SOCIOLOGY

Unit 3 - Socialization

1. Concept and Categories

2. Agencies of Socialization in Organizations

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 I. Socialization
• According to James Henslin, for centuries people have
been intrigued with the question of what is human
about human nature.

• How much of a person’s characteristics come from

“nature” (heredity) and how much from “nurture”
(the social environment, contact with others)?

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• At birth, infants have no idea of who they are.

• They don’t even know that they are male or female.

• How do we humans develop a self, our image of who we

are? How do we develop our ability to reason?

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 Meaning
• Socialisation is an important process for the
functioning and continuation of society.

• Different societies have different ways and methods

to train their newborn members so that they can
develop their own personalities.

• This training of and building the personality of

the child is called socialization.

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• Socialisation is a process of learning rules, habits
and values of a group to which a person belongs
whether it is family, friends, colleagues, or any other
group.

• It is the process by which a child slowly becomes aware

of her/himself as a member of a group and gains
knowledge about the culture of the family and also the
society into which she/he is born.

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• Socialisation is also considered as the passing of culture
from one generation to the next.

• During the process of socialisation, children learn about their

family traditions from their elders and preserve them and
pass them on to the next generation as they grow older.

• Socialisation helps children to learn and perform the

different roles and responsibilities which they have
learnt from their elders. It therefore, helps to associate one
generation with the others.
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• Emotions, too, are an essential aspect of who we become.

• Sociologists who research this area of our “humanness”

find that emotions also are not simply the results of biology.
Like the mind, emotions depend on socialization.

• Don’t all people get angry? Doesn’t everyone cry? Don’t we

all feel guilt, shame, sadness, happiness, fear? What has
socialization to do with emotions?

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 Types of Socialization
• Socialisation is a process that continues throughout life
from birth till adulthood.

• However, there are different phases in which the

process takes place.

• These phases are usually spread across different age

groups have been categorized as different types of
socialization.

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 1. Primary Socialization
• Primary socialisation is the most important feature in
the process of socialisation. It happens during infancy
and childhood.

• The primary stage basically takes shape during

infancy and childhood where basic knowledge and
language or behaviour is taught.

• This phase of socialisation usually takes place within the

family.
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• During this phase infants learn language and certain
basic behaviour forms of the family and the society
in which she/he lives.

• It is through primary socialisation that the foundations

for later learning are laid.

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 2. Secondary Socialisation
• Secondary Socialisation occurs once the infant passes into
the childhood phase and continues into maturity.

• During this phase more than the family some other agents
of socialisation like the school and friends’ group begin to
play a role in socialising the child.

• Different kinds of social interaction through these different

agents of socialisation help the child to learn the moral
standards, customs and principles of their society and
culture.
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• When the child receives training in institutional or
formal settings such as the school, secondary
socialization takes shape.

• This level runs parallel to primary socialization.

• But, unlike the family settings, children in schools are

trained to conform to authority.

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 3. Gender Socialization
• Gender socialization can be understood as the process
by which different agents of socialization shape the
thoughts of children and make them learn different
gender roles.

• According to the World Health Organisation, Gender

“refers to the socially constructed characteristics of
women and men – such as norms, roles and
relationships of and between groups of women and
men.”

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• Differences in the manner of dressing, hairstyle,
different cosmetic products used by men and women,
provide children with indicators of variation between the
male and female.

• Within two years of age children begin to vaguely

understand what gender is.

• For example, a baby girl is very commonly seen playing with

dolls and/or a kitchen set while a boy would be found
playing with toy cars and/or toy guns.
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 4. Re-socialization
• Re-socialization refers to the process of leaving certain
behaviour patterns and roles to adopt new ones as part
of one’s evolution in life.

• Resocialisation occurs when there is a major

transformation in the social role of a person.

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• It occurs throughout life where individuals experience
radical breakthroughs from their past experiences and
learn new manners and values which are starkly
different from what they had learnt previously.

• Example is that of a girl who is about to get married is

often re-socialized by suggestions and advice from her
parents on different matters so that after marriage it is
easier for her to adjust in her husband’s home with her
in-laws.

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 5. Adult Socialization
• Adult socialization takes place in adulthood when
individuals adapt to new roles such as that of a
husband, a wife or an employee.

• This is related to their needs and wants. People continue

to learn values and behaviour patterns throughout life.

• Socialisation does not have any fixed time period. It

begins at birth and continues till old age.

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• In traditional societies the older people had a significant
influence in important matters related to the family.

• Both male and female adults exerted their influence

with an increase in age.

