge	b) an account of a person’s life written by someone else
3. technology	c) the facts, skills and understanding one gained through learning or experience
4. generation	d) facts or details that tell you smth about a situation, person, event
5. individual	e) the opinions and feelings that you usually have about smth
6. information	f) the importance or usefulness of smth
7. siblings	g) all the people of about the same age
8. biography	h) a person with thought, feelings and ideas of their own
9. universe	i) one of two children born at the same time to the same mother
10. twin	j) knowledge about scientific or industrial methods or the use of these methods
11. experience	k) formal a brother or sister
12. argument	l) all space including all the stars and planets
13. attitude	m) knowledge or skill gained while doing a job
14. predisposition	n) a tendency to behave in a particular way or suffer from a particular illness

IV Translate from Russian into English

1. Этапы социализации совпадают с этапами возрастного развития индивида.

2. Ранняя социализация связана с освоением представлений о мире и характере взаимоотношений людей.

3. Социализация личности начинается с рождения и длится всю жизнь. Этот процесс на каждой стадии осуществляют особые институты.

4. К агентам социализации относятся: семья, детские сады, школы, вузы, группы сверстников, СМИ, литература и искусство и т.д.

5. Каждый этап социализации связан с действием определенных агентов.

6. Агенты социализации – это люди и учреждения, связанные с ней и ответственные за ее результаты.

7. Социологи используют термин социализация для описания процесса, с помощью которого люди обучаются приспосабливаться к социальным нормам.

8. Социализация это процесс усвоения личностью образцов поведения общества, его ценностей и норм.

9. Человек становится личностью, общаясь с другими людьми.

10. Личность занимает определенное положение в обществе, принадлежит к определенному классу, социальной группе.

11. В соответствии со своим социальным статусом личность играет определенные социальные роли.

Text 2

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM:

¾ Social origin of the self;

¾ Gestures and symbols;

¾ Role and role taking;

¾ The “I” and the “ME”.

Now we will discuss the dominant theoretical perspective used by sociologists to explain socialization. Our discussion draws heavily on the work of George Herbert Mead, who was a sociologist at the University of Chicago; his ideas are presented in his book “Mind, Self and Society” (1934).

The two words in the term symbolic interactionism summarize the concept: Symbols make social interaction possible. Communication is vital for social interaction. We will present his key concepts in considerable detail, because this approach is central to most microlevel analyses of social behavior.

Most of us do not spend much time analyzing concepts such as soul, self, or psyche. We take for granted that we have one. It is what we are and with it we continually confront the world around us. Frequently, religions provide theological explanations: you were uniquely created by a higher power. There are also Western philosophical traditions that explain “mind” as the built-in rational quality that makes us human and with which we can be part of the universe.

Mead, who rejected both religious and popular psychological explanations, sought a social explanation for the self. The central question that influenced his research was what is the social origin of the self? “Our contention is that mind can never find expression, and could never have come into existence at all, except in terms of a social environment; that an organized set or pattern of social relations and interactions (especially those of communication by means of gestures as significant symbols and thus creating a universe of discourse) is necessarily presupposed by it and involved in its nature” (Mead 1934)

Mead focused on gestures and speech as the major forms of symbolic communication. We communicate in additional ways such as the use of synthetic odors (aftershave and perfume), the cost, style, or amount of clothing we are wearing, and the way we present or pose our bodies (posture, body language, etc.) Most evolutionary biologists locate the beginning of speech with Cro-Magnon man, 40,000 B.C.E. Whenever and however it developed, our biological capability of producing speech was crucial.

Both Mead and his friend John Dewey focused upon another biological feature of our behavior. All living things are in some way biologically active. Mead observed that human cooperation begins with a gesture, the beginning part of the social act that leads to symbolic communication. If someone shakes a fist in your face, you probably grasp the significance or meaning of the gesture. For you, the fist shaking has become a significant gesture. A gesture becomes a significant symbol when it has a learned meaning. The meaning is the common social use of a symbol. You and someone else are understood when you are using symbols in the same way. Our brains give us the ability to remember the meaning or use of symbols we have previously encounted. We have the ability to learn the meaning of liberally thousands of symbols.

