Agents of Socialization

Family - first and most important and influential agent of socialization (bc they’re the first social
institution we encounter).
- gives meaning and support to the individual from childhood into adulthood.
- we acquire most of our information about the world from our family.

Types of parenting
Authoritarian parents - demand their children to conform to their rules without complaining.
Permissive parents - more open and flexible with their judgements and decisions.
(parents socialize with their children based on to the world they know or to the situation they
experience)
Adolescents may say that what their peers think matters more to them than what their
parents think, parents continue to play an influential role in the lives of their children.

As we grow older..
An individual begins to learn many things from friends and peers at school and in the
community.
Peer groups
- Important in the socialization process.
- Tests individuals on what they have learned at home.
- Help people of similar age find a place in society, particularly important among
adolescents.
- Enable a person to produce a set of behaviors, attitudes, values, and beliefs that
conform to their own.
(through peer groups, adolescents adopt the viewpoints or the worldviews of others.)

School
- Another agent of socialization.
- First experience of an institution that evaluates their behavior.

The whole range of activities at school is governed by formal rules and regulations, and
children are evaluated on the basis of how they can perform or how they conform to these rules.
Mass Media
- Fourth agent
- Has the power to influence people on how they behave. (for example, katong sa article)
- Provides information about several aspects of human social life.
- Learnings obtained from MM reinforce what children have learned at home, school, etc.
- Can also cause conflict with those taught by parents, teachers, and other socializing
agents. (another example katong sa article)