• Apart from the family adult — socialization continues to

take place through other agents such as one’s
workplace, social groups, senior citizens’ forums, clubs
for recreation and some religious institutions also.
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 C.H Cooley and ‘Looking Glass
Self’
• About a hundred years ago, Charles Horton Cooley
(1864–1929), a symbolic interactionist who taught at
the University of Michigan, concluded that the unique
aspect of the self is socially created.

• He said that our sense of self develops from interaction

with others.

• Cooley coined the term looking-glass self to describe

the process by which our sense of self develops.
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• The knowledge about ourselves develops in us through
the opinions and reactions of others around this.

• The social “looking glass self” consists of these other

people through whom we build an image of ourselves.

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• This knowledge about one’s self is first obtained from
the parents and later it is reformed by the judgments
of others.

• As a result, in our imagination we form an opinion about

ourselves through the other person’s perceptions and
may be positively or negatively affected by it.

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• For example, a child who is in the mood to create some
mischief might want to lie to her/his parents.

• However, before creating the mischief the child might

reflect over and think that if the lie is caught that will
have a bad impression on her/his parents about
her/him.

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 G.H Mead and ‘Role-taking’
• Another symbolic interactionist, George Herbert Mead
(1863–1931), who taught at the University of Chicago,
added that play is crucial to the development of a
self.

• In play, children learn to take the role of the other, that

is, to put themselves in someone else’s shoes — to
understand how someone else feels and thinks and to
anticipate how that person will act.

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• For example, children are often found imitating the
classroom situation where one becomes the teacher,
the others become students and they enact a classroom
teaching session.

• Most children locally refer to this play as ‘Teacher-

Teacher’.

• Another similar act of play is that of ‘Doctor-Patient’

where children imitate the role of a doctor, nurse and
patient and try to enact a situation where a patient goes
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 II. Agencies of Socialization
• People and groups that influence our orientations to life
—our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior—
are called agents of socialization and prepare us to take
our place in society.

• These agents include—the family, peers, the mass

media, the neighborhood, religion, day care,
school, and the workplace.

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 1. Family
• Around the world, the first group to have a major impact
on us is our family.

• Socialisation in basic values such as love and

affection, manners and etiquettes are first taught in
the family.

• In a joint family structure apart from the parents,

uncles, aunts, grandparents also play important roles to
socialise the children.
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• Children learn their language and develop their speaking
abilities in the family.

• Regional and class differences of the family into which

one is born affects the socialisation patterns in different
ways as a result of which children from different cultural
backgrounds grow up with different values, attitudes and
beliefs.

• The situation within the family whether affectionate or

disturbed will affect the growth of a child accordingly.
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• Also that, these moves may often be associated with
family disruptions – such as separation or divorce of
parents, so they may be markers for other kinds of
stresses.

• In all, children and adolescents whose families provide

stable, supportive environments seem to be at an
advantage over those in more chaotic home situations.

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• Factors such as:

• ‘Physical Resources’,
• ‘High-quality Parenting’,
• ‘Favourable Family Climate’,
• ‘Reasonable Stability’, And
• ‘Supportive Extra Familial Social Networks’

• are important resources for socialization.

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 2. Peer Groups
• Peer groups usually consist of friends who are of the
same age.

• They share a mutual sense of understanding and

cooperation with each other and also consider each of
them as equals.

• Initially peer groups are formed in the neighbourhood

or the housing community where the children live.

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• When children are young they usually begin by making
friends with children of similar gender.

• As a result peer groups exert a significant influence on

gender socialisation.

• Once children enter the school their peer groups

become diverse.

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• Children who become part of peer groups are usually
seen spending more time with their friends than with
family members.

• The influence of peer groups continues throughout life

from the neighbourhood, to education institutions,
to workplaces, and so on.

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• Experiences can be sources of companionship,
stimulation, information, help, rewards, security,
joy, and, at times, frustration and harm.

• For example, one of the many negative forms of peer

socialisation can be the aspect of peer pressure:
deviant acts such as any kind of addiction (smoking
and drinking) can be attributed as elements of peer
pressure.

