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Psychology Discussion

Essay on socialization.

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Essay on Socialization!

Socialization is the process through which the individual learns to become an accepted member of the society. At birth the neonate is neither social nor unsocial. Because of this helplessness at birth he has to depend on other social beings for his care and welfare. As he grows in a social environment and in a social context, he develops various types of behaviour which are called social and gradually grows to become a social animal.

The interaction of the baby with his environment and particularly mother helps him in the above process. Thus the learning to adopt to the social norms, values and standards is called socialization.

The human organism is a byproduct of the society and social force. The manner in which the human child learns to become an accepted member of the society is called the socialization process. Anyone who does not accept or follow the dos and donots, rules and regulations, values and norms of the society is not called a socialised individual.

The socialization of the child takes place through action and reaction between the child and other individual members of the society. The child begins interaction with his mother first, then with his father and subsequently with other members of the family.

The process of socialization is quite complex. It involves the multiplicity of processes as it involves the multiplicity of social norms. It involves the various roles which the individual has to play in order to fulfil the expectations of the society. Not only the parental influence, and the influence of other adults but also the neighbourhood is of tremendous value in the socialization of the child.

Through the process of socialization the various values, codes, norms and mores of the society become a part of his personality, part of his personal values. When he accepts these willingly rather than as a matter of compulsion he is said to be socialized. The child’s behaviour is modified and remodified to conform to the expectations held by the members of the groups of which he is a member.

During the first three four years and before attending school the child is trained to meet the expectations of family members.

They teach him to follow the socially accepted behavioural patterns which are considered as good and reject unacceptable behavioural patterns which are considered as bad. But when he is admitted to a preschool or a nursery school or a primary school, he is also influenced by teachers and friends.

The child learns to adjust with a wider world of school teachers, class mates and play mates and a host of other persons. He learns the social norms, how to behave with the teachers and show respect to them, how to deal with the class mates. In this way as he grows and grows and reaches adulthood he comes across varied agents of socialization who mould his personality in the manner the society wants.

Not only the parental influence and the influence of the other adults also the neighbourhood is of tremendous value in the socialization of the child. Besides the effects of books, radio, TV and motion pictures are of tremendous value for the moral and social development of the child.

The child is socialized on the basis of his past and present experiences. Thus family, neighbourhood peers, playmates and classmates etc. mould the personality of the child according to the pattern of the society. Fundamentally socialization is possible through affiliation.

The early helplessness of the baby makes him dependent upon others. So he has to affiliate himself with others for his living. Love, comfort, respect, power, achievement and other secondary needs cannot be satisfied in isolation. Hence the child acquires many needs through social and affiliation learning which leads to socialization.

Major Features of the Process of Socialization :

The process of socialization is a continuous one. It continues from birth till death. Results of various experimental studies, observations of children in day-to-day life, interviews with parents, studies in different cultures taken together point out the major aspects of the process of socialization.

The dependency of the new born infant, the need for affiliation, the role of the reference group, the need for education and therefore admission to school, the effect of reward and punishment imposed by the parents, school and the society, delay in fulfilment of needs, desires and wishes, identification with the loved ones all have their respective roles in the socialization of the human infant.

The infant’s dependence upon the mother for food, care and nursing provides the essential condition for socialization of personality. But the help of reinforcement certain responses of the child are rewarded and certain other responses are not rewarded. Sometimes, the child is punished for not following the dos of the society. In this manner the dependent and helpless child is taught to be a member of the society.

The child also learns many values and traditions through imitation and incidental learning since parents do not always teach like a teacher. When a child sees that his mother is lying at the feet of God or Goddess he also does the same. When a child sees his mother showing her respect to a senior person by bowing her head she also learns to do the same.

Sears (1957) is of opinion that through dependence the process of identification develops. The desire to identify occurs when the child is given food and love and such reinforcements are periodically withdrawn so that the child will be rewarded by reproducing the mother’s behaviours.

The child also depends upon his parents and close family members for various informations about his surrounding and about the world at large. He also needs their help to clarify certain matters and to fulfil his curiosity. For this he has to obey them and follow what they say.

The need for affiliation also develops out of dependency. The desire to remain with others and be happy when one is in a group is an outcome of the helplessness of the child during early period. The desire to remain with others throughout one’s life has a direct link with the process of socialization.

Schachter (1959) found that isolation produces fear and affiliation reduces fear. Thus he concluded that persons with higher fear would affiliate more than those with low fears as through affiliation man tries to reduce his emotion of fear.

When a child grows up his socialization process is subject to the influence of outside agents of the society like the play group, teachers and peers. Now he becomes a member of several groups and clubs. Those groups which strongly influence the child are called the reference groups. The individual evaluates himself through the reference groups which serves as the standard for him.

New Comb (1943) while finding out the changes in the attitude of students that accompanied socialisation in a college observed the important role of reference group on socialisation. Sherif and Sherif (1964) also observe that like the family group, the reference groups influence the conduct of the individual.

