Social Transitions

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Social Transitions

• Social Transitions Historically
• Common Practices in Social Redefinition
• Process
• Separation
• Transition
• Re-incorporation
• Rites of Passage
• Changes in Clarity Continuity
• Contemporary Adolescence

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Socialization is

• The process by which people acquire the
  behaviors and beliefs of their culture

Socialization Outcomes

1. Self-regulation ability to comply with social
   norms
2. Role preparation for roles in work, gender,
   institutions such as marriage, parenthood
3. Cultivation of sources of meaning whats
   important? Whats to be lived for?

3
Adolescence as a Social Invention

• Adolescence defined primarily by being distinct
  from childhood or adulthood, not by cognitive and
  biological changes
• Inventionists stress that because we perceive
  adolescence as distinct, it exists as a distinct
  period of the lifespan
• Relative to other cultures and historical periods
• Problems experienced during adolescence may be
  due to societys definition of adolescence, not
  cognitive or biological changes

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Adolescence as a Social Invention

• Roots in the Industrial Revolution
• Young people excluded from labor force
• Economic dependence on elders
• Formal schooling is lengthened
• New Terminology
• Teenager
• Youth
• Emerging adulthood

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Emerging Adulthood

• Arnetts (1998) term for ages 18-25 caught
  between adolescence and adulthood, characterized
  by
• Exploring possible identities before making
  enduring choices
• Unstable work, romantic relationships, and living
  situations
• Focus on oneself and independent functioning
• Subjective feeling of being caught between
  adolescence and adulthood
• Subjective feeling that life holds many
  possibilities

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Social Redefinition

• A time of change in social roles and status
• How society defines adolescence
• Contemporary society vs. traditional cultures
• Implications for development
• Identity, autonomy, responsibility, intimacy,
  sexuality, achievement

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Social Redefinition and Psychosocial Development

• Identity
• Attainment of adult status causes adolescent to
  feel more adult-like
• Autonomy
• Adult status leads to shifts in responsibility,
  independence, and freedom
• Intimacy, dating and marriage
• Need for new decisions about sexual activity
• Achievement
• Becoming a full-time employee leave school of
  their own volition

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The Process of Social Redefinition

• Contemporary America Movement through a series
  of status transitions with a cohort over a period
  of years
• Driving, purchasing alcohol, etc.
• Generally begins at age 15 or 16
• Permission to drive, work, leave school
• Voting, age 18
• Purchasing alcoholic beverages, age 21
• Timetable is affected by economics, politics, and
  culture

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The Process

• Three themes
• Separation
• Transition
• Reincorporation

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The Process

• Separation
• Extrusion Real or symbolic separation from
  parents

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Social Redefinition Three Major Components

• Transition
• Separation of males and females
• Brother-sister avoidance
• Passing on of cultural, historical, and practical
  information
• from the adult generation to the newly inducted
  cohort of young people

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The Process of Social Redefinition

• Some societies mark social redefinition of the
  young person with a dramatic and elaborate
  initiation ceremony called a rite of passage
• This often marks the beginning of a long period
  of training

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Social Redefinition Rites of Passage

• Cushion emotional disruption
• Anchoring
• Provides a sense of belonging to both individual
  and society
• Inform
• Individual and society
• Attempt to provide clarity

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Social Redefinition

• Reciprocity
• Privileges and rights in exchange for good
  conduct
• Change in status
• Interpersonal
• Political
• Economic
• Legal

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Changes in Status

• Two-sided alteration in status
• Given privileges/rights reserved for societys
  adults
• Increased expectations for
• self-management
• personal responsibility
• social participation

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Four Major Changes in Status

• Interpersonal
• Political
• Economic
• Legal

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Changes in Interpersonal Status

• Addressed with adult titles
• Maintain new types of social relationships with
• Parents and elders
• Younger individuals whose status has not yet
  changed
• New interpersonal obligations
• Taking care of and setting example for younger
  members of family

