170001999 Agents Socialization
Agents of Socialization
Specific sites or groups carry out socialization. We call these agents of socialization. Similar to the concept of a business agent or insurance agent, they represent and act on the behalf of the larger society and. Socialization can occur outside of these agents but society relies on these agents doing most of the socialization. There's nothing "official" about these agents, at least not in our society.
Totalitarian societies attempt to establish official agents of socialization but in a democratic society no government agency licenses or certifies them.
Our society relies on four major agents of socialization (listed in order children tend to experience them):
• Family
• Media
• Peers
• School
Family
The family is the earliest and without question the most influential agent of socialization. It grabs the child at birth, when the child is most helpless and dependent, and doesn't let go for a whole lifetime.
Socialization via the family goes from cradle to grave.
What makes socialization in the family so important and influential?
• Foundation for all civilized behavior:
Language abilities (learning to talk)
Body control (e.g., toilet training)
Emotional control (e.g., "don't hit your sister")
Rules of public conduct (e.g., "don't throw food")
Moral values (e.g., "lying is a sin")
• Access to the emotional bond between parent and child, an extremely strong and effective socializing mechanism
• Lifetime impacts affecting the person's self-esteem, emotional health, identity, and personality
• Origin point of gender roles (masculine and feminine behavior; fundamental division of the social world into men and women)
• Origin point of ethnocentricism and racism (racial and ethnic prejudice)
• Source of original social capital that determines life chances
Social capital = resources useful for gaining advantages in life; includes such things as family and friendship networks, community schools, family's social class
Specific sites or groups carry out socialization. We call these agents of socialization. Similar to the concept of a business agent or insurance agent, they represent and act on the behalf of the larger society and. Socialization can occur outside of these agents but society relies on these agents doing most of the socialization. There's nothing "official" about these agents, at least not in our society.
Totalitarian societies attempt to establish official agents of socialization but in a democratic society no government agency licenses or certifies them.
Our society relies on four major agents of socialization (listed in order children tend to experience them):
• Family
• Media
• Peers
• School
Family
The family is the earliest and without question the most influential agent of socialization. It grabs the child at birth, when the child is most helpless and dependent, and doesn't let go for a whole lifetime.
Socialization via the family goes from cradle to grave.
What makes socialization in the family so important and influential?
• Foundation for all civilized behavior:
Language abilities (learning to talk)
Body control (e.g., toilet training)
Emotional control (e.g., "don't hit your sister")
Rules of public conduct (e.g., "don't throw food")
Moral values (e.g., "lying is a sin")
• Access to the emotional bond between parent and child, an extremely strong and effective socializing mechanism
• Lifetime impacts affecting the person's self-esteem, emotional health, identity, and personality
• Origin point of gender roles (masculine and feminine behavior; fundamental division of the social world into men and women)
• Origin point of ethnocentricism and racism (racial and ethnic prejudice)
• Source of original social capital that determines life chances
Social capital = resources useful for gaining advantages in life; includes such things as family and friendship networks, community schools, family's social class