SOCIAL FORMATION

The Social Formation of Gender, from Infancy through Adolescence:

Western and Cross Culture Interpretations

There is no code in unlocking the human mind. As we move from one era of our life to another, so we  must  be born as a baby, then move into childhood, which we then transfer into several stages of process, before we become an adult.

            The behavior of any gender, whether male or female, from infancy to adolescence, is complex in any society, and therefore such complexity is different in any culture, race, or country. Many sociologists over a decade have determined, and wrote that the movement of stages of infancy to adolescence changes according to economics, cultural and social upbringing, there is a gap between western child behavior and eastern child behavior; therefore, such stages is done according to our environment and cultural upbringing.

            Sociologist Piaget looks at the cognitive development of children in stages. In such stages, a child must complete its behavior’s an infant before moving on to the next stage of its life. According to Piaget, “As children proceed through discontinuous qualitative stages, one must reach before the child can go on to another distinctly different stage” (41). For example, a baby is born as an infant, and then the next stage is for him or her to sit up, then craw, and then walk. All other performance of that child will be subdivided; such as talking, communication, and behavior, according to the social, cultural, and parental adaptation of the environment to which the child is born.

            The psychology of the infant behavior into childhood, are learned and molded after the parent, and then later by society. According to sociologist Sigmund Freud, the parents from infancy shapes his theory is that the personality of a child. In which that child mimics’ its parents and develops its own natural traits over a period of stages. The first three stages of an infant according to Freud’s theory is the id. The id represents a Child’s impulses and environment, in which an infant acts on instinct. For example, the crying of an infant indicates the child is hungry or in need of attention. The second stage, the ego, represents the desire and needs while mediates with the child’s creativity as a child. The third stage, the super ego, represents the child’s conscience of right and wrong” (44). These three factors, Freud have believed that such infancy, childhood, then the transfiguration of such behavior into adolescence.

            The transition of infancy into adolescence that by society standards must be with the confines of societal laws the law of any society relates that a child must be natured into a loving, protective and stable environment, in order for that child to be a progressive adult of society. According to sociologist Erik Erikson, “a child needs to develop a sense of security and receive stable care in order to achieve trust” (48). The trust of a child transfer into adolescence in any given society, builds confidence and stability, with the social strata and the social hierarchy in any cultural sector.

            The process of socialization of how a child responds to society stems from the cultural and behavioral progress. In earlier development before industrialization, an infant is born, into a matrimonial home by two parents, mother and father. Both parents will shape the behavior of the infant into early childhood.  Then after the child move into the wider society, such as school, and churches, it is then that he or she adapts to the behavior of their peers. The influences of the parents are no longer dominant and therefore the child is neither not subjected or patternises or emulates its parents, but now the wider society.  According to Carl Marx from the Marx’s perspective, “The child is overwhelmingly shaped and molded by the society it inhabits” (72).

            The learned behavior of an infant within the home can be unlearned later in that child’s life, when he or she enters into adolescence. These changes are done within the scope of the socialization process, over the years of interaction, with other cultures and people in general. Sociologists Ivan Pavlo forms the theory of learn and unlearn behavior in five distinctions, “the conditional reflex, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and differentiation” (57).  B.F. Skinner also looks at the operant or instrumental conditions, which leads to certain behavior, that is encouraged or discouraged in the learning process of a child into adolescence. According to Skinner’s theory, the discrimination and generalization of any operant condition can de-stabilize the mind of a child, which leads to the successful or destructive behavior of the adolescent. This is what Skinner calls positive reinforcement, is where a child is rewarded for good behavior or the adult is rewarded for work done. The negative reinforcement where a child is punished for its disobedience of his parents or an adult is punished for breaking the law of society. The operant in any cultural society is different according to the social and economical class to which one belongs. Bandura,a sociologist, observe children copy adults whom are similar to themselves. According to Bandura, there are four theories in radicalizing such behavior “attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation” (59). Bandura theory in the wider strata, odd society, may be modeled by the upper class in any cultural society. However, for the middle and lower class, children who later on reach adolescence tends to surpass their parent’s expectation, while identifying themselves to become successful by climbing the social ladder, of the upper class.

