Chapter 4 : Socialization and the Life Cycle

Culture, Society, and Child Socialization

  Socialization is the process whereby, through contact with other human beings, the helpless infant gradually becomes a self-aware, knowledgeable human being, skilled in the ways of the given culture and environment.

Theories of Child Development

  According to G. H. Mead, the child achieves an understanding of being a separate agent by seeing how others behave toward him or her in social contexts. At a later stage, entering into organized games, learning the rules of play, the child comes to understand "the generalized other "-general values and cultural rules.

  Jean Piaget distinguishes several main stages in the development of the child's capability to make sense of the world. Each stage involves the acquisition of new cognitive skills and depends on the successful completion of the preceding one. According to Piaget these stages of cognitive development are universal features of socialization.

Agents of Socialization

  Agents of socialization are structured groups or contexts within which significant processes of socialization occur. In all cultures, the family is the principal socializing agency of the child during infancy. Other influences include peer groups, schools, and the mass media.

  Through the process of socialization and interaction with others, individuals learn about social roles -socially defined expectations that a person in a given social position will follow. One result of this process is the development of a social identity, the characteristics that other people attribute to an individual. If social identities mark ways in which individuals are the same as others, self-identity sets us apart as distinct individuals. The concept of self-identity, which draws on symbolic interactionism, refers to the process of self development through which we formulate a unique sense of ourselves and our relationship to the world around us.

  The development of mass communications has enlarged the range of socializing agencies. The spread of mass printed media was later accompanied by the use of electronic communication. TV exerts a particularly powerful influence, reaching people of all ages at regular intervals every day.

  Gender socialization begins virtually as soon as an infant is born. Even parents who believe they treat children equally tend to produce different responses to boys and girls. These differencs are reinforced by many other cultural influences.

Socialization Through the Life Cycle

  Socialization continues throughout the life cycle. At each distinct phase of life there are transitions to be made or crises to be overcome. This includes facing death as the termination of physical existence.

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