Socialization
The phase of reinforcing society’s norms and ideologies is socialization.
Socialization requires teaching and learning, and is thus it means by which social
and cultural continuity are attained. Socialization is closely related to the
psychology of creation. Human beings require social interactions to understand
their culture and to live. Socialization generally reflects the whole developmental
process over the course of life and is a fundamental influence on the attitudes,
values, and behavior of both adults and adolescents. The two important types of
socialization are primary and secondary socialization.
It is really important to primary socialization for an infant because it lays the
groundwork for any subsequent socialization. When a person discovers the
behaviors, beliefs, and behavior appropriate to individuals as members of a given
society, primary socialization happens. The immediate family and friends are
largely affected. Whereas secondary socialization refers to the learning experience
when a part of a smaller community within the wider culture of what is the proper
action. Basically, the socializing agents of culture strengthen behavioral habits.
Outside of the family, secondary socialization takes place. That is when kids and
adults learn how to behave in a manner that is suitable for the conditions in which
they are.
Social Control
Social control can be described as a procedure of ‘measures, advice,
encouragement, restriction and manipulation’ by which society brings persons into
line with an agreed code of conduct. There are many forms of social control that
are direct and indirect. With its direct influence on the behavior of its members, the
family has always provided a strong means of social control. Social control comes
in two separate forms: direct control and indirect control. Direct social control
works when someone, for example, the family, exerts influence on a person
directly due to their close proximity.
My experience on Family as an agent of socialization and social
control
Our family has the very first role in our social development in a child’s life as
generally they are the primary and most important agent of socialization. We are
fully dependent on our parents or families as an infant to survive. They are
accountable for teaching us to work and take care of ourselves. They teach us to
share resources, to care for ourselves, hygiene, manner to behave with others,
make friends, socialize with people, close relationships and group life. In addition,
they give us our first system of values, norms, standards, and opinions like system
that typically represents their own social class, ideology, ethnic group, and more. I
am a girl and there are many things that I have learned from my family.
My values, civilities, adhering to the elders, my standard of living everything I
have learned from my family. Both of my parents are in working and this is the
reason I became responsible at very young age. I don’t remember the time when I
was an infant but I have a sister 5 years younger to me and I have seen her growing
mentally and physically. And I remember the day she took up her first step. It
happened because we hold her hand and made her walk with our support. She
learned how to walk, how to talk, how to behave, how to read and many more.
This shows that family members are the first one who made an infant to know the
basic behavior that make he or she a better human being.
From the day I took my senses I realized that boys and girls are expected to act in a
manner compatible with what culture deems to be male or female modes of
behavior. It would be seen as transgressive to step outside of these socialized
expectations or might lead to displeasure from someone else. I am blessed that my
family never considered me less than a boy or I can say that they never even
compared me with either boy or girl. The family is a very powerful mechanism for
social control organizations. It socializes a person on the one hand and educates
him on social behavior on the other.
The family proposes policies and regulation that must be observed by the
members. Such rules and regulations are an aspect of social order. To bring about
the desired action, it exercises control over its participants. There are many rules in
my family that I have to follow. We cannot disrespect our elders, we are allowed to
share our thoughts on the discussed topics, religious norms and many more and all
these norms and rules are made for our betterment. We don’t have any restrictions
in our family. The only restriction I have is that I am not allowed to go out of my
house alone after 9 p.m. There is a big reason behind it and it is safety of women
that is the most important topic for discussion.
My experience on school as an agent of socialization and social
control
School is the next major agent in childhood socialization. The official goal of the
school, of course, is to pass subject information and teach life skills, such as
following instructions and deadlines for meetings. Students, though, should not
only benefit from the instructional curriculum established by teachers and school
administrators.
In school, through our experiences with professors, employers, and other students,
we also develop social skills. We learn the importance of loyalty to authority, for
instance, and that we need to learn to be still, to hesitate, and often to be involved,
even though we are not. Attending school has a huge influence on learners, namely
exposing them to a world that is often interactive. In addition, school curriculums
are also structured in a way that directly addresses socialization.
It is also important to remember that schools have taken up some of the positions
that are played by other socialization agents in modern times. When I was in
school, I remember, in my earlier days, I was very shy to interacting with people.
My teacher asked me to read one page and I was so nervous just to read that one
page. This improved once I got engaged in various other activities conducted by
my school. I participated in many of my school functions, sports activities, debate
competitions and many more. Schools have a variety of spontaneous interactions
and groupings that serve as socialization agents. In addition to formal teaching
methods, schools include social clubs in which students can learn diverse social
skills. The social skills learned by learners through casual experiences lead to their
general growth as members of the community. Education is a socializing agent
required to ‘produce’ responsible people. It is predicted that the social expectations
that students pick up during their school sessions would last for lifetimes. School is
a crucial socialization agent because it puts together students from diverse cultures,
thereby recreating a ‘mini-society.’
Schools are strong social control agencies that are dedicated to the molding process
of people through these institutions. In contemporary cultures, standardized
schooling expresses concepts and principles that play a greater role in behavioral
control. Education teaches people to adhere to society’s standards. Education offers
a deliberate teaching program to help society socialize children so that their ideals,
attitudes and norms are learned.
There are certain rules and regulation in each and every school that helps a student
to learn how to present himself in front of others. School having different
committees name discipline committees, sports committees, curricular activity
committees etc. all these are to give fare chance to the students to engage
themselves with other activities after studies. Discipline checking and cleanliness
brings a clear thought in the mind of student to be presentable and avoid fashion
and dirtiness in the institution which is also helpful for rest of their lives.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
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We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge