Chapter 5: Socialization:

• A baby do not develop “naturally” in to human adults.

• If children are reared in isolation, their bodies grows but they become little more than animals.

• Without the concepts that language provides, they can’t experience or even grasp relationships
between people(such as brother, sister, parents, teachers, friends an d so on.

• Without warm friendly interactions, they don’t become friendly or cooperate with others.

• In short, we can say that it is through human contact that people learn to be members of the
human community.

• This process by which we learn the ways of life (acting, feeling and behaving) is called
socialization. It is the life long social experience by which people develop human potential and
learn culture.

• It is the society which makes us human.

Human development: nature and nurture debate

 Following the idea of Charles Darwin, most of the people used to think that human behavior
resulted from biological instinct.

 The sucking reflex and grasping reflex present in an early baby shows the human beings behave
through biological instinct.

 They even believed that certain traits of an individual is transferred to his offspring through
genes.

 The ethnocentric European linked the cultural diversity with biology rather than culture. They
claimed that technologically simple societies are biologically less evolved and less human.

 But later in twentieth century, the biological explanations of human behavior came under fire.

 John B. Waston developed a theory called behaviorism which holds that behavior is not
instinctive but learned.

 There is little role of nature such as children often share some biological traits ( height, skin color
etc) and heredity plays a part in intelligence, musical, artistic talent and personality. However,
your inherited potential depends upon how you are raised.

 Thus, nurture matters more in shaping behavior.

Some researches on socialization and social isolation

(read the text book)

Theories of socialization:

i. G.H Mead’s theory of ‘Self’

ii. Sigmund Freud theory of Human Mind

iii. Jean Piaget’s theory of ‘Cognitive Approach’.

i. G.H Mead’s theory of Self:

 G.H Mead, a famous psychologist at the University of Chicago, is of the opinion like that of
Cooley that the society is the determining factor in the socialization of the individual.

 He stated that the individual becomes aware of himself basically through the process of
interaction.

 He argues that play is important to the development of a self. An individual, in order to get the
picture of himself ,plays the role of others. Here, the individual actually put himself in the role of
other, and imagines what their response might be.

 As the children grows up, at first, the children become able to take the role of ‘significant other’(
the persons who significantly influence their lives such as parents). Eg. Children acting to his/her
doll as a mother.

 As the children, further develops, they internalize the expectations of more and more people.
Their ability to take the roles of others eventually extends to being able to take the role of the
group as a whole. Mead has used the term ‘generalized other’ to refer to our perception of how
people in general think of us.

Eg. If the child is playing the role of a bridegroom, he/she must know not only the role of the
bridegroom but also that of the bride , the father in law, priest, relatives etc.

 Thus, self is the product of social interaction. It develops and grows in a social context.

ii. Sigmund Freud Theory of Human Mind:

 Symbolic interactionists such as Mead and Cooley see human behavior as the product of social
interaction, where as Freud views behavior and personality as the product of interaction
between nature and nurture.

 Freud theory views socialization process as a struggle between natural drives and society’s
expectations.

 Freud has divided human mind into three components:

1. Id

2. Ego
 3. Super ego

1. Id:

 Natural( inborn) drives of obtaining physical or sensual pleasure

 Each child is born with Id.

 It demands the immediate fulfillment of basic needs: food, safety, sex etc.

3. Super ego:

 Opposite to the Id, there are values or norms of society that limit our pleasure-seeking
tendencies.

 This conscience that arises from the messages we get from our society concerning what is and
what is not acceptable behavior is referred as super ego.

 Id , an inborn or natural drives says ‘ I want to do that” while super ego, society’s expectation
says ‘ you can’t do that’.

 A child in its socialization process adapts the norms of conduct of the society through super ego.

2. Ego:

 It is the balancing force between Id and Super ego.

 The ultimate behavior that an individual exhibits is the product of ego.

 The super ego will be of dominant influence in the people grown up in extremely restrictive
environment and Id will be play a larger role in the people those grown up with a greater degree
of freedom.

iii.Piget’s Theory of development of reasoning:

 Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist , argues that the children go through four stages as they
develop their ability to reason.

i. The sensorimotor stage

ii. The preoperational stage

iii. The concrete operational stage

iv. The formal operational stage

i. The Sensorimotor stage:

 From the birth to the age of 2.

  Understanding is limited just to the direct contact with the environment and performs the
activities like touching, sucking, listening , looking etc.

 They do not understand cause and effect.

ii. The Preoperational stage:

 From about 2 to age of 7.

 Develop the ability to use symbol

 They can count numbers but do not understand what the numbers mean.

 They do not have ability to take the role of other.

iii. The Concrete operational stage:

 From the age of 7 to 12

 Children now understand numbers, causation, and speed and they are able to take the role of
the other.

 With out concrete examples, they are unable to talk about concepts such as truth, honesty or
justice.

iv. The formal operational stage:

 After the age of 12

 Children are now capable of abstract thinking

 They can talk about different concepts, come to conclusions based on general principles and use
rules to solve abstract problems.

Agents of socialization:

1. Family

2. Peer groups

3. Teachers

4. Literature and mass media

1. Family:

 It is the most important agent of socialization.

 The parental care, particularly maternal influence on child is very great.

  The child receives additional communication from his older siblings.

 The family’s religion usually becomes the child’s and the child’s political attitudes, world view
and life style are influenced by those of the family. Children who experience undesirable
behavior or attitudes in the home are more likely to repeat it in adulthood.

2. Peer groups:

 Peer groups means contemporary friends in school, playground or neighbor.

 The children learn different elements from these children which they have previously learnt at
different times from their parents.

 In course of time, peer culture becomes more important and effective than the parental culture.

3. Teachers:

 The teachers play an important role in the socialization of the children as they enter the school.

 The teachers teach the students about the norms and values of the society.

 The culture is formally transmitted and acquired in the school.

 The role of teacher in the socialization process has become more important in the modern age
as the amount of specialized technical and scientific knowledge has expanded beyond what
parents could possibly teach in the home.

4. Literature and mass media:

 Literature is another important source of socialization and it is useful only literate society.

 The human civilization that we share is depicted in the literature in the forms of story, drama,
poem, novel etc. and by reading it we learn the culture.

 The mass media, both broadcast and print media exert powerful influence in socializing
individuals.

 Mass media such as television, radio, movies, videos, tapes, books, magazines and newspapers
etc. gives us messages. These messages might consist information about our culture, attitudes
and ideologies