SOCIALIZATION

Meaning of Socialization

The socialization process starts with the birth of the child and ends with his/her death. It helps in the manifestation of an individual and makes him emerge in society. Without socialization, human beings cannot properly behave and pull on in society. Let's discuss this in an elaborate manner. Have you ever observed a boy who is living in a rural area, and compared him with one who is residing in an urban setting? What is the difference you see in them? The former’s entire behavioural patterns and relations with his co-fellows and friends and surroundings are different from that of the latter. How does a person from different backgrounds, from different families, from different social statuses, from different peer groups act and behave in a different manner? This is the result of internalizing the norms and values of the societies he interacts with. And it is the result of the process which is called by sociologists “socialization”.

By the socialization process, the individual understands and learns the behaviour of a particular society. He inculcates the culture, way of life and mode of interaction all of which make him a perfect and social animal. Therefore, healthy socialization is very important for the creation of a healthy society. Because man has no instinct to direct his own actions. Therefore, his behaviours and actions are designed on the basis of the guidelines and directions which are learned and shared by other members of the society, i.e., by the culture. This learning behaviour determines how the members of society think and feel and it directs their actions and defines how to shape their world view on particular issues.

Definition of Socialization

1. According to Ogburn, “Socialization is the process by which the individual learns to conform to the norms of the group.”

2. According to Green, “Socialization is the process by which the child acquires a cultural content, along with selfhood and personality.”

3. According to MacIver and Page, socialization is “the process by which social beings establish wider and profounder relationships with one another, in which they become more bound up with, and more perceptive of the personality of themselves and of others and build up the complex structure nearer and wider association.”

4. According to Anthony Giddens, “Socialization is the process whereby the helpless infant gradually becomes self-aware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which she or he is born.”

Agents of Socialization

The following helps us to understand the influences of the agents of socialization on an individual –

1. The Family: The most important agent of socialization, the family helps mould an individual. The family values, beliefs, religious inclinations and political views shape an individual’s outlook towards society. Parents are the biggest influence on the social development of children.

2. The Schools: After family, schools are probably the most important influence on an individual. Schools help pass on knowledge, create awareness and inculcate feelings of tolerance in individuals. The second step to socialization is schools where a child meets different children and learns to make out the right and wrong in society.

3. The Peers group: Meeting like-minded people, making friends and hanging out together may seem like a teenager’s life. But in fact, each and every individual in society love to have social contact. Peers have a great impact on an individual’s thoughts and line of thinking. An individual learns to behave in a manner that they think will be acceptable to their peers. Peer acceptance is an important part of socialization.

4. The Mass Media: In today’s world, mass media is one of the important agents of socialization. People are influenced by the social norms portrayed by the mass media. Political, religious and social views are enforced a hard way through the repeated exposure and arguments put forth by the agents of mass media.

5. Religion: Religion has been an important factor in society. In early society, religion provided a bond of unity. Though in modern society the importance of religion has diminished, yet it continues to mould our beliefs and ways of life.

Thus, the process of socialization is continuous and never-ending. It goes on from one stage of development to the other and the process continues. In this whole process, it is a family which continues with him.

TYPES OF SOCIALIZATION

Although socialization occurs during childhood and adolescence, it also continues in middle and adult age. Orville F. Brim (Jr.) described socialization as a life-long process. He maintains that the socialization of adults differs from childhood socialization. In this context, it can be said that there are various types of socialization.

1. Primary Socialization

Primary socialization refers to the socialization of the infant in the primary or earliest years of his life. It is a process by which the infant learns language and cognitive skills, internalizes norms and values. The infant learns the ways of a given grouping and is moulded into an effective social participant in that group.

The norms of society become part of the personality of the individual. The child does not have a sense of wrong and right. Through direct and indirect observation and experience, he gradually learns the norms relating to wrong and right things. Primary socialization takes place in the family.

2. Secondary Socialization

The process can be seen at work outside the immediate family, in the ‘peer group’. The growing child learns very important lessons in social conduct from his peers. He also learns lessons in school.

Hence, socialization continues beyond and outside the family environment. Secondary socialization generally refers to the social training received by the child in institutional or formal settings and continues throughout the rest of his life.

3. Adult Socialization

In adult socialization, actors enter roles (for example, becoming an employee, a husband or a wife) for which primary and secondary socialization may not have prepared them fully. Adult socialization teaches people to take on new duties. The aim of adult socialization is to bring change in the views of the individual. Adult socialization is more likely to change overt behaviour, whereas child socialization moulds basic values.