The reference group serves as a norm, standard or model for the individual. The growing children and adolescents become a member of many groups and are influenced by the action, model ideal and values of such groups. A reference group serves as a standard for evaluation.

Out of the socialisation process the ‘self’ develops. The individual then learns to perceive himself and his self concept affects his social behaviour. A person perceives himself from three aspects i.e. from the cognitive, effective and behavioural components. His self concept becomes ultimately a source of motivation to him. The self concept develops out of the interaction of the individual with others.

When others say some one beautiful, sincere and intelligent, he develops a positive self concept and when people start saying negative things about one’s action and behaviour, he develops a negative self concept. A person who becomes regularly unsuccessful in examination perceives himself as academically poor. Thus the self concept develops through the process of social interaction and socialization.

When others say that he is an excellent boy he perceives himself as such and tries to repeat these characteristics in future which have brought him praise and reward. Those actions which bring him blame are given up and unlearned. A person who continuously become unsuccessful in an interview also develops negative self-image and inferiority complex.

The development of self therefore depends on continuous learning unlearning and releasing. Through the process of adjustment and readjustment the individual’s self is socialised.

Some have tried to compare the process of socialization with the procedures by which many human beings using raw materials construct automobiles. Many human beings interacting with the raw organism, the human infant, turn him to a socialized personality.

Nevertheless personality is not a mechanical by product of the society. Socialization is never a passive process and no personality is a mechanical by product of the society. A number of automobiles of similar type are produced using raw materials.

But no two human personalities are equal. Every personality is unique by itself. Every in the same family two brothers may have totally different personalities. One brother may have a very high social status while the other may be a delinquent and disgrace to the society.

Since no two personalities in the world are identically equal it would be erroneous to compare living human infants with the raw materials of automobiles which are dead materials.

When an infant undergoes the process of socialization he reacts in diverse ways. Sometimes he resists rules, regulations, traditions and customs of the society. At home, during training of feeding habits, there may be conflict between the child and the mother.

The child may resist to take certain types of good, to wear dresses of certain designs, he may like to go naked in summer, he may not like to follow certain traditions and customs which do not give him pleasure.

Sometimes a child may find it difficult to adjust with the demands and the needs of the society. He may find it difficult to control his emotions. If he is scolded by parents he is adviced to remain silent. He is not allowed to react. When he feels hungry he is not allowed to eat. He is allowed to eat only at a scheduled time and place.

Thus, the more rules and regulations he has to obey, the more disciplines, he has to follow, the more resistances are found. Since he has to meet a great deal of difficulty to conform to the expectations and norms of the groups he often resists conformity to social norms during infancy when it is mostly ‘id’.

But gradually when the ego develops, training of socialisation becomes stronger than the resistances and when he accepts the social values and norms as a matter of principle as his own values rather through compulsion, the conflict in the process of socialization is reduced and the person is said to be socialized.

The individual and society mutually respond to the process of socialization. The society tries to mould the individual through its rules, regulations, traditions and customs and the individual while trying to belong to the group, sometimes tries to modify the social standard as far as practicable.

A sense of belongingness helps one to feel secured and satisfied. Thus the process of socialisation helps one to develop a normal personality. One who is properly socialized, when he becomes a parent he undertakes the responsibility of socializing his own children and at this time, his attitude towards the prevalent social norms undergoes tremendous change.

With the change in the socio-cultural values and spirit of time, there is always a continuous change in the rules, regulations, standards, customs and traditions of the society. As a result, there is change in the socialisation of the human personality.

The socialization process is therefore never rigid but dynamic. It varies and changes from time to time and generation to generation. The parents, teachers and individuals have to adjust with the changing social customs and values and socialize their children accordingly.

They have to develop proper social attitudes and behaviours appropriate to his particular society. Otherwise there will be conflict due to generation gap. The child must behave in such a way which is approved by the group or society. Since the aim of socialization is to induce the individual to conform willingly to the ways of the society and the groups to which he belongs, parents and teachers should see that his personality is built up accordingly.

Otherwise in future there may be tremendous adjustment problems. Since socialization is a dynamic process a person who rigidly conforms to the rules and regulations of the society is not an ideal product of socialization.

A properly socialized person should be flexible and dynamic in approach to conform to the changing social standards of the society and culture. A person who is unable to adjust with this is therefore said to be unsocial or a social.

As previously indicated, the socialization practices change constantly. Social class has also an important role to play in this regard. Middle class mothers in comparison to working class mothers are more permissive towards the child’s expressed needs and wishes, are more equalitarian in their handling of the child and are less likely to use physical punishment.

Early learning experiences have a lasting impact on personality and socialization. In various studies of socialization process child psychologists have tried to investigate the effects of infant disciplines, child care programmes and post childhood discontinuities on adult personality. They have found that during the early years the parental influences on child is maximum and have powerful impact on socialization.

But during the later stage to reshape the unsatisfactory and socially inappropriate behaviours found in many adolescents, application of desocialization and resocialization processes are found essential.

Desocialization attempts to remove the previous attitudes and habits which are not conducive to proper socialization. Many had habits, antisocial and irresponsible, socially unacceptable behaviours can be reduced by this technique.

