Module III: Socialization

 Nature of Socialization
 Social Interaction
 Interaction of Socialization Process
 Contributions to Society and Nation

Socialization Process

Socialization is the process by which children and adults learn from others. We begin
learning from others during the early days of life; and most people continue their social
learning all through life (unless some mental or physical disability slows or stops the
learning process). Sometimes the learning is fun, as when we learn a new sport, art or
musical technique from a friend we like. At other times, social learning is painful, as
when we learn not to drive too fast by receiving a large fine for speeding.
        Natural socialization occurs when infants and youngsters explore, play and
discover the social world around them. Planned socialization occurs when other
people take actions designed to teach or train others -- from infancy on. Natural
socialization is easily seen when looking at the young of almost any mammalian
species (and some birds). Planned socialization is mostly a human phenomenon; and
all through history, people have been making plans for teaching or training others. Both
natural and planned socialization can have good and bad features: It is wise to learn
the best features of both natural and planned socialization and weave them into our
lives.
        Positive socialization is the type of social learning that is based on pleasurable
and exciting experiences. We tend to like the people who fill our social learning
processes with positive motivation, loving care, and rewarding opportunities. Negative
socialization occurs when others use punishment, harsh criticisms or anger to try to
"teach us a lesson;" and often we come to dislike both negative socialization and the
people who impose it on us.
          There are all types of mixes of positive and negative socialization; and the more
positive social learning experiences we have, the happier we tend to be -- especially if
we learn useful information that helps us cope well with the challenges of life. A high
ratio of negative to positive socialization can make a person unhappy, defeated or
pessimistic about life. People should learn how to increase the ratio of positive to
negative in the socialization they receive from others -- and that they give to others.
[Some people will defend negative socialization, since painful training can prepare
people to be ready to fight and die in battle, put themselves at great risk in order to
save others, endure torture and hardship. This is true; but many people receive far
more negative socialization than they need, and hopefully fewer and fewer people will
need to be trained for battle, torture and hardship.]
         Positive socialization, coupled with valuable information about life and the skills
needed to live well, can be a powerful tool for promoting human development. We all
have an enormous human potential, and we all could develop a large portion of it if we
had the encouragement that comes from positive socialization and the wisdom that
comes from valuable information about living. Information about both natural and
planned socialization can be especially useful.
          Our prior socialization helps explain a gigantic chunk of who we are at present
-- what we think and feel, where we plan to go in life. But we are not limited by the
things given to us by our prior social learning experiences; we can take all our
remaining days and steer our future social learning in directions that we value. The
more that we know about the socialization process, the more effective we can be in
directing our future learning in the ways that will help us most.
          Because we were not able to select our parents, we were not able to control
much of the first 10 or 20 years of our socialization. However, most people learn to
influence their own socialization as they gain experience in life. It takes special skills to
steer and direct our own socialization, and many of us pick up some of those skills
naturally as we go through life. Having a course on socialization can help us
understand which skills are most effective in guiding our socialization toward the goals
we most value.
          It is important to know that we all come into life with a variety of psychology
systems that foster self-actualization and favor the development of our human
potential. These are the biosocial mechanisms that underlie natural socialization. We
can see and study natural socialization by examining the socialization of primates and
other mammals. Once we under the natural biosocial processes, we can try to build
strategies of self-actualization that are compatible with the natural biosocial
mechanisms we are born with to make self-development as easy and rewarding as
possible.
         If we understand the ways to create positive socialization experiences, we can
take our human potential and develop the happy and creative sides of that potential. If
we had too much negative socialization in the past and have learned to be too sad or
inhibited, knowledge about positive socialization can help minimize some of the pain
and allow us to build toward a more positive and creative future.
           
 One needs to learn how to be most effective in directing your own socialization
and self-actualization processes toward the goals that you value most. Special attention
will be paid to exploration, play, creativity, wisdom, and positive reinforcement -- five
centrally important aspects of positive socialization.
 NATURE OF SOCIALIZATION

Children learn two broad categories of things during the socialization

process.  First, there are the common practices and institutions of a culture,
including its language, style of dress, what is considered edible, the expected
roles of mothers, fathers, teachers, etc.  These things are relatively easy to
observe by anthropologists and other outsiders visiting from a different society.  The
second thing acquired during socialization is a world-view.  This is the
complex of motivations, perceptions, and beliefs that we internalize and that
strongly affect how we interact with other people and things in
nature. Socialization is simply the process by which we become human social
beings.  George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley (from the “Chicago School”)
contributed the Symbolic Interactionism perspective-most widely used today by
sociologists.  Mead and Cooley focused on how all the symbol-based interactions
we have with others shape and form our self, our roles, our becoming “human,” and
ultimately our experiencing socialization throughout our life stages.  Socialization is
the process by which people learn characteristics of their group’s norms,
values, attitudes, and behaviors.

Newborns are not born human—at least not in the social or emotional sense of being
human.  They have to learn all the nuances of proper behavior, how to meet
expectations for what is expected of them, and everything else needed to become a
member of society.  A newborn in the presence of others, interacting with family and
friends typically acquires their socialization by the time they reach young adulthood.  

From the first moments of life, children begin a process of socialization wherein
parents, family, and friends establish an infant’s Social Construction of Reality, or what
people define as real because of their background assumptions and life experiences
with others.  An average US child’s social construction of reality includes: knowledge
that he or she belongs, can depend on others to meet their needs, and has privileges
and obligations that accompany membership in their family and community.  In a typical
set of social circumstances, children grow up through a predictable set of life
stages: infancy, preschool, K-12 school years, young adulthood, adulthood,
middle adulthood, and finally later-life adulthood.  Most will leave home as young
adults, find a spouse or life partner in their mid-to late 20s and work in a job for pay.  To
expect that of the average US Child is normal. 

Three Levels of Socialization

Also when discussing the average child, it’s safe to say that the most important
socialization takes place early in life and in identifiable levels. Primary socialization
typically begins at birth and moves forward until the beginning of the school years. 
Primary Socialization includes all the ways the newborn is molded into a social being
capable of interacting in and meeting the expectations of society.  Most primary
socialization is facilitated by the family, friends, day care, and to a certain degree
various forms of media. Children watch about 3 hours of TV per day (by the time the
average child attends kindergarten she has watched about 5,000 hours of TV).  They
also play video games, surf the Internet, play with friends, and read.

Children learn how to talk, interact with others, share, manage frustrations, follow the
“rules”, and grow up to be like older family and friends they know.  When they live up to
expectations they are “big boys and girls,” when they don’t they are naughty.  In the
early years, tremendous attention is required in the safety and nurturance of infants.  As
they begin to walk and talk they learn to communicate their needs and wants and to
feed and clothe themselves.  Younger children do not have strong abstract reasoning
skills until adolescence, so they rely heavily on the judgment of their caregivers.  Most
importantly, they form significant attachments to the older people who care for them. 

Around age 4-5 pre-school and kindergarten are presented as expectations for the
children.  Once they begin their schooling, they begin another different level of
socialization.  Secondary Socialization occurs in later childhood and adolescence
when children go to school and come under the influence of non-family members.  This
level runs concurrently with primary socialization.  Children realize at school that they
are judged for their performance now and are no longer accepted unconditionally.  In
fact, to obtain approval from teachers and school employees a tremendous amount of
conformity is required—this is in contrast to having been accepted at home for being
“mommy’s little man or woman.”  Now, as students, children have to learn to belong
and cooperate in large groups.  They learn a new culture that extends beyond their
narrow family culture and that has complexities and challenges that require effort on
their part and that create stressors for the children.  By the time of graduation from high
school the average US child has attended 15,000 hours of school away from home. 
They’ve also probably watched 15,000 hours of TV, and spent 5-10,000 playing (video
games, friends, Internet, text messaging, etc.).

Friends, class mates, and peers become increasingly important in the lives of children
in their secondary educational stage of socialization.  Most 0-5 year olds yearn for their
parents and family member’s affection and approval.  By the time of pre-teen years, the
desire for family diminishes and the yearning now becomes for friends and peers. 
Parents often lament the loss of influence over their children once the teen years
arrive.  Studies show that parents preserve at least some of their influence over their
children by influencing their children’s peers.  Parents who host parties, excursions, and
get-togethers find that their relationship with their children’s friends keeps them better
connected to their children.  They learn that they can persuade their children at times
through the peers.

The K-12 schooling years are brutal in terms of peer pressures.  Often, people live
much of their adult lives under the labels they were given in high school.  Then it
happens.  You’ve probably already done this—graduation!  Many new high school
graduates face the strikingly harsh realities of adulthood shortly after graduation. 
Anomie often follows and it takes months and years at times for young adults to
discover new regulating norms which ground them back into expectable routines of life. 

The third level of socialization includes college, work, marriage/significant

relationships, and a variety of adult roles and adventures.  Adult Socialization occurs as
we assume adult roles such as wife/husband/employee/etc.  We adapt to new roles
which meet our needs and wants throughout the adult life course.  Freshmen in college,
new recruits in the military, volunteers for Peace Corps and Vista, employees,
missionaries, travelers, and others find themselves following the same game plan that
lead to their success during their primary and secondary socialization years—find out
what’s expected and strive to reach those expectations.  

Though we articulate an average life course as follows: infancy, preschool, K-12 school
years, young adulthood, adulthood, middle adulthood, and finally later-life adulthood;
few life paths conform perfectly to it.  People die of heart disease, cancer, brain and
lung diseases, and accidents.  People marry and divorce, become parents, or finish
raising their children.  They start a career and change after 5-10 years to another, and
later even another.  They go bankrupt, win lotteries, or simply pay off their mortgages. 
In each change that comes into their life, they find themselves adapting to new roles,
new expectations, and new limitations. Socialization is an ongoing process for everyone
until the day they die.

