Agent of Socialization

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Some people behavior is normal while most of their manners are learnt. When a child comes in the world they are slowly mold into a social being and learn social ways of acting and feeling in society. There existence in society becomes unfeasible without this route. This process of molding and shaping the individuality of an infant is known as socialization. In general socialization is a social training by which every society lay down its own ways and means of giving social training to new born infant to adulthood members so that they may develop their own identity. In addition, the process of socialization is active throughout life. However, it is socialization which turns the child into a useful member of society and gives tem their social maturity. A identity is built four major agents of socialization, family, school, peer and media. The earliest and most influential time agent of socialization is family. It takes hold of the newborn after birth, when the child is most powerless and needy and doesn't let go for a whole lifetime. They take part in a key piece in their child early sex-roll socialization. Moreover, parent helps their children to internalize culture and develop a social identity. They also give an ascribed social status to their young family members, It can also go in the opposite direction; the child will usually socialize its family members by getting them used to their routines and will create signals for their needs, i.e., winning and throwing fits as a infant - child and blackmail and guilt as teenager-adult. The building of this relationship goes from cradle to grave. The child learns respect from their parents in authority. The environment of a family influences the growth of a child. Of the two parents it i...

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...e access to the child. By later childhood the family's power as a socialization agent has weakened considerably. In the adolescent years that power is further weakened by peer group influences and the predominance of the media in teenage subculture. Overall there has been an historical trend of the family's power as an agent of socialization being steadily eroded by the media, peer subculture, and schooling.

Works Cited

Lopata, H.Z. (2001).A brief history of the Harriet Martineau sociological Society - The introduction to Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives, p.10-11. Retrieved from http://www.sociological-origins.com/files/HMSS_2007_PROGRAM_BOOKLET.PDF

Diniejko, A. (March, 2010). The Victorian web: Harriet Martineau: A radical liberal social commentator. Retrieved from http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/martineau/diniejko.html

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