The socio-economical poorer class of infants born in poverty tends to conform to the reality of the culture to which they were born. Then later on when they move from the confinements of the home, into the wider strata of society, they developed their own identity in becoming progressive adolescence. Therefore, because they integrate themselves into society, they are able to demonstrate moral conduct in dealing with the norms of society. The cross-culture roots and belief in the society to which an infant is born are sub-divided according to the country, economic, race and culture of which that child can develop without emotional and physical problems to the wider society.

            In Western European countries, it is their culture that the child be separated from the parents by sharing different rooms. According to sociologist Morelli, “In China the use of the avoidant category as an indicator of insecure attachment, has also been questioned as mother encourages early child independence” (71). While in African cultures, the child is nurtured by sleeping and being in the same room with its mother, therefore, they develop a bond towards each other. Morelli indicates that such behavior brings too much attachment to the child unto the parents, therefore when this child enters into adolescence; it is difficult for him or her to leave the home.

The European culture stresses independence at an early age. Therefore, as soon as a child enters into adolescence, he or she leaves the home to be on his or her own. According to Plato, “European culture as a formal category and as a social status embedded in programs of care, routine of surveillance and schemes of education and assessment. Such accounts ensure that the child realized as the social construction of a particular historical context” (5). Sociologist Ainsworth view Western Europeans countries in terms of childhood development as “anxious/ avoidant, anxious/resistant” (70). Grossman, however, look within specific cultures and views maternal norm as encouraging early childhood emotional and physical independence. Such example of Grossman is Euro-Americans. In contrast to Japanese, the mother who view the child as separate and an extension of her.

The fundamental orientation of the gender of infancy to adolescence is the preservation of society within the world of human interactions. When a child interacts with others within the society, the relationship is aspired towards future gain and development. Such gain begins with the relationship of male and female interaction in order to increase population growth. Sociologist Parsons “ concerns that society becomes the monitor for all order and if further inculcates a set of rules of conduct which are enforced less by individual will and political sovereignty than by society’s own pre-existence” (14). The social norms of any given society are the interaction of the basic dyad of self and other. As an infant is born the first scope of, understanding is how to interact with its mother. Such a process is called the identification factor. According to Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, “the narcissistic infant was thought capable of a primitive form of object-choice, called “identification” in which it sought an object conceived of its own image which it therefore desired with an intensity matched only by its love for itself” (16). The object of love of the infant is its mother. The social system and the norms of society regulate that if such identity does not take place between the infant and mother, then that child might become abnormal and will later have problematic behaviors. However, according to Parsons “Social System, social norms are the source of this identity because they diminish the potential distinction between self and the collectivity by engendering a coinciding set of interests for both the self and the collectivity” (16). It is through this basic system, that individuals who are identified become members their behavior. The child becomes deviant and unsocialized; this behavior manifested is profane and threatens to bring down social worlds. In order to modify the behavior of that child, he or she must be treated through an archetype as a proto-adult. According to sociologist’s Ritehie and Kollar “The central concept in the sociological approach to childhood is socialization. A synonym for this process may be acculturation because this implies that children acquire the culture of the human grouping in which they find themselves” (20). Children are not to be viewed as individuals fully equipped to participate in a complex adult world” (20).

            In modern society, most children are treated as mini-adults, whether their gender is male or female. The innocence of the child is gone, and is replaced with adult behavior. Such the child’s sexuality has been explored, which leads to the abuse and the taking away of their childhood. According to sociologist Kitzinger “Our socially constructed and sentimentalized views about children’s innocence, passivity, and sexuality are a double-edged sword in the against child social abuse” (74). The abuse of the child later manifested into their adolescent life. For example, the abuse of a male child by a male adult will later see that child become a molester himself. Unlike the male, a female child who has been molested by a male, will not necessary be a molester herself, but will later in her adolescent life develops psychological problems in dealing with her sexuality and the male gender.

John Locke, an English philosopher, perceived that a child’s mind is a blank slate that culture and society inscribed upon. Although children are genetically different, in their abilities and temperaments, the environment in which they grow influences, the finish adolescence primarily, being the result of childhood instructions and teachings. According to French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, “Children were innately good and pure, qualities nurtured through positive education and upbringing or conversely corrupted by unsuitable rearing” (76). Different cultures mean the same or some have different responses to child rearing, and how to integrate society laws within the home. Some culture believes spanking a child for any wrong behavior will teach that child discipline and manners. While other cultures view spanking a child as abuse which leads that child into a state of aggression and suppression, which then in turn, becomes angry and abusive they, while they enter into adolescence. According to sociologist Brownville and Anderson, “Copal punishment not for the good of the child but because they perceive it as their right when they want to reassert lost control” (77).

