Socialization is one of the most crucial components that affect the way people live

and the status or statuses that each individual holds. Depending on where you live, your

family structure, culture, and ethnicity each individual is different in how they conduct

their everyday lives and how others see them. No one person is alike and people from all

over the world carry different characteristics because we are all socialized differently. My

socialization personally has developed through different agents of socialization such as

my parents, living in America, and all of my surroundings like school and friends. Three

particular statuses of the many that I hold include being a daughter, a student and a caring

friend. Each of these statuses includes vastly different roles, but all affect my everyday

life dramatically.

Being a daughter is an ascribed status formed by two huge agents of socialization

in my life, my parents. Family is and has always been a major agent of socialization

throughout my life. Roles include cleaning the house, obeying my mother’s rules, and

being respectful. Other examples of roles I hold as part of being a daughter include

always showing respect to my parents because they are who raised me and being home

by a certain time on school nights. Being socialized as a daughter generally includes

these roles but each family is different and my family has socialized my status of being a

daughter into what it currently is. What roles I hold as more important and I how I

conduct these roles are influenced by my parents and how they socialized me as an

individual.

Having the status of being a college student is an achieved master status that I

claimed through agents of socialization such as my teachers and once again my family
who socialized me to believe that education was important. Culture is also an agent that

led to my socialization as a student because school is necessary in my culture in order to

lead a proficient life with shelter and food. Being a student, the roles that are expected of

me often lead to role conflict with other statuses and their roles, like being a daughter and

a young adult. An example of this conflict occurring is when my roles as being a student

such as attending school, and devoting hours to homework and studying, conflicts with

the status of being a daughter and young adult with its roles of staying out late having fun

while still showing respect and being home on time. With this role conflict, having the

status of a student takes priority over other statuses so that role conflict can be

diminished. For example, since it is a master status, being a student is more important

than staying out late and other roles involved with being a young adult and daughter.

Having a master status of being a student affects what I choose and choose not to do in

order to fulfill that status.

A third status among the many that I hold includes being a caring friend.

This status was socialized into my life but may also be a biological aspect of my

personality. I hold this status with roles of making sure those who are close to me can

receive help and comfort, as well as someone to talk to. This caring status has rooted

from teachings by my parents, friends, and in school. I learned quickly to treat those the

way I would like to be treated and have always held this status to be important. Though it

is a status that I am completely willing to fulfill the roles of, there is often role strain.

This strain occurs because as part of being a caring friend, a lot of attention is expected

for some individuals and among friends that I do care about it isn’t always easy to give it

to everyone all at once. This could lead to certain friends feeling left out and so forth,
causing strain within the status and its roles of providing comfort and helping multiple

friends.

Family, friends, school, and culture were and are all huge agents of

socialization in my life that had and still have an impact on the statuses that I hold today.

Throughout my life agents of socialization were constantly influencing the way I think as

well as how and where I fit in society. It is important as an individual to realize who and

what your agents of socialization are to better help you understand where the statuses you

hold derived from. Every individual acts the way they do or believes in certain things for

a reason, which can be found if they were to look at what agents of socialization are in

their lives and how these agents have socialized them into their current statuses.