Process Of Socialization - B.Ed Notes

Process Of Socialization: Nature And Process Of Socialization: In the article on Process Of Socialization, we will understand what Process Of Socialization is, what is the nature of socialization, etc.

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Meaning Of Process Of Socialization

Socialization describes & processes that may lead to desirable outcomes-sometimes labeled “moral”-as regards the society where it occurs. Individual views on certain issues, for instance, race or economics, are influenced by the society’s consensus and usually tend toward what that society finds acceptable or “normal”.

Many socio-political theories postulate that socialization provides only a partial explanation for human beliefs and behaviors, maintaining that agents are not blank slates predetermined by their environment; scientific research provides evidence that people are shaped by both social influences and genes.

Genetic studies have shown that a person’s environment interacts with his or her genotype to influence behavioral outcomes.

Definitions Of Process Of Socialization

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

According to Macher, “is the process by which social beings ‘ establish wider and profound relationships with one another, in which they become more bound up with, and moa perceptive of the personality of themselves and of others and build up the complex structure of nearer and Wider association.”

In the words of Kimball Young, “Socialization will mean the process of inducting the individual into the social and cultural world; of making him a Particular member in society and its various groups and inducing him to accept the norms and values of that society. . .. Socialization is deünitely a matter of learning and not of biological inheritance.”

According to Ross, “Socialization is the development of we feeling in associates and their growth in capacity and will to act together.” Through the process of socialization, the individual becomes a social person and attains personality.

In the words of Horton and Hunt, “Socialization is the process whereby one internalizes the norms of his groups, so that a distinct “self” emerges, unique to this individual.”

According to Bogardus, “Socialization is the process of working together, of developing group responsibility, of being guided by the welfare needs of others.”

In the words of H.T. Mazumdar, “Socialization is the process whereby original nature is transformed into human nature and the individual into a person.”

Features of Process Of Socialization

Socialization helps in the maintenance and preservation of social values and norms of society. It also helps in the process through which values and norms are transmitted from one generation to another generation.

Features of Process Of Socialization are given below:

1. It is a continuous process

Socialization is said to be a life-long process. lt means it does not end when a child becomes an adult. As it does not end when a child becomes an adult, the internalization of culture continues from generation to generation.

Society perpetuates itself through the internalization of culture. Its members transmit culture to the next generation and society continues to exist.

2. lnfuses basic discipline

Socialization infuses basic discipline among the people who socialize. A person learns to control his impulses. He may show disciplined behavior to gain social approval from others.

3. Helps to control human behaviour

Socialization helps to control human behavior. An individual from birth to death undergoes training and his, behavior is controlled in numerous ways.

In order to maintain social order, there are definite procedures or mechanisms in society. These procedures become part of the man’s life and man gets adjusted to society through socialization, and the society intends to control the behavior of its members unconsciously.

4. Socialization depends on its agencies

Socialization takes place rapidly if the agencies of socialization are more unanimous in their ideas and skills. When there is a conflict between the ideas, examples, and skills transmitted at home and those transmitted by school or peers, the socialization of the individual tends to be slower and ineffective.

5. Socialization takes place formally and informally

Formal Socialization takes through direct instruction and education in schools and colleges. Family is, however, the primary and the most influential source of education. Children learn their language, customs, norms, and values in the family where the socialization takes place informally.

Factors of the Process of Socialization

As we have discussed above that the socialization is the process of learning group norms, habits, and ideals. There are four factors of this process of learning. These are as follows-

Imitation
Suggestion
Identification
Language

1. lmitation

Imitation means copying someone else’s actions. Mead defines it as a “self-conscious assumption of another’s acts or roles.”

Thus when the child attempts to walk impressively like his father swinging a stick and wearing spectacles, he is imitating. The imitation may be conscious or unconscious, spontaneous or deliberate, perceptual or ideational.

Imitation plays very important role in language acquisition.

2. Suggestion

The suggestion is the process of communicating information that has no logical or self-evident basis. It is devoid of rational persuasion. We convey it through language, pictures, or some similar medium.