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 3. School
• School
• The school is known to be the first formal agent of socialisation which shapes
• the ideas and attitudes of a child. Children learn to maintain certain decorum in
• the class, they learn to obey rules of discipline in the school and be diligent in
• learning the lessons that are taught in class. The children are expected to listen
• to their teachers and accept their authority. At times teachers’ reactions also
• have positive or negative implications on the children. The school is not only
• responsible for formally training the child in reading, writing and arithmetic but
• 152

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• Basic Concepts it also helps to develop critical thinking abilities. Broadly
speaking, the school
• helps in the overall development of the child and in the diffusion of
culture of
• the society. The role of the teacher becomes very important within such
a setting.
• Frønesargues that, for many children the teacher becomes a secondary
socializing
• agent. However, for many others, the teacher can have primary
functions. Hence,
• the borders between primary and secondary socialisation get blurred in
such
• cases.
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• He further says that, “although schools and the dissemination of their
• curricula in general is understood as part of secondary socialisation, in the
• knowledge-based economies the fundamental numerical and alphabetical skills
• provided by the schools could also be defined as belonging to primary
• socialisation”. In this way, it is suggested that the ‘hidden curriculum’ of cultural
• codes suggests that the major educational institutions influence young people
• through more than just the mediation of the formal curriculum (Frønes, 2016:4).
• Overall, the role of the school can be attributed as equally important with respect
• to the family when it comes to socialisation of the children. A recently popular
• film, Hindi Medium vividly demonstrates this aspect wherein in contemporary
• societies; parents tend to over-rely on the school setting for socialisation.

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 4. Workplace or Organization
• The Workplace
• Another agent of socialization that comes into play
somewhat
• later in life is the workplace. Those initial jobs that
• we take in high school and college are much more than
• just a way to earn a few dollars. From the people we rub
• shoulders with at work, we learn not only a set of skills
• but also perspectives on the world.

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• Most of us eventually become committed to some
particular
• line of work, often after trying out many jobs. This may
• involve anticipatory socialization, learning to play a role
• before entering it. Anticipatory socialization is a sort of
mental
• rehearsal for some future activity.

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• We may talk to people
• who work in a particular career, read novels about that type
• of work, or take a summer internship in that field. Such activities
• allow us to gradually identify with the role, to become
• aware of what would be expected of us. Sometimes
• this helps people avoid committing themselves to an
unrewarding
• career, as with some of my students who tried student
• teaching, found that they couldn’t stand it, and then
• moved on to other fields more to their liking.
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• An intriguing aspect of work as a socializing agent is
• that the more you participate in a line of work, the more
• the work becomes a part of your self-concept.
Eventually
• you come to think of yourself so much in terms of the
job
• that if someone asks you to describe yourself, you are
likely
• to include the job in your self-description. You might
say,
• “I’m a teacher,” “I’m a nurse,” or “I’m a sociologist.” 40
 5. Mass Media
• Mass Media
• Mass media includes various agents of communication for instance, the radio,
• television, newspapers, magazines, media portals and websites and the like.
• Prot [Link]. (2015) argue that in this age of electronic media, children are
provided
• with a variety of new learning opportunities which broaden the range of events
• children experience. As a consequence, it is witnessed that socialisation is no
• longer primarily or secondarily dependent to the influences of family, peers or
• other such agencies (Prot [Link], 2015: 276).

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• Frønesfurther contends that our
• contemporary social realities and myths are given a visual as well asa
narrative
• form through the media, and in this respect the modern social media
illustrate
• how the medium shapes the message. He gives the example of Facebook’s
• architecture which “encourages various presentations of taste, identity and
• popularity assessment, structuring both the form and content of the
• communication” (Frønes, 2016: 21).
• Over the years television has become the greatest source of influence
especially
• for children, when compared to the other tools of communication.

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• There are
• different kinds of programmes that are available on the television
ranging from
• serials, movies, cartoons to news, music, fashion, food, history and
geography
• that cater to people belonging to different age groups. However,
Protet. al. (2015:
• 280) reiterate that, violent media exposure is a causal risk factor for
aggression.
• Television programmes for children especially cartoons, portray high
levels of
• violent acts and episodes of different types.
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• Although children might remain
• passive to such depiction of violence yet these can affect them in
the form of
• nightmares and/or feelings of uncertainty and fear. Apart from this,
certain forms
• of music, films or even violent video games may have such
attributes. For
• example, Prot [Link] attest that, racing video games such as Need for
Speed,
• Burnout, and Road Rash, which can be rewarding for players, can be
causes for
• reckless or violent driving.
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• However, they also suggest that playing prosocial
• characters in nonviolent video games such as Super
Mario Sunshine can lead to
• significant decrease in hurtful behaviour and increase in
helpful behaviours (Prot
• 153
• [Link], 2015: 286). Hence, the media plays a very
important role in the process of Socialisation
• socialisation by moulding our understanding of the world
around us.
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