Socialization is an integrative process of a subject’s entry into the structure of society, through his mastery of social rules, values, orientations, traditions, the knowledge of which helps to become an effective individual of society. From the first days of his existence, a small person is surrounded by many people, he is gradually included in collective interaction. During relationships, a person gains social experience, which becomes an integral component of the individual.
The process of personal socialization is two-way: a person assimilates the experience of society, and at the same time actively develops relationships and connections. A person perceives, masters and transforms personal social experience into personal attitudes and positions. He is also involved in diverse social connections, performing different role functions, thereby transforming the surrounding society and himself. The real conditions of collective life pose the most pressing problem, requiring everyone to be included in the social structure of the environment. In this process, the main concept is socialization, which allows an individual to become a member of social groups and collectives.
The process of socialization of an individual into social strata is difficult and lengthy, since it includes a person’s mastery of the values and laws of social life, and the development of various social roles.
Personality socialization in psychology is a topic that is actively studied by many social psychologists. After all, a person has a social essence, and his life is a process of continuous adaptation, which requires stable changes and updates.
The process of socialization provides for a high level of internal activity of the individual himself, the need for self-realization. Much depends on a person’s vital activity and ability to effectively manage activities. But this process often occurs when objective life circumstances give rise to certain needs in an individual and create incentives for activity.
The concept of personality socialization
The described process is determined by the social activity of individuals.
The process of socialization of the individual represents the entry of the individual into the social structure, as a result of which changes are made in the structure of the individual himself and society as a whole. As a result of socialization, an individual acquires group norms, values, behavioral patterns, and social orientations, which are transformed into human attitudes.
Socialization of the individual is extremely important for successful functioning in society. This process continues throughout an individual’s life, since the world moves and in order to move with it, it is necessary to change. A person undergoes constant changes, he changes, both physically and psychologically, it is impossible for him to be constant. It is this important concept, how the socialization of personality in psychology is dealt with by many specialists who study personality, society and their relationship.
In this process, no one is immune from problems arising.
Socialization problems are divided into the following three groups. The first consists of socio-psychological problems of socialization, which are associated with the formation of an individual’s self-awareness, his self-determination, self-affirmation, self-actualization and self-development. At any stage, problems have specific content, and various ways to resolve them appear. Only their importance for the individual remains unchanged. She may not be aware of the existence of these problems, since they are deeply “buried” and force her to think, acting in such a way as to eliminate the problem, to find an adequate solution.
The second group is the cultural problems that arise, including each stage. The content of these problems depends on achieving a certain level of natural development. These problems are associated with regional differences that arise in different rates of physical maturation, so in the southern regions it is faster than in the northern ones.
Cultural problems of socialization concern the issue of the formation of stereotypes of femininity and masculinity in different ethnic groups, regions, and cultures.
The third group of problems are socio-cultural, which in their content involve the introduction of the individual to the level of culture. They relate to personal value orientations, a person’s worldview, and his spiritual make-up. They have a specific character - moral, cognitive, value, semantic.
Socialization is divided into primary and secondary.
Primary - implemented in the sphere of close relationships. Secondary socialization is carried out in formal business relations.
Primary socialization has the following agents: parents, close acquaintances, relatives, friends, teachers.
In the secondary, the agents are: the state, the media, representatives of public organizations, the church.
Primary socialization occurs very intensively in the first half of an individual’s life, when he is raised by his parents, attends preschool, school, and acquires new contacts. The secondary one, accordingly, takes place in the second half of life, when an adult has contact with formal organizations.
Process stages
A person can socialize in several stages. Each has a corresponding stage. There are five of them in total:
- adaptation;
- identification;
- integration;
- labor;
- post-work.
First of all, a person goes through the stage of identification. It lasts from birth until adolescence. At this time, the child learns from the example of adults, imitates their behavior and habits. The second manifests itself in the desire to show oneself, to become unique. On the third, the first introduction into society occurs. Depending on communication with the team, it can be successful or unsuccessful. During the labor stage, a person himself influences society, and at the last stage - post-labor - he shares his experience with others.
German scientist of Jewish origin Erik Erikson notes that the socialization of an individual consists of more stages:
- infancy;
- earlier childhood;
- childhood;
- junior school age;
- adolescence;
- youth;
- maturity;
- old age.
