Components of Socialization

The process of social interaction has at least four major components:

1. The end or goal it is intended to achieve.
2. The motivation for which it is being undertaken
3. The situation or context within it takes place.
4. The norms or rules that regulate it.
Goals and Motivations. Goals and Motivations are often related and used
interchangeably. The goal is the state of affairs one wishes to achieve. On the other
hand, motivation is the persons wish or intention to achieve a goal. Hence, a behavior
such as reflex has no goal and consequently, no motive.
Social interactions may have numerous goals and a variety of motivations as
well. The goal of social interaction may often be obvious, though human motivations are
often very complicated.
Contexts. Where a social interaction takes place makes a difference in what it
means. Edward T. Hall identified three elements that define the contexts of a social
interaction:
1. The physical setting or place.
2. The social environment
3. The activities surrounding the interaction preceding it, happening
simultaneously with it, and corning after it.
Norms. Norms refer to the rules that regulate the process of social interaction.
Human behavior is not random. It is patterned and, for the most part, quite predictable.
What makes human beings act predictably in certain situations? For one thing, there is
always the presence of norms that is, rules for proper behavior that guide people in
their interactions. Norms tells us the things we should both do or not do. Our societys
norms are many and we are often not even aware of them. Norms tell us what when two
people meet, one of the ways of greeting people is by shaking hands. Yet, most Asian
countries people bow to express this same idea of respect and greeting.
Agencies of Socialization
It may be said that any person or institution that shares a persons values and
behavior is an agent of socialization. Although these agents are particularly important in
the early years of the life cycle, socialization is a lifetime process that continues across
the entire life span. To be effective, it appears that the socializer must be respected by
the person to be socialized.
Most important socializer in our lives fall into five major categories the family,
peer groups, the media, the school, and the workplace.
The Family. The family is the basic unit of any society; it serves as the primary
agency for socialization. However, it could be said that the society is the main agency of
socialization. Between the individual and society, there are certain institutions that play
this role. The most basic of these agencies is the family.

Preschool influences act upon the child from many directions. The little circles
and relationships in which he participates with parents, relatives, friends, nurses, and
others are still important in showing him how to be a good little child.
Observers of child rearing contend that childhood is again undergoing profound
changes. Children today lack of innocence that their parents and grandparents had as
children. Youngsters once ignorant of adult matters are now made aware not only of sex
and violence, but also of drug abuse, injustice, deceit, death, political corruption, and
economic instability. This is due to the sexual revolution of recent decades and the
erotic materials on television. Additional factors include divorce and working mothers.
Peer Groups. In the Philippines, and in the other countries of the world, the peer
group plays a very important role in the process of socialization. Children are relatively
equal, while the inequality of parents and children enables parents to force children to
obey rules they neither understand nor like. By virtue of their age, sex, and rank, (as
child and as student) peers stand in the same relationship to persons in authority and
therefore see the world, through the same eyes.
Among peers, socialization focuses more on the childrens own interest and
activities than on the priorities of adults. Peers learn many things from one another. The
importance of the peer group increases as children grow older, reaching its peak when
they become adolescents. This coincides with the diminishing of parental influence as
young people gain independence from adults.
While peer group are important to all adolescents, they are especially influential
when parental guidance, affection, and attention are lacking. Alienated and delinquent
adolescents are more deeply affected by their peers than are adolescents who are not
alienated from their families and do not have a history of delinquency.
The Media. The media, like television, radio, and other broadcast media as well
as print media, play a very important role in the process socialization. The radio or
television program to which the child is exposed will certainly influence his personality,
values, and belief system.
According to experts, television viewing can have both positive and negative
effects. Experiments show that watching programs that emphasize sharing,
cooperation, and self-discipline encourages these types of social behavior in the
children. Television can also portray good health attitudes, such as not smoking. And for
children who lived in impoverished environments, television is undoubtedly a major
source of stimulation and instruction.
However, violence and sex role stereotypes can be promoted by the media. In
many countries, like the Philippines, these are promoted not only by television but also
by movies, comics, and commercials.
The School. The school is an institution that is established explicitly for the
purpose of socializing people. In modern societies, the school is considered the primary
agent for wearing children from home and introducing them into the larger society. Here,
it can be said that life is a drastic change from home to school. In the families,
relationships are built upon emotional ties. At school, children are expected to obey not

because they love their teachers or depend on them but because rules are rules and
must be obeyed.
In most schools, students do not participate in decision making about rules or
curricula or other issues that affect their lives. While the official purpose of school is to
teach young people technical and intellectual skills, it also serves the function of
teaching them cultural values and attitudes and preparing them for their roles as adults
in an office or factor. As work and authority relations change in modern society, schools
are changing, too. Schools are now viewed as agents of change.
The Workplace. Formal socialization take place in the workplace. However, much
of the socialization to the organizations values and outlook happen informally. Learning
the skills and orientation to ones job means socialization at the workplace
While some careers build on a persons existing qualities, others (such as
medicine, law, the military, the police, and the nurses) require resocialization. Training
program are designed to strip away the self-images and perspectives that are results of
previous socialization a process known as desocialization, and to replace them with
the new outlook and self-image. Resocialization appears gradually over a period of time
and is experienced differently from profession and from individual to individual.
All forms of adult groups and association, in business and profession, in
recreation, in politics, and religion continually influence the change and development of
the social person.
The Church. The church to which the individual is introduced will certainly affect
his being the religious beliefs, as well as practices will surely influence the individuals
belief system and value judgments.
In the Philippines and in other Asian countries, the religious groups have played
a very vital role in the process of socialization. Children are introduced to the various
religious tenets and practices. And in most cases, these beliefs and tenets influence the
individuals behavior and even outlook in life.
The Neighborhood. Street corner education is very common in the country the
child is introduced to the realities of life in the neighborhood. He learns particular sets of
values and beliefs from the people in the neighborhood. This is so since privacy to
many individual means going out their homes and staying in the neighborhood,
particularly with the children of the same age.