More handpicked essays just for you.
Socialization as a process of learning
Comprehensive essay on socialization
Comprehensive essay on socialization
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines coming-of-age as “the time when a person becomes an adult” (“Coming-of-age”). This definition seems simple. The answer would be the age at which our state recognizes a child as a young adult. In the state of West Virginia, this would be at age 18 (“Terminating”). However, Merriam-Webster provides a definition that reads “the attainment of prominence, respectability, recognition, or maturity” (“Coming-of-age”). This complicates the answer because it involves factors that influence the point in which such attainment is reached. Factor such as economic status, race, religion, geographic location, sexuality, and family/guardians. Although all of these factors are related to one another and cannot be separated, …show more content…
After years of study, sociologists have come up with a term, socialization, to describe the process one goes through in their coming-of-age. Socialization is “the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as member that society” (Conley pg. 112). One famous sociologist, George Herbert Mead, explored the steps of socialization. Mead theorizes that every child is born and first discovers themselves, their needs, and wants. The whole world revolves around them. It is only through imitation that children learn that other people live in the world. Then, the child is able to develop further from just acknowledgement of others to understanding and empathy for others’ thoughts and feelings (Conley pg. 115-116). The key component to the whole process of discovering others is others to imitate. Thus, children learn to see the world through the view of the people they imitate which more than likely will be their parents or guardians in the first stages of their …show more content…
In Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer encapsulates the irony of it all. “[My father’s] struggle to mold me in his image had been successful after all. The old walrus in fact managed to instill in me a great and burning ambition; it had simply found expression in an unintended pursuit”
Aside from providing the basic needs, families also expose children to other people in the community, also known as socialization. Those involved in the child’s life offers assistance in preparing them to act and think in certain ways that is appropriate in their society. Alongside family, culture exposes children to multiple social practices, division of responsibility, and different values. A child’s culture is displayed through their relationships with others, how they view themselves and their behavior. Two core beliefs mentioned were individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
The academic essay, “The Social Foundations of Human Experience”, by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann written in 1966 is an interesting take on the socialization of human beings. It provides a myriad of information and ideas promoting readers to think about how socialization, as well as social structures effect both society and individual beings. The authors argue that human beings experience life based on the socialization process and their innate abilities to interact with each other. Society operates in a distinct way, based on human activity and human interaction. Through examining our course content and reading the essay I have found that the Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann
But is emerging adulthood a period that every young person experiences through their life, in every culture and exactly the same ages or are there any restrictions for young people to experience this emerging phase. Marriage was the significance that a person entered adulthood, it usually happened between the ages of 16-18 for females and 18-20 for males. This small window before marriage only allows for a period of adolescences but no emerging adulthood. So this means that emerging adulthood is not a universal phase but one that only is experienced by those people that delay taking any adult like responsibilities until past their teens. Because some countries are extremely industrialized the requirement of people to have a higher education is reinforced, many emerging adults remain in school until their early or mid twenties to obtain a gainful position. This allows them to explore relationships and different jobs before they consider taking on the responsibility to marry and procreate and support a child financially. Although marriage is mostly calculated by some, there are cultures such as the Mormon Church that have a short emerging period. Due to cultural beliefs, there is no premarital sex and usually aim to have large families, so the pressure is on the young people to wed early and procreate because this is what is expected of them from both their families; it’s the
- - -. “Social-learning Theory:Observing and Imitating Models.” Human Development. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1992. 213-14. Print.
Socialization is a lifelong process of acquiring one’s personal identity; when we interact within the four agents of socialization—family, school, media, and peer groups—we internalize norms, values, behavior, and social skills. Since our values, norms, and beliefs about society are first learned with family, family is the most important and influential agent of socialization.
As we grow up, we develop as people, and learn things from others around us. In these selections from East Asia, there’s different elements of growing up. From these stories and poems from Korea, China, and Japan, there is experience coming of age in more than one way. There are instances of young love, war, passing friendship, and overall life in these foreign places. Through these instances there is growing up and coming of age in places never experienced. From the literature of East Asia, the process of growing up and coming of age through the use of life lessons, metaphors, and imagery.