The first stage lasts up to 1.5 years, when the child is fully cared for by the mother. Trust develops precisely depending on the attitude of the person closest to you. If there is not enough communication with the mother, the child will grow up withdrawn and silent. The next period - up to four years - is associated with the formation of independence; children learn to be neat and tidy. Until the age of six, a child develops a sense of personality, and this may mean that creative thinking and initiative are developing.
From this age, the child begins to attend school, he learns to build relationships with peers and teachers, and adopts their experience and knowledge. Good grades give you the opportunity to believe in yourself, become confident and calm. Then the period of puberty begins, when the teenager is concerned about his appearance and the opinions of others about himself, searches for his calling and shows his first sympathy for the opposite sex.
Lecture 1.4 | Sociology of personality | Marina Arkannikova | Lectorium
At the stage of adolescence, a person is looking for a permanent job, a life partner and his place in society. At this time, individuality is erased, the individual mixes himself with a certain group. The longest stage—maturity—can awaken in a person a sense of necessity and experience. In old age, people accept their lives and rethink them.
Socialization and education
Education, in contrast to socialization, which takes place in conditions of spontaneous interaction between the individual and the environment, is considered as a consciously controlled process, for example, religious, family or school education.
Socialization of personality is a process in pedagogy that is studied inseparably from the process of education. The main task of education is the formation of a humanistic orientation in a growing individual, which means that in the motivational sphere of the individual, social motives and incentives for socially useful activities prevail over personal motives. In everything an individual thinks about, whatever he does, the motives for his actions must include an idea of another individual, of society.
Social groups have a great influence on the process of individual socialization. Their influence is different at different stages of human ontogenesis. In early childhood, significant influence comes from the family, in adolescence - from peers, in adulthood - from the work team. The degree of influence of each group depends on cohesion as well as organization.
Education, in contrast to general socialization, is a purposeful process of influencing the individual, which means that with the help of education it is possible to regulate the impact of society on the individual and create favorable conditions for the socialization of the individual.
Socialization of the individual is also an important topic in pedagogy, since socialization is inseparable from education. Education is understood as a social phenomenon that influences the individual through the tools of society. From this emerges a connection between upbringing and the social and political structure of society, which acts as the “customer” for the reproduction of a specific type of personality. Education is a specially organized activity in the implementation of the intended goals of education, in the pedagogical process, where the subjects (teacher and student) express active actions in achieving pedagogical goals.
The famous psychologist S. Rubinstein argued that an important goal of education is the formation of a person’s personal moral position, and not the external adaptation of the individual to social rules. Education must be considered as an organized process of social internalization of value orientations, that is, their transfer from the external to the internal plane.
The success of internalization is carried out with the participation of the emotional and intellectual spheres of the individual. This means that when organizing the educational process, the teacher needs to stimulate in his students their understanding of their behavior, external requirements, sensual living of their moral and civic position. Then education, as a process of internalization of value orientations, will be carried out in two ways:
- through the communication and interpretation of useful goals, moral rules, ideals and norms of behavior. This will save the student from a spontaneous search, in which it is possible to encounter errors. This method is based on the content-semantic processing of the motivational sphere and conscious volitional work in rethinking one’s own attitude to the real world;
- through the creation of certain psychological and pedagogical conditions that would actualize interests and natural situational impulses, thereby stimulating useful social activities.
Both ways are effective only with their systematic application, integration and complementarity.
The success of the education and socialization of young people is feasible provided that positive factors embedded in social relations, lifestyle, and the neutralization of factors that interfere with the implementation of the tasks of training, education and socialization are used.
The transformation of the education and upbringing system can only be successful when it really becomes a matter of society. It is worth reorienting social life, the cultural environment, and the system of education and upbringing towards the younger generation.
Characteristics of stages
The period of socialization consists of three phases: in the first, norms and values, conditions for compliance with society are briefly mastered; during the second, the person strives to self-actualize, learns to influence other members of society; the introduction of a person into a social group, where he will reveal his character and abilities, occurs on the third. With proper formation, the transition from one phase to another occurs gradually, subject to all conditions.
There are three stages of socialization in a team:
- pre-labor;
- labor;
- post-work.
The first stage lasts about 20-25 years. During this time, a person graduates from kindergarten, school, receives a higher education and tries to find his first stable job and future spouse. During this period, approximately 70% of the personality is formed, this happens naturally until the age of seven. During adolescence, not only the internal worldview changes, but also the child’s physiology. A person has more and more duties and responsibilities.
