Socialization is a term used by sociologists to describe ways that people learn to conform to the roles, values, and norms of society. According to the society’s perspective, the most crucial aspect regarding the process of socialization is that individuals learn to act based on the norms of their culture in different situations that take place ( Grusec & Hastings, 2014). The paper will discuss the individual identity, roles, and statuses, four influential agents of socialization, and four relevant sociological theories.
Descriptions of an Individual’s Identity, roles and statuses
Socialization offers a person a sense of identity in terms of “Who am I?” Each individual possess self-image and identity that sociologists refer to as self-concept. Self-concept is defined as individual assessment that people have regarding their own self-worth and identity and the way they fit into the larger society and community. The foundation of our personality is formed by our own self-image, which includes all characteristics that an individual thinks about himself or herself. For instance, a person might state “I am carefree” or “I am a student”. Other specific names given to the characterizations of a person apart from self-concept and self-image include self-descriptions and self-views. These terms are used interchangeable to refer to the specific opinions that people have regarding “who they are”. In the broader view, there exist various identities such as ethnic identity, racial identity, and gender identity. These type of identities comprises of different organized ideas about who we are and their significance to us. For instance, gender identity may consist of different thoughts including sexual orientation, an individual’s self-definition of how central gender is to them and how a person examines their gender identity. Moreover, identity can be discussed in an even broader sense such as thoughts regarding who we are as an individual. In this kind of thinking, identity cannot only be referred as thoughts in any one domain or area or any specific thought but rather to an integrated idea ( Ely & Gleason, 2017).
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Four Influential Agents of Socialization.
There exists various institutional and other sources of socialization, which are referred to as agents of socialization. The agents of socialization have profound impact on personal development of an individual from childhood into adulthood. Examples of these agents of socialization include family, religion, media, peers, and education. These factors have influenced the life choices, opportunities, and development of an individual (Prot et al., 2015).
Family is definitely the most significant agent of socialization for toddlers and young children. It forms a significant part of our socialization process. Parents have profound impact on development of children. In so many ways, children grow up taking after their parents in more than just appearance. Parents are primary caregivers in their children’s life and for many years, the children get in contact with them more than any other adults do. Since this interaction takes place in the most formative years of the lives children, the messages parents teach them could have a profound impact throughout our lives. The way parents socialize with their children is dependent on various factors, the most important ones beings the biological sex of our children and the parents social class. Evidence indicate that working- and middle-class parents have a tendency of socializing differently with their children. For example, working-class parents places emphasis on respect and obedience for authority as they raise their children. In the contrary, middle-class parents places emphasis on independence as they raise their children. Additionally, the sex of children influences the way they socialize by their parents. Evidence indicate that parents raise their sons and daughters in differently. For instance, parents are rougher with their sons and gentler with their daughters (Prot et al., 2015).
School is another agent of socialization that socialize children in many ways. Children are taught formal curricula where they learn to read, write, and arithmetic. This stage of socialization is very essential for children to become productive members in society. Additionally, school imparts cultural values of society in children. Examples of these values include the respect to authority, the significance of being obedient, patient, and neat, and learn how to compete for rewards. In this ways, children learn how to be better people in future. Moreover, schools helps to strengthen the social interaction skills because here is where children socialize with their peers. Furthermore, in school, children interact with teachers, who are authority figures to them other than their parents. The learning children acquire in their interaction with these authority figures is a crucial component of their socialization (Prot et al., 2015).
In addition, mass media is an agent of socialization, which include Web sites, magazines, popular music, movies, and television shows. Mass media impacts on various aspects of our lives including views on women, gays or people of color, our preferences in popular culture, and our political perception among other things. Mass media socializes adults, adolescents, and children. It has been blamed for youth violence and other ills in society in the ongoing controversy. Evidence shows that an average child watches various acts of violence on movies and television before they get into young adulthood phase. In addition, commercials may have a significant impact on our choice of different products including shoes and soda among others. In addition, mass media may strengthen gender and racial stereotypes. However, it has been argued that watching violence does not necessary reinforce violent behavior and this has remained a topic of contentious debate. Therefore, mass media is definitely a crucial source of socialization (Prot et al., 2015).
Furthermore, religion is an agent of socialization because it has extensive impact on our behaviors, values, and beliefs. Religious preference and religiosity are aspects of religion that affect our values and beliefs on religious issues. For instance, the society holds strong opinion on abortion and most of these views are rooted in an individual’s religious belief. This raises the question on which aspect of religion is more important, is it religiosity or religious beliefs (Prot et al., 2015). Therefore, religion plays a significant role in the development of a child, their life choices, and behaviors.
Four Relevant Sociological Theories
The four relevant theories in sociology include symbolic interactionism, feminism, social conflict, and structural-functional. Structural-functional theory perceives society as a complex yet an interconnected system. Each structure or system of society works together as a functional whole. The different systems or structures in society may include families, schools, business, and the government and all these systems must work to together to achieve a fully functioning society. Social conflict theory perceives society as unequal system of groups thus constantly give rise to conflict and change. This theory focuses on ways social conflict motivates individuals and societies to change over time. Feminism perceives society as inequalities existing between men and women and aims to achieve equality between the sexes. For instance, reports have indicated that in American, women and men are not equally paid. Women are paid less compared to men; they are less represented in the government, and are less likely to own a business among other things. The symbolic interaction perspective is a key framework of sociology theory. This theory focuses on the symbolic meaning, which people create and depend upon in the social interaction process ( Ritzer & Stepnisky, 2017).
Conclusion
The process of socialization is crucial in our lives because it allows people to learn how to conduct themselves in accordance with their cultural norms. It provides an individual with a sense of identity by allowing them to learn and discover who they are. The agents of socialization that influences different areas of a person’s life include mass media, family, school, and religion among others. The four relevant theories applied by sociologists include feminism, social conflict, symbolic interactionism, and structural-functional. Therefore, the socialization process is a crucial aspect in shaping the behavior of a person in society.
References
Ely, R., & Gleason, J. B. (2017). Socialization across contexts. The handbook of child language , 251-276.
Grusec, J. E., & Hastings, P. D. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of socialization: Theory and research . Guilford Publications.
Prot, S., Anderson, C. A., Gentile, D. A., Warburton, W., Saleem, M., Groves, C. L., & Brown, S. C. (2015). Media as agents of socialization. Handbook of socialization: Theory and research , 276-300.
Ritzer, G., & Stepnisky, J. (2017). Modern sociological theory . SAGE Publications.
