SOCIALIAZATION

• Interactive process by which

individuals learn the basic skills,
values, beliefs and behavior patterns
of a society.
• Sociologists use the term to describe
pattern of human behavior and
WHAT IS attitude that emerged throughout the
SOCIALIAZATION? life course as ‘socialization’.
• These pattern are part of lifelong
process in which people learn
attitude, values, and behavior
appropriate for particular culture.
• So socialization occurs through human
interaction.
Role of socialization
• Socialization help us to behave
properly in society.
• We learn norms and values.
• Socialization transit culture one
generation to other generation for
the long term continuance of society.
• Socialization shapes our self images
and personalities.
• It helps to connect people with
society not isolation.
 • G. H. Mead (1964) explained the concept
Self as who we are and how we interact
with others. The Self is a distinct identity
that sets as apart from others.
• It is not a static phenomenon, but
Self and continues to develop and change
Socialization throughout our lives.
• It is a result of social interaction.
• According to Mead there are four stages
of Self/Self development
• Imitation: mimicking behaviour without understanding. First stages of
childhood.
• Play stage: child begins role-playing. The child takes one role at a time. For
example, the girl child plays the role of the mother. However he/she cannot
distinguish between his/her role as a child and the role of the mother at this
stage. While playing the role of the mother, he/she believes that he/she is the
mother. The roles the child plays are often modelled significantly after others,
especially parents.
• The game stage: Through further social experience, the child enters the game
stage. Here the child is capable of taking a number of roles simultaneously in a
particular situation. The child can understand things/events from various
perspectives.
• Final stage: Finally the child acquires widespread societal norms and values
which enable him/her to act as any other individual in society. This
generalised standpoint from which the child views himself/herself.
 An ‘agent’ is something that causes
something to occur. So, agents of socialization
are specific individuals, groups and
institutions that provide the situations in
which socialization can occur.
Agents of Mainly seven agents of socialization :

Socialization • Family
• School
• Peer Group
• Mass media and Technology
• Workplace
• Religion
• And State
 • The most important and first agent of socialization .
• The principle socializer of young children .
• Teaches how to behave in socially acceptable ways,
to develop emotional ties and internalize values and
norms .
• Individuals share the patterns of the larger culture,
but retain unique values and behavioral traits as
learned from their family .

FAMILY • Socialization can be both deliberate (structured)

and unconscious (unintended)”.
• The ways in which our parents socialize us depend
on many factors, two of the most important of which
are our parents’ social class and our own biological
sex.
• If parents’ social class influences how they raise
their children, it is also true that the sex of their
children affects how they are socialized by their
parents. Many studies find that parents raise their
daughters and sons quite differently as they interact
with them from birth
 • Structured - the emphasis is on acquiring skills
that will enable us to fit into a larger society
• Plays a major part in our socialization because
we’re in school for so long
• Most socialization is deliberate: activities teach
skills whether vocational, academic or social
Extracurricular activities teach us teamwork,
SCHOOL
•
practice
• Anticipatory socialization for the world of work
because of deadlines, schedules and learning
how to fit in to the larger society; transmission
of values
• Unintentional socialization – some teachers
and peers become role models for
students ;peer groups are abundant in school
 • Schools socialize children in several ways.
First, students learn a formal curriculum,
informally called the “three Rs”: reading,
writing, and arithmetic. This phase of their
socialization is necessary for them to
become productive members of their
society.
• Second, because students interact every
day at school with their peers, they ideally
CONTINUED strengthen their social interaction skills.
• Third, they interact with authority figures,
their teachers, who are not their parents.
For children who have not had any pre-
schooling, their teachers are often the first
authority figures they have had other than
their parents. The learning they gain in
relating to these authority figures is yet
another important component of their
socialization.
 DEFINED: A PRIMARY GROUP COMPOSED OF INDIVIDUALS
OF ROUGHLY EQUAL AGE AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
(YOUR FRIENDS)

