Applied Research: Update

So far I have given the survey to seven kids and one parents. Three of the children were 6, two were 4 and one was 10. Almost all of them drew a boy and girl in a generic manner, the girl with long hair and the boy with short hair. Many of the older kids responded to questions 8 and 9 how I expected, "I wouldn't play with a truck/doll because that is a boy/girl toy", it surprised me that the younger kids were more open to playing with toys that did not traditionally abide to their gender. I wish I made more of my questions like that because that is where I am finding responses closer to what I was expecting. However, some of answers concerning favorites seem to be gender neutral things (such as a favorite show being spongebob). I am having trouble surveying the kids parents because they are not as available to me so I think my findings are not going to result in if parents impose gender roles on their children but something more along the lines of gender roles are not considered until a certain age. I am excited to continue my research, a little disappointed that it is not going where I originally intended but I will be happy if I am able to conclude something from the survey.

Applied Research: Finalized Plan

The purpose of my survey is to see if children confide in gender roles that are influenced by their parents. Below is the survey I plan on asking participants:

`Hi, my name is Morgan Raspanti! I am a senior at Immaculate Heart Academy and would like to invite you to take a minute and be a part of my research for my sociology class! For this class I have been writing a blog about childhood socialization, as we reach the second half of the quarter the blogging is being directed towards applied research. Firstly I am writing this to ask for permission to ask your child some questions (attached on back) and to ask you a shorter series of similar questions. All help is appreciated! Thank you! (:

Please sign on the dotted line below:

 x……..………………………………………..

Parent Survey:

1.       Age:

2.   Gender: Male/Female

3.     What is your child’s favorite

-        Color?

-        Toy?

-        Game?

-        Show?

Children Survey:

4.   Age:

5.   Gender: Male/Female

6.   What is your favorite

-        Color?

-        Toy?

-        Game?

-        Show?

7.    What games do you play with your parents?

8.   What do you want to be when you grow up?

9.   Would you play with dolls? Why or why not?

10.            Would you play with trucks? Why or why not?

11.    Who is your best friend?      

12.            Can you draw a boy and a girl?

Gender Wage Gap Response

First Article
Second Article

            Both articles (linked above) suggest that the wage gap could be due to employee behavior. They suggest women tend to negotiate less aggressively, hence being less inclined to ask for a raise. Both also suggest that on average women work fewer hours than men. In addition to being more likely to seek part-time work, women are also more likely to have gaps in their employment history and to enter lower-paying fields. The one article particularly speaking about doctors found that the female doctors tended to be in lower-paying specialties, have fewer publications, hold fewer administrative leadership positions.

            The first article I read suggested that the pay gap is exaggerated, and not actually present, and is attributable to the choices made by women concerning the amount of time and energy they devote to a career because there is no gender gap in wages among men and women with similar family roles. While the other one suggested that the gap is still very much present and that when they ran the numbers taking into account differences in specialties, the average salary for women still feel behind that of their male colleagues.           I find it interesting that the first article was written by a man and the second was written by a woman. The first article excuses the proposed wage gap, as it does not harm men, while the second expresses concerns toward the causes and continuation of the wage gap.          I think to improve the wage gap it is important for women to be ambitious. All of the facts that suggest a wage gap is not real but merely a result of a woman’s lifestyle choice, can also support woman deviating the wage gap. If more were to make choices concerning their occupation similar to the choices males are making that are increasing their wages, woman will be able to close the gap.  

Applied Research Detailed Plan

Here is an excerpt from my sociology text book, Sociology: A down to earth approach page 73, that I thought was a good explanation for the purpose of my research...

 Socialization into Gender: Learning the Gender Map:

"For a child, society is unexplored territory. A major signpost on society's map is gender, the attitudes and behaviors that are expected of us because we are a male or female. In learning the gender map (called gender socialization), we are nudged into different lanes in life- into contrasting attitudes and behaviors. We take direction so well that as adults, most of us act, think and even feel according to this gender map, our culture's guidelines to what is appropriate for our sex."...

So basically, society teaches us what is considered feminine and masculine and children who have had the least life experience still seem to conform to these norms... how does this affect their growth? To define how much children I plan on asking them and their parents a series of questions, without predisposing them to the true purpose of my research...

