Personal socialization is the process of integrating a person into the social system by mastering norms, rules, skills and knowledge that will help him function normally in society. If the behavior of animals is determined by instincts, then a person needs socialization for normal life.
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Definition of socialization
Before discussing this topic, it is necessary to understand what socialization as such is.
Psychological science says that
socialization is the process of an individual entering a social system, mastering its norms, rules of behavior, values, knowledge and skills, and psychological attitudes.
Another, “unofficial” definition says that socialization is what allows a person to live in harmony with the world around him. How is this harmony achieved?
Man is the only creature who, let’s say, is not born by himself. Any animal at birth belongs to a certain species - the same one to which its parents belonged. And only a person, in order to obtain the characteristics inherent to his species, is obliged to undergo a long and complex process of socialization, individual forms of which occur throughout his entire life. In fact, if a newborn is left in the forest and there he randomly survives, then he will not learn to speak, or build, or even hunt. Certain forms of learning, of course, exist in many animals, but they take place only for a short time; an animal that has not undergone “socialization” still has a great chance of surviving and producing offspring, since the basic skills are embedded in its instincts. Long and complex socialization is observed only in higher primates, which proves that this phenomenon did not arise suddenly, but was inherited from our animal ancestors and evolved over thousands of years.
The role of social organizations
Regulating the life of society is difficult; it is necessary to organize the process of interaction between different people. These tasks are successfully performed by social institutions. The system itself has been developed over the centuries, and it has been successfully honed.
They also help preserve and disseminate information. After all, any learning is nothing more than a person’s opportunity to gain the experience of another generation. Health care institutes are aimed at solving life problems.
When people love each other, they get married. This is aimed at resolving property issues. Social organizations help people regulate their lives. For example, if a person breaks the law, he will receive punishment. As soon as he follows the rules, he will not have problems.
Only thanks to supervisory authorities is the state able to keep a large number of people within limits. Without them, everything will quickly descend into chaos. Before their appearance, their society was controlled by religious associations.
A simple example: at the initial stage of the emergence of humanity, sex life was not controlled in any way. Gradually it became clear that uncontrolled sexual relations lead to illness and the appearance of children with defects.
Therefore, incestuous relationships were prohibited, i.e. marriage between father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister became prohibited. This is the first social norm; it served as the basis for the creation of the institution of family.
Staying faithful before marriage reduces the likelihood of illness
Those who have extensive socialization experience easily join the team. Such a person will quickly find a common language with everyone and become one of their own. It is also necessary to take into account that each group may have its own norms. For example, in an informal association it is customary to treat each other as equals, i.e. business ethics are meaningless.
Types of socialization
Socialization is a difficult, even contradictory process. In the process of his development, an individual becomes acquainted with both humanity as a whole and individual groups of people who have their own rules, goals and guidelines.
Therefore, experts distinguish several types of this phenomenon:
- Primary socialization begins at the birth of a child and ends with the formation of a mature personality. It lays the foundations for all subsequent development of a person, and to some extent determines the scenario of his future life. The family is of greatest importance, because it is the first thing a child sees in his life. It is necessary to keep in mind that children perceive what they see around them uncritically, therefore they regard the behavior of adults in the family as basic, standard. Alcoholism and sloppiness, unsanitary conditions in the house - all this is “imprinted” in the child’s mind and can remain with him for life if he does not go through the subsequent stages of socialization. And vice versa - intelligence and cleanliness learned in the family will also accompany him in the future. In the future, kindergarten, school, a group of friends and peers become new social environments, where the child has to get accustomed to a new environment and act in accordance with new rules.
- Secondary socialization, or resocialization , is the process of eliminating previous patterns of behavior and learning new ones. This process continues throughout the individual's life. During resocialization, a person experiences a complete break with his past and feels the need to assimilate new values that are strikingly different from those that he previously adhered to. Typically, the changes that occur during secondary socialization are less than during primary socialization.
- Group socialization is a process that takes place within a social group. So, if a child spends more time with his peers than in the family, then he more actively adopts the norms and rules inherent in the peer group.
- Gender socialization is a process that involves learning the role of a man or woman in society. At the same time, boys learn to be men, and girls learn to be women. In the past, gender socialization was an important and necessary part of a person's entry into society, but nowadays gender has largely ceased to have any meaning. Equality of rights and opportunities eliminates the need to “command” and “obey”, and representatives of both sexes have the opportunity to master the same professions, occupy the same positions and take on the same social roles (for example, in a family, both parents can take turns working and raising children, either the wife works, and the husband looks after the household and raises the children, or “the old fashioned way” - the husband works, and the wife takes care of the household and children). The principles of gender socialization are still strong in traditional, backward societies (in the countries of Asia and Africa), but even there they are gradually losing their position.