The lives of children in any culture are not shaped by the parents alone, but also by the impact of gender, race, social class, disability, sexuality, and association expression and discrimination. Thorne’s study shows that children of the same gender tend to gravitate towards their own peers. For example, the girls are drawn towards girls that share the same traits as themselves, so likewise the boys gravitate towards boys that have the same interests in sports, music, sexual orientation, etc. Thorne also looks at race as social factors in children of different cultures. In some cultures like the Asian culture, the children tend to play with their own peers. As with the European culture also. However, the Africans tend to sway toward their culture and along with mixtures of other cultures.

The class cultures are a different matter concerning the impact as children. They are not connected to class at an early age. They see each other as individuals, until later into the stage of puberty, in which they start to acknowledge themselves that leads to the separation of classes. Disability within the child is shown by society. Therefore, children that are disabled are grouped together, such as the blind stays in the schools of the blind, likewise, the deaf, and the mentally retarded.

Sexuality of the child begins at the early stage of the development process. Groups in which they identify with stigmatize a child. For example, when a boy plays with many girls in some culture this is view as a homosexual behavior, likewise with such behavior of a girl who plays with many boys. However, in some culture this is known as the exploration stage in which the male or the female child begins to identify the difference in sex and body construction. According to sociologist’s Seiner “in countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Chinese’s female engenders even more serious consequences” (84). Green and Taylor Sociologists, also started “due to ingrained social and religious norm which valorize male children and devalue female children” (840).these factors of male and female sex and sexuality de-moralized the child in to the culture in which they were born.

In examining the child as a whole, society’s theory of the perfect child does not exist. Each culture to which a child is born both has its advantages and disadvantage. The child is a representation of society, flaws and parental contribution in molding the child and preparing him or her for the next stages of their life, which transit in adolescence. The term adolescence means, the changing of hormones from childhood into mature adults. The impact of society has on adolescences behavior regarding physical changes is a moot point. According to sociologist Thornton ,“adolescence’s a learning process moving from novice to potential expert, takes place, relation to slowly acquiring new skills and making increasingly accurate decisions”, the task is to overcome the identity role and from a mature sense of adulthood. Sociologists Erikson looks at two-dimensional test for the adolescents to identify themselves. Being an independent thinker, the adolescent goes through the theory of crisis/exploration and their commitment in relation to occupation, politic, and religious beliefs.

According to Erikson’s theory they are four processes in the decision making process of the adolescent. “The first process is the identity achievement, this occurs, with the adolescent thinking through various options and deciding on one of these”. The second process is the identity foreclosure, this occurs with the commitments adopted uncritically on the basis of tradition or other expectations.” The third process is the “identity moratorium, this occurs when the adolescents are in a state of flux or crisis and experimenting with different identities and asking themselves reflective questions.” The fourth process is the identity diffusion; this is characterized by adolescent apathy and little enthusiasm for succeeding in any area” (100). The identities along with the optional behavior of the adolescent may forge a rebellion against parental control or societal values.

The adolescent must form its own identity when being transferred out of childhood; this is a lifelong process throughout any society, culture, race, gender, or family. There are two identities that come into play in which the adolescent may encounter. The first is the racial identity, which explores ethnicity, the second identity is the gender, this explores the social class, social orientation and peer’s influences. According sociologist Grossman the, “psychological model which posits that black individuals experience resocializations. During this they are deemed to progress from a unawareness of rave profound awareness of different races, racisms, and discrimination” (101). The criticism of cross model is that it is assumed that adolescents are unaware of their race and other races before they attain their identity such issue may facets that gender ,social class, social orientation, parental and community influences is one interest and not the whole culture.

Like any other cultures such as Blacks, White, Hispanics, Chinese, Europeans and the adolescent in these cultures are not so much different, such as the choosing of their peers, and moving away from parental control. It is believed that when a child reaches adolescence, he or she becomes closer to their peers than to their parents, and they confides in them. Despite race, most adolescents have been found to select their friends highly similar to their social class and background, personality and interest. These peers’ relationships can have positive or negative influences.