• Who?
• Participants?
• Children
• I predict participants will be between the ages of 3 and 11 
• Male and Female
• A CCD class I teach, the childcare center I work at, and my nieces friends 
• Adults 
• I predict the participants to range from ages 25-45
• I know there is a big gap between these ages but I am probably going to ask the parents of the children I interview and I assume they will range somewhere between these ages 
• What? 
• Materials 
• Survey Question Examples for kids 
• What is your favorite color?
• What toys do you play with/ games?
• Who are your friends? 
• I expect their answers to fulfill their gender roles
• Survey Question Examples for parents
• What do you and your kid do together? 
• Do you pick out your child's clothes/toys?
• I expect the parents to have answers that show the influence they have had on their children abiding to gender roles 

• When? 
• Where? 
• Location- most likely... Church, Gym, and my house
• Why? 
• To evaluate how gender roles influence children
• How?
• I am going to survey male and female children as well as male and female adults to compare the outcomes of their responses and evaluate the part that gender roles play in an average lifestyle

Applied Research

After blogging for the first academic quarter I am now approaching my second quarter "applied research". Which is pretty exciting because now I can apply everything I have concluded through my posts to the real world. There are a lot of different types of research methods but I was thinking I would mostly value survey research and/or naturalistic observation. Between everything that I have written on my blog I think a big focus was the part that gender roles play in childhood socialization. So I plan on surveying the children I know, boys and girls with age varying, about how gender roles effect them. Of course they do not really know what gender roles are so I plan on being discrete about the object of my study. It will be interesting to see if they respond to the questions how I predicted.

*( Note: This applied research plan is incomplete but its just a starting ground!)

Eighth Post: Choice

(I typed this like two weeks ago and thought I posted it but unfortunately either it didn't go through or I forgot....)

This is my last blog before I start collecting applied research, than I plan on directing my posts towards that. Under the broad topic of childhood socialization each of my blogs managed to differ so I would like to use this post to summarize what I have learned from my observations, but I also have a good idea for a post sooo I am just going to do both!

In my previous post I mentioned how girls should start being educated about bullying at an earlier age. Its an unfortunate truth but in today's society the youth needs to be exposed to the potential harms of the world to avoid danger. It is a pleasant feeling to assume every person has good intentions, but as people age and are frequently exposed to the danger's of the world they realize it is naive to believe just that. Children on the other hand do not have a developed world view and are vulnerable to the attacks of a predator because of their innocent optimism.
It is unfortunate that people cannot feel completely secure in their own neighborhoods. When my oldest siblings, who are now well into adulthood, were in elementary school on Halloween they were allowed to walk up and down the block alone, their biggest precaution was to check their candy before they ate it. When I was in elementary school an adult would trick-or-treat with us but there were still very upbeat, communal,and safe vibes in connotation with trick-or-treating. But in present day when my niece goes trick-or-treating, in the same neighborhood my siblings and I did, she has to be overcautious to protect her personal security.. I have noticed now that Halloween celebrations mostly take place at school, trunk-or-treats, or even local mall's. The traditional emphasis on trick-or-treating throughout your neighborhood seems to have less emphasis. What I am observing could be explained by Edward Sutherland's Differential Association Theory, it suggests that from the different groups we associate with we learn to deviate from or conform to society's norms. So, since my niece Alyssa associates with her generation she denies the tradition my siblings and I were accustomed to and is more inclined to participate in the church's "trunk-or-treat" or go look at a haunted house. However, Alyssa does not feel like she is violating what we considered normal because (due to the profound threat of strangers kids trick-or-treat less) majority of her peers are doing the same as she.

One more thing.... A quick synopsis of what I have gathered so far.

 My posts have had so much variation that I thought it would be difficult to sum them all up in one sentence. I was trying to skim over them and see what really relates and than I realized that the concrete definition of Childhood Socialization that I included in my second post really does the job..."The term social refers to a relationship or interaction between two or more people, who by definition respond to each other and influence each other’s behavior. Socialization is an important process in child development. Stated simply, it is the process whereby individuals, especially children, become functioning members of a particular group and take on the values, behaviors, and beliefs of the group’s other members. Although the process begins shortly after birth and continues into adulthood, the age of early childhood is a crucial period of socialization."... It is almost funny that after this month of posting what I have concluded is what I started with. But to be honest in my second post I had less awareness about what this definition was really saying. This portion of the blogging project has shown me the vital importance of Childhood Socialization, how children are socialized does not just mold the basis for their personal development but it molds the basis for the development of our future society. 

