Racial Identity And Socialization

Throughout our society, the social development of an individual has always been influenced by our interactions with others. It is through the process of socialization that we are able to adapt to become a member of society and develop our personality through social interactions. Many studies and research have shown that our personality is usually built upon internalizing our surroundings. One of the most prominent socialization agents that affect an individual is the relationship with their family. These relationships affect socialization in many ways that impacts their future role in society. Thus through family upbringing, an individual’s role of socialization is primarily influenced by nurture in their early childhood and as well as race

As stated in Macionis (2013), parents give a social identity to children through race which can be complex because societies define race in various ways (Sec 5.3). To learn the social norms and knowledge to integrate into society, people with different racial ethnicities must use this association of socialization to learn expectations from others. With the issues of racism still existing in our society today, children tend to experience a majority of prejudice through their interpersonal relationships with other adolescences in school. At this point in their lives, young people tend to break away from their families and gain their own sense of identity. Despite this, race still determines their social class and people born into families with low social positions tend to face judgement from others. In a particular academic research journal I found, it examined the correlation between racial socialization and family teachings about racial class. According to Brown (2007), “familial ethnic/race socialization is the process by which families teach children about the social meaning and consequences of ethnicity and race (pg. 14).” As individuals spend more time at school, they are more likely to face racialized interactions and questions about their ethnicity. Therefore, the findings implied that the main objective of race socialization was to promote ethnic diversity including building the tolerance of other races for white children. By having that desire to fit in with other groups, they imitate the behavior of others to achieve their desired social position, a process defined as anticipatory socialization (Macionis, Sec 5.3). To be specific, the studies that were conducted through surveys asked the frequency of racial discussion between the parents and child. Brown’s (2007) study concluded that systematic comparison of socialization