Nature of Socialization Part -2

In Nature of Socialization Part -1 we learned about

What is Socialisation?
Socialisation: Norms and Values
Conscious and Unconscious Socialisation

In this post we will discuss about following topics

Role and Socialisation
Re-socialisation
Anticipatory Socialisation

Role and Socialisation

In a social group, a human infant is born. It also joins the social group shortly after birth and assumes the social role of a son, daughter, grandson, or grand-daughter. As a result, the term "role" refers to the social position that an individual holds as a result of their membership in a particular social group, and it includes both rights and obligations.

In the course of his or her life, a person must assume a variety of roles, including those of a son, daughter, grandson, or grand-daughter. In other words, a person holds a number of interconnected social positions. This implies that a child learns to behave in the way that is expected of it by various socializing agents. The term "role-set" refers to the complex of roles occupied or performed by a person at one time. For instance, a child must behave differently around parents than they do around their sister, friends, neighbors, or classmates. These roles can be played simultaneously, rather than sequentially, and additional roles can be added or removed. However, it's not a comprehensive list. Similar to how one must act differently with one's mother, one must act differently with one's grandmother. Growing up includes teaching the child to recognize and internalize these subtleties. As one becomes proficient in a role, they are able to interact with others while acting out other roles over time. Role and role socialization is what is referred to as this. Role is therefore a behavior pattern that is based on norms. It does have a specific meaning, though. g. In a particular society, a boytgirl's role is an important aspect of that society's culture. A child initially simply mimics the roles played by their parents and other family members to learn how to play them. One eventually learns to set oneself apart from other people and one's role apart from other roles. One learns through observation, constant reinforcement, reminders, rewards for conformity, and penalties for nonconformity.

Primary and Secondary Socialisation

Psychologists classify human needs into primary and secondary needs. Thirst and hunger are examples of inborn needs. Learning and employment are examples of secondary needs. Secondary needs are those that develop as a result of meeting primary needs. The society's institutions are similarly split into primary and secondary institutions. The family is the first social unit in which a child is born, as well as the first unit to satisfy and meet the infant's fundamental needs. Because it meets the child's derived needs, it is referred to as a primary group, whereas a school is a secondary group. Teachers at school serve as the child's secondary socializers, with parents serving as the child's primary or chief socializer. Additionally, we can make a distinction between primary and secondary socialization as well as between primary and secondary roles. While secondary socialization refers to the process of learning school-specific behavioral patterns, norms, and values, primary socialization refers to the norms and values that are established within the family.

Child and Adult Socialisation

As we've already mentioned, socialization, or the process of learning social roles, is a lifelong process. The person starts to pick up new norms and values as they join various institutions and social groups. One must, for instance, learn the school's rules and what it means to be a student when they first enroll. Later, as an adult, one must learn how to parent and take on family duties. When one chooses a profession and joins a professional group, they must become familiar with the duties and obligations that come with belonging to that particular group. A small tea shop owner, a laborer, and an executive, for instance, will all have very different responsibilities. To adopt these roles and values, people need to be socialized. Because of this, sociologists think that socialization occurs throughout life and does not end with adolescence.

Re-socialisation

Re-socialization involves changing one's behavior while also ingraining new social values and behavior patterns. One is always picking up new responsibilities. throughout one's life as a participant in a variety of social organizations or groups. The role of a son or daughter, or a grandson or grand-daughter if the child is living with extended family, is one that a child learns to play when they first become a member of their family. The child learns how to play the role of a nephew or niece if the father's sister resides in the family.

One makes friends and adheres to group rules as they play in the neighborhood later on. Others may decide to boycott a child until she stops interfering with the game, fighting, or cheating, for instance. A child attends school later on and gains experience acting the part of a pupil. Even later, she accepts a position, joins a group, or starts their own company or enterprise. Whatever task is undertaken, one must adhere to the standards and work ethics of that occupational group. One must therefore continually pick up new roles.

However, in some situations, in order to be effective in the new role, an individual must simultaneously unlearn some of the conventions and behavioral patterns associated with the old role. The role of an Indian girl before and after marriage is a very good example of unlearning the old role and learning a new one. While there might be variations in the emphasis placed on certain behaviors as well as in the standards and norms that apply to girls in different regions of India, we can generally generalize about a daughter's behavior both before and after marriage.

Marital Re-socialisation

The process of new or re-socialization begins when a daughter announces her engagement to be married. To behave appropriately around her in-laws, she might be given instructions. Prior to her marriage, a daughter in a Punjabi Hindu family does not cover her head in front of her elders, nor does she touch their feet. She may be taught to cover her head and touch the elders' feet after becoming engaged because she will need to do this quickly after getting married. Although, we should point out that this may not be practiced any more among upper and middle class families, particularly among the educated in big cities.