Seventh Post: Choice

Hey there bloggers! Yesterday my niece Alyssa turned ten. Double digits were a HUGE deal to her, and she's been talking about her perspective plans for a sleepover party for months. She also wanted to go to disney world and medieval times, those plans did not fall through but we did host a sleepover party at our house! So, two weekends ago, from 6pm-11am there were nine fourth grade girls running around my house. The sleepover went pretty smoothly, the girls had a scavenger hunt, decorated pumpkins, played games, and it seemed like everyone was having fun, until it was way past their regular bed time.

          From the sleepover I noticed a couple of things that I found interesting and notable in the socialization of Alyssa and her friends. Firstly I noticed off the bat that there was one girl, we'll call her Rachel, that the girls seemed to tease. Rachel sort of subjected herself to it. For example she's been to my house many times and asked Alyssa how many dogs we have...she tried to justify this by saying that she didn't mean real dogs, but that didn't really make sense and the girls all giggled. Also during the scavenger hunt when the rules were first read she just headed out in front of her friends, and during another clue she waited behind to change into slippers while the girls all ran in front. So, even though Rachel was subjected to the teasing I also think she sort of separated herself from the girls.

          Later when it was past midnight and the girls were all beyond cranky but still determined stay up late, fighting their tiredness caused some aggression. The girls continuously walking up and down stairs got both my sister and I out of bed so we separately went to talk to them. Alyssa reported back to us that Rachel was being mean to everyone. I tried to explain to her that it sounds a lot more practical for 8 girls to be mean to one than for 1 girl to be mean to 8. It was more than likely that the girls were teasing Rachel and when she tried to fire back they immediately accused her of being the mean one and responded as the victims.As I tried to explain this Alyssa stuck to her response, suggesting that Rachel was making everyone cry and that her sleepover party was a disaster. Than when my sister went downstairs to check on the girls that didn't retreat to my living room she said Rachel was balling and another girl was trying to console her. After all this "drama" wound down the overtired group went to sleep and in the morning they were all best friends again. I had over heard Rachel pick a fight about potato chips but for the most part everything from the night before seemed to be forgotten. Although, yesterday at dinner Alyssa told me Rachel said Alyssa's birthday party wasn't fun. I told her it was probably because everyone was mean to her and yet again Alyssa told me Rachel is mean to all of them. 

         Ever since I was in middle school the problem of girl bullying was often stressed to me and my classmates. So I am aware it is a problem especially in adolescent girls but I did not realize it on set so early. In every scenario I have seen for anti bullying, the bully is intentionally trying to harass her victim, but Alyssa and her friends seem truly unaware that when Rachel is seemingly mean to them it is a response to them being mean to her. Alyssa even said if she is mean to one of the girls they are all mad/upset. This is simple conformity, when a group bigger than two people agree with an idea that seems appealing or "right" more people are likely to follow their opinions, in Alyssa's case causing a shared hatred for one of their other "BFF'S". This common dislike isn't an elementary school thing, it occurs in my high school, at my sisters work, and even between my Mom's bunco friends. But the difference is we are all aware of it and know how to properly handle being grouped with someone you don't really like.Alyssa and her friends have been grouped with the same classmates for five years, not really being given the option to make new friends or leave old friends because there are only so many other girls in the grade. Conditioned to be friends with everyone throughout elementary school I think the girls are more likely to retreat to teasing, disrespecting someones feelings, and overall bullying, while still having play dates and engaging in activities (Alyssa and Rachel carpool for cheer leading practice and use to take gymnastic classes together) with the person that is subjected to this treatment. 

        Traditionally education on girl bullying starting in middle school made sense, but now with children hitting puberty at an earlier age than they did in the past I am sure their hormones subject them to being more emotional, dramatic, and well "catty" at an earlier age. While their emotions are maturing their mindset is still elementary so it doesn't surprise me that Alyssa did not realize how Rachel is the victim in this situation.  But, does this mean girls should be educated on girl bullying earlier than middle school? Would they be mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions? Or would the efforts be ineffective? 

