SOCIALISATION

• Definition: Socialization is the process through which a person, from

birth through death is taught the norms, customs, values, and roles of
the society in which he lives.
• Article: Understanding Socialization in Sociology by Nick Lisa Cole,
PhD
• Socialization may be Formal (schools, religious centers, work places,
and military) or Informal (interpersonal and small group levels)
formal when it is conducted by formally organized
social groups and institutions, like schools,
religious centers, mass media universities, work
places, military training centers, internships, etc.

informal when it is carried out through the

informal social interactions and relationships at
micro-levels, at interpersonal and small social
group levels.
Goals of Socialization

Equip a person with the basic values, norms, skills etc.,

so that they behave and act properly in the social group
to which they belong.
Goals of Socialization
• To inculcate basic disciplines by restraining a child or even an adult
from immediate gratification; a child who is toilet-trained will delay
relieving himself/ herself until the proper environment is created.
• To instill aspirations;
• To teach social roles;
• To teach skills;
• To teach conformity to norms; and
• To create acceptable and constructive personal identities.
Note:
• social values are not equally absorbed by members of a
society or group
• There is always the question of whose values have to be
inculcated?
Human Biological Bases of, and Capacity for, Socialization

From among the animal kingdom, humans are the only ones who are
capable of socialization because they are endowed with the necessary
biological bases that are lacking in other animals.
Henslin and Nelson
Biological characteristics of human beings on which
socialization is based:
• Absence of instinct “biologically programmed behavior”: makes
human dependent on social direction and their behaviors are
ameable to such directions.
• “The open-endedness of humans is thus the biological ground for social
conformity.”
• Social contact needs; sustained social contact
• Capacity to learn; high level of intelligence
• Capacity of language
• Longer period of childhood dependence; need to acquire techniques
and skills of social living further prolongs the dependence
Modes Of Social Learning
Mechanisms by which socialization is accomplished.
Four modes of social learning;
1. Conditioning
2. Identity taking
3. Modelling-after
4. Problem Solving
1. Conditioning
• Learning based on the principle of association response patterns of an
individual as a result of stimuli in the environment

• Type of learning that links some sort of trigger of stimuli to a human

behavior or response
conditioning
 Classical Conditioning
• Response remains constant while the stimuli vary
 Operant conditioning
• “Response is controlled”
• Method of learning that occurs trough rewards and punishments for
behavior
2.Identity Taking
• Identify others and themselves by sex.

3.Modelling After
• Admired, loved or feared

4.Problem solving
• Modes of interchanging (1-3)
• However, social learning goes beyond simply interchanging values
and norms
• Includes learning to involve in cooperative and conflict ridden
activities to cope with new situations and to achieve one’s goals.
 Theories of Socialization

Researchers have different theories about how

children learn about them selves and their roles in
society . Some of these theories contradict each
others ad each is criticised for different reasons but
wash still plays an important role in sociological
thought

1. Looking Glass Self (cooley)

2. Meads’ theory of social Behaviorism
3. Freud’s theory of personality Development
 Theories of Socialization

1. Looking Glass Self (cooley)

3 Steps;
• 1st We imagine how we appear
to others,
• 2nd Imagine how they evaluate
us,
• 3rd Develop feeling about
ourselves based on our
impression of their evaluation.

Criticism
We can develop our identity based on correct or incorrect perceptions
 Theories of Socialization

2. Theory is social behaviorsim (mead)

Central concept
“The self”

• How experience develops an individuals personality

• Self is Not there at birth rather developed with social experience
• People develop self images through interactions with other people
• Self: which is part of a person’s personality consisting of self awareness
and self-image is a product of social experience
Questions from Article
Article: Socialization: The Meaning features, Types, Stages and Importance

• Explain the three elements of the “Looking Glass Self”

• Explain Mead’s process of forming the self;
1. Imitation
2. Play stage
3. Game stage
• Types of socialization
• Socialization operates at Two levels
• Internalization
• Essential element of social interaction
Stages / Types of Socialization
Major types
• Primary socialization
• This type of socialization happens when a child learns the values, norms and behaviors that should
be displayed in order to live accordingly to a specific culture.

• Secondary socialization
• This stage consists of the development of an already mature personality. This stage is
associated with the study and work of the person
Re-socialization
• This type of socialization involves rejecting
previous behavior patterns and accepting new
ones so the individual can shift from one part of
his life to another.
• Can be Shaped through rewards and
punishments
• can be voluntary or involuntary
• Army Understanding Resocialization in Sociology
• Rehabilitated criminal Definition, Discussion, and Examples
By Ashley Crossman

• Resocialization and Total institutions

Minor Types

Anticipatory Socialization

• Voluntary process of preparing to accept new norms values, attitudes

and beliefs
• process by which men learn the culture of a group with the
anticipation of joining that group. As a person learns the proper
beliefs, values and norms of a status or group to which he aspires, he
is learning how to act in his new role.
Preteen to teenage years; college seniors to real life
 Agents of Socialization:

Informal
Formal (parents,
(school, mass siblings, peer
media) groups)
Family
• For most people, the process of socialization begins in the family.
Family is their first source through which they commence their social
communication. As a child, a person learns to see and interpret
himself and society through the eyes and understanding of his
parents and other elders of the family. It is with the aid of the older
family members that he/she becomes familiar with social culture

• it is through family that 'socially acceptable' ways of thinking and

behaving are imparted to a child. Values such as sharing, honesty,
idealism, discipline, etc., are also cultivated in a person through his
family
Schools
• Children spend about seven to eight hours in school. So,
there is no denying the fact that school has an important
and lifelong impact on their socialization process. Apart from
teaching children to read and write, and initiating them in
subjects such as math, languages and science (which is
schools' main function), they also have a latent function of
nurturing within the students, the value of teamwork,
punctuality and following a set schedule
Peer group
• A peer group is a group of people of approximately the same age,
sharing similar interests and probably belonging to similar
backgrounds. A person may belong to several peer groups at a single
point in time.
• schoolmates, his friends at the sports' club, and the children staying in his
neighborhood.
• What makes a peer group an important factor in socialization is that it
enables a child to engage in experiences which he/she would otherwise
never experience within his/her family.
• Things such as competition, conflict and cooperation as well as the
concepts of hierarchy and egalitarianism can be learned and imbibed
through a peer group.
Mass media
• Mass media is the strongest and the most argued indirect
agent of socialization. It puts across to us, lot of ideas and
mannerisms without having any kind of interpersonal
communication. Despite this, it influences our lives to a great
extent, as we tend to learn a lot from mass media, which
include newspapers, magazines, radio, Internet, video games
and of course, the most dominant of them all, television.
Workplace
• At the workplace, a person meets people of different age
groups and belonging to different social and cultural
backgrounds. This makes him come in close contact with
different thought processes, belief systems, etc. The
interaction that then happens, helps a person to broaden
his/her horizons in terms of social acceptance and tolerance
towards the others. 
Religion
• Religion is one of the most powerful agents of socialization
which is linked with concepts and values people identify
themselves with. At the same time, it is the most sensitive
agent of socialization as well. People tend to develop their
own religious beliefs from their parents, right from their
inception. They begin to acquire knowledge of which god to
believe in (or not?); when, where and how to pray; what
rituals to follow; what to consume and what to avoid; etc.,
right from infancy, and it is these belief systems that evolve
further and remain with them for the rest of their lives.