Resocialization on the other hand is a process by which the group induces a person to adopt one set of behaviour standards as a substitute for another. Sometimes after desocialization resocialization may be a necessary consequence. While removing the old values new values are to be substituted in their place.

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4.2 Explaining Socialization

Learning objective.

• Describe the theories of Cooley, Mead, Freud, Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Erikson.

Because socialization is so important, scholars in various fields have tried to understand how and why it occurs, with different scholars looking at different aspects of the process. Their efforts mostly focus on infancy, childhood, and adolescence, which are the critical years for socialization, but some have also looked at how socialization continues through the life course. Let’s examine some of the major theories of socialization, which are summarized in Table 4.1 “Theory Snapshot” .

Table 4.1 Theory Snapshot

Sociological Explanations: The Development of the Self

One set of explanations, and the most sociological of those we discuss, looks at how the self , or one’s identity, self-concept, and self-image, develops. These explanations stress that we learn how to interact by first interacting with others and that we do so by using this interaction to gain an idea of who we are and what they expect of us.

Charles Horton Cooley

Among the first to advance this view was Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929), who said that by interacting with other people we gain an impression of how they perceive us. In effect, we “see” ourselves when we interact with other people, as if we are looking in a mirror when we are with them. Cooley (1902) developed his famous concept of the looking-glass self to summarize this process. Cooley said we first imagine how we appear to others and then imagine how they think of us and, more specifically, whether they are evaluating us positively or negatively. We then use these perceptions to develop judgments and feelings about ourselves, such as pride or embarrassment.

Sometimes errors occur in this complex process, as we may misperceive how others regard us and develop misguided judgments of our behavior and feelings. For example, you may have been in a situation where someone laughed at what you said, and you thought they were mocking you, when in fact they just thought you were being funny. Although you should have interpreted their laughter positively, you interpreted it negatively and probably felt stupid or embarrassed.

Charles Horton Cooley wrote that we gain an impression of ourselves by interacting with other people. By doing so, we “see” ourselves as if we are looking in a mirror when we are with them. Cooley developed his famous concept of the looking-glass self to summarize this process.

Helena Perez García – The Looking Glass – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Whether errors occur or not, the process Cooley described is especially critical during childhood and adolescence, when our self is still in a state of flux. Imagine how much better children on a sports team feel after being cheered for making a great play or how children in the school band feel after a standing ovation at the end of the band’s performance. If they feel better about themselves, they may do that much better next time. For better or worse, the reverse is also true. If children do poorly on the sports field or in a school performance and the applause they hoped for does not occur, they may feel dejected and worse about themselves and from frustration or anxiety perform worse the next time around.

Yet it is also true that the looking-glass-self process affects us throughout our lives. By the time we get out of late adolescence and into our early adult years, we have very much developed our conception of our self, yet this development is never complete. As young, middle-aged, or older adults, we continue to react to our perceptions of how others view us, and these perceptions influence our conception of our self, even if this influence is often less than was true in our younger years. Whether our social interaction is with friends, relatives, coworkers, supervisors, or even strangers, our self continues to change.

George Herbert Mead

Another scholar who discussed the development of the self was George Herbert Mead (1863–1931), a founder of the field of symbolic interactionism discussed in Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective” . Mead’s (1934) main emphasis was on children’s playing, which he saw as central to their understanding of how people should interact. When they play, Mead said, children take the role of the other . This means they pretend to be other people in their play and in so doing learn what these other people expect of them. For example, when children play house and pretend to be their parents, they treat their dolls the way they think their parents treat them. In so doing, they get a better idea of how they are expected to behave. Another way of saying this is that they internalize the expectations other people have of them.

Younger children, said Mead, take the role of significant others , or the people, most typically parents and siblings, who have the most contact with them. Older children take on the roles of other people and learn society’s expectations as a whole. In so doing, they internalize the expectations of what Mead called the generalized other , or society itself.

This whole process, Mead wrote, involves several stages. In the imitation stage, infants can only imitate behavior without really understanding its purposes. If their parents rub their own bellies and laugh, 1-year-olds may do likewise. After they reach the age of 3, they are in the play stage. Here most of their play is by themselves or with only one or two other children, and much of it involves pretending to be other people: their parents, teachers, superheroes, television characters, and so forth. In this stage they begin taking the role of the other. Once they reach age 6 or 7, or roughly the time school begins, the games stage begins, and children start playing in team sports and games. The many players in these games perform many kinds of roles, and they must all learn to anticipate the actions of other members of their team. In so doing, they learn what is expected of the roles all team members are supposed to play and by extension begin to understand the roles society wants us to play, or to use Mead’s term, the expectations of the generalized other.

Mead felt that the self has two parts, the I and the me . The I is the creative, spontaneous part of the self, while the me is the more passive part of the self stemming from the internalized expectations of the larger society. These two parts are not at odds, he thought, but instead complement each other and thus enhance the individual’s contributions to society. Society needs creativity, but it also needs at least some minimum of conformity. The development of both these parts of the self is important not only for the individual but also for the society to which the individual belongs.

