Biracial Children Learn to Self-identify
Authors Orenstein, Fulbeck, and Durrow talk with Michel Martin of Tell Me More about what it means to be biracial.

Questions to Consider:

1. Fulbeck observes—and the other panelists agree—that people are always trying to “box us in” by assigning us to particular racial and ethnic categories. But, they say that we are free to decide and no one gets to tell us who we are. Is this true? Are we free to decide for ourselves?
2. Orenstein says she once thought that it was her responsibility to teach her daughter about gender and it was her husband’s responsibility to teach their child about race and ethnicity. What was her reason for this? Why did she change her mind?
3. Orenstein says that people often asked about her daughters racial heritage and origins. When asked “Where did she come from?” Orenstein would reply “She came from my uterus.” Does this response address the question being asked? Why or why not? Why do you think people were curious?

Saving Our Daughters from an Army of Princesses
Author Peggy Orenstein discusses her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter, a book about raising her daughter, Daisy. Orenstein has written a number of books and articles about how our gendered socialization practices shortchange girls and women.

Questions to Consider:

1. Orenstein refers to fears about not being able to raise the ideal daughter. What does she mean by this?
2. What did Orenstein learn about the emergence of the “princess” culture?

This American Life 109: Notes on Camp
This program presents stories of summer camp. Camp kids explain how their non-camp friends and their non-camp loved ones have no idea why camp is the most important thing in their lives.

Questions to Consider:

1. Does summer camp seem like an important moment in the socialization of the kids who attend? Why or why not? If so, how?
2. How does camp affect the selves and identities of the young people in the stories?
3. What is the role of gender in the socialization experiences at camp?

This American Life 137: The Book that Changed Your Life
Socialization is defined as the process through which one learns how to act according to the rules and expectations of a particular culture. Various people, social institutions, and material culture, such as books, influence the socialization process for each individual. This program is based on the stories of people who believe a book changed their life. It's a romantic notion, and one reason we believe it is because we want to believe our lives can be changed by something so simple as an idea — or a set of ideas contained in a book.

Questions to Consider:

1. How are the people presented in this episode changed by what they read?
2. How can illiteracy stifle the socialization process for those that live in developing countries?
3. How does social class play a part, if any, in the socialization process in each story?