MORE INFLUENTIAL AS CHILDREN GROW OLDER

PEER TO BE ACCEPTED BY OUR PEERS WE OFTEN BEHAVE

GROUPS CERTAIN WAYS – WE TRY TO BE THE KIND OF PERSON WE
THINK THEY WANT US TO BE

DESIRE TO FIT IN - THERE’S A FOCUS ON GROUP

INTERESTS AND ACQUIRING SKILLS NEEDED TO FIT INTO A
SUBCULTURE • SOCIALIZATION IS NOT “STRUCTURED”

GROUPS GOALS CAN BE AT ODDS WITH LARGER

SOCIETY/PARENTS/SCHOOLS
 The downside of friendships is called peer pressure,
with which you are undoubtedly familiar. Suppose it
CONTINUED is Friday night, and you are studying for a big exam
on Monday. Your friends come by and ask you to go
with them to get a pizza and a drink. You would
probably agree to go with them, partly because you
really dislike studying on a Friday night, but also
because there is at least some subtle pressure on
you to do so.

As this example indicates, our friends can influence

us in many ways. During adolescence, their interests
can affect our own interests in film, music, and
other aspects of popular culture. More ominously,
adolescent peer influences have been implicated in
underage drinking, drug use, delinquency, and hate
crimes, such as the killing of
 • Forms of communication that reach
large audiences with no personal
contact between those sending
and receiving the information – TV,
newspaper, radio, films,
magazines, Internet, etc…
MASS MEDIA • TV is the most influential of all
mass media (there is at least one
AND in every home – said to watch an
TECHNOLOGY average of 7 hours a day).
• Web sites, and other aspects of the
mass media influence our political
views; our tastes in popular
culture; our views of women,
people of color, and gays; and
many other beliefs and practices.
 • In an ongoing controversy, the mass
media are often blamed for youth violence
and many other of our society’s ills. The
average child sees thousands of acts of
violence on television and in the movies
before reaching young adulthood.
• Rap lyrics often seemingly extol very ugly
CONTINUED violence, including violence against
women. Commercials can greatly
influence our choice of soda, shoes, and
countless other products.
• The mass media also reinforce racial and
gender stereotypes, including the belief
that women are sex objects and suitable
targets of male violence.
 Learning to behave appropriately in an
occupation is a fundamental aspect of human
WORKPLACE socialization.

Socialization in the workplace changes when it

involves a more permanent shift from an after
school job to full time employment

Occupational socialization can be most intense

during the transition from school to job, but it
continues throughout one’s work history.

Technological advances may alter the

requirements of the position and necessitate
some degree of re socialization.
 • Religion is arguably less important in
people’s lives now than it was a few
generations ago, it still continues to exert
considerable influence on our beliefs,
values, and behaviors.

RELIGION • Both government and organized religion

have impacted to the life course by
AND THE reinstituting some of the rites of passage
once observed in agricultural communities
STATE •
and early industrial societies.
In the social policy section that follows, we
will see that government is under pressure
to become a provider of child care, which
would give it a new and direct role in the
socialization of infants and young children.
Socialization and the Life Course
 • The process of socialization in which a
person ‘rehearses’ for future positions
and occupation
Anticipatory • Preparation for many aspects of adult
life begins with anticipatory
Socialization socialization during childhood and
adolescence, and continues
throughout our lives as we prepare for
new responsibilities.
 • Resocialization is a process in which a
person is taught new norms, values, and
practices that foster their transition from
one social role to another
• Resocialization can involve both minor and
major forms of change and can be both
voluntary or involuntary.
RESOCIALIZATION • The process ranges from simply adjusting
to a new job or work environment,
to moving to another country where you
have to learn new customs, dress,
language and eating habits
• Even more significant forms of change like
becoming a parent.
• Examples of involuntary resocialization
include becoming a prisoner or a widow,
among others.