Module 6

SOCIALIZATION

Introduction
At birth, human beings cannot talk, walk, feed, or even protect themselves from
harm. They know nothing about the norms of the society. Then, through interaction
with their social and cultural environments, individuals are transformed into
participating members of society. This interactive process through which individuals
learn the basic skills, values beliefs and behavior patterns of the society is called
socialization. Through the socialization process we develop our sense of identity being a
distinct member of the society. Students as unique individuals will understand how the
socialization processes have affected their lives as well as the lives of their fellow
students and other individuals in society.

Abstraction

The Process of Socialization

Socialization is the long and complicated process of social interaction
through which the child learns the intellectual, physical, and social skills needed to
function as member of society.

The process of socialization begins at birth and continues throughout

lifetime. During early childhood, we learn, most of all, from our parents who teach us
values, norms, and skills that they have. The child also learns by observation and
imitation.

According to Fichter(1977), socialization is a process of mutual

influence between a person and his/her fellowmen, a process that results in an
acceptance of, and adaptations to, the patterns of social behavior. The human being is
a social person from the beginning of his/her life, but he/she undergoes continuous
adaptations and changes as long as he/she lives.

Socialization can be described from the two points of view: objectively

and subjectively. Objective socialization refers to the society acting upon a child
while subjective socialization is that process by which the society transmits its
culture from one generation to the next and adapts the individual to the accepted and
approved ways of organized social life.

Thus the functions of socialization are: (1) to develop the skills and
disciplines which are needed by the individual, (2) to instill the aspirations and values
and the design for living which the particular society possesses, and especially (3) to
teach the social roles which individuals must enact in society.

Importance of Socialization
1. Socialization is vital to culture. Socialization is important to societies as it
is to individuals. It is through this process of socialization that every society
transmits its culture to succeeding generations. Through this continuing
process each generation acquires the elements of its society’s culture-
knowledge, symbols, values and norms, beliefs and others. Socialization is the
vital link between cultures. If this process of cultural dimension is disrupted, a
culture disintegrates or even dies.
2. Socialization is vital to personality. The process of socialization, plays a
vital role in personality formation and development of an individual. The
training of every child received through the process of socialization greatly
affects his/her personality. Human infants develop social attachments when
they learn to feel for others and see that others care for them. Again, the
element of isolationism affects the personality development of an individual.

3. Socialization is vital to sex role differentiation. Socialization provides

every individual the expected role he/she is to play in the society according to
the society according to their sexes.
In the past, it was believed that differences in behavior between boys
and girls men and women were inborn and natural, biological factors
determined the abilities, interests, and traits of the sexes. Biology not only
made men bigger and stronger, generally than women. It also endowed them
with instincts for hunting, fighting and organizing. Biology gave women the
ability to bear children and instincts to complement them-gentleness and
domesticity.
Social Frame of Reference
As the child is socialized in the society, he/she learns many things. His/Her
accumulated experience obtained from society forms the background from which
he/she undergoes new experiences. Sociologists say that culture becomes internalized,
that the individual imbibes it. and in this way from the inside it continues to influence
his/her conduct. Hence culture, is not merely external to an individual. The way of life
he/she has learned, the ideas he/she holds, the values he/she treasures, all in some
way come originally from outside of him/her. These are the results, the products, and
the material of the socialization process.

Fichter (1977) provides the following levels of analysis of the social frame of
reference. He said that social reference is (1) common to all human beings. (2) Unique
to each person, and (3) specific to a particular culture and society.

These three aspects of social experience can be demonstrated with numerous

examples. Friendship and the primary group are found wherever human beings live in
society but each person experiences friendship in a unique manner. The manner in
which friendship is demonstrated and symbolized differs from one society to another. In
one society, adult males who are friends greet each other with a kiss on the cheek, in
another society, with an embrace, and still in another society by shaking hands.

Social Learning
The process of socialization can ultimately be reduced to the fact that an
individual learns by contact with society. The process refers not to individual
knowledge, which also comes from contact with others but to shared knowledge which
has no social significance. From this point of view, the manner in which he/she learns
does not differ from that of simple learning. The difference between simple learning
and social learning is not in who learns, or how he/she learns, but what he/she learns.

The terms useful in the learning process are : drive is the biological impulse,
subconscious wish, or conscious desire to acquire certain satisfactions. This
characterizes the human being that drives him/her to learn . Cue is the characteristic of
the idea, object, or situation to which the person is drawn. The interaction between the
learner and the thing learned is called response. It is what occurs when the particular
drive in an individual is coordinated with the particular cue in an object . Reward refers
to any object or event which strengthens or makes easier the responses of an individual
in striving to learn.
Subprocesses of Social Learning
1. Imitation is the human action by which one tends to duplicate more or less or
exactly, the behavior of others. It is commonly recognized not only in the way
children copy their parents but also in the way adolescents and even mature
adults take on the characteristics of people whom they appreciate and admire.
2. Suggestion is a process outside the learner. It is found in the works and actions
of suggestion not only from the conscious and deliberate persuasion of another
but also without the other person knowing it.
3. Competition is a stimulating process in which two or more individuals vie with
one another in achieving knowledge. It is particularly important in social learning
of children because it is often involved in the desire of the child to obtain the
approval of others. Competitive learning is a clear indication that people tend to
learn and to conform to the approved ways of behaving in society and to shun
the ways that are disapproved.

