Parul Mishra, postgraduate in Literature and Sociology from Kanpur University.
Abstract
The perspective of socialisation, aims to reconstruct the individual’s sequential or parallel socialising experiences, which have settled in them in the shape of schemes or dispositions to believe, see, feel, and act. In our society, the family comes first in the hierarchy of experiences, and it is on these experiences that the future experiences are built (notably educational and professional experiences). However, while family is the first 'psychological agency of society' it is far from the only one, and people interact with a variety of other 'agencies' throughout their lives (school, the workplace, the political party, the union, the religious institution, the cultural association, the sports club, and so on). As a result, only sociological writings allow us to appreciate the cumulative effect of the various socialisation frameworks that individuals frequent. Finally, it allows for the formation of elements of each individual's 'existential issue,' which the biographical path has gradually contributed to form.
Keywords: Socialisation, interpersonal relationships, Empathy, Social values.
I. Introduction
Newborn homo sapiens are biological entities with a proclivity to develop into social beings, or "humans." Infants get the ability to appreciate and utilise the symbols and embellishments created by previous generations as they grow older[ii]. Learning to interact with others in appropriate ways, forming affectionate ties, participating in various organisations, sharing loyalty with many unknown fellow citizens, and internalising the norms, values, roles, and patterns of behaviour of the society to which one is born are all part of becoming human. The formation of the "self" or personality is also part of being human. Personality is defined as "a set of relatively constant and distinctive styles of thought, conduct, and emotional responses that reflects a person's adaptations to their environment[iii]". The process of acquiring these attributes and therefore becoming human is referred to as socialization.
In a variety of ways, society interjects itself into the socialisation process. The standards that socialised persons are expected to meet in terms of physical growth, skills and talents, emotional expression, intellectually worthwhile pursuits, and the patterning of their relationships with significant others are established by society[iv]. Parents are guided in their efforts to socialise their children by their awareness of such social expectations as well as their vision of what children must become in order to live successfully in the world. Parents are also guided by their perceptions of what constitutes "excellent parenting," and most devote a significant amount of time and effort to meeting this ideal[v].
Institutions have been developed in modern civilizations where cultural features have become too numerous and complicated to be transmitted solely through the family. The family, the church, the educational system, the government, and the economic system are the key institutions in our society, and each has been charged with teaching a set of distinct cultural norms and values. Any breach of these intended standards or principles is usually greeted with harsh consequences. The sheer allocation of sanctions is a declaration of society's will and establishes a standard that will affect individuals regardless of whether or not they receive the institution's punishments or rewards.
II. Socialisation
Socialisation can be understood as a complex process of social learning through assimilation of past experiences. It is an interactive communication process in which an individual interacts with its environment, on the basis of which the individual develops social and personal influences. The process of socialisation transforms an individual into a social being. Hence, the need of community/society is important for an individual, as the solitary existence of an individual is “unimaginable, and beyond human collective”.[vi]
“The content of socialization has not only a psychological significance (the maturing of the young person), but also a culturological (internalizing social norms and values) and sociological (social role-playing and development of appropriate behaviours). The socialization process is based on a set of variables that include:
• Individual characteristics (age, gender, maturity, development, intelligence)
• Methods and forms of transmission (language, control mechanisms, rituals, child raising practices and social integration, forms of imitation, identification, substitution, inhibition or reinforcement)
• Structures of attitudes, values, actions and behaviours (roles and social status, morality of social relations, ethics of work, political-civic orientation, performance, altruism, integration, conformation, etc.)”[vii]
III. Socialisation Theory
Socialisation theory offers two major perspectives namely: normative and interpretive. The normative perspective locates the power within the societal structures whereas interpretive perspective locates power within the individuals. Third perception believes that both societal and individual are powerful and have significant power in the direction of change. “The socialisation process is lifelong and realities are often changed by 'transformation', 'reflexivity' and negotiation. In constructing an emergent reality, individuals refer to their internalised view of the 'generalised other', their 'stock of knowledge', their 'taken for granted assumptions', the views of others to whom they are accountable, past experiences and their views of future choices.”[viii]
On the contrary an article mentions Wentworth's reconceptualization. According to which “the location of power depends on the individual's and others' views of her or his skills and resources together with views of the skills and resources of the socialising agents in a particular context.”[ix]
IV. Socialization Agents
Socialization is impossible to achieve in a vacuum. Individuals, communities, and institutions all contribute to the social framework in which socialisation occurs. We learn and integrate our culture's values and conventions through these organisations. They also considered our social situations in terms of class, ethnicity, and gender[x]. We can become functional members of a society by learning habits, skills, beliefs, and a standard of judgement during the socialisation process.