Sixth Post: Article/Website

How Far is it to the Land We Left So in English class today I had my laptop open and was thinking I should start my blog post, so I searched "childhood socialization" into to google to get some ideas but nothing really stuck out. Than my teacher pulled up a poem on the projector and my attention was directed back towards class. The poem (linked above and copied below) is by Palestine-American women, Naomi Shihab Nye.

On the first day of his life
the baby opens his eyes
and gets tired doing even that
He cries when they place a cap on his head.
Too much, too much!

Later the whole world will touch him
and he won't even flinch

 After we read the poem out loud, I realized what Nye was insinuating. The poem is reflecting on concepts I suggested in a previous post (fourth one I think). The first theme we noticed in class was that the demands of society desensitize humans.  When the baby was first born he was vulnerable to something as simple as opening his eyes and a cap being placed on his head. But the second stanza shows that as he grew up he became so use to the norms and standards society inflicts he can no longer be hurt. The other theme we noted was conformity. Generally when babies are first born the hospital hat they are given is meant to identify their sex, blue for boys and pink for girls. Right out of the womb, this child is told WHO they are.
  So, this retreats back to the big question of nature vs nurture. As this baby develops, learning communication skills and how to function within society, is the person he grows into really "him" or a product of casualties. 

Fifth Post: Choice

What is childhood socialization for children who are not socialized? 

          Yes everyone in a modern American society is "socialized", between being around their families and going out in public but, what about parents who choose to not enroll their children into a school system and home school them instead?  Is this risking the socialization skills and habits a child is supposed to develop during school? 

         Of course the manifest function of schooling is to gain an education, but a latent function is definitively  learning rules and behaviors, systems of beliefs, and attitudes. This is in fact just as important as gaining an education. If a parent can teach their child and that child grows into a profound scholar, thats great and kudos to their mom or dad. But when that child is an adult goes into the real world and has to communicate with people outside his or her family unit, they may be dumbfounded. Not necessarily but the unfamiliar faces, but by the unfamiliar necessary behaviors that is seemingly a standard for adults to have developed. But if during a child's developmental year the  morals and standards their taught is just from their parents perspective than they will be lacking the skills needed to function in modern society. The ideals, opinions, mannerisms, and entire personality of a person who is home schooled most likely would be (intended or not) bias to those of their parents.Without the exposure to other people, especially those in the same developmental stage as the student, that child may not even realize all of their "identity" was chosen for them.

         I have been enrolled in a school system since pre-k so my ideas on this topic may be very bias because I do not know the reality of the other side. But I feel like the shelter inflicted on home schooled children, and inability to communicate among peers their own age, deprives them of the tools needed to develop into a well functioning adult. 

       P.S. if anyone who reads this thinks the complete opposite of what I have stated... that would be interesting, please share!

Fourth Post: Video

Hello Hello, my last post was supposed to be up Friday but as I was typing it I realized I was almost late for my new job and instantly stopped. Sorry about that one! But while I was at my new job, working the daycare at a gym I had two brothers come in. One was ten and the other seven, based on their dress I could clearly notice their interest in skate boarding. So right as we started talking skate boarding was mentioned, and the older brother asked if I skateboarded and before I could even answer his younger brother said girls don't skate board! To my surprise his brother answered with of course they can! I was happy to see his realization about gender stereotypes at such a young age. This was not the only time he reprimanded his brother, the older one kept making comments on how the younger one just wanted to copy him, and that he didn't really like skate boarding, or try it for more than 10 seconds. This started me on thinking about how families act as another social agent. As a seven year old he probably doesn't actually know much about skateboarding but with the constant exposure to his brothers (a little more advanced but probably still underdeveloped) passion for it, he knew he must love it too. If he didn't have that older brother would he still love skateboarding? Did their parents teach them that was a fun thing for boys to do or by nature were they attracted to it? Nature vs. nurture is a huge debate in the world of psychology. Many people agree that a little bit of both form our individual identities. But what if the child being raised is exposed to an abnormal type of parenting, one that is sure nurturing but does not inflict stereotypes that in today's society may or may not be confused with nature. This was the reality for Sasha Laxton. His parents chose to conceal his gender from the public up until he turned five last year. His Mother Beck Laxton reported that she wanted to avoid stereotyping and feels that gender roles may skew a childs potential. Embedded above is an interview with the parents of Sasha. 

