Running Head: Socialization

1
Unit 2 Assignment 3: Socialization
Sociology 1010 D02
07/02/2015

Socialization is something that we cannot live without. People have different believes and
cultural practices and therefore what determines whether someone can live with another person

Socialization

different background is how well he/she can socialize. Socialization makes us accept who we are
and others. It defines how we are expected to live and also realize our own self (Henslin, 2009).
Socialization influences how we are going to orient ourselves in our daily life.
By definition, according to Henslin (2009), agents of socialization refers to the people and
groups that influence how we orient ourselves to life in terms of emotions, attitudes, self-concept
and behavior. These agents of socialization include family, mass media, peers, neighborhood,
religion, day care, school and workplace (Henslin, 2009).
The family is one the major factor that influences how we orient ourselves to life. As Henslin
(2009) puts it, sociologists found that different families socialize their children differently and
this in turn has an impact to the behavior of the children. Each family has its own rules and
believes which the children have to adhere to for the rest of their lives. This has therefore led to
emergence of children from different backgrounds and families having different behavior and
perspective of life. Working class families for instance, mainly want their children to stay out of
trouble and to achieve this; they often administer physical punishment to them. In the contrary,
middle-class parents put more emphasis on their childrens self-expression, curiosity and self
control (Henslin, 2009).
Neighborhood is another agent of socialization. Neighbors have a great impact on children
since they often play together and interact a lot. Children from poor neighborhoods are likely to
become bad people. In other hand, children from good neighborhoods are likely to become good
people in the society since all parents in such neighborhood are responsible with their children
and are likely to observe and ensure their children get the best teachings in life.

Socialization

Last but not list, religion also has an impact in someones life. Every religion teaches its own
values. Every member of a religion is taught how they are supposed to live and relate with
others. They learn the religions doctrines and morality.
A term that is of interest in socialization is re-socialization. This refers to the process of
learning new values, norms and attitudes contrary to their previous experience in order to match
themselves with their new life situation. An example is when somebody is divorced. A man who
is divorced implies that he cannot rely on a woman to cook for his meals or taking care of
children. He is forced to learn new values and adapt to them and therefore when he is used to
them, he will definitely have different way on how he views life.
An example of re-socialization as a life course is the stages in life of a person. From junior
schools to senior grades, somebody will have to change on how he/she handles life. After
marriage and probably have children, a person will be forced to have other values and
perspectives of life. This therefore shows that the person is undergoing re-socialization.
Adolescence simply means a stage in life that marks childrens passage to adulthood. In
traditional settings, children underwent the initiation rites to mark a new stage in life and were
given new responsibilities and privileges in the society. In modern world, they are expected to be
own their own and think on how they can live independently.
In conclusion, socialization is a very important phenomenon that everyone should be
aware of. It brings together people from diverse backgrounds to accept each other and live
harmoniously.

Socialization

References
Henslin, J.M. (2009). Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-earth Approach with Mysoclab Access
Card. S.l.: Pearson,