Sociology refers to the scientific study of human society and the patterns of social relations of society. Sociology further concentrates on the study of the social interaction and the everyday life of society. In essence, it is composed of various theories and concepts such as moral development, nature and nurture, and the idea of resocialization. The paper seeks to describe and analyze the process of socialization.
Responding to the Question “Who am I?”
When responding to the above question, sociology dictates that it is essential for a person to consider the various concepts. The ideas include the role of the person, the status, and the group membership of an individual.
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My Status
According to sociology, status is the position that an individual holds in the society, and the behavior people expect from the person holding that position Ridgeway, 2013). I am currently a student, and my behavior includes maintaining a high level of discipline to my course instructor and my colleagues when in and out of the classroom. As a student, I am also expected to take care of my surroundings.
My Role
Sociology defines roles as a general pattern of behavior, which identifies and places an individual in society. According to Kendall (2010), role refers to the dynamic aspect of status. My role as a student includes attending my classes according to what my timetables stipulates, taking notes while in class and communicating with my course instructor. I interact with the professor by asking questions where I feel he needs to make various highlights and respond to questions the professor posts to students. Additionally, I participate in study groups, share ideas with my team members, and ask the members of my study groups significant questions.
My Group Membership
Social science defines a group as a unit of two or more persons who interact with one another, have similar characteristics, and have a collective sense of unity. I am a member of a sociology class in my college. In this regard, I share various features with my class members. Some of the characteristics include having the same program, attending the same classes, and being taught by the same lecturer. I am also a member of the college’s football team where I serve as the captain.
The Agents of Socialization That Have Affected My Development from Childhood Socialization to Adulthood Socialization
Family
A family is a domestic group made up of people related to one another by bonds of blood or legal ties. A family plays a critical role in the process of child development. Importantly, my family provided me with values that affected my development from childhood to adulthood such as respect. I developed from childhood to adulthood knowing that respect is paramount and being obedient to every person is essential. The roles of the family indicate that it is an educative social agent (Ravi, 2015). The other value that affected my development from childhood is responsibility. Being taught to be responsible at a tender age influenced my life because I grew up knowing that everyone should play a role in society. Besides, I developed to adulthood knowing that living without responsibility is a sign of laziness.
Additionally, my family equipped me with other skills during my childhood development that affected my growth such as motor skills, which reinforced my independence since I learned to do things on my own at a tender age. Moreover, learning language skills from my family was also crucial for my development. As I grew up, I was taught how to speak, which made me develop a language that enables me to communicate with other people during my adulthood. Indeed, I can communicate fluently because of the skill. The family further helped me to develop emotional skills during my childhood development. With the skills, I knew how to have sympathy and compassion for others. The skills further enabled me to deal with the difficult situations that come with life. Learning emotional skills also helped me in making better decisions.
Religion
Religion as an agent of socialization also affected my growth from childhood to adulthood. Religion emphasizes oral codes such as self-control and social competence that instill value among people (Ravi, 2015). Growing up in a family with a strong religious background instilled the quality of restraint in me. As a result, I grew up knowing that it is important to have self-control, especially when making critical decisions and associating with other people. Religion also influenced my moral behavior as I grew up from childhood. I have chosen not to drink or smoke, engage in sexually immoral behavior or attend night clubs since my religion considers such actions to be immoral.
Peer
Peer groups during my childhood made me dislike the direct supervision of my parent and adults. My peers enabled me to form relationships and discuss interests that we did not share with adults such as popular music and best video games. As a result, I grew up considering some music to be better than others. Additionally, I developed to adulthood knowing that there are some activities that only ladies did because my peers considered those activities feminine. However, by reading the concept of resocialization, I was able to change the perception and support gender equality.
Media
Having access to media programs during my childhood promoted my development to my adulthood. For instance, watching violent actions made me fear violence because of the consequences that were bound to happen. In many situations, violence led to injuries or police arrests. Consequently, I made a choice never to take part in violent activities during my childhood and adulthood.
The Concept of Self
Sociology defines self as the set of perception of who we are with regards to ourselves, others, and the social system. Social processes such as socialization influence the development of the self through interaction. For instance, by interacting with my peers during my childhood, we discussed roles to perform, and from that, I became biased when it came to doing chores. I viewed myself as one who can never do activities that I thought belonged to women.
The Concept of Resocialization
Resocialization refers to subjecting an individual to new values and skills that society considers being adequate (Ferrante, 2014). For instance, my peers made me become gender biased. However, studying sociology instilled the subject of gender equality in me, and I now believe that there are no chores for any gender because all genders are equal.
The Concept of Nature and Nurture
Nature refers to the biological factors that influence who we are from physical appearance to personality. Nurture, on the other hand, applies to the environmental variables that affect how we are raised (Henslin, 2000). Indeed, it is worth mentioning that a family nurtures the development of a child to adulthood because, through this agent of socialization, I was able to learn to sympathize with others and further be respectful.
The Theory of Moral Development
The concept refers to the way people learn what society considers immoral or moral, which is significant for the society to function smoothly. In this regard, the theory prevents individuals from acting on unchecked urges, but urges them to consider what society believes is good or right for others ( Kohlberg, 1977) . From the discussion on the family as an agent of socialization, it is evident that society considers treating people disrespectfully as immoral. For this reason, it prevents me from disrespecting others because it is not good for them.
References
Ferrante, J. (2014). Sociology: A Global Perspective . Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Henslin, J. M., & Nelson, A. (2000). Essentials of sociology: A down-to-earth approach.
Kendall, D. (2010). Sociology in our times. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Kohlberg, L., & Hersh, R. H. (1977). Moral development: A review of the theory. Theory into practice, 16(2), 53-59.
Ravi, S. (2015). Philosophical and sociological bases of education . New Delhi, Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt.
Ridgeway, C. L. (2013). Why status matters for inequality. American Sociological Review, 79 (1), 1–16. doi:10.1177/0003122413515997