 SOCIAL INTERACTION 

Social interactions are the acts, actions, or practices of two or more people mutually
oriented towards each other's selves, that is, any behavior that tries to affect or take
account of each other's subjective experiences or intentions. This means that the
parties to the social interaction must be aware of each other--have each other's self in
mind. This does not mean being in sight of or directly behaving towards each other.
Friends writing letters are socially interacting, as are enemy generals preparing
opposing war plans. Social interaction is not defined by type of physical relation or
behavior, or by physical distance. It is a matter of a mutual subjective orientation
towards each other. Thus even when no physical behavior is involved, as with two
rivals deliberately ignoring each other's professional work, there is social interaction.

Moreover, social interaction requires a mutual orientation. The spying of one on another
is not social interaction if the other is unaware. Nor do the behaviors of rapist and victim
constitute social interaction if the victim is treated as a physical object; nor behavior
between guard and prisoner, torturer and tortured, machine gunner and enemy soldier.
Indeed, wherever people treat each other as object, things, or animals, or consider
each other as reflex machines or only cause-effect phenomena, there is not social
interaction. Such interaction may comprise a system; it may be organized, controlled, or
regimented. It is not, however, social as I am using the term.

definition of social is close to that of Weber (1947). For him behavior was social be
virtue of the meaning the actor attaches to it. It takes account of the behavior of others
and is therefore oriented in its course. Thus, to use Weber's example, two cyclists
bumping into each other is not social interaction; the resulting argument will be.
However, what Weber meant by orientation and behavior is left ambiguous, as noted by
Alfred Schutz (1967). I have tried to clarify this ambiguity here by considering the
constituents of behavior (agents, vehicles, and meaning), kinds of behavior (reflex,
action, act, and practice), and what is distinctively social about social behavior.

Contribution to society and nation

The importance of socialization in our life can hardly be exaggerated. The following
description makes it very clear.

1. Socialization converts man, the biological being into man, the social being.
Man is not born social; He becomes social by virtue of the process of socialization.
Various instances like-that of Kaspar Hauser, Anna, the wolf children of India and
others have made it very clear that only through constant training the newborn child
becomes social in nature.

2. Socialization contributes to the development of personality.

Personality is a product of society. In the absence of groups or society, no man can

develop a personality of his own. But socialization is a process through which the
personality of the new born child is shaped and molded. Through the process, the child
learns an approved way of social life. At the same time, it also provides enough scope
for the individual to develop his individuality.

3. Helps to became disciplined.

Socialization is social .learning. Social learning is essentially the learning of rules of

social behavior. It is the values, ideals, aims and objectives of life and the means of
attaining them. Socialization disciplines an individual and helps him to live according to
the social expectations.

4. Helps to enact different roles.

Every individual has to enact different roles in his life. Every role is woven around
norms and is associated with different attitudes. The process of socialization assists an
individual not only to learn the norms associated with roles but also to develop
appropriate attitudes to enact those roles.

5. Provides the knowledge of skills.

Socialization is a way of training the newborn individual in certain skills, which are
required to lead a normal social life. These skills help the individual to play economic,
professional, educational, religious and political roles in his latter life. In primitive
societies for, example, imparting skills to the younger generation in specific occupations
was an important aspect of socialization.

6. Helps to develop right aspiration in life.

Every individual may have his own aspirations; ambitions and desires in life. All these
aspirations may not always be in consonance with the social interests. Some of them
even be opposed to the communal interests. But through the process of socialization an
individual learns to develop those aspirations. Which are complementary to the
interests of society. Socialization helps him to direct or channelize his whole energy for
the realization of those aspirations.

7. Contributes to the stability of the social order.

It is through the process of socialization that every new generation is trained acceding
to the Cultural goals, ideals, and expectations of a society. It assures the cultural
continuity of the society. At the same time, it provides enough scope for variety and
new achievements. Every new generation need not start its social life a fresh. It can
conveniently rely on the earlier generation and follow in cultural traditions. In this
regard, socialization contributes to the stability of the social order.

8. Helps to reduce social distance.

Socialization reduces social distance arid brings people together if proper attention is
given to it. By giving proper training and guidance to the children during their early
years, it is possible to reduce the social distance between people of different castes,
races, regions, religions and professions.

9. Provides scope for building the bright future

Socialization is one of the powerful instruments of changing the destiny of mankind. It is

through the process of socialization that a society can produce a generation of its
expectations can be altered significantly. The improvement of socialization offers one of
the greatest possibilities for the future alteration of human nature and human society-
Kingsley Davis.