After marriage, she starts re-entering society. She has already received numerous instructions on how to stop acting carefree like she did when she was a young woman at her in-laws' house, how to show respect for almost every senior member of her husband's family, and how to avoid appearing to be independent. The process of gradually unlearning a newlywed girl's previous behavior takes place. When she visits her parents' house, she might act erratically at first as she tries to suppress or hide her feelings. She might laugh freely in her parents' house, but that might be deemed inappropriate in her in-laws' house.

The re-socialization of a widowed woman is another illustration. This is especially noticeable in some regions of India where a widow's behavior must change very dramatically after her husband's passing. The external marks of a married woman are ceremonially removed from her body, including the kumkum and vermilion marks on her forehead and the parting between her hair, which must be removed through specific rituals carried out in these families. She must also remove all of her jewelry and wear a specific dress or saree of a specific color. She's shaving her head. She must also live in a different area of the house. The kinds of duties she has to carry out within the family also change abruptly. She is prohibited from taking part in religious ceremonies such as marriage rituals because she is viewed as unlucky.

Attitudinal Change

Re-socialization is the process by which people change or are forced to change their attitudes, values, behavior, and self-concept as they take on new roles and go through new experiences throughout their lives. Even though the long-term change might be significant, the individual steps might or might not be gradual. For instance, the new role might require discontinuation or continuation of the old role or previous roles. Once more, it might only require minor adjustments or major ones involving an entirely new set of behavioral patterns. A person's personality or sense of self may also be affected, in part or in full. It might also entail departing from previous norms and values, or it might simply be a projection of them.

Continuous socialization is the term used to describe gradual and partial changes in adulthood. Re-socialization refers to more fundamental, quick, and drastic changes. Giving up one way of living and adopting another is involved. It is not only distinct from the first, but it can also conflict with it at times. Typical examples are given. are indoctrination, brainwashing, or the rehabilitation of criminals. The goal is to completely transform the person and cause a break with the past. Another example would be someone being asked to live with tribal people in a remote Madhya Pradesh village after having spent their entire lives in Bombay, Kolkata, or Delhi, or the opposite. If you live in a city, you may also be familiar with the efforts made by the villagers to adapt to city life by altering their views of what is right and wrong and their behavior. Similar to this, if you come from a village, you may have witnessed the difficulties that someone from the city, such as a teacher, doctor, nurse, or midwife, has to overcome in order to fit in with the community.

Extensive and Intensive Socialisation

Certain vocations and roles in life necessitate extensive and intense socialization. This socialization resembles re-socialization, such as when someone assumes the role of a Christian priest, nun, Granthi in a Gurdwara, or someone who only participates in combat. The training they receive in the institutions is intended to instill in the cadets a sense of national identity and camaraderie among themselves after they have been systematically removed from the society of which they are a part and given assignments involving new social and personal identities. In a similar vein, we've given examples of a window and an Indian girl after marriage. Re-socializing a mature person is challenging to do. In general, it is necessary to recreate the socialization conditions of childhood in an extreme and intense manner, especially when this is done through a very deliberate process, as in the case of resocializing a cadet, a criminal, or a widow.

Re-socialization can be forced (like in brainwashing or indoctrination) or voluntary (like for an anthropologist living among a tribe). Conflict in a person's life may result from the process of re-socialization if it conflicts with the initial socialization and if the person cannot handle the demands placed on them by the new role. This is especially true when different value systems are involved. For eg. A person from a conservative family in India finds it very challenging to fit into a society where there are many social, sexual, and other types of taboos. of his or her own culture are completely out of sync. A person who is placed in such a setting experiences culture shock and may become mentally ill.

Anticipatory Socialisation

In order to be accepted as a member of a group to which one does not belong, an individual or group will emulate the norms, values, and behavioral patterns of that group. This process is known as anticipatory socialization. As a result, the reference group theory and the idea of anticipatory socialization are related. This theory holds that an individual's behavior, values, and social norms are established in relation to a particular group or groups. The people who are transitioning from one group to another will act in a manner that is modeled after that of the members of the group to which they want to belong because the membership of these groups varies. An excellent example would be people who suddenly become wealthy and try to live up to the standards or upper castes of society in terms of values and behavior. The way they dress, behave, eat, and even their language and customs will change. People who didn't pay dowry, for instance, might start doing so, and women who didn't observe parda might be expected to.

In times of social change and mobility, both individuals and groups experience anticipatory socialization, which occurs or takes place in those circumstances. When lower castes in the villages become prosperous, they attempt to imitate the upper castes. For instance, if the Brahimins are the dominant caste in a village, the lower caste or castes who become wealthy will turn vegetarian and teetotalers; they will also change their caste names, wear the sacred thread to claim the status of the twice-born; stop sending their women to work for pay; and adopt Brahmin rites like shaving their heads (Mundan). They might also make their widows follow strict behavioral norms.