The most dangerous age is considered to be 16 years old, since at this time school, where studies lasted 9-11 years, is replaced by institute. Accordingly, the life schedule and the team will be different. A teenager not only changes his social circle and place of residence, internal changes occur, and a different system of principles and norms is established.
Topic 2. Socialization
The first job appears at the age of 18-25, work experience, friendships and love relationships appear. If new information is perceived incorrectly, a person may withdraw into himself and withdraw from society. In later years, all previously acquired knowledge and experience are only strengthened and passed on to the younger generation.
The socialization process must occur correctly, taking into account all conditions and smooth transitions. Parents and teachers need to pay attention to the psychological state of children and adolescents, because it is up to the age of 18 that the individual actively develops and a suitable team is selected.
Socialization
Socialization factors
There are many factors of socialization, all of them are collected in two large groups. The first group consists of social factors that reflect the socio-cultural side of socialization and problems relating to its historical, group, ethnic and cultural specificity. The second group contains individual personal factors, expressed through the specifics of the life path of each individual.
Social factors mainly include: macrofactors, mesofactors and microfactors, which reflect different aspects of personal development (social, political, historical, economic), also the quality of life of an individual, the ecological situation of the area in which he lives, the presence of frequent occurrences of extreme situations and others social circumstances.
Macrofactors consist of natural and social determinants of personality development, which are determined by its living as part of social communities. Macro factors include the following factors:
- state (country), as a concept that is adopted to highlight a community of individuals living within certain territorial boundaries, united for economic, political, historical, social and psychological reasons. The peculiarities of the development of a state (country) determine the characteristics of the socialization of people in a certain region;
— culture is a system of spiritual aspects of ensuring people’s livelihoods and their socialization. Culture covers all aspects of life - biological (food, natural needs, rest, sexual intercourse), production (creation of material things and objects), spiritual (worldview, language, speech activity), social (social relationships, communication).
Mesofactors are caused by a person living in medium-sized social groups. Mesofactors include:
- ethnos is a historically formed stable collection of individuals in a specific territory that has a common language, religion, common cultural characteristics, and also a common self-awareness, that is, the awareness of each individual that they are united and different from other groups. An individual’s belonging to a nation determines the specifics of his socialization;
- type of settlement (city, region, town, village), which, for various reasons, imparts originality to the socialization of people living in it;
— regional conditions are features characteristic of the socialization of the population living in a certain region, state, part of the country, which has distinctive features (historical past, a unified economic and political system, social and cultural identity);
— mass media are technical means (radio, television, print) responsible for disseminating information to large audiences.
Microfactors are determinants of socialization related to education and training in small groups (work collective, educational institution, religious organization).
The most significant thing in the socialization of an individual is the historical development of a country, group, community, collective. At each stage of development of society, different requirements for the individual arise. Thus, we often find information that an individual could find himself and fully realize himself only within a certain group.
In stable times of social development, individuals in whom group-value orientations predominated were more adapted to society, whereas in turning points, crisis historical moments, various types of people became more active. Some were those whose individual and universal aspirations simultaneously prevailed, others were those who escaped from social crises using their usual stereotypes of orientation towards group norms inherent in the stable development of society.
Under circumstances of social crisis, the predominance of the second type leads to the search for “external” enemies, the removal of all strangers who approach the group, preferring their own (national, age, territorial, professional) group. Individual personal factors are also essential. From the psychological point of view, the process of socialization cannot be a simple and mechanical reflection of the social experience experienced by a person. The process of assimilation of such experience is subjective. Some social situations can be experienced very differently by different individuals, so each person can take out completely different social experiences from the same situations. Much depends on the conditions in which individuals live and develop, where they undergo socialization. This process occurs quite differently at various stages of ontogenesis, during a period of social crisis.
A social crisis is characterized by a violation of the stable living conditions of society, a failure of its inherent value system, alienation of people, and increased selfishness. Particularly susceptible to the negative impact of a social crisis are: adolescent children, young people on the path to personality development, middle-aged people and the elderly.
The most developed people do not accept the views imposed on them; they form their own, independent and different from the socially accepted system of values. But this also does not mean that the vast majority of middle-aged people are immune to the global changes taking place in society. However, the process of their personal socialization proceeds through a strong experience of a personal crisis, or it passes relatively easily if in calm, stable times of the development of society they were among social outsiders, but in crisis circumstances their skills were in demand.
