Sociology, Culture And Identity

THIS WEEK our lesson will be a continuation of the last lesson dated Tuesday, October 8, 2002.

Having defined the concepts society,values, norms, sanctions and differentiated between status and role we will continue this lesson by moving on to:

(a) What is Socialisation?

(b) Outline the different types of socialisation.

SOCIALISATION

Socialisation is the process of social interaction through which people acquire personality and learn the way of life of their society.

Being social is not an automatic process. We learn to be social when we develop attitudes and behaviours that are similar to those of other members of our society. Thus through socialisation we literally learn how to become human.

Socialisation is the process of social interaction through which people acquire personality and learn the way of life of their society. It could also mean, the process by which we acquire the attitudes and behaviours that are appropriate for the members of our society. Socialisation is the essential link between the individual and society. This link is so very vital that neither the individual nor society could survive without it. Socialisation enables the individual to learn the norms, values, language skills, beliefs and other patterns of thoughts and action that are essential for social living.

One of the most important outcomes of socialisation is individual personality. Sometimes we use the term loosely to mean a person's temperament or character. However, it is much broader than that. 'Personality' refers to the fairly stable patterns of thought, feeling, and action that are typical of an individual. Personality thus includes three main element: the 'cognitive' component of thought, belief memory, perception and other intellectual capacities; the 'emotional' component of love, hate, sympathy, envy, pride, anger and other feelings; and the 'behavioural' component of skills, aptitudes, competence and other abilities. No one is born a great mathematician or a skilled carpenter. People maybe born with the potential to become any of the above, but what they actually become is primarily the product of their unique experiences.

Social interaction takes place according to the norms and values of the culture in question. As such the content of socialisation differs greatly from one society to another and the personality types that are most admired and imitated vary among cultures. Within every society, each person is different, and these differences are also largely the product of socialisation. We are born and live not only in a society but also in a specific part of it, and we are, therefore, influenced by the particular subcultures of our family, friends, class, race, religion and region. Distinctive new experiences in these contexts are continually blended with old ones, so every person's personality is unique. The socialisation process thus helps to explain both the general similarities in personality and social behaviour within a society and the many differences that exist between one person and another.

Socialisation is a lifelong process, for we continually encounter new or changing conditions and we must learn to adjust to them. The most important socialisation, however, occurs during infancy and childhood, when the basic foundations of later personality are laid.

AGENCIES OF SOCIALISATION

This include the following

* The family

* The peer group

* The school

* The mass media

* The Church

* Clubs

* Reference groups

DEFINITION

* Reference groups

This is any group with whom the individual identifies, and whose attitudes and values he tends to adopt. An individual usually acts out his social role with reference to some group or groups. He may not even belong to the group.

TYPES OF SOCIALISATION

The socialisation that we experience in the course of a lifetime maybe one or more of five different kinds:

* Primary

* Anticipatory

* Developmental

* Reverse

* Resocialisation

* Primary Socialisation

This is the basic socialisation that takes place in the early years of life. It focuses on the teaching of language and other cognitive skills, the internalisation of cultural norms and values, the establishment of emotional ties and the appreciation of others roles and perspectives.

* Anticipatory Socialisation

This kind of learning is directed towards a person's future roles rather than those that the person has at the time of learning. When children play 'doll house', or pretend to be 'mummy' or 'daddy', they are involved in anticipatory socialisation for their future roles as parents.

* Developmental Socialisation

This type of learning is based on the achievements of primary socialisation. It builds on already acquired skills and knowledge as the adult progresses through situations such as marriage or different jobs ­ that requires new roles, expectations, obligations. New learning is added to and blended with the old in a relatively smooth and continuous process of development.

* Reverse Socialisation

This kind of learning occurs when the younger generation transmits cultural knowledge to its elders. (Falkman and Irish 1974). In traditional societies, reverse socialisation is uncommon, but it happens frequently in modern complex societies. A perfect example of this would be 'immigrant families; the younger members attend school where they rapidly learn the new la nguage, and interpret the surrounding culture to their parents. In times of rapid social change, much of the knowledge of the elderly may become obsolete, and the younger generation may have more relevant information about some aspect of the world ranging from typewriters to computers, old math to new math. Adult society may even be influenced by the content of youth culture.

* Resocialisation

This kind of learning involves a sharp break with the past and the internalisation of radically different norms and values. It frequently takes place in a context where people have been partly or wholly isolated from their previous background. Resocialisation occurs, for example in conversion to a different religion, in the experience of an anthropologist who live among alien people, or in 'brainwashing' situations in which the victim's personality is systematically taken away and rebuilt. It also occurs within a 'total institution'; a place of residence where they are cut off from the rest of society, and where they are under the almost absolute control of a hierarchy of officials (Goffman 1961.) Examples of a total institution include an army boot camp, prison, a naval vessel and a mental asylum. In each case the inmates experience an abrupt break from their former existence; they surrender control over much of their lives to an administrative staff; to some extent they are depersonalised by having to wear uniforms and obey rigid rules; and they are under great pressure to conform to the values and regulations of their new environment.

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'NATURE' AND 'NURTURE'?

From the middle of the last century until relatively recently, social scientists debated the issue of whether our personalities and social behaviour are the product of heredity ('nature') or learning ('nurture').

The 'nature' viewpoint was dominant in the late 19th and the early twentieth centuries. Charles Darwin book on the Origin of Species published in 1859, showed human to be simply one animal species among all others. The behaviour of other animals was obviously largely or wholly determined by inherited factors, and it seemed to follow that the same should be true for human beings. A few theorists, such as Karl Marx, emphatically rejected this view; but their arguments were for the most part ignored.

Throughout most of this century, the 'nurture' viewpoint held sway. At the turn of the century, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, noticed that dogs salivate not only at the sight of food but also at exposure to anything they associated with feeding, such as their dish or even the ringing of a bell. If dogs could learn by association, would not human beings have an even greater capacity to do so? Pavlov's theories were taken up by the American psychologist John B. Watson, who argued that human behaviour and personality are completely flexible and can be moulded in any direction. Watson triumphantly taught an infant to call his milk bottle 'mama' by offering him a bottle whenever he uttered the word.

In a widely quoted statement, Watson (1924) stated:

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in, and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select ­ doctor, lawyer, artist and yes, even beggar, and thief, regardless of his talents, tendencies, abilities...and race of his ancestors".

Although some psychologists still seem to accept this view, most regard it as hopelessly naive. The current consensus is that the "nature versus nurture" debate was a pointless one for it opposed two factors that are closely interrelated and cannot be separated.

We are the product not of either heredity or learning but rather of a complex interaction between the two. People learn to develop and satisfy their potentials in a social setting, and it is primarily their social experience that will determine whether they realise or fall short of these potentials. Biology may set the broad outlines and limits of our potential, but the use to which the potential is put is determined by the environment in which we live. The key to understanding the interaction of 'nature' and 'nurture' is the process of socialisation where biology and culture meet and blend.