Social-Psychological Explanations: Personality and Cognitive and Moral Development

A second set of explanations is more psychological, as it focuses on the development of personality, cognitive ability, and morality.

Sigmund Freud and the Unconscious Personality

Whereas Cooley and Mead focused on interaction with others in explaining the development of the self, the great psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) focused on unconscious, biological forces that he felt shape individual personality. Freud (1933) thought that the personality consists of three parts: the id , ego , and superego . The id is the selfish part of the personality and consists of biological instincts that all babies have, including the need for food and, more generally, the demand for immediate gratification. As babies get older, they learn that not all their needs can be immediately satisfied and thus develop the ego, or the rational part of the personality. As children get older still, they internalize society’s norms and values and thus begin to develop their superego, which represents society’s conscience. If a child does not develop normally and the superego does not become strong enough, the individual is more at risk for being driven by the id to commit antisocial behavior.

Sigmund Freud believed that the personality consists of three parts: the id, ego, and superego. The development of these biological forces helps shape an individual’s personality.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Freud’s basic view that an individual’s personality and behavior develop largely from within differs from sociology’s emphasis on the social environment. That is not to say his view is wrong, but it is to say that it neglects the many very important influences highlighted by sociologists.

Piaget and Cognitive Development

Children acquire a self and a personality but they also learn how to think and reason. How they acquire such cognitive development was the focus of research by Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Piaget (1954) thought that cognitive development occurs through four stages and that proper maturation of the brain and socialization were necessary for adequate development.

The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, in which infants cannot really think or reason and instead use their hearing, vision, and other senses to discover the world around them. The second stage is the preoperational stage, lasting from about age 2 to age 7, in which children begin to use symbols, especially words, to understand objects and simple ideas. The third stage is the concrete operational stage, lasting from about age 7 to age 11 or 12, in which children begin to think in terms of cause and effect but still do not understand underlying principles of fairness, justice, and related concepts. The fourth and final stage is the formal operational stage, which begins about the age of 12. Here children begin to think abstractly and use general principles to resolve various problems.

Recent research supports Piaget’s emphasis on the importance of the early years for children’s cognitive development. Scientists have found that brain activity develops rapidly in the earliest years of life. Stimulation from a child’s social environment enhances this development, while a lack of stimulation impairs it. Children whose parents or other caregivers routinely play with them and talk, sing, and read to them have much better neurological and cognitive development than other children (Riley, San Juan, Klinkner, & Ramminger, 2009). By providing a biological basis for the importance of human stimulation for children, this research underscores both the significance of interaction and the dangers of social isolation. For both biological and social reasons, socialization is not fully possible without extensive social interaction.

Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Moral Development

An important part of children’s reasoning is their ability to distinguish right from wrong and to decide on what is morally correct to do. Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987) said that children develop their ability to think and act morally through several stages. In the preconventional stage, young children equate what is morally right simply to what keeps them from getting punished. In the conventional stage, adolescents realize that their parents and society have rules that should be followed because they are morally right to follow, not just because disobeying them leads to punishment. At the postconventional stage, which occurs in late adolescence and early adulthood, individuals realize that higher moral standards may supersede those of their own society and even decide to disobey the law in the name of these higher standards. If people fail to reach at least the conventional stage, Kohlberg (1969) said, they do not develop a conscience and instead might well engage in harmful behavior if they think they will not be punished. Incomplete moral development, Kohlberg concluded, was a prime cause of antisocial behavior.

Carol Gilligan believes that girls take personal relationships into account during their moral development.

Vladimir Pustovit – Girls – CC BY 2.0.

One limitation of Kohlberg’s research was that he studied only boys. Do girls go through similar stages of moral development? Carol Gilligan (1982) concluded that they do not. Whereas boys tend to use formal rules to decide what is right or wrong, she wrote, girls tend to take personal relationships into account. If people break a rule because of some important personal need or because they are trying to help someone, then their behavior may not be wrong. Put another way, males tend to use impersonal, universalistic criteria for moral decision making, whereas females tend to use more individual, particularistic criteria.

An example from children’s play illustrates the difference between these two forms of moral reasoning. If boys are playing a sport, say basketball, and a player says he was fouled, they may disagree—sometimes heatedly—over how much contact occurred and whether it indeed was enough to be a foul. In contrast, girls in a similar situation may decide in the interest of having everyone get along to call the play a “do-over.”

Erikson and Identity Development

We noted earlier that the development of the self is not limited to childhood but instead continues throughout the life span. More generally, although socialization is most important during childhood and adolescence, it, too, continues throughout the life span. Psychologist Erik Erikson (1902–1990) explicitly recognized this central fact in his theory of identity development (Erikson, 1980). This sort of development, he said, encompasses eight stages of life across the life course. In the first four stages, occurring in succession from birth to age 12, children ideally learn trust, self-control, and independence and also learn how to do tasks whose complexity increases with their age. If all this development goes well, they develop a positive identity, or self-image.

