Socialization

This is a term used in by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, politicians and educationalists to refer to the process by which people in a community interact to understand the norms, customs and ideologies so as to be accepted members of a social group. No one can live aloof in a society and in order to be a part of a society, socialization becomes a necessity. Socialization helps people to understand themselves and their roles, the values that the society upholds, the tradition, the symbols and languages that are spoken in the community. Socialization thus helps in passing the social and cultural values of a community from one generation to another. I n socialists set up, the term socialization refers to the cooperative societies were workers are owners of institutions where every person gets his income according to the work done. However, in American English, the word to socialized is used in a negative sense. There are types of socialization based on age and purpose of socialization. For instance, primary socialization occurs in the formative period when a child learns from the elders and other adults the norms and values which becomes the foundation for understanding what is correct and wrong values .When the child becomes an adult and enters a job he/she begins to socialize with a smaller group and this is termed as secondary socialization. Further, when he/she develops social skills from the society, this is known as developmental socialization. As he/she aims for higher goals in life he/she practices anticipatory socialization. As one advances in life, he/she discards old behavioral pattern and accepts new ones which is termed as resocializtion. This calls for to learning to undo what was already learnt, which is quite difficult for most people. Family, religion, media, peer groups work place and public institutions are all powerful agents of socialization that shape our emotions, attitudes, behavior and our concept of self.