good judgment. Lower-class families are simi-
lar to working-class families in favoring con-
formity and obedience, and the affluent follow
the middle class in favoring creativity and good
judgment. Kohn (1977) found that these dif-
ferences are determined by the pattern of the
parents’ jobs. Blue-collar workers are closely
supervised in their jobs, so they tend to social-
ize their children into the obedience model, but
skilled tradesmen, who have more freedom,
tend to socialize their children into the creativ-
ity model.
Socialization in the family is rarely the
result of intentional training but rather hap-
pens through the kind of environment the
adults create. Whether children see themselves
as smart or stupid, loved or simply tolerated,
whether they see the world as safe or dangerous, depends largely on what happens
at home during the first few years of their lives.Education
In modern societies, we spend almost a third of our lives in school. Seventy-five per-
cent of the U.S. population graduates from high school after 12 or 13 years of edu-
cation, and 25 percent completes four or five years of college. Graduate school or
professional school can add another five to ten years. During this time, we are learn-
ing facts, concepts, and skills, but education also has a latent function, a “hidden cur-
riculum” that instills social norms and values, such as the importance of competition.
Education has an enormous impact on our sense of self, and it is nearly as important
as family in instilling us with our first social statuses. For example, high school cur-
ricula are typically divided into “academic” and “practical” subjects. Most students
are channeled into one or the other on the basis of their race or class, thus ensuring
that White middle-class children prepare for college and middle-class careers, while
non-White and working-class children prepare for working-class jobs.
Education socializes us not only into social class, but into race, gender, and sex-
ual identity statuses. Jonathan Kozol (1967) documented the “destruction of the hearts
and minds” of African American children in the Boston public schools in the 1960s,
where teachers and administrators were overtly prejudiced, but even teachers and
administrators who are not prejudiced privilege in-groups and marginalize or ignore
out-groups, often in the interest of “not rocking the boat.”Religion
The United States is the most religious nation in the Western world: 40 percent of
the population attends religious services every week, and nine out of ten have a
weekly conversation with God. (Nearly 60 percent pray every day or several times
a day—higher for Blacks and Latinos (Pew Forum, 2007). But we are socialized into
religious belief in many places besides churches, mosques, and temples. Often we
pray or hear religious stories at home. Nearly two-thirds of Americans with Inter-
net access have used it for religious purposes (Hoover, Clark, and Rachie, 2004). In
school, we recite the Pledge of Allegiance, which since the mid-twentieth century has152 CHAPTER 5SOCIALIZATIONJOne of the chief socializing
institutions is religion. Here,
a Jewish family celebrates
Passover, which requires the
telling of the story of Exodus
to each generation.