Socialization is a major process in social life. It helps in description of ways in which individuals develop understanding regarding expectations and norms, for accepting beliefs and values of society. Individuals are, however, socialized in order to fit into the existing social structures. Socialization comprises of thinking, feeling, and way of acting of individuals. Socialization also consists of feelings towards work (Haferty, 1988, p. 19). This can be considered from medical socialization literature. In medical socialization, emotions are involved. In a society, people are also attached via their emotions. Further, individuals in social structures are socialized via technical skills, knowledge, and internalization of values and attitudes with regards to knowledge and skills. Internalization considers individuals taking social roles, norms, and values in his own mind. In this regard, society is major factor that is responsible for methods in which individuals behave and learn. It represents the tendency of individuals to accept specific values and norms for conforming to them. Socialization ensures social interaction with the help of which individuals become capable of seeing themselves via eyes of other individuals living in the society.
Socialization, however, takes place within social, psychological, and biological contexts. At social level, family, institutions such as educational and religious, country, community, and mass media plays an essential role in socialization of an individual. At social level, an individual gives importance to gender, race, self-concept, self-respect, and ethnic identity, because they are representation of values, attitudes of culture, and expectations of an individual. Individuals, however adapt themselves into the social structures in which they live. Examples of this fact are socialization of an individual out of the civilian role, and institutionalization of role of soldiers due to vast experience (Dyer, n.d., p. 210). Another example in this regard is socialization of an individual in prison. In case of prisoner, the pre-prison identity, however, work as personal identity, while his identity in prison serves as a mean of socialization or social interaction in prison (Schmid and Jones, 1991, p. 226). Moreover, at biological level, behavior of an individual is considered. For example, behavior of an individual when he is living in the society is different as compared to his behavior in prison.
Socialization is, however, functional, and plays its role in meeting the needs and wants of society. It paves the way to stability of the society. An example of this fact is family. Family plays an essential role in a way that in family needs of an individual are considered and they are also fulfilled. Further, in a family unit, every member has his/her social roles, and everyone is aware of what function he or she has to perform in order to meet the needs and demands of other individual. This can be considered from an example that father in most of the families, is regarded as a head of family, and mother is second major member of family. But, as a matter of fact, the unique structures of family that are becoming dominant in Western world are changing roles in the family. Single parents, step parents, grandchildren raised under supervision of grandparents.
However, socialization paves the way to complex interactional processes via which individuals can learn skills, beliefs, and judgment standards that are essential for living in the society. Socialization is, however, a learning process that helps a learner to perform its roles in society in an effectual manner. Every individual makes an effort of adjusting himself/herself in the environment and condition, which is determined by society in which individual is living. Additionally, if an individual fails to adjust, there are chances that he/she becomes deviant, and is again brought back to normality by the efforts of individuals in group in which he/she is living. However, this adjustment process is actually socialization, which is a process in which self is expanded, and feelings regarding community are developed in an individual.
Socialization is functional in a way that it is a process of learning norms of the group, ideals, and habits. There are four essential processes that are involved in the learning process. The processes are suggestions, imitation, language, and identification. In imitation process, and individual copies or imitates actions of another individual living in the society. For example, children imitate their parents. Imitation paves the way to socialization of an individual as individual learns several social behavior patterns from imitation. Suggestion is a process of communicating information that is devoid of any logic. However, there is no rational persuasion in suggestion. It exerts its influence on behavior of an individual, and help them in exploring psychological facts so that they can explore their ideals in the society, and behave in accordance with the ideals. Identification assists an individual in exploring facts. This can be realized from an example that as an individual grows, he/she comes to know about the social norms and values prevailing in the society. Language is, however, a medium that leads to social interactions. It is mean of transmission of culture. For example, a child learns language of his mother, and then he uses the language in order to communicate with others.
Furthermore, socialization inhibits change, and also has negative outcomes. It can be explained with the fact that sometimes an individual willingly disobey expectations linked with social structures. For example, gender issues in the society, which are not letting individuals to fulfill expectations that are attached with social structures. Cadaver stories consider males that males are emotionally different, and they throw women in the roles of emotionally separable beings (Haferty, 1988, p. 205). Males living in the many societies are not willing to give equal rights to women. Males are enjoying dominating position in societies, and even many professions have attitudes, vales, and stereotype behavior of males, and males willingly disobey the norms and values of society by not allowing women to enjoy and practice their rights.
Moreover, negative outcomes of socialization can be considered from gender socialization, which is a process of learning regarding social attitudes and expectations, and is associated with gender or sex of an individual. With the help of gender socialization, sociologists explain different ways of behaving of males and females, and the reason of difference in their behavior. However, mass media, peers, and family exert their influence on gender socialization. But, gender socialization sometimes paves the way to creation of inequality in the society. Some researchers are of the view that male and female differences are because of differences in behavior while others consider that it is because of influence of society and social structures. It is also considered that socialization gives just partial information regarding behaviors and beliefs of human beings.
References
Dyer, G (n.d). Anybody’s Son will Do.
Haferty, F.W. (1998). Cadaver Stories and the emotional socialization of medical students
Schmid, T.J., and Jones, R.S. (1991). Suspended Identity : Identity in transformation in a maximum security prison.