In the western cultures, most are governed by class participation. Adolescents are dragged between wealthy, middle and lower class society. The social status of these classes will influence the adolescent child, of what group of the social strata they belong. For example, the rich associate with the rich, the middle class with themselves and the poor within themselves. Therefore, it is up to the individual to step out of society norms and practices and form their own identity outside of their classes.

The Hindu society develops its class barriers from an early age of childhood, which then move into adolescence. The Hindu Cast system does not allow one to mine outside their classes. Therefore, the child of a Hindu cast system, even though maybe schooled outside its culture cannot adapt or identify with any other culture except the one to which he or she is born. Even when they are transitioning from childhood to adolescence, the behavior and mannerism must remain, the same has how they were taught. According  to sociologist Maccoby, “No one experiences or gains identity will also depend not only upon societal values but also upon parenting styles and peer relationships, and both strictly disciplinarian parenting and negligible rules and boundaries” (101).

The significant contributing factor of childhood development that transfigures into adolescence behavior is moral development. This is the conscience of selecting good or bad, or choosing right from wrong. Parent’s teachers and family members assert such conscience of morality in children. However, when that child reaches adolescence, he or she chooses to develop a more sophisticate way of appeasing their conscience. According to sociologist, Piaget and Kohlberg there are five stages to morality, “The morality of constraint which is the transitional period, this occurs with the reciprocal of peer-or group orientated rules” (97). The autonomous or relative morality, the rejection of authority and principles to authority and rules (97) .In these stages, if the adolescence child does not develop its own conscience, by following the rules of society, or the rules of the group to which he or she belongs, there are consequences for their actions, such as, to commit a crime within the society to which they live, can leads to imprisonment. With this in mind, it is up to the individual to say within the subconscious mind, thus the behavior to which I was raise to portray. Sociologist Gilligan argues that, “because girls are more likely to favor an interpersonal ethic or morality than boys, their reasoning is more likely to be judged as less developed” (99). The factors of gender morality are different in some cultures. In western countries, the practice of morality within the adolescence transition, from childhood into adulthood, are concentrated on the social institution of marriage, the law, and the connecting of obligations. While in the Asian countries, morality practices are center on wealth, class movement, marriages and religion.

Many behavioral theorists believe that the transition to adolescence is very complex for a child, especially if the child has not reached its maturity stage. However, it is believe that the adolescent psychological and biological behavior will significantly push the physical cognitive, moral and psychosocial changes to take place during the transition period of the child into adolescence.

Sociologists believe that developmental stage of the adolescent depends on the culture to which he or she is born and the country of their birth. In the modern society of the developing countries, babies born tend to develop fasts that babies born in poor countries. Because of the waded cap between developed and un-develop countries, the adolescence growth and progression may mature faster in the countries of rich economics, than that of the countries who suffers from low economical growth. According to sociologist Elliot, “Inequality in Britain is higher than in many other European countries such as Scandinavian nations who have more progressive, redistributive tax schemes, and the gap between rich and poor in the UK continues to widen.” Also according to sociologist Montgomery and Bierr, “children born to poor families are more likely to be at low birth weight”. (p85) With such disadvantage at hand the adolescence growth and develop within the strata of any culture and society dependents on economical growth and stability. Therefore, Hall’s storm and stresses theory categories those adolescents born within biological stress environment, goes through hormonal/neurological changes become stressful themselves.

The behavior of adolescence within the society are sometimes ironic, and individualize according there level of reasonability and the cognitive levels of one’s morality. In developing countries, the adolescents differ according to the behavioral at which he or she is grouped into as a whole. Therefore, race, culture, is social economy class as nothing to do with individual adolescent behavior. Some time the adolescent him or her set goes through a personal identity crisis, in which they do not identifies with any groups, nor feels they fit in with society rules or norms. According sociologist France “the discovery of adolescence in the age of reason and early Victorian modernity, when new social science discipline were occurring professional and scientific status.” (p104)

In conclusion, the social formation of gender from infancy through to adolescence in any western civilization culture is ermined by the principles of environment, economics, race, class, culture and religion. These factors are any given civilizations can see this adaption of one movement to another. Although these can be determining within the cross culture of any society, the individual persona of the infant stage can be re-program into the adolescence stage. Therefore, there is no one factor that indicates that a child from one culture can progress the same, if taking from that culture and imputed into another. As sociologist view a child brought up by apes will accept the behavior been taught him as an ape, until that child is removed from that surrounding and place within a human environment to be re-program in behaving has we are.