Socialization in Children

In today’s media, there is a very strong focus on the various effects of peer pressure on children. However, it can be argued that other factors, such as family, school, and mass media, have an equal or stronger impact on who a child is, thus impacting the child’s socialization. Socialization can be defined as a continuing process through which an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position. Occurring mostly in childhood, the socialization process begins in the first stages of life when parents are the main influence on children. This is where they develop their basic system of values, which they carry throughout life. When children become older, and begin to go to school, they are more influenced by both peers and teachers, who can change their value systems initially put in place by their parents. Additionally, mass media, which most children are in contact with the majority of the time and are introduced to it at early ages, is able to influence children’s thoughts, the way they dress, and desensitize children to violence, rap lyrics talk about sex, drugs, disregarding women, hate, etc. The impacts made on a person by the combination of all of these agents of socialization accumulate to create a person’s identity, and influence their day-to-day actions and behaviors. Though all other agents of socialization undeniably help to shape a person, as the primary agent of socialization, the family plays the largest role in the transmission of the norms, values, behaviors, and skills that shape a person’s identity.
Due to the fact that children are introduced to their family before they are introduced into other realms of society, parents, a...

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...he people that surround them, but most especially the family.

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