The term 'functional,' on the other hand, is coloured by the larger socio-cultural environment. Individual socialisation, according to Bourdieu (1990), is a process in which individuals are impacted by the class cultural context in which they are raised.
Formal/informal, active/passive, primary/secondary are all classifications that can be applied to the various agencies. However, because they are all so intertwined, there is no distinct demarcation.
Agents of socialization shape our norms and values regarding appropriate behavior and how we interact with others and highly influence our views and perspective on our community, our country, and the world at large. The amount of impact each agent has on an individual depends on the individual’s stage of life, personality, and experiences.[xi]
Primary-childhood socialisation and secondary-adult socialisation are two main stages of socialisation. Primary socialisation is the most significant stage because it shapes the identities, outlooks, and resources that secondary socialisation is built on[xii] . Significant others are in charge of primary socialisation.
Significant others are those (parents, grandparents, siblings) who have a positive or bad impact on a child's life, personality, and orientation through exposing them to specific experiences, values, and roles, as well as limiting their exposure to unfavourable influences[xiii]. The public education system, peer group relationships, and television are all additional agents or causes of primary socialisation.
V. Bronfenbrenner Model : The Ecological Theory
“The ecological theory states that a child’s language is developed through their environment: family, peers, caregivers, school, neighborhood, and cultural contexts (Kaderavek, 2011)”[xiv]. Within the theory Bronfenbrenner developed three separate systems for each type of environment a child comes into contact with during his or her life span: microsystem, mesosystem, and macrosystem.
The basic concept of socialization as a lifelong process and how it is carried out by various agents. The various agencies of socialization clarified how each agency contributes to the moulding of an individual’s personality. The agents of socialization have been classified into Micro, Meso and Macro level and the process at each level spelled out.
At the Micro level, family, peer group and neighbourhood are the major agencies of socialization[xv]. Family Agencies of Socialization Understanding Childhood and Adolescence 56 plays a pivotal role in socialization. We have also discussed at length about adolescents’ socialization in the family.
At the Meso level, the role of other agencies like school, religion, social class becomes significant. School is a miniature society where children of different families, religions, castes and economic status come together; partake in collective activities and learn to adjust to the society[xvi]. Here, a teacher as an agent of socialization assumes importance. We have also discussed gender socialization at each level. The role of religion is very powerful; so is the interaction with the social class.
At the Macro level, the impact of mass media and electronic media have been explained by citing examples. Social networking not only facilitates socialization, but also enhances the ability to understand others in a better way.
A. Micro Level Socialization: Family, Peer Group and Neighbourhood
Micro level entails small group interaction. This level is vital because face to face, intense, and intimate interaction forms the basic formulation. Under micro-level socialization, role played by family, peer group and neighborhood [xvii]. Here the child experiences the most social interactions because this may be the first experience of language the child is exposed to which will shape how they use their language.
B. Meso Level Socialization: School, Religion, Social Class
Meso level units are intermediate size social units smaller than the ones at macro level but larger than the micro-units like the family or the local community[xviii]. It may include schools, educational institutions, political groups, etc. These organizations and institutions may not be as big as the global units but are beyond the personal experiences encountered in everyday life. The mesosystem is where the child’s language begins to adapt to his/her social environment. Intervention here could include the teachers and other educators[xix].
C. MacroSystem:
Which deals with intervention at the admin level.[xx] The impact of mass media and electronic media have been explained by citing examples[xxi]. Social networking not only facilitates socialization, but also enhances the ability to understand others in a better way.
