SOCIALIZATION

The long and complicated process of social interaction through which

the child learns the intellectual, physical and social skills needed to
function as a member of society.
Process of Socialization
According to Fichter, socialization is a process of mutual influence
between a person and his fellowmen, a process that results in an
acceptance of, the adaptation to, the patterns of social behavior.
Socialization can be described from two points of view
Objective Socialization refers to the society acting upon the child.
Subjective Socialization the process by which the society transmits
its culture from one generation to the next and adapts the individual to
the accepted and approved ways of organized social life.
Importance of Socialization
The process of socialization plays a very important role in the
development of every individual and in the history and life of every
community.
Socialization is vital to culture Socialization is important to societies
as, it is to individuals. It is through this process of socialization that
every society transmits its culture to succeeding generations.
Socialization is vital to personality The process of socialization also
plays a very vital role in personality formation and development.
Children cannot develop the skills necessary to function effectively as
human beings when they are denied interaction with others.

Children are not born with biological inheritance of patterns of behavior

that help them survive.
Social Learning
The difference between simple learning and social learning is not in
who learns, or in how he learns, but what an individual learns.
The process of socialization can ultimately be reduced to the fact that the
individual learns by contact with the society.
The process refers not to individual knowledge, which also comes from
contact with others, but to shared knowledge which has social
significance.
Sub process of Social Learning
Imitation the human action by which one tends to
duplicate/copy the behavior of others
Competition two or more individuals vie with one another in
achieving knowledge
Suggestion the process of attempting to change the behavior of the
learner
Process of Socialization:
The individual learns by contact with society.
It refers to shared knowledge
Essential Prerequisites of Social Learning:
Contact
Communication

Human beings were the only animals who could manipulate

symbols, or communicate through language. Other animals
apparent usage of signs was instinctive.
Man is the only being that lives in a world of symbolic meaning.
Symbol
used to represent something else
may resemble what they stand for and they may be abstract

Agencies of Socialisation:
Socialisation is a process by which culture is transmitted
to the younger generation and men learn the rules and
practices of social groups to which they belong. Through
it that a society maintains its social system. Personalities
do not come ready-made. The process that transforms a
child into a reasonably respectable human being is a long
process.
Hence, every society builds an institutional framework
within which socialisation of the child takes place.
Culture is transmitted through the communication they
have with one another and communication thus comes to
be the essence of the process of culture transmission. In
a society there exists a number of agencies to socialise
the child.

To facilitate socialisation
important roles. These
interrelated.

different
agencies

agencies play
are however

1. Family:
The family plays an outstanding role in the socialisation
process. In all societies other agencies besides the family
contribute to socialisation such as educational
institutions, the peer group etc. But family plays the most
important role in the formation of personality. By the
time other agencies contribute to this process family has
already left an imprint on the personality of the child.
The parents use both reward and punishment to imbibe
what is socially required from a child.
The family has informal control over its members.
Family being a mini society acts as a transmission belt
between the individual and society. It trains the younger
generation in such a way that it can take the adult roles
in proper manner. As family is primary and intimate
group, it uses informal methods of social control to check
the undesirable behaviour on the part of its members.
The process of socialisation remains a process because of
the interplay between individual life cycle and family life
cycle.
According to Robert. K. Merton, it is the family which is
a major transmission belt for the diffusion of cultural

standards to the oncoming generation. The family

serves as the natural and convenient channel of social
continuity.
2. Peer Group:
Peer Group means a group in which the members share
some common characteristics such as age or sex etc. It is
made up of the contemporaries of the child, his
associates in school, in playground and in street. The
growing child learns some very important lessons from
his peer group. Since members of the peer group are at
the same stage of socialisation, they freely and
spontaneously interact with each other.
The members of peer groups have other sources of
information about the culture and thus the acquisition of
culture goes on. They view the world through the same
eyes and share the same subjective attitudes. In order to
be accepted by his peer group, the child must exhibit the
characteristic attitudes, the likes and dislikes.
Conflict arises when standards of the peer group differ
from the standards of the childs family. He may
consequently attempt to withdraw from the family
environment. The peer group surpasses the parental
influence as time goes on. This seems to be an inevitable
occurrence in rapidly changing societies.