The fifth stage occurs in adolescence and is especially critical, said Erikson, because teenagers often experience an identity crisis . This crisis occurs because adolescence is a transition between childhood and adulthood: adolescents are leaving childhood but have not yet achieved adulthood. As they try to work through all the complexities of adolescence, teenagers may become rebellious at times, but most eventually enter young adulthood with their identities mostly settled. Stages 6, 7, and 8 involve young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood, respectively. In each of these stages, people’s identity development is directly related to their family and work roles. In late adulthood, people reflect on their lives while trying to remain contributing members of society. Stage 8 can be a particularly troubling stage for many people, as they realize their lives are almost over.

Erikson’s research helped stimulate the further study of socialization past adolescence, and today the study of socialization during the years of adulthood is burgeoning. We return to adulthood in Chapter 4 “Socialization” , Section 4.4 “Socialization Through the Life Course” and address it again in the discussion of age and aging in Chapter 12 “Aging and the Elderly” .

Key Takeaways

• Cooley and Mead explained how one’s self-concept and self-image develop.
• Freud focused on the need to develop a proper balance among the id, ego, and superego.
• Piaget wrote that cognitive development among children and adolescents occurs from four stages of social interaction.
• Kohlberg wrote about stages of moral development and emphasized the importance of formal rules, while Gilligan emphasized that girls’ moral development takes into account personal relationships.
• Erikson’s theory of identity development encompasses eight stages, from infancy through old age.

For Your Review

• Select one of the theories of socialization in this section, and write about how it helps you to understand your own socialization.
• Gilligan emphasized that girls take social relationships into account in their moral development, while boys tend to stress the importance of formal rules. Do you agree with her argument? Why or why not?

Cooley, C. H. (1902). Social organization . New York, NY: Scribner’s.

Erikson, E. H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle . New York, NY: Norton.

Freud, S. (1933). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis . New York, NY: Norton.

Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kohlberg, L. (1969). States in the development of moral thought and action . New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child . New York, NY: Basic Books.

Riley, D., San Juan, R. R., Klinkner, J., & Ramminger, A. (2009). Intellectual development: Connecting science and practice in early childhood settings . St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

Sociology Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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7.3: The Importance of Socialization

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Learning Outcomes

• Explain the importance of socialization both for individuals and society
• Distinguish nature from nurture in socialization

Socialization is the lifelong process through which people learn the values and norms of a given society. Socialization is not the same as socializing . Socializing is to mix socially with others (i.e., family, friends, neighbors, coworkers), whereas socialization is a process that may include socializing as one element, but is a more complex, multi-faceted and formative set of interactive experiences. It is also an adaptive lifelong learning experience, because society is constantly changing, and because we may find ourselves in new situations—such as a new job with different norms and values, or in a different familial role—such as that of parent or caregiver to an older relative.

As Danielle’s story from the beginning of this module illustrates, even the most basic human activities are learned. You may be surprised to know that even physical tasks like sitting, standing, and walking had not automatically developed for Danielle as she grew. And without socialization, Danielle hadn’t learned about the material culture of her society (the tangible objects a culture uses): for example, she couldn’t hold a spoon, bounce a ball, or use a chair for sitting. She also hadn’t learned its nonmaterial culture, such as its beliefs, values, and norms. She had no understanding of the concept of “family,” didn’t know cultural expectations for using a bathroom, and had no sense of modesty. Most importantly, she hadn’t learned to use the symbols that make up language—through which we learn about who we are, how we fit in with other people, and the natural and social worlds in which we live.

Sociologists have long been fascinated by circumstances like Danielle’s—in which a child receives sufficient human support to survive, but virtually no social interaction—because they highlight how much we depend on social interaction to provide the information and skills we need to be part of society or even to develop a “self.”

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Socialization is critical both to individuals and to the societies in which they live. As individuals, social interaction provides us the means by which we gradually become able to see ourselves through the eyes of others, and how we learn who we are and how we fit into the larger world. In addition, to function successfully in society, we have to learn the basics of both material and nonmaterial culture, everything from how to dress ourselves to what’s suitable attire for a specific occasion; from when we sleep to what we sleep on; and from what’s considered appropriate to eat for dinner and even how to use the stove to prepare it. Most importantly, we have to learn language—whether it’s the dominant language or one common in a subculture, whether it’s verbal or through signs—in order to communicate and to think. As we saw with Danielle, without socialization we have no commonly recognizable sense of self.

For society to function, the socialization of individuals is necessary. Although how this occurs and what is transmitted in terms of cultural norms and values differs, every society relies upon socialization to ensure its survival. A core value in the United States is democracy, so children in the U.S. might hear about voting or go to vote with their families before they even begin school. Once in school, they will learn about American history, civics, and citizenship. Students also learn the ways that the U.S. has not upheld democratic ideals and has disenfranchised various groups of people. Thus, in addition to voting and learning how to use material objects such as voting machines, children also learn about various social movements and leaders who resisted the existing social norms in order to facilitate change. Learning about how society has failed to live up to its ideals (and continues to struggle in certain areas) helps citizens not only to understand values and norms on a personal level, but also to see the importance of values and norms in society, as well as how these can change over time. Remember that socialization is a lifelong process, so in our example, people will continue to examine whether or not the U.S. is living up to its democratic ideals over many years.