- Organizational socialization is a process in which an individual who is part of an organization learns its norms and rules and masters the skills of his work within its framework.
- Early socialization is the process of mastering norms, rules and skills that do not correspond to the current level of physical, psychological and social development. First of all, this type of socialization is understood as a game - a kind of “rehearsal” for future social activity.
Process stages
A person can socialize in several stages. Each has a corresponding stage. There are five of them in total:
- adaptation;
- identification;
- integration;
- labor;
- post-work.
First of all, a person goes through the stage of identification. It lasts from birth until adolescence. At this time, the child learns from the example of adults, imitates their behavior and habits. The second manifests itself in the desire to show oneself, to become unique. On the third, the first introduction into society occurs. Depending on communication with the team, it can be successful or unsuccessful. During the labor stage, a person himself influences society, and at the last stage - post-labor - he shares his experience with others.
German scientist of Jewish origin Erik Erikson notes that the socialization of an individual consists of more stages:
- infancy;
- earlier childhood;
- childhood;
- junior school age;
- adolescence;
- youth;
- maturity;
- old age.
The first stage lasts up to 1.5 years, when the child is fully cared for by the mother. Trust develops precisely depending on the attitude of the person closest to you. If there is not enough communication with the mother, the child will grow up withdrawn and silent. The next period - up to four years - is associated with the formation of independence; children learn to be neat and tidy. Until the age of six, a child develops a sense of personality, and this may mean that creative thinking and initiative are developing.
From this age, the child begins to attend school, he learns to build relationships with peers and teachers, and adopts their experience and knowledge. Good grades give you the opportunity to believe in yourself, become confident and calm. Then the period of puberty begins, when the teenager is concerned about his appearance and the opinions of others about himself, searches for his calling and shows his first sympathy for the opposite sex.
Lecture 1.4 | Sociology of personality | Marina Arkannikova | Lectorium
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At the stage of adolescence, a person is looking for a permanent job, a life partner and his place in society. At this time, individuality is erased, the individual mixes himself with a certain group. The longest stage—maturity—can awaken in a person a sense of necessity and experience. In old age, people accept their lives and rethink them.
Stages of socialization
Socialization is a complex and gradual process that takes place in several stages. The first step should be social adaptation. This is the name given to the active adaptation of an individual to the conditions of the social environment in which he finds himself. It is believed that adaptation takes place at three levels - physiological, psychological and social.
At the physiological stage, a person explores a new environment for himself, enters into new social connections and studies his capabilities, which will help him to realize himself in a given social group. At this time, the individual actively communicates and gets used to living by new rules, after which he tries to make his own efforts to achieve results that are relevant for the given team.
At the stage of individualization, a person is already firmly aware of himself as a unit of society. In fact, the formation of a personality takes place - an individual who has his own beliefs, abilities, skills, and his own assessment of what is happening. If at the first stage of socialization he learns to be like others in everything, then at the next stage he tries to become unlike others, having his own characteristics, which, however, are part of the general system of values and are regulated by it.
However, individualization is a rather subjective process. The assimilation of general rules and common experience and self-realization in a social group occur differently for each person. Some, for example, decide to become as conformal as possible, that is, to follow the norms and rules in everything; Such pedantry in some individuals reaches the point of absurdity. Others, during socialization, overcome stereotypes, break certain rules and behave non-standardly, however, ensuring the overall development of the group. Finally, still others destroy the very foundations of a given social group, resulting in either its disintegration or the expulsion of a given individual from the group.
The next stage of socialization is integration . This term came to social science from exact and natural disciplines - mathematics, biology, physics; and it means the process of acceptance of personality by other members of a social group. Society reaches some consensus - agrees to at least “tolerate” a newcomer who promises to live at least by basic general rules and not interfere with others. More successful integration occurs if the newcomer is useful in some way to a given social group; For this individual, society is even ready to forgive certain “weaknesses” and inconsistencies.
It should be noted that the complete absence of any discrepancies in socialization is undesirable, at least in developed societies. Absolute conformism is usually perceived as one of the forms of deviant behavior, because a conformist does not bring anything useful to society. The main part of a particular social group has a certain “degree of freedom,” but in such a way as not to violate the foundations of this group. However, in undeveloped, primitive societies, absolute conformism is encouraged; in such societies the slightest deviation from the norm, even if it is beneficial to the entire group, is persecuted and eliminated. In such societies, each person is obliged to hold a spoon in a strictly defined hand at dinner, get out of bed on a strictly defined leg, chew food at a strictly defined speed of jaw movement, etc. An example of such a society is the population of Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. In developed societies, rules and norms are perceived only as a means to help organize all members of the group into a system; and in primitive societies, norms and rules are an end in themselves, and socialization comes down to memorizing them.
