Immediately a child is born, he or she encounters and interacts with the family. The child at that point does not understand many things and, therefore, depends on the family to learn. Consequently, the family is undoubtedly the most influential agent of socialization (Handel, 2017). Firstly, it is from the family that an individual learns a language, cultural values, and even moral values. These factors shape how an individual communicates and relates with others. Secondly, an individual will most likely behave in a way that defines his or her upbringing in the family. For instance, an individual raised by a single mother, who is an alcoholic, poor, and abusive may adopt asocial behavior and find himself or herself in problems with law enforcement agents if not rescued early enough. Thirdly, it is through the family that individuals realize certain differences between themselves and other people. For example, children of different races may play together and ignore the racial differences among them. However, hearing their family members talk about the race of their friends influences them significantly to adopt similar perspectives towards their peers.
The family, as an agent of socialization, changes throughout a person’s lifetime. As people grow older, especially in the contemporary world, they tend to move further from their families. Besides, other family members also experience a similar transition. For instance, they could go to school, or move to places of work that are far away. That then means that individuals begin to learn from other agents of socialization or even on their own. Since the family begins to be less influential, individuals start the self-discovery process; they question some of their childhood beliefs. Nevertheless, there are aspects which may never change such as moral values, cultural beliefs, and some communication aspects. Therefore, though some beliefs may change, there are values which stick in individuals throughout their lives.
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Reference
Handel, G. (2017). Socialization and the social self. In Childhood socialization (pp. 31-40). Routledge.
