“What is socialization? What are the institutions for socialization?”
People learn how to properly navigate their social environments through socialisation. Interaction with a variety of socialisation agents, such as families, peer groups, and other formal and unstructured social organisations, promotes learning. People learn about societal norms and traditions through the process of socialisation. This procedure promotes social integration among individuals, which benefits society as a whole. Peers, teachers, religious leaders, and family members all contribute to socialisation.
Usually, this procedure involves two steps: From infancy through puberty, a person is socialised on a primary level, and on a secondary level throughout their entire life. Adult socialisation can happen whenever someone is put in unfamiliar situations, particularly if they engage with people whose norms or habits are different from their own. An individual learns how to fit in with a group, community, or society during the socialisation process. People become accustomed to social groups through this process, which also leads to the sustainability of those groups.
There are several objectives of socialisation for both children and adults. It teaches kids to restrain their biological urges, such as using the restroom rather than soaking their beds or pants. The process of socialisation also equips people with a conscience in line with social standards and prepares them to take on different roles.
Institutions for socialization
Social institutions and social groupings work together as socialisation agents to provide early socialisation experiences. Expectations and norms are transmitted and reinforced through families, early schooling, peer groups, the workplace, religion, the government, and the media. In these environments, people are initially taught how to use the material cultural artefacts and are also given an introduction to the social mores and values.
Family
The first socialising factor is family. A child learns everything they need to know from their parents, siblings, grandparents, and other family members, including those in their extended family. This family unit is what socialises the young child, whether they are living with a biological parent, have been adopted by their parents, or are being raised solely by a sibling or grandparent.
The family’s unique set of values is crucial to the socialisation process. A child will recognise multiculturalism as a valuable asset in society if they are reared in a family where talking about links to people of many races, religions, and nationalities are both respected and practised. On the other hand, a youngster who is taught via conversations and actions that openly favour their ethnic or religious group above others learns that multiculturalism is a problem that needs to be avoided. How a family raises its children is influenced by a variety of societal influences.
School experience
The second socialisation agent for young children typically occurs during their first "school" experience, whether it is in daycare, pre-school, or kindergarten. It is difficult to dispute the significance of school for children's socialising given that they spend roughly seven hours per day, 180 days per year, in class. Although studying math, reading, physics, and other disciplines is the system's obvious purpose, students also attend school for other reasons. Schools also provide a covert social function by fostering in kids the virtues of collaboration, punctuality, and the use of textbooks. Teachers serve as role models and leaders for their students in the classroom, and school rituals frequently reinforce what society expects of them. This feature of schools is referred to by sociologists as the “hidden curriculum,” or the “informal teaching” done by schools.
Children learn that there are winners and losers in society when they take part in relay races or math competitions. When kids are required to collaborate on a project, they get to practise working as a team in cooperative settings. Children are prepared for adult life via the covert curriculum. Children are taught how to deal with bureaucracy, rules, and expectations. They also learn how to wait their turn and sit still for long periods of time. Children are socialised differently at schools in various cultures to help them fit in and be successful there. Children are socialised in schools through lessons on citizenship and pride in one’s country.
Peer groups
People who are similar to each other in terms of their age, social standing, and shared interests make form a peer group. Peer group socialisation starts in the early years when kids on a playground teach younger kids the customs of sharing, following rules, or shooting a basketball. This progression continues as kids develop into teenagers. Teenagers value peer groups in a new way as they start to separate their identities from their parents and assert their independence. Furthermore, since children frequently participate in different kinds of activities with their peers than they do with their families, peer groups offer their own opportunities for socialization. Adolescents’ first significant socialisation experience outside of their families is through peer groups. It’s interesting to note that while friendships rank highly in adolescents’ priorities, parental influence balances this out.
Workplace
Similar to how children spend a large portion of their day in school, many adults also spend a sizable portion of their time working. Although they have always been socialised into their culture, employees nevertheless need to be resocialized into the material and nonmaterial cultures of the workplace. Different occupations call for various forms of socialisation.
Religion
For many people, religion is a significant socialisation tool. Synagogues, temples, cathedrals, mosques, and other comparable places of worship and learning instruct visitors on how to interact with the material culture of their respective religions (like a mezuzah, a prayer rug, or a communion wafer). Some individuals associate religious festivals with significant family-related rites, such as marriage and childbirth. Additionally, many religious institutions support gender norms and aid in their socialisation. Organized religion fosters a shared set of socialised values that are passed on through society, from ceremonial rites of passage that reinforce the family unit to power dynamics that reinforce gender roles.
Government
Many of the rites of passage people go through today are based on age criteria imposed by the government, even though we rarely consider this. For both people and groups, individual governments offer socialisation opportunities. Being eighteen years old, the age at which a person becomes legally responsible for themselves is typically required to be considered an “adult.” Furthermore, since the majority of people start to qualify for senior benefits at age 65, that age is considered to be the beginning of “old age.”
Mass media
Television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet are just a few of the ways that mass media disseminate impersonal information to a large audience. By constantly bombarding us with messages about standards and expectations, media aids in socialising. Media has a significant impact on social norms because the average person spends more than four hours a day watching television (and children typically spend even more time in front of a screen). People gain knowledge about non-material culture—what is true (beliefs), what is important (values), and what is expected—along with material culture's artefacts (such as new technologies and transportation options).
Conclusion
We learn about social norms from our direct encounters with social groupings like families and peers. The official and informal structures of society also socialise its members. Cultural norms and values are communicated and reinforced through the media, workplaces, and schools.