CHAPTER 4 BECOMING

A MEMBER OF SOCIETY
Learning Outcomes
1. Explain the development of one’s self and others as a
product of socialization and enculturation.
2. Identify the context, content, processes and consequences
of enculturation and socialization.
3. Identify the social goals and the socially acceptable means
of achieving these goals.
4. Advocate inclusive citizenship.
5. Promote protection of human dignity, rights and the
common good.
O T

O THE BIG QUESTIONS

O
O HOW DO WE BECOME KAPWA TO OTHERS?
 Becoming Kapwa in Philippine
Society
O Kapwa begins in the self. For Virgilio Enriquez who is
reputed as the founder of Sikolohiyang Filipino,
kapwa is both self and the other. It is in Martin
Buber’s words, the I- Thou { I- You }. The one good
thing about Filipino language is that through the
word kapwa it denotes and implies already the I-
thou relationship.
O Our life course begins inside the womb when we are
part of our mother’s body connected through her
umbilical cord. This is how kapwa begins because as
mother and the baby they are both “you” and “I”.
O Our father and loved ones come in the picture when
we are born. We then grow bigger and bigger and
attain full consciousness about ourselves and our
environment through the help of people around us-
this time not necessarily our relatives or family
members. We meet more kapwa like our neighbors,
teachers, classmates, strangers and a lot, lot more.
And as soon as we become self-directed and aware
about the meaning of caring and empathizing with
others, we then extend ourselves to others. We
therefore open ourselves to be a kapwa, to be man,
woman and a whole person to and for others.
 ENCULTURATION
 It is the process by which one becomes part of
his/her culture.
 Even while we are still being conceived culture
plays an important role. Expectant mothers do
have cultural beliefs about pregnancy. It is a
luck, a source of joy, an inspiration for the
family.
 When we are born, our superstitious parents
will adorn us with lucky charms liked red
bracelet or red ribbon to ward off bad spirit.
 Some parents put red mark lipstick on our
forehead.
Ask your parents or the ones who raised you: what
were the practices and beliefs they followed when
you were still a baby?
 SOCIALIZATION
O In one aspects it means getting along with other people.
It may mean also becoming a member of a group or
being in the group.
O It also means becoming a part of society.
O It also connotes social interaction beyond the family. In
short when we go out and explore the outside world and
meet people, socialization happens.
O Socialization therefore is a ” process by which
individuals acquire the knowledge, language, social
skills, and value to conform to the norms and role
required for integration into a group or community.
 AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
Systematically because of our informal or formal
social and institutional affiliations, we become part of
society. These groups or institutions are responsible
for shaping our understanding of the world around us,
the language we use to interact with people, the social
skills we develop along us, the language we use to
interact and the belief system that reinforces values
and norms of society.
 Agents of socialization
O Family
O Schools
O Peers
O Ethnic Background
O Work
O Media
O Government
O Religion
What do you think is the difference
between enculturation and
socialization?
 Both enculturation and socialization talk about