Mead observed that we could internalize the meaning of symbols. We consider the relationship of one symbol to another or one experience to another. When we weigh or consider the various alternatives to help us reach a desired goal, we are not only thinking, we are being what John Dewey called intelligent.

Mead created the concept of role or role taking to explain how we organize symbols in our memory to guide our behavior in the presence of others. We continually see ourselves as others see us or as we imagine others see us.

Another sociologist, George Horton Cooley, a contemporary of Mead, developed a similar notion to explain how we see ourselves in the responses of others. People act as mirrors for each other. In Cooley’s words, “Each to each a looking glass, reflects the other what [does] pass”. (1961) We have ideas about how others expect us to behave. A role is a set of symbols that we call upon to guide our behavior in the presence of others. You have learned how to behave in the presence of parents, and you behave quite differently in the presence of your boyfriend or girlfriend.

Most of the roles we play are so continual or frequent that we seldom think about them. “We are, especially through the use of the gestures, continually arousing in ourselves those responses which we call out in other persons, so that we are taking the attitudes of the other persons into conduct”. (Mead 1934) Our interaction with others continually informs our thinking. We modify our behavior as we move from role to role as we seek to clarify uncertainty in our relationships with another person. Sometimes we feel awkward or uncertain because we know very little about the person with whom we are interacting. We imagine what they are like – a sports fan or perhaps a serious student. We act on one of these assumptions and observe their reaction. Do they change the subject because they’re not interested in sports? If we observe their changing the subject and if we want to interact further, we modify our own behavior and look for something else to talk about that might have mutual interest. In this sense, social action with others continually informs our thinking. We are always thinking with the symbols that w already possess. People acquire new symbols to guide their relationships with and responses to new acquaintances.

Taking the role of others is only one part of self-development. Mead created the concept of the “generalized other” to analyze everything going on in a society that the individual considers while guiding his or her own conduct – the common social activity. We learn many general rules that guide our conduct in the presence of other people. This includes notions of good manners, etiquette, and behavior in the presence of strangers or in public places.

The “I” and “ME” are terms created by Mead to describe aspects of the self. Neither exists without the other. The “I” is the spontaneous part of the self which influences the world we live in. The ability (to objectify our part selves) to look at ourselves as a past object is the “ME”. You have certainly observed different types of personalities – most people respond in a consistent manner to the events of their lives. Some appear to be oversocialized, to be dominated by the “ME”, to be a slave to the expectations of others. Another person may appear to march to his or her own dream – they bring a critical perspective to the expectations of others. The symbolic interaction approach focused on the prior existence of the social world into which each new individual is socialized.

I Vocabulary

1. to summarize – суммировать, резюмировать, подводить итог

2. vital – (жизненно) важный, насущный

3. concept – понятие, идея

4. to take for granted – считать доказанным; принимать на веру

5. theological explanation – теологическое (богословское) объяснение

6. contention – спор; раздор, разногласие

7. existence – бытие, существование

8. to exist – существовать

9. discourse – речь, дискурс

10. to presuppose – предполагать

11. cooperation – сотрудничество, взаимодействие

12. meaning – значение; смысл

13. brain – мозг

14. ability – способность

15. internalize – перенимать, усваивать, впитывать

16. conduct – руководство, управление

17. to clarify – прояснить; пролить свет

18. awkward – неуклюжий, неловкий

19. assumption – предположение, допущение

20. to possess – владеть, располагать, обладать

21. generalized other – обобщенное другое

22. consistent manner – постоянная манера

23. oversocialized – чересчур социализирован

24. prior (existence) – прежнее, предшествующее (состояние)

II Comprehension check

1. What was George Herbert Mead? Why are his key concepts important?

2. What was the central question that influenced his research?

3. How can mind find expression in Mead’s opinion?

4. What are the major forms of symbolic communication in Mead’s opinion?

5. When does a gesture become a significant symbol?

6. What did Mead explain with the concept of role and role taking?

7. Why do people act as mirrors for each other?

8. What is a role?

9. Why do we seldom think about roles in play?

10. What does our interaction with others continually inform?

11. Why do we modify our behaviour as we move from role to role?

12. What general rules do we learn to guide our conduct in the presence of other people?

13. What is the “I”?

14. What is the “ME”

15. What people are dominated by the “I”?

16. What people are dominated by the “ME”?

17. What does symbolic interaction approach focus on?