An important part of the study of social functions, the process of adaptation and the entry of individuals into society largely depends on the activities of specialized institutions that are engaged in consideration, study, analysis and development in the field of socialization. Institutions are presented in the form of specific groups, thanks to the activities of which the subject is introduced to universal, cultural, behavioral and moral values. These institutions serve as transmitters of social experience.
Structure
Agents of human socialization and their functions
Conventionally, three stages can be distinguished: pre-labor, labor, post-labor. The first stage includes all educational institutions: kindergarten, sections, school, etc. The second stage is already devoted to work time, during which a person learns to live in a work community. The third stage affects pensioners.
The peculiarity is that the process of passing through social institutions is not always linear. The child may not go to kindergarten or be homeschooled. He can also join informal groups that will also broadcast their experience to him.
Before entering a preschool institution, a child is under the influence of his family: parents, brothers, sisters, close relatives. It is from them that he learns his first experience. In educational organizations, a person adopts not only knowledge, but also behavior patterns.
Institutions involved in the socialization of individuals allow people to establish a life together. This is important both for work and for existing in the same space: home, city, country.
Labor collective
The most important institution of socialization at the labor stage is the work collective . In psychology, the vast majority of research has been carried out specifically on the material of work collectives, although it must be admitted that identifying their role specifically as elements of socialization is still not enough.
Of course, any study of the workforce and its subsequent analysis can be interpreted in terms of labor relations. For example, leadership style or group decision-making characterizes certain aspects of the work collective as an institution of socialization. However, some questions still remain unanswered. For example, the reasons for the separation of the individual from the work collective, his departure into antisocial groups, when the institution of socialization is replaced by a kind of institution of desocialization in the form of a criminal group, a group of drunkards, etc., are not clear.
Just as controversial as the very question of the existence of the post-labor stage of socialization is the question of its institutions of socialization. Based on life observations, various public organizations can be identified as such institutions, the members of which in most cases are pensioners, but be that as it may, if the recognition of the concept of socialization is natural for older people, then this also needs to be investigated.
Naturally, each of the institutions of socialization named here has a number of other functions; its activities cannot be reduced only to the function of transferring experience. Consideration of these institutions in this context only means a kind of “extraction” of the functions that interest us from the totality of the social tasks they perform.
Functions and purpose
Mechanisms of personality socialization - what are they, types
With the help of special organizations, desirable behavior is encouraged and undesirable behavior is suppressed. For example, at school, children are required to obey certain rules, which are then maintained into adulthood.
Each institute has its own complete set of norms and rules of conduct. This makes people's behavior predictable. Another function is regulatory. It allows you to maintain certain patterns of behavior that help build relationships between people.
The main task of socialization institutions is integrative. It unites members of society and strengthens the connection between them. This is done by instilling norms, values, and rules.
Family is an important stage in a person’s life; everyday experience is passed on in it.
The most significant purposes of social institutions are to maintain the stability of society and meet the needs of people. Without this, the group will not be able to coexist peacefully. Psychology allows us to study the characteristics of relationships and develop effective methods for improving the atmosphere in a team.
Stages of socialization according to A.V. Petrovsky
From the point of view of subject-object social relations, Petrovsky A.V. The following stages of socialization were distinguished:
- Adaptation. The adaptation period occurs during childhood. During this period, a person acts as an object of relationships, exposed to such agents of socialization as family, school, peers, etc. During this period, a person actively learns and forms his personality.
- Personalization. At this stage, a person acts as a subject of social relations. The leading activity is not the assimilation of social norms, but their reproduction, which allows a person to express his personality, individualize, and distinguish himself from other people.
- Integration. At this stage, a person acts both as an object and as a subject of social relations. This stage is characterized by the achievement of an optimal position of a person in society, allowing him to self-realize and exist harmoniously in society.
Main types
Human cognitive functions - what are they?
It is not always easy to understand which institutions are involved in the socialization of an individual. Conventionally, they can be divided into two groups: primary and secondary. Each of them has its own characteristics, they affect different areas of life.
Primary
This group includes family, peers, kindergarten, school, sports clubs and hobby groups. Socialization agents include parents, relatives, coaches, teachers, and friends.
Important! The father and mother have the most influence, since the child depends on them.
The main role of primary social institutions is to form the essence of the child. He becomes acquainted with gender and role stereotypes, identifies himself by gender, receives a certain status, educational and cultural level.
Parents play a major role in this process. They can have a negative impact on the child, this will lead to the fact that he will not undergo socialization.
At school, children develop self-esteem and learn what success and failure are. They learn to compete, set goals, and analyze their actions. At this age it is important for them to learn to overcome obstacles.
Secondary
In the course of life, a person is influenced by various social institutions. This is work, military service, religious organizations, informal associations, etc.
This group includes the media and the Internet. Agents are representatives of authorities, government agencies, and senior management. In modern society, work is of great importance. It can be called the main factor of integration into society.
With the help of a profession, a person finds his place in the sun, he gains the respect of other people, and it is easier for him to identify himself. Young people at work learn business communication standards and learn to interact with people of different ages.
In the process, a person can come to a different outcome of socialization: accept all norms and values, master them partially, or completely abandon them. All this will affect his future life, so before choosing any position, you need to think carefully about everything.
Political associations also influence socialization
Secondary institutions of socialization influence a person throughout his life.
The concept of personality socialization and its form.
