Socialization Into Yourselves Analysis Essay

If any of the phrasing in your paper or ideas came from any source other than your own original work and thinking make sure that you identify that source and use quotation marks if it is a direct quotation.

You do not need to provide a bibliography if you only quote the textbook,lectures, or other assigned course readings. Quote those sources as appropriate though. If you use outside sources, please quote those using a systematic citation style. The one you use doesn’t matter, but don’t make it up. If you are confused about this please be in touch.

Feel free to write in a “voice” that is comfortable for you. If you prefer to use the first person, that is fine. Contractions are also fine. Slang is sometimes appropriate, especially if it is called for by the analysis. But keep in mind that your essay needs to be successful as a tool for communicating an argument that is based on specific evidence and examples. These aren’t personal essays or opinion essays. They are analytical essays that ask you to use the concepts and ideas from the class to examine some aspect of social life(even options based on your personal experience focuson your analysis of that experience). Your papers should be between 1200 and 1500 words. We will not directly take off points related to the word count, but you won’t be able to do a good job on these assignments writing less than 1200, while doing more than 1500 is probably overkill. Please also put your word count at the top of the paper.

Socialization into Yourselves

People inhabit multiple social worlds, and act differently in those different worlds. Socialization is one of the processes that allows this to happen, focusing on how we learn and internalize the norms, values, beliefs, habits, knowledge, behaviors, and modes of action that allow us to function in those different social worlds. In this essay, please identify two distinct social worlds that you inhabit and the ways that the differences between them are reflected in your different “selves” in those settings. The question that should be the focus of your essay is why do these settings call for (or demand!) different selves?

Your paper will have to accomplish several tasks. First, make sure to provide a thorough description of the settings and the “selves” that you adopt in them, focusing on differences between the two, as well as similarities,and whether you experience them ascomplementary or contradictory (although you should also notesimilarities). Second, you should provide an analysis of why you adopt different selves in these settings focusing both on how the setting enforces or demands it and on the different socialization processes in the two different settings (the lecture, slides, and textbook all talk about aspects of the socialization process and you should use those resources to guide your discussion of socialization –don’t just wing it, use the concepts and theories we have gone over).

All of that work is the set up to allow you to answer the main question for this paper which is:why do these settings call for different selves? Does it have to do with what the settings are about? With power? With different cultures or social groups? Different goals or purposes within the setting? Different people or relationships? There are lots of other possibilities but those will hopefully get your thinking started down a useful road.