3. Religion:
Religion play a very important role in socialisation.
Religion instills the fear of hell in the individual so that
he should refrain from bad and undesirable activities.
Religion not only makes people religious but socialises
them into the secular order.
4. Educational Institutions:
Parents and peer groups are not the only agencies of the
socialisation in modern societies. Every civilised society
therefore has developed a set of formalised agencies of
education (schools, colleges and universities) which have
a great bearing on the socialisation process. It is in the
educational institutions that the culture is formally
transmitted and acquired in which the science and the
art of one generation is passed on to the next.
The educational institutions not only help the growing
child in learning language and other subjects but also
instill the concept of time, discipline, team work,
cooperation and competition. Through the means of
reward and punishment the desired behaviour pattern is
reinforced whereas undesirable behaviour pattern meets
with disapproval, ridicule and punishment.
In this way, the educational institutions come next to the
family for the purpose of socialisation of the growing
child. Educational institution is a very important

socialiser and the means by which individual acquires

social norms and values (values of achievement, civic
ideals, solidarity and group loyalty etc) beyond those
which are available for learning in the family and other
groups.
5. Occupation:
In the occupational world the individual finds himself
with new shared interests and goals. He makes
adjustments with the position he holds and also learns to
make adjustment with other workers who may occupy
equal or higher or lower position.
While working, the individual enters into relations of
cooperation, involving specialisation of tasks and at the
same time learns the nature of class divisions. Work, for
him, is a source of income but at the same time it gives
identity and status within society as a whole.

Socialization can be conceptualized as a process made up of three stages.

a. Pre-arrival Stage:
This stage explicitly recognizes that each individual arrives with a set of
organizational values, attitudes, and expectations. For instance, in many jobs,
particularly high skilled and managerial jobs, new members will have
undergone a considerable degree of prior socialization in training and in
school. Pre-arrival socialization, however, goes beyond the specific job. The
selection process is used in most organizations to inform perspective

employees about the organization as whole. In addition, of course, interviews

in the selection process also act to ensure the inclusion of the right type
determining those who will fit in. Indeed, the ability of the individuals to present
the appropriate face during the selection process determines their ability to
move into the organization in the first place. Thus success depends upon the
degree to which aspiring members have correctly anticipated the expectations
and desires of those in the organization in charge of selection.
b. Encounter Stage:
Upon entry into the organization, new members enter the encounter stage.
Here the individuals confront the possible dichotomy between their
expectations about their jobs, their coworkers, their supervisors, and
the organization in general and reality. If expectations prove to have been
more or less accurate, the encounter state merely provides a reaffirmation of
the perceptions generated earlier. However, this is often not the case. Where
expectation and reality differ; new employees must undergo socialization that
will detach them from their previous assumption and replace these with the
organizations pivotal standards. Socialization, however, cannot solve all the
expectation differences. At the extreme, some new members may become
totally disillusioned with the actualities of their jobs and resign. It is hoped that
proper selection would significantly reduce this latter occurrence.
c. Metamorphosis Stage:
Finally the new member must workout any problems discovered during the
encounter stage. This may mean
going through changes. Hence the last stage is termed as metamorphosis
stage. Metamorphosis is complete as is the socialization process when new
members have become comfortable with the organization and their work
teams. In this situation they will have internalized the norms of the
organization and their coworkers; and they understand and accept these

norms. New members will feel accepted by their peers astrusted and valued
individuals. They will have gained an understanding of the organizational
system- notonly their own tasks but the rules, procedures and informally
accepted practices as well. Finally they willknow how they are going to be
evaluated. They will know what is expected of them and what constitutes a
good job. Consequently, successful metamorphosis should have positive
effect on a new employees productivity and the employees commitment to the
organization, and should reduce the likelihood that the employee will leave the
organization any time soon.