Socialisation

Essay by ginaprivCollege, UndergraduateA+, April 2005

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By nature, humans are social creatures. In order to survive, individuals need to

fulfill more than their physical requirements. Interactions with others in the community

assists people to become culturally alert, a process that makes possible an enduring

society. The complex and ubiquitous learning process, through which children develop

an awareness of social norms and values, and achieve a distinct sense of self in order to

become functional members in a society, is referred to as socialisation.

This essay will use an extensive collection of texts to examine the process of

socialisation, articulating how such a process contributes to society as a whole.

Socialisation is a life long learning process that is essential to human existence

and development. The understanding of societies norms; the conceptions of appropriate

and expected behavior, enables the individual to internalise society's values, and

play out a variety of roles in order to produce behavior consistent with cultural ideals.

An instance of this occurs when a young child learns to share her toys with other

children, a skill which is applied in adulthood.

As society reproduces itself, cultural values transmit and are renewed. This is

evident in the increase of women in the workplace, in previous generations the woman's

role was more of a domestic nature.

Society is always shifting and people are frequently faced with learning how to

behave in innovative and diverse conditions. Therefore, when examining the

socialisation process, two basic types of socialization may be identified.

Primary socialisation occurs between the individual and those people in their life

with whom they directly have chief relationships with, over an extended period of time.

In a family group a child actively learns many of the basic characteristics of being a

functional member of society. They acquire many skills such as the advancement of

their psychological...