Have you ever wondered how did we obtain the ability to communicate with other people and how did we learn to differentiate between good or bad —- ethical or unethical —-moral or immoral — virtuous or vicious conducts? Or how do we acquire the skills to participate in other social activities? In sociology the concept of learning social knowledge during the course of life is called socialization.
Socialization is a process through which we learn our respective culture as well as, it is the process through which social knowledge is transmitted from one generation to another. We obtain knowledge of our native language, social norms, values and beliefs via social interaction. Social interaction refer to social encounters among two or more than two individuals. For instance, new born baby initially socialize within institution of family until school going age where he learns basic survival skills such as, how to walk, talk, feed himself and use bathroom via interacting with his family members (parents and sibling).
However, there is difference between socialization and socializing. In order to comprehend the concept of socialization one must understand difference between socializing and socialization. Socializing refers to social interaction (social encounters with friends, teachers, colleagues, siblings, parents etc…) it is the part of socialization process. Whereas, socialization refers to the lifelong process of learning social skills, it initiate since birth and continues until death. We learn new thing in different stages of our lives via socializing with different people within distinct social groups. As we grow older and enter in to the new stage of lives our identities (social status) change within society such as, parent, lawyer, doctor, employee or employer etc… due to which we learn new rules in order, to perform our roles associated with our new status. It enable us to play our social roles associated with our social identities within distinct social groups for instance, usually until the age of 3 children socialize within institution of family where, their status might be of brother or sister — son or daughter however, when they start attending school they obtain new statuses such as, student, friend and classmate. Norms at school differ from family rules as a son or daughter within family children don’t raise their hand to ask question from their parents or siblings whereas, as a students they have to raise their hand in classroom to ask question from teachers. In order to function within school children have to learn and understand school code of conduct. These rules of conduct are supposed to teach life skills to children and prepare them future to socialize in different social groups. Children learn knowledge of books, punctuality and discipline at school which help them to achieve anticipated career goal in future.
Moreover, if we don’t socialize with people within distinct social groups, we would not be able to learn and understand social norms and without obtaining knowledge of social norms we could not function or participate within a society. In 2005 children and home department investigator found a seven year old girl in a dark small room of an old house in plant city, Florida. Investigator reported that when he found her she was not wearing any cloths except a swollen dirty diaper her hairs were filled with lice — her skin was filled with rashes and insect bites. Moreover, the room in which she was found was covered in feces and insects. However, she was immediately sent to the hospital for medical exam. After examination doctor found out that, she is not able to walk, talk and understand any language even though she did not had any genetic abnormality or disease. Children and home department concluded that, due to the negligence of her parents she have not learned basic social skills. She did not had any kind of interaction from her parents such as, holding, hugging, demonstration of basic skills etc… therefore she did not obtain the ability to walk, talk, use bathroom and chew solid food.
The famous debate of nature and nurture has been going on since classic Greek period. Plato believed that, formation of man personality depend on biological characteristics or genetics. Whereas, according to Aristotle, man personality is the product of social environment. However, in sociology we focus on the nurture part. Lee argued that, our personality is the product of habit formation. Habits refer to the repeated actions or conducts of individuals. The process of socialization also aid in development of people personalities in a given society.
Written by; Khushdil Khan Kasi