Dynamics of Socialization
Three Theoretical Perspectives that Contributes to the Understanding of the Process of
Socialization

1. Functional approaches. Functionalism approaches socialization from the

perspective of the group rather than the individual. From this we gain the image
of people adapting to the attitudes of others, conforming to role expectations
and internalizing the norms and values of their community.
2. Symbolic interaction. An analysis of what people say and do is not enough to
explain human behavior. We also need to understand the meaning that people
attach to their words and actions. According to this perspective, people employ
symbols to convey meanings to one another.
3. Conflict theory. The conflict perspective puts the experience of socialization in
a different light. It takes notes of how social customs and institutions are
arranged to perpetuate class distinctions. This theory argues that child –rearing
practices vary by social class and affect life chances of those being socialized.

Agents of Socialization
1. Family. Family is the basic unit of society. It serves as the primary agent of
socialization. It is in the family that most children first learn to internalize the
 basic values and norms of the society; to behave in socially acceptable ways and
to develop close emotional ties.
2. School. School is an institution that is established explicitly for the purpose of
socializing people. In modern societies, the school is considered the primary
agent for weaning children from home and introducing them to a larger society.
3. Peer group-members of peer groups have common interests and persuasions,
social position and age. Peer group arises from the individual’s need to belong.
Peer pressure, however produces nonconformity that maybe prejudicial to an
individual member in relation to society. It also plays a very important role in the
process of socialization.
4. Workplace-every job or employment has its attendant rules and regulations on
harmonious socialization and interaction among employers and employees. It is
here where formal socialization takes place. However, much of the socialization
to the organization’s values and outlook happen informally.
5. Mass Media. Print and broadcast media like the television radio and others ply
a very important role in the process of socialization. The radio or television
program to which the child is exposed will certainly influence his/her personality,
values and belief system.
6. Church/Religion. All religions promote not only spiritual welfare of the
members but also foster their harmonious relations with their fellowmen or what
they call “fellowship” for the brotherhood of men.
7. Neighborhood. Street corner education is very common in the country. A child
is introduced to the realities of life in the neighborhood. He/she learns particular
sets of values and beliefs from people in the neighborhood.
8. Government/Politics. Aristotle once said that man is a political animal.
Political socialization helps individuals to develop public awareness of social
issues and concerns which will make them responsible and civic minded citizens
of the country.

Views on the Stages of Socialization

1. Erik Erikson and psychosocial development. Erikson’s major concern is the
feelings people develop toward themselves and the world around them. In his
book Childhood and Society, he described eight stages of human development
which is referred to as crises-periods when one confronts major issues of life.
Success at each stage depends on the growth and degree of resolution attained
at each stage.
2. Sigmund Freud and psychosocial development. In his theory, of
psychoanalysis he concluded that what happens to people during childhood
 affects them later as adults. According to Freud, if problems during early stages
(oral and anal stages) were not satisfactorily resolved, a person could become
arrested (fixed) at that stage.
3. Jean Piaget and psychomotor development. Piaget focused on thinking or
cognitive development stages. Through interaction with their environment,
children acquire new ways of thinking and new schemes. All children move
through stages of cognitive development that involve increasingly greater
complexity of thought and shift from egocentric perspective to perspective which
takes others into account. He was the first to recognize that cognitive
development-the process of learning to talk to think, and to reason –is a social
as well as psychological phenomenon. He outlined the process and stages into
the following ; (a) sensorimotor, (b) language, (c) concrete operation,
and (d) abstract thinking.
4. George H. Mead and symbolic interactionism. He is the founder of
interaction perspective in sociology, and developed a theoretical scheme for
conceptualizing the development of the social being or the self. His scheme is
supported by the data collected by subsequent researchers such as Piaget. Mead
argued as did others, that early in life, children appear to be unable to
understand anyone else’s perspective except their own. After acquiring some
mastery of language, they learn their name and some of the expectations other
people have about how they should behave.
5. Lawrence Kohlberg and moral development. Kohlberg formulated the
stages of moral development. (a) A child first judges the morality of an act by
its physical consequences. If doing something leads to punishment, then it
should not be done (b) the child begins to realize that conforming to rules can
bring rewards, not just the avoidance of punishment. (c) The child progresses to
a level known as good child morality- when they judge the morality of an act
according to how much it conforms to the to the standards of other individuals,
thereby gaining their approval and good will. Ideas about right and wrong
behavior develop. (d) The stage that emphasizes. Law and order and strict
compliance and conformity to the social order are accepted as right and any
deviation is wrong. Emphasis is on doing his/her duty. (e) The person recognizes
while it is important to adhere to social rules, it is also possible to change those
rules if such a change will benefit greater number of people. Here morality is
seen as rooted in basic human rights such as life and liberty. (f) A person
internalizes ideals of justice, compassion and equality and conforms both to
these ideals and to social standards.