Is the process by which people learn and internalize the values beliefs norms or our social groups the way we become functioning members of society?

Socialization

Human infants are born without any culture.  They must be transformed by their parents, teachers, and others into cultural and socially adept animals.  The general process of acquiring culture is referred to as socialization

Socialization is important in the process of personality formation.  While much of human personality is the result of our genes, the socialization process can mold it in particular directions by encouraging specific beliefs and attitudes as well as selectively providing experiences.  This very likely accounts for much of the difference between the common personality types in one society in comparison to another.  For instance, the Semai

Shiite Muslim men in Iran ritually beating themselves bloody with hands and chains as an act of religious faith commemorating the death of Imam Hussein in 680 a.d.

standard school curriculum to assure a broad acceptance of society's norms

Successful socialization can result in uniformity within a society.  If all children receive the same socialization, it is likely that they will share the same beliefs and expectations.  This fact has been a strong motivation for national governments around the world to standardize education and make it compulsory for all children.  Deciding what things will be taught and how they are taught is a powerful political tool for controlling people.  Those who internalize the norms of society are less likely to break the law or to want radical social changes.   In all societies, however, there are individuals who do not conform to culturally defined standards of normalcy because they were "abnormally" socialized, which is to say that they have not internalized the norms of society.  These people are usually labeled by their society as deviant or even mentally ill. 

Large-scale societies, such as the United States, are usually composed of many ethnic groups.  As a consequence, early socialization in different families often varies in techniques, goals, and expectations.  Since these complex societies are not culturally homogenous, they do not have unanimous agreement about what should be the shared norms.  Not surprisingly, this national ambiguity usually results in more tolerance of social deviancy--it is more acceptable to be different in appearance, personality, and actions in such large-scale societies.

How are Children Socialized?

Socialization is a learning process that begins shortly after birth.  Early childhood is the period of the most intense and the most crucial socialization.  It is then that we acquire language and learn the fundamentals of our culture.  It is also when much of our personality takes shape.  However, we continue to be socialized throughout our lives.  As we age, we enter new statuses and need to learn the appropriate roles for them.  We also have experiences that teach us lessons and potentially lead us to alter our expectations, beliefs, and personality.  For instance, the experience of being raped is likely to cause a woman to be distrustful of others.

Looking around the world, we see that different cultures use different techniques to socialize their children.  There are two broad types of teaching methods--formal and informal.  Formal education is what primarily happens in a classroom.  It usually is structured, controlled, and directed primarily by adult teachers who are professional "knowers."  In contrast, informal education can occur anywhere.  It involves imitation of what others do and say as well as experimentation and repetitive practice of basic skills.  This is what happens when children role-play adult interactions in their games.

young men undergoing rigorously standardized formal education in a Buddhist monastery	older adults being informally   socialized for their role as   retired senior citizens

Most of the crucial early socialization throughout the world is done informally under the supervision of women and girls.  Initially, mothers and their female relatives are primarily responsible for socialization.  Later, when children enter the lower school grades, they are usually under the control of women teachers.  In North America and some other industrialized nations, baby-sitters are most often teenage girls who live in the neighborhood.  In other societies, they are likely to be older sisters or grandmothers.

North American mother     informally socializing her     daughter	baby in Bhutan under the care of an older sister	grandmother in North  America helping to  socialize her grandchild

During the early 1950's, John and Beatrice Whitiing led an extensive field study of early socialization practices in six different societies.  They were the Gusii

Location of the societies in the 1950's cross-cultural study of child rearing practices

This cross-cultural study of socialization is provocative.  Perhaps, you are now asking yourself what methods you would use to control the behavior of your children.  Would you spank them or threaten to do so?  Would you only use praise?  Would you belittle or tease them for not behaving?  Would you try to make your children independent and self-reliant or would you discourage it in favor of continuing dependence?  At some time in our lives, most of us will be involved in raising children.  Will you do it in the same way that you were raised?  Very likely you will because you were socialized that way.  Abusive parents were, in most cases, abused by their parents.  Likewise, gentle, indulgent parents were raised that way themselves.  Is there a right or wrong way to socialize children?  To a certain extent the answer depends on the frame of reference.  What is right in one culture may be wrong in another.

Even seemingly insignificant actions of parents can have major impacts on the socialization of their children.  For instance, what would you do if your baby cried continuously but was not ill, hungry, or in need of a diaper change?  Would you hold your baby, rock back and forth, walk around, or sing gently until the crying stopped, even if it took hours.  The answer that you give very likely depends on your culture.  The traditional Navajo

This page was last updated on Thursday, December 08, 2011.
Copyright � 2002-2011 by Dennis O'Neil. All rights reserved.
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