Diagnostics
Diagnostics of socialization is one of the tools for understanding the phenomenon, which is also considered as a method of creating conditions for further acquisition of socialization skills.
Socialization diagnostic functions:
- information and prognostication. It consists of analyzing data showing the level of socialization of a person. They are also the starting point for creating conditions for further socialization;
- evaluative and effective. It consists of assessing the results of work, finding effective ways to solve social and pedagogical problems;
- correctional and formative. It consists in providing the opportunity to simultaneously identify shortcomings and deviations in activity and timely correct it for the most effective socialization.
Criteria for socialization of an individual when diagnosing a phenomenon include:
- Cognitive components (a person’s knowledge of problems in the social sphere, rates of progress in socialization).
- Emotional-volitional components (a person’s attitude towards his own and others’ nationality, society and work activity).
- Behavioral components (propensity for collectivism, degree of activity, involvement in relationships with people).
There are many psychological tests for different age groups that allow one to determine the level of socialization of an individual and identify the presence of traumatic factors in the process of its development.
For example, the test “Levels of Personal Socialization”, placed in the textbook, which was developed by Candidate of Philosophical Sciences R.I. Mokshantsev and finalized by candidate of psychological sciences T. A. Bondarenko.
The test allows you to assess the levels of socialization of an individual and identify psychological trauma that may have occurred while growing up. The test includes first-person questions about a person’s internal state and his attitude to life situations; response options reflect the person's agreement or disagreement.
As for assessing the socialization of school students, it is possible, developed by M. I. Rozhkov, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences.
The purpose of monitoring is to identify the level of social adaptation, activity, autonomy and moral education of students. The essence of the test is for participants to listen to 20 statements, for which they must mark their agreement or disagreement with the statements.
Forms of socialization
There are two forms of socialization – directed and undirected.
Directed (spontaneous) – is the spontaneous formation of social qualities as a result of a person’s presence in the immediate social environment (in the family, between colleagues, peers).
Directed socialization represents a system of methods of influence, specially developed by society, its institutions, organizations, with the goal of forming a personality in accordance with the prevailing values, interests, ideals, and goals in a given society.
Education is one of the ways of directed socialization. It is a consciously systematic, organized, purposeful process of influencing a developing personality, her behavior and consciousness, with the aim of developing specific concepts, principles, value orientations and social attitudes and preparing her for active social, cultural and industrial activities.
Both forms (directed, undirected) in certain circumstances can be consistent with each other or, conversely, come into conflict. The contradictions that arise often lead to conflict situations that complicate and impede the process of socialization of the individual.
The spontaneous form of socialization (undirected) is determined by the microsocial environment (close relatives, peers) and often contains many outdated and outdated rules, stereotypes, patterns, patterns of behavior. Along with a positive influence on the individual, it can also have a negative impact on the individual, pushing him towards negative ones that deviate from the norms established by society, which can lead to such a phenomenon as social pathology.
Undirected socialization without the inclusion of directed means can be detrimental to the formation of a person, the social group of this individual and society as a whole. Therefore, it is very important to supplement it and transform it into targeted corrective influences of targeted socialization.
But directed socialization does not always lead to a positive educational result, which is especially evident when it is used for inhumane purposes, such as, for example, the activities of various destructive religious sects, the inculcation of fascist ideology, and the propaganda of racist sentiments. Therefore, a directed form of socialization can lead to a positive formation of personality only if it is carried out in accordance with moral rules, moral criteria, freedom of conscience, responsibility and the principles of a democratic society.
Deviant behavior
Deviant behavior is behavior that deviates from socially accepted norms, principles and standards.
Deviant behavior is not always a sign of something bad: for a patriarchal society, in which it is accepted, for example, that a woman does not have the right to vote, is obliged to hide her face, wear a skirt and remain silent, the behavior of an ordinary European woman will be regarded as extremely deviant, while in Europe they simply will not pay attention to it, since it fits into the standards of behavior accepted there.
The socialization of individuals can occur with disturbances, and then psychologists also talk about deviant behavior - it is because of improper socialization that people become criminals, they show a tendency to violence, cruelty, and illegal actions. Teenagers who are trying to stand out from the crowd and express their “I” also show signs of deviant behavior.
Deviant behavior is always the result of problems with the socialization of the individual, but, unfortunately, the socialization process cannot be written down as a plan and strictly followed.
