Socialization
Socialization is a life-long process in which knowledge, human values, virtues, experiences, beliefs, sentiments, and morals are transferred from generation to generation through family, peer groups, school, colleges, working organizations, mass media, and social discourses.
It is a life-long process to learn human behavior and social experiences in order to be a member of society. It is the process by which an individual is transformed from biological being into a social being. The human infant comes into the world as a biological organism with animal needs. He is gradually molded into the social being and then he learns social ways of thinking, acting and doing.
Bogardus defines “Socialization is the process of working together of developing group responsibility, or being guided by welfare needs of others”.
Agents of Socialization
- Family
- Peer Groups
- Academic Institutions
- Mass Media
- Working Organisation
- Religious Institution
- Socio-cultural Institutions
- Informal Devices
1. Family:
The parents are the first members to socialize with a child. The child is encultured at home by parents and relatives. First native tongue, love, affection, co-operation, family norms and values, human virtues, behavioral patterns, civic sense, and manner are transmitted in him. He is taught societal morality. The family continues to exercise its influence throughout his life hence it is the first school of the child.
2. Peer Groups:
The playmates and friends also are an important agency of socialization. Due to age similarity and psychic unity he acquires co-operative morality and some of the informal aspects of culture like fashions, craze, fads, mode of gratification, sex, sexuality and so forth. His likes and dislikes, the similarity in age and knowledge level, family environment, class-based personality, and social atmosphere are the major triggering factors for selecting peer groups.
3. Academic Institutions:
Academia is the second agency of socialization. Education provides reason-based knowledge, skill, human virtues, cosmological views, contemplative ideas and the qualities of good citizens. A well-planned system of education can produce a socialized person. Schools, colleges, universities, research centers, and knowledge production industries shape the holistic personality of a persona.
4. Mass Media:
In recent years media has become a very powerful agency for socialization. Radio, Television, Computer networking, and print capitalism have important role to shape the ideoscape of a persona, World news, science and technology, inventions, discoveries, literature, entertainment, games and sports, cinema, music, and other necessary research-based knowledge available in mass media which has shaped the powerful images to the youths.
5. Working Organizations:
According to the nature of the working organization, a person learns working patterns and organizational culture. An organization encompasses the number of employees who comes from a different cultural and educational background. The importance of work, punctuality, dedication to the division of labor, honesty, professionalism, and confidence in working culture are some important patterns of knowledge learned in an organization.
6. Religious Institution:
Religion is a unified system of beliefs consisting of theological principles, sacred and profane objects, altruism, tolerance, reciprocity, cooperation, spiritual knowledge, fraternity, philanthropic idea, the welfare of the entire human community and other human virtues are transmitted to an individual. It helps to control evil thoughts of the human mind. Man is not only a physical being but also is a spiritual being well. In order to attain peace and harmony in human faculty of religion provides spiritual knowledge. Religion encompasses social glue helps to bind the people together in Religion collective and integrated way.
7. Socio-cultural Institutions:
The society comprises socio-cultural organizations. Arts and crafts, literature, and indigenous cultural organization also help him to socialize. The organizations like – Pragyan pratisthan, Nepal sanskritik sanstltan, Gurukul theatres and Siddhartha art gallery as such are some public spheres or cultural organizations which helps to shape the holistic personality of an individual. Life is displayed from every aspect through cultural performance.
8. Informal Devices:
Suggestions, discussions in public spheres, traveling, informal chats, listening to the human experiences by adult persons, reading good books, participating in public debates and other social interactions also helps to learn the good things in his life. It is a life long process of learning.
Hence, we can say(Summary):
- It is a life long learning process.
- It is an internalization of norms, values, and ideology.
- It’s a transmission of culture through formal and informal devices.
- Under this process, biological instinct is reformed into social instincts.
- It is a process to be a member of society which helps him to meet the socio-cultural requirements.
- It is dynamic informs according to time and space.
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