While I believe in their intent to let the child discover his or herself, I feel as though the parents did not completely take the right approach and that Sasha may have been over exposed to a traditional female role leading to him behaving in a much more feminine manner, still resulting in conformity just with opposing means to the norm for a male. It may have been difficult for the parents not to inflict a personal biased on him, being that Beck was a feminist and disprove of toys with camo or skulls. It will be interesting to see if Sasha's "nature" of being a male contradicts his "nurture"  as he grows up.

Third Post: Choice

Hello fellow bloggers and childhood socialization enthusiasts! At the end my last post I mentioned a study I was going to refer to this time, but I think I am going to save that for next week instead! My sociology classes this week totally correlate with my blog so instead I decided I wanted to divert this post towards socialization influences.
My notes suggest that "Society makes us human". Personally, I feel like being considered a unique individual is trending as the "cool" thing to do nowadays (ironic, heh?) so no one would really be happy to hear that society is actually manipulating your personality through the subconscious. I was asked to respond to the question along the lines of "what agents of socialization are most effective to myself".My first answer was family, because I've been surrounded by them literally since the day I was born so of course their going to mold my character. And my immediate second answer was peer groups, but than I realized unlike my family they have not surrounded me my entire life, besides a few exceptions, as I've grown up most of my friends changed. Then I went to think what else has been apart of my entire life.. mass media! I was never a "couch potato" or a pop culture junkie but  even though I am not trying to keep up with this stuff it is all over! Implanting of so many aspects of my life! Unless you live in alone in the rain forest there really is no escaping mass media. What society labels as right, wrong, beautiful, ugly, masculine, feminine, in style, out of style, is constantly shoved in our faces...for the entirety of our life's... even before we were born!
This brings me back to my topic, if we are subliminally being fed messages from the mass media of how we are supposed to act, than what does that say for children? (Of course media has positive effects on developing youth, like educational T.V. shows and....wait that might be it....point taken, the media is defiantly not dominated by goals to positively influence children.)  At a highly impressionable stage of life kids are being fed standards of what is dictated as right and wrong before they are old enough to even consider their personal opinions, judgement's and morals. Actually never mind that, before they are even old enough to pronounce those words!
 Just the other day my niece (who is now almost 10) asked me if in high school the cafeteria is really split up by cliques. Alyssa has not even finished elementary school yet, she is not sure what order "Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior" go in, or what the heck a "common app" is for!? Why would she know any of that, she has years until she experiences it. BUT she does know that the tall skinny cheerleader is popular and dating the tan strong star QB  (which might I mention is not factual to any highschool I know of). Alyssa did not just come up with this ideal for highschool she's been exposed to it...for almost a decade! So many children are brainwashed by these concepts. Strong is hot, skinny is beautiful, tan is sexy, money is popularity, long hair is for girls, short hair is for boys, tight is feminine, sports are manly.. this list is practically endless . In the 21st century lot of people are aware of how the ideals are false, but it seems there is trouble letting go of these concepts because they are still promoted to us. I know children do not read "cosmo" or watch MTV or even skim the fashion or sports section while they're drinking their morning sippy cup...but not everything is that direct..  when Mommy picked out a pink dress for her newborn daughter or Daddy brought his three year old son to the baseball game... that was the concepts that are directed through mass media (subconsciously) being regurgitated to children, before they are capable of making any personal choices, by the people that pick them up when they cry, feed them when their hungry, and cuddle them endlessly, the people they trust! So of course these standards are right...right?

What does this say for a child? their self-esteem? relationships? friendships? future?

Second Post: Article/Website

63 views! Wow I did not expect people to be viewing my blog so that is exciting to see! In my last post I reflected on how the environment affected Alyssa's behavior at the soccer game. After a little bit of research I have learned that a household environment is a huge contributing factor to childhood socialization.

