Sociology Plus
Definition
Agents of socialization refer to the agents involved in the process that assist people in internalizing the attitudes, beliefs, and actions suitable for a particular society.
A person’s socialization assures that they will create social identity and has the will and expertise to carry out any necessary responsibilities throughout their lives. The process of social contact, known as socialization, helps individuals develop their personalities and become familiar with the norms of their community. The connection between the person and society is crucial. Lifelong socialization is a process that never ends till death.
People encounter new circumstances at every stage of their life, forcing them to pick up new skills, values, or conventions. The early years of life are when socialization is at its most critical. Once someone reaches that point, they have learned the language of their group and are beginning to comprehend the rules and values crucial to their family and community.
Agents of socialization are influential stakeholders, organizations, or institutions that provide organized environments for learning. Numerous diverse social influences impacting people’s lives and their perceptions of themselves are a part of this ongoing and lifelong socialization.
Agents of socialization
1. Family
Family is undoubtedly the most crucial socializing factor. The initial socializing impact is experienced inside the family. Families teach their children their language, proper gender roles, and fundamental moral principles. Families also decide a person’s race, religion, and ethnicity. Most early socialization occurs inside the nuclear family in contemporary countries. Joint and extended families have similar values in traditional households.
Children pick up on their family and neighborhood’s social and behavioral norms. The socioeconomic position of a family and the parents’ jobs impact how children are raised, as well as their gender & role expectations. Children are active agents who influence and change the family and are passive receivers of socialization.
2. Neighborhood
Communities and neighborhoods serve as socialization agents by facilitating social contact and developing social capital. It comprises individuals of all ages who, based on their geographic proximity to one another, have developed bonds of trust.
3. Educational institutions like schools and colleges
School is a significant, formal agent of socialization for kids in contemporary industrial countries that has a long-lasting impact on most people. Schools impart certain information and skills and other lessons, such as the value of a healthy diet and exercise. Additionally, there is often a “secret curriculum.” This entails respecting authority, being on time, and abstaining from absences unless the student has a reasonable cause, such as being unwell and abiding by the regulations. Citizens are trained in schools to be a morally upstanding citizens.
Nationalism and the obligation to be a good citizen are some concepts that are promoted through mass education. There are certain traditional civilizations where not everyone has access to formal education. If so, then the school does not represent those populations. The importance of the family is much more significant to them.
4. Peers
A group of friends who are social equals and about the same age and interests make up the peer group. They have a significant role everywhere in the globe, but especially for teenagers and young adults. Peer groups may facilitate the transition to maturity. Peer relationships are perhaps more crucial now than they might have been in the past. Bad influence from peer groups may lead to juvenile delinquency, and good influence may help peers accomplish outstanding achievements.
Peer groups often continue to be significant throughout the majority of a person’s life. They affect a person’s views and conduct and tend to be more egalitarian than some other agents. Children’s social construction and experience of gender meanings in the school environment, play areas, and informal social groups are greatly influenced by peer groups.
5. Groupings and Clubs
Some of the most important locations for people to meet new people from various cultural backgrounds and foster socializing are entertainment and sports groups.
6. Mass media and technology
These have a significant socialization role in contemporary communities. Over 98 percent of American households have at least one television, and many have more than one. The media, especially the numerous electronic media, are becoming more important even in less developed civilizations.
Most individuals think that what people read, see, and hear in the media impacts their opinions and values. Therefore, the ability of television and advertisements to expose young people to new concepts, ways of life, and civilizations has a good impact on their lifetime.
7. Public opinion
What individuals believe about contentious topics is a significant socialization factor in any society. However, not all opinions have the same weight in reality. People with more education, money, and connections often have more influence. This agent impacts ideas of acceptable gender roles, moral principles, and opinions on sensitive topics like gay marriage and abortion.
8. Religion
Religion is significant and meaningful for some individuals, but in the contemporary world, it is shedding some of its strength and effect as a socialization tool. For individuals who adhere to religious principles, the norms impact people’s values, desired family sizes, divorce rates, delinquency rates, actions deemed appropriate or not, and a variety of other things. In addition, social integration, social support, social transformation, and social control are all influenced by religion.
9. Workplace
The workplace serves as a socializing facilitator. It shows individuals, among other things, that labor done by women is sometimes undervalued compared to that done by males. Work also teaches individuals proper morals, work ethic, and how to dress. Full-time jobs in contemporary nations establish their adult status and offer them a sense of self. That is significant in a society with few ceremonies of passage. Every civilization has “work,” but because work and home are now kept apart in contemporary societies, “getting to work” requires more transition than in previous communities.
10. The state
The state and the constitution plays a vital role as socializing agent. Organizations, including nursing homes, mental health facilities, and insurance providers, are increasingly filling the functions once performed by families. Most of these institutions are managed, licensed, and regulated by the state.
The state has invented new rites of passage, such as the legal age to drive, buy and consume alcohol and cigarettes, get married without parental permission, or retire.
For certain persons, total institutions play a significant role in resocialization. Total institutions, like mental institutions, are facilities where inhabitants are maintained under the control of a hierarchy of authorities while confined for a certain amount of time. A whole institution aims to resocialize people, completely transform them, and turn them into something new and ostensibly “better.”