According to McDougall, “suggestion is the process Of communication resulting in the acceptance with the conviction of the communicated proposition in the absence of logically adequate grounds for its acceptance.”

The suggestibility of the child is greater than that of the adult because in childhood he is devoid of maturity and reason. The suggestibility of an individual decrease with an increase in his maturity and mental level.

3. Identification

At an early age, the child cannot make any distinction between his organism and environment. Most of his actions are random. This means he finds it difficult to identify things or objects.

They are natural reactions of which he is not conscious. As he grows in age, he comes to know of the nature of things that satisfy his needs. Such things become the object of his identification.

Thus the toys with which he plays, the picture-book which he enjoys, or looking at the mother who feeds him become the objects of his identification. The speed and area of identiücation increase with the growth in age. Through identification he becomes sociable.

4. Language

Language plays a very important role in socialization. At first, the child utters some random syllables which have no meaning, but gradually he comes to learn his mother, tongue.

Therein it has already been told that language molds the personality of the individual from infancy.

Agencies Of Socialization

The whole society is the agency for socialization and that each person with whom one comes into contact and interacts is in some way an agent of socialization. Socialization is found in all interactions but the most influential interaction occurs in particular groups which are called agencies of socialization.

Every society builds an institutional framework within which the socialization of the child takes place. Culture is transmitted through the communication they have with one another and communication thus comes to be the essence of the process of culture transmission.

All the agencies of the socialization are related to each other. Following the the agencies of socialization-

1. The Family

Family is a primary and very important agency of socialization. The family plays an outstanding role in the socialization process of the children.

In all societies, other agencies besides the family contribute to socialization such as educational institutions, peer groups, etc. But family plays the most important role in the formation of personality.

By the time other agencies contribute to this process family has already left an imprint on the personality of the child. The parents use both reward and punishment to imbibe what is socially required from a child.

The family has informal control over its members. Family being mini-society acts as a transmission belt between the individual and society. It trains the younger generation in such a way that it can take the adult roles in a proper manner.

2. Peer group

A Peer Group means a group in which the members share some common characteristics such as age or sex etc. It includes contemporaries of the child, his associates in school, in the playground, and in street.

The growing child learns some very important lessons from his peer group. Since members of the peer group are at the same stage of socialization, they freely and spontaneously interact with each other.

The members of peer groups view the world through the same eyes and share the same subjective attitudes. In order to be accepted by his peer group, the child must exhibit the characteristic attitudes, likes, and dislikes.

3. Religion

Religion plays a very important role in Socialization. It does not only make people religious but socializes them into the secular order. It instills the fear of hell in the individual so that he should refrain from bad and undesirable activities.

4. The School

Children spend most of the time in school after home. It is the secondary agency of socialization.

According to Henslin, schools are the agents responsible for socializing groups of children and young people on specific skills and values in society. The school system has become the glue that holds society together.

The school system manages to maintain and perpetuate the status quo because most of the people who work in it are agents in its service and may not even be aware of how power is exercised on its behalf, as it was exercised over them, and they either confined to it or in their rebellion are exercising it as it was exercised over them.

5. Occupation

While working, the individual enters into relations of cooperation, involving specialization of tasks and at the same time learns the nature of class divisions. Work, for him, is a source of income but at the same time, it gives identity and status within society as a whole.

In the occupational world, the individual finds himself with new shared interests and goals. He makes adjustments with the position he holds and also leams to make adjustments with other workers who may occupy equal or higher or lower positions.

6. Political Parities

Political parties form the government and make laws for the public. Every political party has its own ideology. They attempt to seize political power and maintain it.

They try to win the support of the members of the society on the basis of a socio-economic policy and program. In the process, they disseminate political values and norms and socialize the citizen.

The political parties socialize the citizen for stability and change of political system

7. Mass Media

Mass media is used to convey information to the masses or to the people. The mass media of communication, particularly television, play an important role in the process of Socialization.

This communication media has an important effect in encouraging individuals to support the existing norms and values or oppose or change them. They are the instrument of social power. They influence us with their messages.

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Nature And Process Of Socialization