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Changes in Political Status

• More extensive participation in the communitys
  decision making
• Voting (U.S. citizens)
• Ceremonial life (Navajo people - formal
  initiation ceremony)
• Expected to serve their communities in emergency
  and train for warfare

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Changes in Economic Status

• May own property and maintain control over their
  income
• Until age 16, belongs to parents
• Until 18, cannot enter into legal contract like a
  car lease
• Age is a prerequisite for employment in certain
  occupations
• Child labor laws in the United States
• Expected to pay taxes

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Changes in Legal Status

• Ability to participate in activities typically
  reserved for adults
• Gambling
• Purchasing alcohol, smoking
• Driving, voting
• Expected to take increased responsibility for
  self-management and social participation

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Types of transitions I

• Clarity explicit markers of beginning and end
  of adolescence
• Traditional cultures ceremonies, initiations
• Contemporary culture
• Less of an emphasis on attainment of roles
• Arnett (1998) what defines adulthood?
• Accept responsibility for consequences of actions
• Financially independent

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Social Transitions The Importance of Clarity

• Lewins Marginal man
• caught between two cultural systems and feel
  alienated by one or both .
• threats to identity may lead to higher levels of
  deviance, excessive anxiety and psychiatric
  instability
• Contemporary trends in status according to
  Arnett
• Less emphasis on attaining a specific role and
  more emphasis on self-reliance
• Decline in importance of family roles
• Similar criteria for males and females, fewer
  gender-typed role expectations

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Social Transitions Clarity in Industrialized
Societies

• Given the absence of clarity
• People of the same chronological age may feel
  more mature or less mature than age-mates
• No clear indication of when adult
  responsibilities and privileges begin
• How adolescents view themselves today
• Less emphasis on attainment of specific roles
• Less emphasis on importance of family roles
• Fewer gender role differences

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Social Transitions Clarity in Traditional
Cultures

• Social redefinition is clearly recognized
• Formal initiation ceremony
• Boys timing of ceremony varies
• Girls timing usually linked to menarche
• Physical appearance is often changed (clothing,
  circumcision)
• Adults clearly differentiated from children

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Social Transitions Clarity in Previous Eras

• Baby boom generation (1950s-1960s)
• Finishing school, moving out, getting married all
  occurred early and within narrow timeframe
• Transition in the early 19th century was more
  disorderly and prolonged (like today)
• School viewed as children
• Work viewed as adults
• Timetable depended on household/family needs

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Types of transitions II

• Continuity smoothness of passage into adulthood
• Continuous
• Gradual transitions, in which the adolescent
  assumes the roles and status of adulthood bit by
  bit
• Assume new roles a bit at a time with lots of
  preparation and training
• Discontinuous
• Sudden transitions, in which the adolescents
  entrance into adulthood is more abrupt, with
  little or no training
• Thrust into new roles with little preparation

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Continuity and Discontinuity

• Modern society is very discontinuous
• Little preparation for roles of worker, parent,
  citizen
• Call to improve school-to-work transition
• Youth apprenticeship model
• Options for non-college-bound high school
  students
• Make transition more like traditional cultures
  previous eras

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Discontinuity

• Socializing of adolescents for adult roles
  (worker, parent) adequate?
• Contributes to psychological and behavioral
  problems
• Benedict creates stress
• Abrupt transitions
• Teenage parents
• School drop-outs
• Moving out of family home

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The Transition into Adulthood in Contemporary
Society

• Two trends are reshaping the transition
• The transition period is getting longerPuberty
  occurs earlier and schooling lasts longer.
• Success in the labor force is more dependent on
  formal schooling

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Contemporary Transitions

• In all societies
• Adolescence is a period of social transition
• The individual comes to be recognized as an adult
• The social transition is less explicit in
  contemporary U.S. society than in traditional
  cultures

Osgood, Ruth, Eccles, Jacobs, Barber (2005)
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The Transition into Adulthood in Contemporary
Society

• Adolescents are living at home longer than ever
  before
• 55 U.S. 20- to 22-year-olds
• May be a result of increased costs of housing and
  transportation