Human Development
Socialization
Description:
Psychological development is immersed in the family, the culture, and significant other individuals, who will most greatly shape the adult form that the individual assumes. Socialization is the process whereby the individual, whether child or adult, develops the qualities essential to his functioning effectively in those sectors of the society within which he moves. Socialization therefore includes the process of learning: how he ought to feel and behave; what he ought to value; how to act in ways acceptable to others; appropriate ways to think about the real world.In early childhood, when the socialization process commences, children must develop cognitive skills that will enable them to deal intelligently with the complex and changing requirements of everyday social life. They must become skilled in the intricate social behaviours that facilitate reciprocally satisfying relationships. They must become proficient in verbal communication in order that they can both influence and be influenced in daily life. They must also come to learn to value social approval and other symbolic rewards which make them amenable to social influence.
The primary agents of socialization (namely people usually with social roles and functions embedded firmly in the social or personal institutions of the culture) exert their influence early in the psychological and social development of the child. Socialization is however a process that continues throughout life. As with the child, the agents of socialization that affect adults use a combination of calculated deprivations and gratifications to achieve their ends. Adult socialization is essentially the process of recruitment of developing persons into full participation in the multitude of roles society has available, such as universities, clubs, trade unions, business organizations, sports clubs and social circles. Social, legal, educational, and religious organizations, mass media, and a multitude of extra-familial agents contribute in varying degrees to the types of value and response patterns instilled in group members. The process is further complicated by the fact that these multiple sources of influence frequently act in conflicting directions.
Effective socialization involves some fundamental alteration of the image an individual has of himself. For adults exposed to new situations that require new roles and new patterns of behaviour, sometimes only partial socialization occurs and the adult learns to display the minimum necessary conformity in appearance and behaviour without becoming attached to or identified with the social institutions within which he is enmeshed.
The ultimate aim of the socialization process is the substitution of internal controls for external sanctions in any given setting. Once the individual has learnt to internalize the controls on his behaviour and develop a self-regulatory system, his self-demands and self-reactions to his own behaviour serve as his main guides and deterrents. Adherence to societal norms occurs in the absence of external pressures and social surveillance.
The process of socialization can be interrupted almost from the beginning of life. Physical malformation can set immediate limits on a child's capacity to respond to the efforts of adults to socialize him. Destructive psychological happenings during early childhood will be equally effective in distorting the socialization of the child. The normally expected ages and stages of social growth may then fail to appear according to the accustomed schedule.
Related:
Enculturation