The Media as an Agent in Socialization

The Media as an Agent in Socialization

According to the reading, “Socialization and Culture” from the book

“Interdisciplinary English” by Loretta F. Kasper, socialization is the

process in which a child learns how to behave in life and participate

in a group in society. Socialization has four basic agents: family,

school, peers and the mass media. Each one of these agents plays a

role in our lives. However, in my opinion, the most important agent of

socialization for the development of the child is the mass media.

The Mass Media are the different processes that facilitate

communication between the sender of a message and the receiver of that

message. It plays an important role in the socialization of children.

In fact, there are many types of media; these include newspapers,

magazines, radio, films, CDs, Internet, and television. These kinds of

media, especially television, affect children’s and adult’s behavior

in different ways. According to the article, “Socialization: From

Infancy to Old Age”, “The average family in the United States has at

least one television turned on for at least seven hours a day.”

Television is the biggest mass media in this country and has positive

and negative aspects.

There are

some programs which are very helpful with lots of information for the

children. For example; on channel thirty-three, there is a good

program called “Dora the explorer”. Children can learn to speak

Spanish and also do things such as singing, standing up and

pronouncing words in English. On the same channel, there is also a

program called “Blue’s Clues”. In this program, children learn how to

think, sing and discover clues. When children watch these programs,

they are not the same people anymore because they can become more