4. Anticipatory Socialization

Anticipatory socialization was first defined by sociologist Robert K. Merton.  Anticipatory socialization is the process by which non-group-members adopt the values and standards of groups that they aspire to join, so as to ease their entry into the group and help them interact appropriately once they have been accepted. It involves changing one’s attitudes and behaviours in preparation for a shift in one’s role. Practices commonly associated with anticipatory socialization include grooming, play-acting, training, and rehearsing. For example, law school students learning how to behave like lawyers, older people preparing for retirement, and children may anticipate parenthood by observing their parents as role models.

Anticipatory socialization takes place when people are blocked from access to a group they might have wanted to join, they reject that group’s values and norms. Instead, they begin an anticipatory socialization process with groups that are more receptive to them.

5. Re-Socialization

It involves a break from past experiences and the learning of new values and norms. In the cast of most total institutions, re-socialization is directed toward changing an individual’s personality and social behaviour. This is accomplished by stripping away all semblance of individual identity and replacing it with an institutional identity – uniforms, standard haircuts, and so on. The individual is also denied the freedoms of the outside world.  Once the person’s sense of self has been weakened, it is easier for those in power to convince the person to conform to new patterns of behaviour. It is a setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period of time and are subject to tight control. For example, when a criminal is rehabilitated, he has to change his role radically.

Socialization is important in the process of personality formation. While much of human personality is the result of our genes, the socialization process can mould it in particular directions by encouraging specific beliefs and attitudes as well as selectively providing experiences. Successful socialization can result in uniformity within a society. If all children received the same socialization, it is likely that they will share the same beliefs and expectations. The socialization process has an enormous impact on children and teens in the context of the learning process. Family, school, peers, mass media, religion, workplace, and volunteer groups each play a role in the collective process we term education. Parents must recognize each agent of socialization maximizes the role of education in our children's lives. Anything less is an abdication of our responsibility as adult role models for our children and for future generations.

STAGES OF SOCIALISATION (Bhushan & Sachdeva, 2018, 82)

Socialisation is a continuous process of social learning, where the newborn child, throughout life processed, learns social values, standards, and norms to lead a productive social life. It proceeds from simplicity to complexity. Socialisation is carried out through social groups and social institutions, where the child adjusts and learns, adapts and conforms to him within the broader social network, and performs the social roles effectively.

1. The First Stage - The Oral Stage

By crying, the child establishes dependency and over-hunger drive. It carves from birth to one year. In the womb, the child enjoys a comfortable environment, as he comes out, he has to face first crisis, i.e., must break, exert himself to feed, must be protected from physical discomforts, the child learns to give signals for his needs. She child is involved in himself and his mother. Internalisation of two roles is difficult for the child. It is the stage of “primary identification” as the child merges his identity with that of the mother.

2. Second Stage - Anal Stage

During the toddler period, the child exhibits the anal stage. It varies based on society, social class and family. The child is completely not dependent on their mother, he/she starts to take some degree of care for himself/herself, like toilet training and wearing clothes etc., and the child internalises two separate roles, i.e., himself/herself and his/her mother. The child learns to receive love and care and return by smiling. He is able to distinguish between right and wrong, the correct action is rewarded and the incorrect action is punished.

The child learns to express his aggression, withhold faces or release at the wrong time. The positive sanction for correct performance is the mother’s love. The child contributes by means of expression and helps to integrate the system by cooperating and giving love. However, the child is too young and dependent on contributing much for task accomplishment.

3. Third Stage - Oedipal Stage

It begins during pre-school period and extends up to puberty. The child becomes a member of the family as a whole. The child wants to identify himself on the basis of sex. The boy develops an “Oedipus complex” - love towards his mother and jealousy towards his father. The girl exhibits “Electra complex” - love for her father and jealousy towards her mother. Sufficient social pressures are brought on the child to identify with the right sex. Boys and girls should act according to their sexes, boys try to identify with their fathers and girls with their mothers. The children establish or develop their own groups.

4. Fourth Stage - Adolescence Stage

A physiological and psychological change takes place within the individual. The adolescents are free from parental control, at the same time, they cannot completely decide on their own. In modern society, parents give freedom to children by allowing them to perform their activities independently. Adolescents have less social control and learn new social roles and new behaviour patterns internalise with them. Parents advise them in the field of education, occupation, and life-partners.