Watch this video to learn more about what it means to be socialized, and what things contribute to socialization. The video provides an effective overview of several concepts related to socialization that will be covered in this module.

An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/its/?p=162

Nature versus Nurture

Some experts argue that who we are is based entirely on genetics or our biological makeup. According to this belief, our temper a ments, interests, and talents are set before birth. From this perspective, who we are depends on nature . Others, including most sociologists, assert that who we are is a result of nurture —the relationships and environments that surround us.

One way researchers attempt to measure the impact of nature is by studying twins. Some studies have followed identical twins who were raised separately. The pairs shared the same genetic inheritance, but in some cases were socialized in different ways. Instances of this situation are rare, but studying the degree to which identical twins raised apart are the same or different can give researchers insight into the way our temperaments, preferences, and abilities are shaped by our genetic makeup versus our social environment.

For example, in 1968 twin girls born to a mentally ill mother were put up for adoption, separated from each other, and raised in different households. The adoptive parents, and certainly the adoptees themselves, did not know the girls were one of five pairs of twins who were made subjects of a scientific study (Flam 2007).

In 2003, the two women, then age thirty-five, were reunited. Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein sat together in awe, feeling like they were looking into a mirror. Not only did they look alike but they also behaved alike, using the same hand gestures and facial expressions (Spratling 2007). Studies like these point to the genetic roots of our temperament and behavior.

Learn about the famous twins, Oskar and Jack, who were separated as infants and led strikingly different lives . You can visit the article “Separated at Birth” to read about five other sets of twins who grew up apart and discovered each other later in life.

Though genetics and hormones play an important role in human behavior, sociology’s larger concern is the effect society has on human behavior–the “nurture” side of the nature-versus-nurture debate. What race were the twins? From what social class were their parents? What about gender? Religion? All these factors affected the lives of the twins as much as their genetic makeup, and are critical to consider as we look at life through the sociological lens.

The Life of Chris Langan, the Smartest Man You’ve Never Heard Of

Bouncer. Firefighter. Factory worker. Cowboy. Chris Langan spent the majority of his adult life just getting by with jobs like these. He had no college degree, few resources, and a past filled with much disappointment. Chris Langan also had an IQ of over 195, nearly 100 points higher than the average person (Brabham 2001). So why didn’t Chris become a neurosurgeon, professor, or aeronautical engineer? According to Macolm Gladwell (2008) in his book Outliers: The Story of Success , Chris didn’t possess the set of social skills necessary to succeed on such a high level—skills that aren’t innate but learned.

Gladwell looked to a recent study conducted by sociologist Annette Lareau in which she closely shadowed 12 families from various economic backgrounds and examined their parenting techniques. Parents from lower income families followed a strategy of “accomplishment of natural growth,” which is to say they let their children develop on their own with a large amount of independence; parents from higher-income families, however, “actively fostered and accessed a child’s talents, opinions, and skills” (Gladwell 2008). These parents were more likely to engage in analytical conversation, encourage active questioning of the establishment, and foster development of negotiation skills. The parents were also able to introduce their children to a wide range of activities, from sports to music to accelerated academic programs. When one middle-class child was denied entry to a gifted and talented program, the mother petitioned the school and arranged additional testing until her daughter was admitted. Lower-income parents, however, were more likely to unquestioningly obey authorities such as school boards. Their children were not being socialized to comfortably confront the system and speak up (Gladwell 2008).

What does this have to do with Chris Langan, deemed by some the smartest man in the world (Brabham 2001)? Chris was born in severe poverty, moving across the country with an abusive and alcoholic stepfather. His genius went largely unnoticed. After accepting a full scholarship to Reed College, he lost his funding after his mother failed to fill out necessary paperwork. Unable to successfully make his case to the administration, Chris, who had received straight A’s the previous semester, was given F’s on his transcript and forced to drop out. After he enrolled in Montana State, an administrator’s refusal to rearrange his class schedule left him unable to find the means necessary to travel the 16 miles to attend classes. What Chris had in brilliance, he lacked in practical intelligence, or what psychologist Robert Sternberg defines as “knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect” (Sternberg et al. 2000). Such knowledge was never part of his socialization.

Chris gave up on school and began working an array of blue-collar jobs, pursuing his intellectual interests on the side. Though he’s recently garnered attention for his “Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe,” he remains weary of and resistant to the educational system.

As Gladwell concluded, “He’d had to make his way alone, and no one—not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses—ever makes it alone” (2008).

Chris is a white male who was born in the United States, though he also faced considerable economic and domestic challenges. How would the story change if our example was a female immigrant, with dark skin? Social class and what Pierre Bourdieu calls “cultural capital” are important in directing one’s life chances, but perhaps equally important are race/ethnicity, gender, economic class, and whether one is perceived as an immigrant or a native-born citizen.