But before I get into that I think it would be a good idea to back track a little. What exactly is childhood socialization? I was surprised because my sociology text book (Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach) doesn't provide a concrete definition. But the website I have hyper linked below provides an insightful explanation for the concept...

"The term social refers to a relationship or interaction between two or more people, who by definition respond to each other and influence each other’s behavior. Socialization is an important process in child development. Stated simply, it is the process whereby individuals, especially children, become functioning members of a particular group and take on the values, behaviors, and beliefs of the group’s other members. Although the process begins shortly after birth and continues into adulthood, the age of early childhood is a crucial period of socialization."

In this article the author continues to speak about the effect parent's have on their children's social future. The  treatment they receive at home, this includes discipline tactics and attention (or lack of), molds the basis of a child's development. How children are punished, respond to punishment, and how they develop independent behavior are each contributing factors to the process of socialization.

Sounds pretty obvious, huh? Maybe so, but the matter of the fact is it is very difficult for a parent to remember and utilize this in the moment. In the introductory paragraph of this article the author mentions her experience as a kindergarten teacher on the first day of school. Over the summer I worked as a teacher aide for my towns summer school program. The classroom I worked in was a special ed./general ed. pre-k class. We had about 12 students but one boy stopped coming after the second week. During the day he would be fine but in the morning he would throw fits when his mom dropped him off. When I say fits I mean crying, screaming, clinging to his mom, full out tantrums. Unfortunately, this was all mom saw of his experience in the  program and it was much easier to pull him out of it than continue to watch her sons desperate refusal each morning. As a bystander to the situation it was upsetting for me because here is a kid who would clearly benefit from being a part of the program. That particular agent of socialization (people or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, behaviors, or other orientation towards life), his mother, felt like she was looking out for the greater good of him. But she failed to see that if he was grouped in the classroom being disciplined from an adult with that does not have that maternal tie to him his attitude and behavior would most likely shift, diverting away from tantrums and more towards an easygoing acceptance.

*Thoughts for next post: consider the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 1999; Guensburg 2001 study and findings of children in Day Care because it kind of contradicts the conclusion I just came to... 
(page 79 in textbook)

Social Emotional Development

First Post

This is cool because its my first time every really blogging. But that also makes it not cool because I don't know how to work this website. I am not sure if I am supposed to introduce myself or just cut to the chase. I am just gonna go for it though... Hi fellow bloggers I am Morgan Raspanti! This is my blog for sociology about Childhood Socialization. So, as of now my account is not exactly "pretty" and my hyper link has far too many characters but at least the content is going to be up to par...

Well I dont know much about Childhood Socialization (YET) besides personal accounts.My oldest brother, Dan is a single father and has work 5 or 6 times a week so he decided to move back into my parents house when Alyssa was about 2. Now Alyssa is 9, turning ten October 22, I am actually gonna add a picture of her(when I figure out how to post to the class group and set this to private) because I probably will reference her often. But Alyssa started hitting puberty probably like last year and her hormones are all out of wack. Plus shes still a little kid, so this combination sometimes just makes her SO annoying. I swear sometimes she'll intentionally try to get on my nerves and then act like I was bullying her for getting mad about her behavior. Like I'll tell her to stop eating so much and say she's going to get fat and she'll think I am trying to make her feel bad and start crying and whining. So basically Alyssa does alot of nit picking things to bother me. She did it so much at the end of the summer I just hated being with her. And I feel terrible saying that because I love my niece but she was just being so bothersome! But yesterday I had to babysit her and wanted to watch the Bergen Catholic soccer game so Alyssa came along. She knew three of my friends that were there but that was all out of the group of ten. Occasionally Alyssa will get very shy and its weird because that's so out of character to how she acts at home. BUT yesterday I was so surprised. She was fine! Behaved completely normal. At ten years old she was hanging out with a group of 17 year old's. I want to say it was because she is a little older now but if I were to have that same group in my backyard Alyssa would be hesitant to come outside and say hi. So I guess the environment was a big factor that made her comfortable. It was a public place and we were the first ones there. Everyone was talking to her normally too though, like no one really censored themselves around her. Which you would think is bad but I think that being treated basically like just another one of friends helped her break the awkward behavior she would sometimes resort to.