Or

Socialization: Stages

Socialization is a gradual process where the socializing agent, typically a parent or caregiver, focuses on specific tasks rather than overwhelming the child with information. During infancy and childhood, socialization occurs in a simplified social environment, allowing the child to focus on a few things at a time. This approach aids in making necessary discriminations, coping with frustration, and integrating new learning with old. Over time, the social system expands, introducing more elements for the child to internalize.

The central aspect of socialization is the internalization of social roles. One must understand other roles within the same social system to perform a social role effectively. The child learns to internalize the roles they will perform and those of others they interact with. The self-growth aligns with the internalization of social roles, essentially shaping one’s personality. At each socialization stage, the child absorbs a system of roles, not just individual roles, forming the foundation of their sense of self. Let us briefly describe four stages of socialization from infancy to adulthood.  They are (1) the oral stage, (2) the anal stage, (3) the oedipal stage and latency, and (4) adolescence.

1. The Oral Stage: In the initial socialization stage, beginning in the womb and extending to birth, the infant undergoes a critical transition. Initially warm and comfortable in the womb, the infant faces the first crisis at birth, where breathing, feeding, and adapting to the new environment become essential challenges. The primary objective of this stage is to establish oral dependency.

During this phase, the infant forms distinct expectations around feeding times and learns to communicate pressing needs for care, often expressed through crying. Notably, the infant’s involvement is limited to a subsystem with the mother, and other family members perceive the baby more as a “possession” than an active participant.

The concept of role differentiation is introduced, emphasizing that if others share caregiving tasks with the mother, no clear role distinction is present. The infant’s passive role in this stage leads to what Freud termed “primary identification.” As oral dependency solidifies, the roles of the infant and the caregiver, often the mother, may merge, lacking clear differentiation. The infant gains some control over the hunger drive and develops sensitivity to diffuse the “erotic” pleasure of bodily contact with the mother.

2. The Anal Stage: In the second stage of socialization, usually occurring in the first to third years, a crucial “anal” crisis arises due to new demands, particularly toilet training. During this stage, the child internalizes distinct roles for themselves and their mother. The socializing agent, often the mother, plays a dual role, acting as an instrumental leader in the limited social system with the child and participating in the family. This dual role is crucial for preparing the child to engage in a more complex social system. The mother, facing societal pressures, oscillates between yielding and resisting, and her dual representative role reflects her “expressive” leadership. Support from the more extensive system, especially from the husband, helps her manage the strain of socialization.

3. The Oedipal Stage and Latency: The third stage of socialization, from around the fourth year to puberty, involves the “oedipal crisis”, typically occurring during the fourth and fifth years, followed by the “latency” period. In this stage, the child integrates into the entire family, internalizing all four family roles and identifying with the social role based on their biological sex. The “Oedipus complex” for boys involves feelings of jealousy towards the father due to rivalry with the mother, believed to be sexual. Girls experience the “Electra complex,” feeling in love with the father and jealous of the mother. Despite a lack of clear understanding of sexual differences, children develop a diffuse erotic attachment to their parents, particularly the mother, deriving bodily pleasure from contact. This attachment aids socialization, as the mother can use physical contact to reward the child’s correct performance. The mutual erotic attachment is regulated by the incest taboo to prevent it from going too far and disrupting family dynamics.

4. The Adolescence stage: Adolescence, generally commencing at puberty, marks a stage of increased emancipation from parental control, bringing about a crisis due to heightened demands for independence. While adolescents in our society desire autonomy, they still face parental restrictions, particularly in areas like sexual activity. The physiological changes of adolescence, if allowed full expression, wouldn’t inherently pose problems, but societal constraints intensify the adolescent’s ambivalence—eager for freedom yet fearful of it. In our society, achieving adulthood involves complete self-sufficiency and the capacity to establish an independent family. It’s crucial to distinguish between the ability to form a family and the decision to do so. Adolescence’s difficulty level varies across societies, with our society posing additional challenges as individuals must make significant life decisions largely independently, including choosing a marriage partner and an occupation.

Socialization is a gradual process guiding individuals from dependency to independence. The socializing agent, often the mother, plays a pivotal role. Each stage introduces unique challenges, shaping the individual’s understanding of themselves within the broader social context. Adolescence stands out for its increased autonomy and decision-making responsibilities, influenced by cultural definitions of adult roles. The challenges of this stage arise from the need to make significant life decisions independently.

Johnson, H. M. (2011). Sociology: A Systematic Introduction. Harcourt, Brace. (pp. 122- 132)