Sociologists all recognize the importance of socialization for healthy individual and societal development. But how do scholars working in the three major theoretical paradigms approach this topic?

Structural functionalists would say that socialization is essential to society, both because it trains members to operate successfully within it and because it perpetuates culture by transmitting it to new generations. Without socialization, a society’s culture would destabilize and ultimately perish as members died off.

A conflict theorist might argue that socialization reproduces inequality from generation to generation by conveying different expectations and norms to those with different social characteristics. For example, individuals are socialized differently by gender, social class, and race. As in Chris Langan’s case, this creates different (unequal) opportunities.

An interactionist studying socialization is concerned with face-to-face exchanges and symbolic communication. For example, dressing baby boys in blue and baby girls in pink is one small way we convey messages about differences in gender roles.

Think It Over

• Why are twin studies an important way to learn about the relative effects of genetics and socialization on children? What questions about human development do you believe twin studies are best for answering? For what types of questions would twin studies not be as helpful?
• Why do you think that people like Chris Langan continue to have difficulty even after they are helped through societal systems? How does this story help you understand the role of nature and the role of nurture?

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Introduction to Socialization

What you’ll learn to do: explain socialization and describe its major theories.

How did you develop your sense of identity, and what makes you you ? While psychologists generally focus on how the mind and internal thought processes lead to the development of the self, sociologists focus their study on the role of society and social interaction in self-development. How did the environment and others shape who you are today? When, and how, did you develop a concept of right and wrong?

In this section, you’ll examine the work of behavioral scientists and consider what factors influence your identity and awareness.

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Resources: Discussions and Assignments

Module 4 assignment: agents of socialization.

In this module, you learned about the importance of socialization, how various agents and institutions play a role in socializing an individual, and how these experiences in socialization impact the individual across their lifespan. In this assignment, you will apply this information by analyzing the agents of socialization as they impact a specific individual in writing an essay between 400-600 words.

STEP 1: Identify and briefly describe the agents of socialization. Please include information like: general age of a person in which the agent plays a specific role, importance of the agent in socialization, how long these agents remain relevant, and when these agents are most relevant.

STEP 2: Choose an individual to use as a case study to better understand each agent of socialization. This example can be a real person, or it can be character from a television show, movie, or book. Discuss the various change agents this person has in their life. Describe, in detail, the specific roles these change agents play in socialization of the individual.

STEP 3: In a majority of situations, change agents aren’t always “on the same page” and social expectations between agents may create difficulty or conflict for an individual. Using your example, identify a situation in which the social expectation varied between agents. What are some ways an individual may respond to these conflicting expectations? What issues may arise for an individual as they navigate these expectations? What are some ways clinicians can assist in this area?

• Assignment: Agents of Socialization. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Agents of Socialization: Definition & Examples

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On This Page:

Agents of socialization are the people, groups, and social institutions that affect one’s self-concept, attitudes, and behaviors. For example, parents, teachers, priests, television personalities, rock stars, etc.

Agents of socialization teach people what society expects of them. They tell them what is right and wrong, and they give them the skills they need to function as members of their culture.

• Primary agents of socialization include people with whom we have a close intimate relationship, such as parents, and usually occur when people are very young.
• The family is usually considered the primary agent of socialization , and schools, peer groups, and the mass media are considered secondary socialization agencies.
• Secondary agents of socialization are groups or institutions that influence an individual’s socialization process after or alongside primary agents like family.
• They include secondary relationships (not close, personal, or intimate) and function to “Liberate the individual from a dependence upon the primary attachments and relationships formed within the family group” (Parsons, 1951).
• Unlike primary agents of socialization (such as family and peers), secondary agents are typically less influential in shaping an individual’s fundamental beliefs and values.

What is Socialization?

Socialization is the process of learning the norms and customs of a society. Through socialization, people learn how to behave in a way that is acceptable to their culture.

Socialization also helps to ensure that members of a society know and understand the rules that they are expected to follow so that they can function effectively in society or within a particular group (Ochs, 1999).

The process of socialization can happen throughout one’s life, but it is most intense during childhood and adolescence when people are learning about their roles and how to interact with others.

Adult socialization may occur when people find themselves in new circumstances, especially in a culture with norms and customs that differ from theirs.

Several agents of socialization play a role in shaping a person’s identity, including family, media, religion, schools, and peer groups (Ochs, 1999).

The Purpose of Socialization

The purpose of socialization is to teach people the norms and customs of their culture so that they can function within it.

Norms are the rules that dictate how people are expected to behave in a given situation. Customs, meanwhile, are the traditional practices of a culture, such as its values, beliefs, and rituals (Ochs, 1999).

Socialization also helps to instill a sense of social control within members of a society so that they conform to its rules and regulations.

Social control is the process by which a society tries to ensure that its members behave acceptably. It can be done through punishments, rewards, or simply by teaching people what is expected of them. In some cases, social control is necessary to maintain order and prevent chaos.

In other cases, it may be used to protect the interests of those in power or to promote a certain ideology (Ochs, 1999).

