What is Socialization? Explained.
An Introduction
The question that concerns all societies is: "How are raw materials or newborn human infants to be transformed into usable human objects or trained to become members of their societies?' The human baby is born as a biological being with only animal instincts and needs. Because the child has an inborn capacity to learn and communicate, it learns to control bowel movements and regulate hunger as it grows older. Gradually, it learns how to act and feel in ways that are defined by the group. The process of socialisation is the method of learning to internalize values and norms into one's self or the mode of learning to live in society. Internalizing something means absorbing it so deeply in one's mind that it becomes a part of one's behaviour, such as good manners. As a result, socialization is defined as the members of a group learning social values and roles.
To put it another way, the majority of human behaviour is learned. It is not a natural occurrence. This capacity of the child to learn and internalise has been referred to as the plasticity of human nature by social scientists. This capacity to learn is realised through socialisation, and through family training, human infants grow into capable members of human societies. This growth is primarily a learning process. As a result, we'd like to emphasise that seemingly inborn attitudes are determined and shaped through the process of socialisation, or the learning of social norms, values, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior patterns.
Values and Meanings that Everyone Shares
The young are socialised when they learn to appreciate the shared meanings and values of the culture at large, or when they use them as guides to direct their own behaviour patterns.
- As a child grows older, he or she learns to use role-playing to internalize what to expect from others and how to produce for them what is expected of children. Only through the process of socialisation does a child learn to recognize and respond to shared meanings and expectations from others. The socialisation process begins at birth. Because social learning never stops, it is a never-ending process. Childhood, on the other hand, is the most important stage in the socialisation process because it is during this time that a child internalises or learns the majority of the family's values, beliefs, norms, attitudes, and behaviour patterns.
The parents can be thought of as socialising agents, while the child can be thought of as the socialise. "In the early stages of childhood, parents are usually the most powerful socialising force at work on the child. They push the child in certain directions, both consciously and unconsciously, causing him to learn in a certain way." (G. White, 1977) "(No. 1) Sociologists see it as a continuous and dynamic process that lasts throughout one's life and necessitates re-socialization (discussed in 8-6) at various stages. As a result, socialisation prepares a child to become a member of a society by instilling its norms, values, and beliefs in him or her. It also turns the biological organism 1 into a self with a sense of self, capable of disciplining and ordering behaviour, and endowed with ideals, values, and ambitions. Socialisation, on the other hand, not only regulates behaviour, but it is also a necessary condition for individuality and self-awareness.
Comments