Socialization is the process of formation and development of personality, which consists in the development by an individual throughout his life of social and other norms, cultural values and patterns of behavior that allow the individual to function in a given society. It includes all the processes of cultural acculturation, communication and behavior through which a person acquires a social nature and the ability to participate in society. Socialization is a two-way process, consisting, on the one hand, in the transfer by society of socio-historical experience, symbols, values and norms, and on the other hand, in their assimilation by the individual, internalization (the transition of external processes of social life into internal processes of consciousness) . Socialization can be called the formation of a social self.
The process of socialization of the individual takes place throughout the entire existence of human life, since the world around us is in constant motion, everything changes and a person simply needs to change for a more comfortable stay in new conditions. The human essence undergoes regular changes and changes over the years; it cannot be constant. Life is a process of constant adaptation, requiring continuous change and renewal. Man is a social being. The process of integration of each individual into social strata is considered quite complex and quite lengthy, since it includes the assimilation of values and norms of social life and certain roles.
Stages of the process of personality socialization according to Erikson (1902-1976):
Infancy stage (from 0 to 1.5 years). At this stage, the mother plays the main role in the child’s life, she feeds, cares, gives affection, care, as a result, the child develops basic trust in the world. The dynamics of trust development depend on the mother. A lack of emotional communication with the baby leads to a sharp slowdown in the child’s psychological development.
Early childhood stage (from 1.5 to 4 years). This stage is associated with the formation of autonomy and independence. The child begins to walk and learns to control himself when performing bowel movements. Society and parents teach the child to be neat and tidy, and begin to shame him for having “wet pants.”
Childhood stage (4 to 6 years old). At this stage, the child is already convinced that he is a person, since he runs, knows how to speak, expands the area of mastery of the world, the child develops a sense of enterprise and initiative, which is embedded in the game. Play is important for a child, as it forms initiative and develops creativity. The child masters relationships between people through play, develops his psychological capabilities: will, memory, thinking, etc. But if parents strongly suppress the child and do not pay attention to his games, then this negatively affects the child’s development and contributes to the consolidation of passivity, uncertainty, and feelings of guilt.
Stage associated with junior school age (from 6 to 11 years). At this stage, the child has already exhausted the possibilities of development within the family, and now the school introduces the child to knowledge about future activities and conveys the technological ethos of the culture. If a child successfully masters knowledge, he believes in himself, is confident, and calm. Failures at school lead to feelings of inferiority, lack of faith in one’s strengths, despair, and loss of interest in learning.
Adolescence stage (from 11 to 20 years). At this stage, the central form of ego-identity (personal “I”) is formed. Rapid physiological growth, puberty, concern about how he looks in front of others, the need to find his professional calling, abilities, skills - these are the questions that arise before a teenager, and these are already society’s demands on him for self-determination.
Stage of adolescence (from 21 to 25 years). At this stage, it becomes important for a person to search for a life partner, cooperate with people, strengthen ties with the entire social group, a person is not afraid of depersonalization, he mixes his identity with other people, a feeling of closeness, unity, cooperation, intimacy with certain people appears. However, if the diffusion of identity extends to this age, the person becomes isolated, isolation and loneliness become entrenched.
Maturity stage (from 25 to 55/60 years). At this stage, identity development continues throughout your life, and you feel the influence of other people, especially children: they confirm that they need you. At this same stage, the person invests himself in good, beloved work, caring for children, and is satisfied with his life.
Old age stage (over 55/60 years). At this stage, a completed form of self-identity is created on the basis of the entire path of personal development; a person rethinks his entire life, realizes his “I” in spiritual thoughts about the years he has lived. A person “accepts” himself and his life, realizes the need for a logical conclusion to life, shows wisdom and a detached interest in life in the face of death.
This recognizes the orderliness and regularity in the development of the human psyche, the presence in the process of its formation of a number of successive stages and, therefore, the possibility of purposeful influence on it and its control. This point of view is shared by most modern psychologists.
The socialization process includes two main forms of interaction between the individual and the environment:
- a passive form of consumption of social experience already accumulated before its manifestation, which ensures the individual’s entry into life, into the system of established social connections; This is a reproductive activity in nature:
- active form , manifested in the creation or destruction of existing social connections through active, creative, creative activity.
There are five factors that influence the socialization process:
- biological heredity;
- physical environment;
- culture, social environment;
- group experience;
- individual experience.
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.
Processes of institutionalization
Despite the fact that modern society has reached a high level of development, the process of formation of social institutions does not stop. The definition of institutionalization makes it clear that the standardization of different norms is still ongoing.
To begin, several stages must pass. The first is the very emergence of a need that needs to be satisfied. The second is the formation of goals. Third, a norm spontaneously appears in the course of social interaction.
Only after this does institutionalization begin, i.e. practical application of the new norm. In the future, it may change slightly and undergo adjustments. A system of sanctions for violation of the norm is also being developed.
The concept of institutionalization includes the creation of a clear status and role structure. It is more difficult with norms that affect relationships between people. For example, a little over a century ago women did not have many rights, but thanks to emancipation this was changed.
A brief description of the institutionalization process includes the concept of social need and organizational design. All these are slow processes.
Social institutions include various government bodies, work teams, family, etc. Their features are studied in pedagogy, law, sociology and other fields. At school, during social studies lessons, children get acquainted with different types of social institutions and write essays about their features.
