The Concept of Socialization by

What is Socialization?

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-07 22:58:18 UTC

"Socialization is the process wherein people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society’s beliefs, and to be aware of societal values."

Why Is It Important?

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-08 00:11:31 UTC

It is how we interact with one another in a society, while including norms and values.
It is part of how we establish our identity.
It teaches us how we should behave and what we should believe.

Norms and Values in Socialization

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-08 00:15:23 UTC

norms:

"The visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured"

At a young age, we are taught societal norms like manners.

This can look like saying please and thank you, not interrupting when people speak, and even greeting people.

values:

"A culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society"

At an early age, we are also taught a lot of core values like respect, honesty, kindness, and obedience.

This looks like treating people respectfully, telling the truth, being nice to others, and listening to authority.

How We Become Socialized

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-08 00:35:26 UTC

Socialization starts when you are young.

Your first point of socialization usually comes from your parents and close family. They teach you norms and values so you can be a functioning member in society and meet the expectations within it.
Starting school is usually your second point, and where you will start to merge more into socialization. This is where you are taught things like following rules, being on time, working in groups, and respecting those with authority.
As you begin to make friends, you learn trends, how to share, communicate, and you begin to learn about the things you like.
The media is also a very influential part of socialization. This is how you begin to learn about the world around you and what you may desire from it. It socializes you to things outside of what is closest to you.

Socialization Through Theoretical Lenses: FUNCTIONALISM

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-08 02:26:40 UTC

Once you become socialized, you start to fit into the social structure of society. You learn your place, roles, values, and the rules of society so you can function within it. This is known as the theory of functionalism, and it helps create stability.

Experiments of Socialization

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-10 23:04:53 UTC

A powerful classroom experiment was conducted by a teacher named Jane Elliot. She divided the students by eye color labeling blue eyed kids as superior and brown eyed kids as inferior. This experiment showed how easily people can be socialized to certain norms and roles and how inequality can be spread in the process.

Socialization Through Theoretical Lenses: CONFLICT THEORY

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-10 23:11:02 UTC

Socialization can also be a way to influence and teach inequality. The conflict theory says that society is a competition of limited resources. Introduced by Karl Marx, it talks about social norms and values benefitting those in power saying socialization limits access and opportunities to those with less power.

Socialization Through Theoretical Lenses: SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-10 23:11:43 UTC

Implementing the symbolic interactionist perspective, it helps us see that socialization is how we establish our identity through daily interactions within society.

Socialization Through Theoretical Lenses: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-10 23:14:00 UTC

Socialization is also said to gender inequality by enforcing certain behaviors. This is how to feminist perspective applies to socialization. It says we push certain expectations on gender based on how social norms are structured and this can influence inequality. This is how gender roles are made.

Socialization and Deviance

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-10 23:35:38 UTC

Socialization can lead to deviance in society. For example, we see how certain people like police officers within institutions are trained into norms and certain biases that influence inequality and deviance. This can result in abuse of power, excessive force aimed at certain races, and discrimination. This ultimately leads to those being victimized, behaving deviantly because of how they're being treated.

How Socialization Can Affect Your Life Opportunities

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-11 00:31:56 UTC

Through social stratification, you see people born and socialized into rich families and you see people born and socialized into poor families.
Those born into rich families are given greater life opportunities even without having to put forth much effort.
Poor individuals who are not from rich families often find themselves working harder for things that are just handed to those with wealth.
There are greater opportunities in education for those from wealthy families than those who are poor.

Socialization Summarized/Takeaways

cheyennedewey — 2025-07-11 00:45:58 UTC

All in all, socialization is mostly what makes us who we are and is an extremely powerful concept in sociology.

We are socialized through many different things throughout our lives, and this process continues as we grow older. Although we can learn many good norms and values, socialization can also spread inequality and contribute to deviance. Depending on how we are socialized, it can affect our life opportunities and experiences in either a negative or positive way.