O Identity formation– Bottom line is, how do we

construct our self identity? In the beginning of the
process, it is all more about how external elements
and factors shape who we are. At certain point in our
life according to Erik Erickson there is that stage
where identity crisis emerges and that is during
adolescence.
O Norms and Values–Any culture or society has norms
and values. Norms are explicit and implicit rules and
conventions, which are followed by individuals in their
social relations with others.
IDENTITY FORMATION
We now know what socialization means, but
what is identity? Identity is what makes an
individual who he really is and what his
purpose in life is. It is what makes an
individual definable and recognizable. It is who
you are and where you come from and what
makes you unique from every other human
being. It gives an individual a sense of being.
O Identity can be defined as individuality,
personality, distinctiveness or uniqueness
that makes an individual stand out. Like
socialization, identity cannot be seen at face
value. Identity has many layers to itself, and
as we walk through life, each new layer
keeps unfolding in front of us.
O Identity formation is the development
of an individual’s distinct personality,
which is regarded as a persisting
entity in a particular stage of life by
which a person is recognized or
known.
O Individuals gain a social identity and
group identity by their affiliations. Self-
concept is different from self-
consciousness, which is an awareness
of one’s self. Components of self-
concept include physical, psychological,
and social attributes, which can be
influenced by the individual’s attitudes,
habits, beliefs, and ideas. Cultural
identity is one’s feeling of identity
affiliation to a group or culture.
O Similarly, an ethnic identity is the identification
with a certain ethnicity, usually on the basis of
a presumed common genealogy or ancestry.
Further, national identity is an ethical and
philosophical concept whereby all humans are
divided into groups called nations.
O Religious identity is the set of beliefs and
practices generally held by an individual,
involving adherence to codified beliefs and
rituals and study of ancestral or cultural
traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as
well as faith and mystic experience.
NORMS AND VALUES
NORMS
 Is an idea in the minds of the
members of the group put into a
statement specifying what members
of the group should do,ought to do or
are expected to do under
circumstances.
 Norms define the proper ways of
behaving for a number of situations.
O Norms pertain to society’s standards of
propriety, morality, ethics and legality.
O Norms define tasks and expectations to
make group activity and cooperation
possible.
 Four kind of norms in society
O Customs or folkways- these are tradition and religious
practices observed by a given community.
O Mores– norms that regulate ethical behavior, which
point to question what is wrong and right as prescribed
by society. The example of this is when society
pressures live-in partners to marry
O Taboos- These are norms prohibiting individual against
practices that are considered to be extremely “ immoral
or “ unacceptable” in society. Bestiality or having sex
with animals is taboo.
O Laws- written norms legislated by a law-making body,
which carry punishment as a consequence for
violators.”
Sanctions
O While norms are the guidelines for behavior,
not all members of the society follow them.
This results from the ignorance lack of
knowledge about the norms, the tendency to
follow the norms of one’s subgroups or
personal reasons or principles.
 To ensure that the members of the society
conform or behave in ways prescribed for them,
there are ways and means to make them to do
so.
Conformity is attained through the use of
sanctions, which are the socially imposed
rewards and punishments.
Rewards are those for who behaves properly and
punishments are for those who behave
otherwise. Sanctions may also be formal or
informal.
O Informal sanctions are gossip, unfavorable or
favorable public opinion, giving or withdrawing
of friendships, affection or love. Those who do
not keep up with the fashions or fads are
subject to ridicule or are called’ old
fashioned.”
O Formal sanctions maybe getting high grades
or awards in school, promotion or salary
increase in one’s place of work, medals of
honor, merit awards and citations.
VALUES
O While norms are standard , patterns, rules and
guides of expected behavior, values are abstract
concepts of what is important and worthwhile.
These values are the basis of our judgment, of
what we considered bad, undesirable, ugly and
wrong. Frequently, we hear people regard others
who have done wrong as having “no sense of
values” or lament the erosion of values. This
remark is made when the behavior of an
individual is considered undesirable or wrong.
O Filipino values can be translated as buti,
pamantayan, halaga, and ganda. It is buti
because it is something desired of what is good.
We always value what is good and our main
source of peace of mind is that we choose to act
in good faith. Since values are our standards
which enable us to organize our ideas and
interpret our experiences within the context
commonly shared meaning of things, events or
actions, values are referred to as our
pamantayan, halaga, because of their worth,
importance, evaluation or assessment. Finally,
values for us also said to be ganda for
encompassing everything to be pursued. What is
beautiful must be realized.
 SOCIALIZATION THROUGH
ROLE AND STATUS
O Socialization as a process involves acquiring
a status and playing the corresponding role.
An individual is born into a group and
occupies a certain position or rank. He
maybe the eldest child, the second child or
the third child. As he joins other groups, he
also occupies a particular position in the
structural system of the group. This is
referred to as status and it tells where the
position is in patterns and expectations
associated with certain status.
 Status refers to any of the full range of
socially defined positions within a large group , or
society from the lowest to the highest.
Role is a set of expectations for people who
occupy a given social position or status.

A status is a set of privileges and duties. A role

is the acting out of these set of duties and
privileges.
 Two types of Status
O The ascribed statuses- are those which are
assigned to the individual from birth. These
are assigned according to some criteria. The
most universal of which are sex and gender.
One is born whether a male or a female and
a process of role differentiation is made.
One learns the behavior patterns and
expectations according is made. One learns
the behavior patterns and expectations
according to his sex status.
O The achieved status- is acquired by choice or
through competition and individual effort and
is made possible through special abilities or
talents, performance or opportunity.
Becoming a singer or entry into any profession
is an achieved status. Getting married endows
one with an achieved status.
 is a set of expectations for peoplewho
occupy a given social position or statrus. We
become socialized largely through learning our
roles. We must learn to fill roles as a child, student,
parent, employee, organization officer or member,
a member of a particular racial and social citizen,
resident of a community and many others.
O We must learn to perfom the duties and
claim the privileges of the role
O We must acquire the attitudes, feelings and
expectations appropriate to the role.
O It sometimes happens that an individual
encounters conflicting demands from his
two or more roles, and experiences role
conflict. His effort to performone role
efficiently runs counter to the expectations
of the other role.
O Social control is the basic solidarity and
conformity rather than deviance.
1. -- functions by prohibiting
certain social behaviors and responding to
violations with punishment.
2. -- obliges an
offender to pay a victim to compensate for a harm
commited.
3. -- involves the use of
therapy to return individuals to a norman state.
4. -- aims to reconcile the
parties of a dispute and mutually restore harmony
to a social relationship that has been damaged.
O All societies have standards for judging appropriate behavior
and standards about what constitutes an ideal person and a
normal person and sanctions to make its members conform.
Despite the efforts of society, there are instances when the
members go astray or break the norms. Behavior that goes
beyond certain limits of what is considered normal, disregard
for, defiance of, non conformity to or flaunting of the social
norms or established standards of the group and is in ways
radically different from norms, especially if done consistently is
called deviant behavior or non- conformity. Deviant behavior
may be tolerated, approved or disapproved.
1. -- most serious acts of
deviance are about which there is near-
unanimous public agreement. Acts like murder
and sexual assault are generally regarded as
morally intolerable, injurious, and subject to
harh penalties.
2. are acts like prostitutetion
or smoking marijuana, which may be illegal
but about which there is considerable public
disagreement concerning their seriousness.
3. are acts like abusing
serving staff or behaviors arising from mental
illness and addiction, which are norms in a
provocative way but are widelky regarded as
serious or harmful. People agree that they call
for institutional intervention.
O 4. lke riding skateboards
on sidewalks, overly tight leggings, or facial
piercings that violate nowms in a provocative
way but are generally regarded as distaste .