Becoming a Member

of a Society
Lesson 1. Enculturation and Socialization

Activity 1. DOs and DON’Ts

In this activity, you will revisit your past experiences and research on the
norms and values of your family, community, municipality, and country.
Answers should be limited to the DOs and DON’Ts of your age. Norms, example
fiesta what are the Dos and Don’ts? Give at least one each category.

Social Environment DOs DON’Ts

Family

Community

Municipality

Country
Introduction

 How is culture ingrained in children? Is it through

biological inheritance (nature) or through cultural inheritance
(nurture)? The issue on nature and nurture has been a long-
standing debate in the fields of social sciences such as sociology
and anthropology. Two primary opposing perspectives are held
by social learning theorists and sociobiologists.
 Proponents of social learning theory argue that the set of
behaviors of an individual is acquired through enculturation
and socialization processes. The variation in human behavior
is attributed to the differences in cultural templates of every
society that the individual learns from.
As we learned in the previous modules, culture is a key to
human adaptation, and as such every society has its own
culture. In this lesson, we look at how individuals learn culture
and become competent members of society through the process
of enculturation or socialization, or the process of preparing
individuals for membership in a given society. The process of
socialization entails learning the various elements of a society’s
culture as well as its social structure. The discussion focuses on
values, norms, status, and roles, as well as gender role
socialization.
What is Enculturation and socialization?

 Human is the highest animal being. What makes us different from the other
animal is, we are rational, meaning we know what is right or wrong. We are rational
because we are enculturated and socialized by our past generation or parents.

Read the scenario below:

 Jill is a 16-year-old high school junior. She lives with her parents and two
younger brothers in a small town in the Midwest. Jill's parents are both very religious.
Her family attends church every Sunday, and Jill is a member of the youth choir. Jill's
parents encourage all of their children to be kind, respectful, and to follow the rules.
 Jill has had the same two best friends since she was in kindergarten. All of
the girls wear their hair in similar styles and like to borrow each other's clothes. They
also take shopping trips and family vacations together. Since her town only has one
high school, Jill attends school with both of her best friends. Jill, like her two best
friends, is doing very well at school and volunteers in her community. Jill's family and
friends have no doubt that she will grow up to be a successful adult. Let's look at the
ways in which Jill's family and friends have influenced her enculturation.
Enculturation refers to the process through which we learn about
the culture we live in. Through enculturation, we learn what
behaviors, values, language, and morals are acceptable in our
society. We learn by observing other members of our society,
including our parents, friends, teachers, and mentors. Enculturation
provides a means for us to become functional members of our
society.
Agents of Socialization

 How do we learn to interact with other people? Socialization is

a lifelong process during which we learn about social expectations
and how to interact with other people. Nearly all of the behavior that
we consider to be 'human nature' is actually learned through
socialization. And, it is during socialization that we learn how to
walk, talk, and feed ourselves, about behavioral norms that help us
fit in to our society, and so much more.
 Socialization occurs throughout our life, but some of the most
important socialization occurs in childhood. So, let's talk about
the most influential agents of socialization. These refer to the
various social groups or social institutions that play a significant
role. in introducing and integrating the individual as an accepted
and functioning member of society (Banaag, 2019)
Family is usually considered to be the most important agent of
socialization.
School The next important agent of childhood socialization. school is
to transfer subject knowledge and teach life skills, such as following
directions and meeting deadlines.
Peers peer groups give us an opportunity as children to form
relationships with others on our own terms, plus learn things without
the direction of an adult.
Mass media refer to communication form that is design send
messages to the mass audiences
Activity No. 2 Reflective Essay
Instruction: Write your answer on a whole sheet of
intermediate pad. 5 points each
1. Whatis the most important lesson about being a person
that your parents taught you?
2. Howhas this lesson aided you in dealing with other
people in your society?
Identity formation is the development of an individual’s distinct
personality, which is regarded as a persisting entity in a particular
stage of life by which a person is recognized or known.
Pieces of the individual’s actual identity include a sense of
continuity, a sense of uniqueness from others, and a sense of
affiliation. Identity formation clearly influences personal identity by
which the individual thinks of him or herself as a discrete and
separate entity. This maybe through individuation whereby the
undifferentiated individual tends to become unique, or undergoes
staged through which differentiated facets of person’s life tend
toward becoming a more indivisible whole.
 Individuals gain social identity and group identity by social
affiliation. Social identity is a person’s notion of who he or she
is in society. This includes the roles and statuses that he or
she performs in accord to what the society expect him or her.
There are two types of identity that an individual takes on:
Primary identity consists of the roles and statuses that an
individual learns as a child. This includes the core social
identities that are often ascribed to an individual such as sex,
age, and ethnicity. As a child gets enculturated and socialized
with his/her society’s norm, he or she participates in the
construction of his or her secondary identity. This includes
roles and statuses that are achieved such as occupation,
educational background, economic status, and gender.
These categories promote a holonic concept of the self—the self is
both a whole and a part. The self in the context of the personal
pertains to the wholeness of an individual’s identity. This leads back
to the uniqueness of every individual. The self in the context of it
being a part of a whole reflects on the ascribed roles that it plays
within the context of society.
Activity no. 3 Knowing myself
Instruction: Fill in the information that is required in the boxes.
After which, categorize these identities by highlighting in yellow all
identities that are public and blue of all identities that are
personal.

Economic
Age Gender Hobby Religion status

Grades/
Illnesses Savings Award ratings Failures
What have I Learned so far?
1. How does socialization affect the creation of one’s
identity? (5pts)
Norms and Values
 Socialization is also defined as the process of preparing
members for membership in a given group in society. Through
socialization, individuals learn the norms and values of their
society. Values are culturally defined standards that people use to
decide what is desirable, good, and beautiful and that serve as
broad guidelines for social living. Cultural values inform the type of
aspirations that members of society aspire for, and these are
labeled as social goals. Values and beliefs no only affect how we
see our surroundings, but also help form our personalities. We
learn from families, friends, schools, and religious organizations to
think and act according to particular principles, to believe certain
truths, and to pursue worthwhile goals.
Status and Role
 Our forms of social interaction are always within the context
of our status and that of the people we are interacting with. This is
to say that we speak and behave differently toward different sets of
people.
Status refers a social position that a person holds. It is an individual’s
position in his or her society, which carries with it a set of defined
rights and obligations.
ascribed status is a social position a person receives at birth or takes
on involuntarily later in life. Examples of ascribed statuses include
being a daughter, a Filipino, a teenager, or a widower.
Role refers to behavior expected of someone who holds a particular
status.
The behavior of an individual within social space in accordance to his
or her status is called role performance.
A status has multiple roles attached to it and this multiplicity of roles
within a given status is called a role set. Hence, in school, you
teacher’s role is not just to educate you but also has the role of being
a guardian while you are away from your parents.