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Theories of Socialization

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Theories of Socialization
Introduction to Sociology
October 20, 2010

Understanding socialization can be a very challenging process which can lead to several theories. There were a few good thinkers from the mid 1800s to the late 1900s that developed a few good theories to understand society. Sigmund Freud, developer of the “Psychoanalysis” theory, believed the humans have two basic needs or drives that are present at birth. One is the need for sexual and emotional bonding, which he called “life instinct” and the second is an aggressive drive that we all share called the “death instinct”. In his theory the human personality has three parts; the “id” which are the human’s innate, pleasure-seeking drives which are typically unconscious and demand immediate satisfaction, the “ego” which are our efforts to balance innate, pleasure-seeking drives and the demands of society, and the “superego” which are the demands of society in the form of internalized values and norms. This was called the elements of personality. Another great thinker was Jean Piaget who developed the “cognitive development” theory. Piaget theory is based on human cognition, how people think and understand. He developed this theory by identifying four stages of cognitive development. The first is the sensorimotor stage, this is the level of human development at which individuals experience the world only through their senses; this will be in the first two years of a child’s life. The next is the preoperational stage which is the level of human development at which individuals first use language and other symbols; this happens about age two through six. The third is the concrete operational stage which is the level of human development at which individuals first sees casual connections in their surroundings; normally between the ages of seven and eleven. The last is the formal operational

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