Families mold, intentionally or not, their children into little reflections of themselves. School, thru peer pressure, thru the various academic and social clubs, and thru the imaginary audience, serves to enhance the socialization process begun at home.
General socialization begins in childhood with our parents and grandparents or caretakers. Simple verbal and nonverbal interactions taking place between those closest to us and our world around us creates ideas and beliefs and coach us in how we should react to our environment. General socialization can be seen when children are punished for being inappropriate or impolite, or when their behaviors are reinforced by authority figures around them. Growing up in a conservative home, one may ...
The education system and the peer group within the school system are important socialisation agents in an individual’s life. Children from an early age absorb the values, attitudes and beliefs of the society in which they participate (Ashman & Elkins, 2009).
Socialization is defined as the process by which an individual internalizes the norms, values and beliefs of their social world. The socialization process occurs throughout the life course of the individual and is influenced by agents of socialization, which include a variety of social institutions and daily social interactions. Some examples of such agents are peers,family, neighborhood,sports, schools, religion, the workplace, and especially the mass media. Socialization agents in your life shapes, develops, and help highlight who you are as a person. The agents of socialization that have molded and shaped my life through high school and college are family,school,neighborhood..These agents have have helped me become who I am today and has
The term socialization refers to the “lifelong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture.” [Macionis et al. p 55] The concept of socialization is that our actions are driven/learned by culture. Socialization is also the foundation of personality, which we build by internalizing our surroundings. Through the lifelong process of socialization, society transmits culture from one generation to the next.
Adulthood has often been associated with independence. It serves as a turning point in life where one has to take responsibility for oneself and no longer being dependent on his or her family. Early adulthood, usually begins from late teens or early twenties and will last until the thirties (Santrock, 2013). Early adulthood revolves around changes and exploration while middle and late adulthood are more of stability. The transition from adolescence and adulthood differs among every individual. The onset of the transition is determined by many factors such as culture, family background, and the personality of the individual. Emerging adulthood (as cited in Santrock, 2014) is the term to describe the transition period from adolescence to adulthood.
In a majority of cultures, the youth of society learned behaviors and ideals based off of their guardians and role models. Children formed their own personal morals, ethics, and common sense based on their parents or close guardian figures’ actions, which led to either a similar or oppositional belief. Though this taught children fairly quickly, it sometimes left little to the imagination and forced the youth to work for only one reason; to fit in. The early years of a person’s life began their transition and integration into society as adults. The continued struggle to fit in and expectations people put on children and adolescents led to a faster maturation and loss of creativity. In both the
The cycle of socialization is a process through which social identities are created, and in effect, each individual represents and is affected by their social identity. According to the cycle of socialization, the first stop in the socialization process is outside of one’s control—one is socialized even before they are born. Our social identities are predetermined, and we are born in a world with roles, rules, and assumptions already in place. Our family and role models teach these rules and roles to us, for they are the shapers of expectations, values, and norms. The first step in the cycle of socialization is directly related to mental models. In the beginning of the socialization process, we are taught certain rules and roles to follow. Ultimately, we are taught how to act by our families who raise us, which shapes our mental models. At a young age, my mom dressed me in dresses and put me in dance classes. My girl friends and I were all expected to take dance lessons and to enjoy playing house with each other. My dad taught my brothers when they were young to act tough and to play sports like football and hockey. During my childhood, I never questioned my parents. I enjoyed doing what “girls are supposed to do,” and I felt comfortable doing what all the other girls were doing in my school. I agree that parents are responsible for socializing their children and they have a huge influence on how we act our gender and our social roles. As a result, our mental models, which shape how we act, are created and enforced at a young age. Socialization is reinforced throughout our lifetime not only through our parents and teachers, but also through the messages from institutions and our culture.
acceptable or "normal" behaviour. The Socialisation process continues throughout life and has many agents of socialisation. The first agents we usually encounter are our families. This primary socialisation teaches us the basic social skills for life. Generally the values we learn from our parents who stay with us throughout life.