Socialization is the process in which an individual adopts the material and non-material culture, values, and social norms of their society. Socialization begins at birth, from the moment we are born and will continue throughout adulthood, we adopt different aspects of socialization during different phases of our self-development. Charles Cooley (1864-1929) developed the concept of Primary and Secondary relationships, he suggested that Primary is our very first and most important form of socialization, it’s usually our parents, siblings, and grandparents, and generally has the most impact in our socialization. Our primary group is generally responsible for teaching us the culture, values, beliefs, norms, and language.
Our parents are responsible for teaching us what is right and what is wrong, what behaviors that are acceptable and which are not. Deprived of these social controls we could not function in society; our primary relationships are responsible for teaching us to be well rounded members of society. Secondary agents of socialization include our peers, schools, and mass media, these agents still strongly impact our socialization. Schools for example or social institutions, are a big part in our socialization. Students are taught to conform and follow the rules, they are taught what is acceptable and what is not. They learn the importance for example of raising their hand to speak instead of just yelling out.
Students are taught to conform to the socially accepted standards within their society. We are socialized with our peers and groups and we learn within each one of those groups what the norms are, schools also exposed students to new ideas, and cultures. Cooley (1902) was also known for his theories on the looking glass self, he theorized that individuals gather their self-concepts and identities based on how other people see us. He broke it down into three steps, first, we imagine how others see us, secondly, we imagine how others are judging us, and finally, we change our behaviors based on how we feel we are being perceived by others in society.
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Our view of self is not based solely on what we think or feel about ourselves, it’s based on the interactions we have with other people. (Cooley 1902) We have already been taught that the opinions of others matter, we have learned to conform and behave as expected, so when we imagine what others think of us, we will assume the acceptable role in that place and time. Through socializing the process of socialization is taking place, whether we know it or not. Because we are able to view ourselves through the eyes of others we are also able to adapt to different social settings and environments, we can move through social situations, taking on roles suited for a particular purpose.
Erving Goffman (1959) expanded on Cooley’s (1902) looking glass self-theory. He took a theatrical approach to presentation of self and called his theory dramaturgy. Goffman believed we use impression management to present ourselves the way we want to be perceived, he compared it to a theatrical presentation. When we are on front stage we alter our self-presentation to get a desired result. Goffman suggests that we are all just actors, playing roles and parts that can vary from time and place. When we are backstage Goffman argues that we are less likely to act and more of our real self is exposed. Impression management is a key component of symbolic interactionism. By simply dressing a certain way we can cast an idea about the person we are, perhaps that we are professional and suited for a particular position.
Moral development is an important part of the socialization process, it’s the way people learn what society considers to be “good” and “bad”. Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) developed a theory of moral development. It included three phases: preconventional, conventional, and post conventional. Preconventional stage are young children who experience the world only through their senses. Conventional stage develops in the teen years when kids have a better understanding of the feelings of others, at this stage we take those feelings into consideration to determine what is “good” or “bad”. The final stage is post conventional, when people think of morality in abstract terms, people also realize that legality and morality don’t match up. (Kohlberg 1981)
Moral development keeps people from behaving in ways that go against the good of society and others. As we pass through the phases of moral development we learn not only to think of ourselves, but to think of society as whole, and eventually we will begin to realize what may be good for society, may not be good for the individual. Once we establish our own moral code we will do anything to defend those principles. Individuals are socialized differently depending on things like gender and different social classes. Low income families may not have access to the same opportunities and education as a middle-class family. Some females may be socialized to be mothers and others to business women.
Socialization will vary on many different factors, but regardless, the process is still the same. Socialization is a form of social control, maintaining a social order within society and we pass it on from generation to generation. A lack of social control and order would place us in a state of chaos. Socialization benefits both the individual and society, individuals develop a sense of self through their social interactions, Humans are social beings, we wouldn’t be able to function without the process of socialization
