Symbolic Interactionism and Social Identity

1. Symbolic Interactionism and Social Identity • The Self • Perception of one’s identity: Who Am I? • Formed through interaction with others. • Stages of development. • The Generalized Other. • Constantly changing. • Socialization. • Anticipatory socialization. • Socialization and Internalization • We are to some extent who others tell us we are! • Positive self image and position within the social structure.

2. Social Identity and Sexuality • Social Identity Theory: Who Am I? • Categorization: Status in social structure. • Identification: Self. • Comparison: Referent others. • Social: Normative expectations for behavior. • Ideology: Who Should I Be? • Gender role expectations. • Age effects. • Cohort effects. • Period effects.

3. Social Identity and Sexuality • Gender Role Theory: What is a Man, a Woman? • Shared expectations about behavior. • Men: Agentic (Task Oriented). • Women: Communal (Social Oriented). • When men and women interact, they reinforce these shared expectations.

4. Social Identity and Sexuality • Expectations States Theory: Who rules? • In American society, men are defined as leaders and men are expected to behave as leaders. • Apart from leadership skills, men take on the role of leaders to conform to expectations that they do so. • Example: Social trumps self.

5. Cultural Lag and Masculinity Aaron Lipman, 1962 • Socialization • We learn the common value system of society. We “learn” to be male and female. • In an information age, the functioning of society depends mainly upon intellectual skills. • Intellectual skills are the most highly rewarded monetarily. • Men are socialized to be leaders. • Therefore, men should place high value on intellectual skills.

6. Cultural Lag and Masculinity Aaron Lipman, 1962 • Socialization • High school boys do not place high value on intellectual skills, preferring instead to be thought of as athletic or popular. • Functionally, our normative expectations for masculinity lag behind the needs of society. • Young men in urban societies, not having as much opportunity to exhibit traits of traditional masculinity as their rural counterparts, substitute new ways of exhibiting physical traits.

7. Cultural Lag and Masculinity Aaron Lipman, 1962 • Socialization • Urban men exhibit “toughness,” “courage,” “mechanical skills,” and so forth as a way of linking masculinity with physical attributes. • Contemporary society demands that masculinity be redefined from the physical to the intellectual. • We need new, positive, urban-oriented values that articulate the needs of both the culture and the young man.