Topic > Stages of Socialization

The human child comes into the world as a biological organism with animal needs. In society he is gradually molded into a social being and learns social ways of acting and feeling. No individual could become the person and no culture could exist without it. This process of modeling and forming the personality of the human child is called “Socialization”. The human child enters this world as a biological organism like all other animals as a collection of muscles, bones, vital organs and all other biological parts necessary for life. At birth he is simply a human being. A human child cannot survive without help for at least the first four or five years of life. At this stage, the human newborn is helpless. Not only is he physically dependent for the satisfaction of biological needs such as hunger and protection from older members of the species, but he also lacks the role models necessary for living in human society. To survive, the child has a lot to learn skills, knowledge and ways of behavior accepted by society. Must learn a lifestyle. This learning in sociological terminology is called Socialization. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Man is not only social but also cultural. It is culture that offers man the opportunity to develop personality. Personality Development is Not an Automatic Process Every society prescribes its own ways and means to impart social training to its new members so that they can develop their personality. This social formation is called “Socialization”. The socialization process is conditioned by culture. Socialization is a gradual learning process. Socialization is not limited to childhood; it is a lifelong process. It is no longer considered the exclusive prerogative of childhood, whose primary actors are the family and school. Socialization means that the child learns to participate in social roles. Socialization is a life process, but it is generally divided into two parts. Primary socialization occurs in the early stages of life, in children and adolescents. Secondary socialization refers to socialization that occurs throughout life, both as a child and when meeting new groups that require further socialization. Socialization is conditioned by culture. Since every society has its own culture, the ways of the socialization process also differ from society to society. Furthermore, the same culture and the same methods of socialization can have different effects on the personality development of members of the same society. Therefore, a culture must necessarily produce stereotyped personalities. There is room for individuality in the socialization process. But we cannot ignore the fact that culture places limits on the development of personality. Little of man's behavior is instinctive. Rather, human behavior is learned behavior. Socialization refers to the process by which an individual becomes a functioning member of society. Learning the rules and practices of social groups socializes the individual. This helps the group maintain its order. Through this process the individual develops his own personality. It is recognized that socialization is not a simple one-way process in which an individual learns how to adapt to society. It may also redefine its roles and obligations and consequently impact society. Every man tries to adapt to the conditions of his environment. This adjustment process is itself socialization. The social order is largely maintainedfrom socialization. Everyone is born with defined abilities. Although there may be limits to what a man can do, this limitation can and is overcome by the development of civilization. Man's ability to learn can be increased by the development of new teaching techniques and incentives. Durkheim's collective learning theory sheds light on the study of the socialization process. In this theory of socialization Durkheim states that the individual is socialized by adopting the behavior of his group. By 'collective representations' he meant the set of experiences, ideas and ideals of a group on which the individual unconsciously depends for his ideas, attitudes and behaviour. For Durkheim, collective representations are objects or factors of social values. These objects are symbolic products and are mutually owned and mutually proclaimed. Phases of Socialization Socialization is a gradual process of learning; the newborn does not think about all the things of social life at once. We proceed from simplicity to complexity. During the first stage of life socialization occurs within the simple and limited social world. Gradually this social world becomes broader and the child is faced with different things to learn and adapt. Socialization is not limited to childhood; it is a lifelong process. It is no longer considered the exclusive prerogative of childhood, whose primary actors are the family and school. It begins at birth and continues until death. Socialization means that the child learns to participate in social roles. So the main objects that the child must internalize are the social roles themselves. To adequately perform any social role it is necessary to know the other social roles in the same social system. So the child must internalize the role he is expected to play on his own and also the roles of other people with whom he interacts. In fact, the internalization of roles is almost the same thing as personality growth. At each stage of socialization the child internalizes a system of roles, not just one role. Now we will briefly describe four important stages of socialization from childhood to old age. They are: Oral phase. Anal phase. Latency phase. Adolescence phase. Oral phase. This phase begins with the birth of the baby and continues until the completion of one year. Before birth the baby in the womb is in the fetus and is warm and comfortable. In this year of life, the baby's contact with the outside world, including the mother, occurs through the mouth and lips. The mother is the first parent who begins the socialization process. Because of all this the baby cries a lot. Through crying the child establishes his oral dependence. The child here develops some precise expectations regarding feeding time. The child also learns to give signals for his felt needs. At this stage the child is involved in himself and in the mother. In this phase the child makes no difference between people and things, the mother's breast and the bottle teat are equally and unique means of organic satisfaction. Crying, smiling, and moving your eyes in response to others are forms of early social behavior. The roles of mother and child merge in the developmental stage. Sigmund Freud called this phase the “primary identification” phase. It means that the child merges his identity with that of the mother. The child is only trying to establish some control over the hunger drive. According to Talcot Parsons, “The child at this stage is a means of entertainment for others. He is generally able to recognize his mother and becomes happy when he comes into contact with her. Anal phase. The second phase normally begins immediately after the firstyear and is completed during the third year. This is where the child learns that he cannot depend entirely on his mother and that he must take care of himself. Toilet training is the focus of new concerns. The child is thought to perform certain tasks such as going to the bathroom, keeping clothes clean, etc. During this period the child learns to eat food and speak politely. The child develops a sense of control over himself and his environment, although he is still dependent on his parents. Begin to recognize family relationships. During this stage, the child internalizes two roles: his own and that of the mother, which can now be clearly separated. The child receives “care” and also “love” from the mother and learns to give love in return. The child is able to distinguish between correct and incorrect actions. The correct action is rewarded and the wrong action is not rewarded but punished. In this phase the socializing agent which is the mother plays the dual role. The mother's dual role helps the child participate in a more complex social system. Latency phase. This stage mainly starts from the child's fourth year and extends until puberty (at the age of 12 or 13). It is at this stage that the child becomes a member of the family as a whole. It is here that the child must identify with the social role attributed to him based on his sex. In the family the child gets to know about the status of the members because now he gets to know about the different relationships like who is the father, who is the mother, who is the uncle, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, etc. During these years the child increasingly shifts his interest from the social world of the family to the group life of his peers. Social consciousness develops rapidly, the main interest is group activities, and loyalty to the group becomes very important. At this stage, sufficient social pressure is exerted on the child to identify with the right sex. Boys start getting rewarded for acting like boys and girls get rewarded for acting like girls. After the age of six the child is able to understand sexual difference. The boy tries to identify with his father and the girl with her mother. When children go to school or mix with other children they prefer to join their respective playgroups. In this phase the children carry out three types of identification: 1. He identifies with his father and his brother. 2. He identifies with all his brothers. 3. Identifies with the family as a member. In this phase the child learns to behave in the various contexts of his activity, in particular when he interacts with adults. Furthermore, he also internalizes all four roles of the family, for example husband-father, wife-mother, son-brother, daughter -sister.Stage of adolescence.The fourth stage begins with the period of adolescence. Due to the psychological changes that occur within the individual this phase takes on importance. At this stage it is not possible for parents to control their children because children think they are mature enough and need more freedom. At the same time they cannot completely escape dependence on their parents. They want to be free to do various activities. But parents continue to control many of their activities. In modern society, parents want to give more freedom to boys and girls to carry out some of their activities independently. Parents try to tone down the overt expression of their emotional attachment to their adolescent children. They encourage them to choose their education path, their occupation and their life partner. They expect their adolescent children to accept responsibility and learn the new roles assigned to them. Keep in mind: this.