VI. Mechanisms Of Socialization
One major distinction between primary and secondary socialization is that children during primary socialization (birth through age twelve) form images of the roles and attitudes of significant others, and may even play at some of those roles, but it is during secondary socialization that individuals acquire role-specific knowledge and vocabularies actually rooted in social institutions[xxii]. Another major difference between the two periods is that secondary socialization is more self-initiated role taking, where primary socialization proceeds more through observational learning, elementary forms of role taking (i.e. games and play), and social reinforcements[xxiii].
VII. Social Reinforcements
To ensure that children perform desired social behaviors (whether instrumental or learned), agents of socialization utilize social reinforcements. Social reinforcements can be defined as the actions of one individual to maintain, modify, or inhibit the behavior of another individual[xxiv]. Social reinforcements are vital because children rarely perform desired behaviors exactly the first few attempts. Therefore, social reinforcements serve to inform and guide children toward a desired performance.
Social reinforcements also serve an important role in encouraging children to perform previously learned behaviors, as well as inhibiting the performance of undesirable behaviors. What can be stated in very general terms about social reinforcements is that behaviors positively rewarded are likely to be repeated and behaviors that are punished are likely to be inhibited or discarded.
First, both rewards and punishments are necessary for effective results. When both rewards and punishments are administered, children learn not only what they can do but also what they cannot do. But more learning does seem to occur when the balance is tipped in favor of rewards or positive reinforcements.
Second, rewards and punishments are more effective if they are delivered immediately after the response to be established or inhibited. The problem for children when there are long delays is they may associate reinforcements with other responses made during the delay completely unrelated to desired or undesired responses. One way to off-set this problem is to symbolically (through verbal means) reinstate the nature of desired or deviant acts and then deliver reinforcements.
Third, reinforcements administered consistently are more effective than reinforcements that are not. When reinforcements are not consistent, it is difficult for children to form associations between behavior and reinforcements.
Fourth, for reinforcements to have any effect, children must have a positive nurturing attachment to the reinforcing agent. Particularly with punishment, it appears that a nurturant punishing agent arouses greater anxiety in children than does a neutral agent because such a high value is attached to the behavior of the nurturant agent.
In a study[xxv] carried out by Sears, it was found that mothers rated warm and affectionate found spanking an effective means of discipline, but mothers who were rated cold and hostile reported spanking ineffective.
Fifth, for punishment to be very effective, it must be used in conjunction with rationale. Not only must the reason for the punishment be explained, children must be offered alternative ways of behaving that will bring forth rewards as opposed to punishments.
Sixth, a complete reliance on strong verbal or physical punishment will not be enough to bring about a total internalization (the adoption of social norms and roles by children without external stimuli) of desired behaviors. The adoption of norms and roles seem to be brought about most effectively through the withdrawal of affection by nurtural agents.
Withdrawal of affection includes such forms of punishment as ignoring or isolating children, rejection, and coldness. Reinstatement of affection is dependent upon an agreement to behave in an appropriate manner. The believed reason why withdrawal of affection is so powerful is that when punishment becomes too aversely abusive, anxiety levels reach such heights that feelings of anxiety cannot become independent of the external punishment. The punishment then becomes the main focus of attention. Instead, through omission of rewarding stimuli, children are encouraged to focus on their behavior, and to draw their own conclusions about acceptable means of reducing anxiety, shame, or guilt.
VIII. Conclusion:
The purpose of this paper was to look at how different components of personality are formed through socialising. While biological and cognitive elements may influence personality formation, society intrudes on the process by establishing behavioural standards, establishing values, prescribing proper ways of interacting, and determining the many roles required for society to function. Observational learning, role playing, and social reinforcements have all been demonstrated to be essential socialisation strategies. The family, schools, peers, and television all play a role in primary socialisation. While this paper does not add to the body of information on the subject, the multidisciplinary approach is hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of socialisation on personality development.
* The author is a post graduate in Literature and Sociology from Kanpur University and can be reached out at pmgstpr@gmail.com
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