Example Agents of Socialization

We normally refer to the people responsible for our socialization as agents of socialization and, by extension, we can also talk about agencies of socialization (such as our family, the education system, the media, and so forth).

Family members can include parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The family is the first and most important agent of socialization for children.

It is through families that people learn about culture and how to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. Families also teach people about language and communication, how to relate to others, and how the world works.

For example, families teach their children the difference between strangers and friends and what is real and imagined (Kinsbury & Scanzoni, 2009).

Race, social class, religion, and other societal factors influence the experiences of families and, as a result, the socialization of children.

Families from some cultures may socialize for obedience and conformity, while those from others may do so for creativity and individualism. Families from different social classes may have different lifestyles and provide their children with different opportunities for learning.

Gender norms, perceptions of race, and class-related behaviors also influence family socialization. For example, countries that provide paternity leave and accept stay-at-home fathers in the social landscape are more likely to socialize male children to be more willing to care for children when they are adults (Kinsbury & Scanzoni, 2009).

Schools are an important secondary agent of socialization. Most students spend most of the day at school, immersing themselves in both academic subjects and behaviors like teamwork, following a schedule, and using textbooks (Durkheim, 1898).

These school rituals reinforce what society expects from children. As Bowles and Gintis (1976) discuss, schools in much of the US and Western Europe instill a sense of competition into the way grades are awarded, and the way teachers evaluate students.

By participating in a race or math contest, children learn that in order to succeed, they must be better than others. This is an important value in capitalist societies , where people are expected to strive for personal gain.

In contrast, schools may also place more emphasis on working together and cooperating with others, as this is seen as a way to achieve the collective good.

Alternatively, in countries like Japan, children are expected to conform to group norms and not question teachers.

The type of school a child attends also shapes their socialization. For example, children who attend private schools are more likely to have parents who are wealthy and well-educated.

As a result, these children learn different values and beliefs than those who attend public school. Nonetheless, schools everywhere teach children the essential features of their societies and how to cope with bureaucracy, rules, expectations, waiting their turn, and sitting still for hours during the day (Bowles & Gintis, 1976).

3. Community / Neighborhood

Communities or neighborhoods consist of a group of people living in the same geographic area under common laws or groups of people sharing fellowship, a friendly association, and common interests.

The community is a socializing agent because it is where children learn the role expectations for adults as well as themselves. The community provides a sense of identity to individuals and helps to define what is right or wrong.

Children can acquire this socialization by modeling adults, having rules enforced on them, or experiencing consequences for their behavior (Putnam, 2000).

It also teaches children how to interact with people who are different from them in terms of race, ethnicity, social class, and religion. For example, children learn that it is polite to speak quietly in the library, but they can be loud when they are playing with friends at the park.

The community also offers opportunities for children to explore their interests and talents. For example, some communities have youth clubs, sports teams, and scouting groups. These activities allow children to try new things, make friends, and develop a sense of responsibility (Putnam, 2000).

People learn from their peers (the people of their own age and similar social status) how to dress, talk, and behave. People also learn about what is important to one’s peer group and what is not.

During adolescence, peers become even more important as agents of socialization. This is because adolescents are exploring their identities and trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in the world.

Peers provide support and guidance during this time and help people learn about the norms and values of their culture — as well as what to wear, eat, watch, and where to spend time.

On the downside, adolescent peer influences have been seen as responsible for underage drinking, drug use, delinquency, and hate crimes (Agnew, 2015).

During peoples’ 20s and 30s, peer groups tend to diminish in importance. This is because people are more likely to be working and have less free time. In addition, people are more likely to be married or in a committed relationship.

As a result, they are less likely to spend time with friends and more likely to socialize within their families.

However, parents with young children may broaden their peer groups further and accept more influence as they reach out to their surrounding communities to care for their children (Vandall, 2000).

5. Mass Media

The media works by providing information to a wide audience via television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet. This broad dissemination of information greatly influences social norms (Roberts, Foehr, and Rideout 2005).

The media teaches people about material objects, current events, and fashion but also enforces nonmaterial culture: beliefs, values, and norms. It also teaches people how to think about and react to political events, such as elections.

In addition, it provides information about what is happening in other parts of the world, how people in other cultures live, and how people from a particular society should perceive the way that others live.

6. Religion

Religions can be both formal and informal institutions and are an important avenue of socialization for many people.

Synagogues, temples, churches, mosques, and similar religious communities teach participants how to interact with their religion’s material culture — for example, the mezuzah, a prayer rug, or a communion wafer.

The ceremonies upheld by religion can often relate to family structure — like marriage and birth rituals, and religious institutions can reinforce gender norms through socialization. This reinforces the family unit’s power dynamics and fosters a shared set of values transmitted through the rest of society (Pearson-Merkowitz & Gimpel, 2009).

Historically, religious institutions have played a significant role in social change. For example, the civil rights movement in the United States was led by religious leaders such as Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Similarly, the women’s suffrage movement was also partly motivated by religious beliefs.

Today, religion continues to shape people”s socialization experiences. For instance, some religions encourage members to protest wars and volunteer to help the poor. In all of these cases, religious institutions socialize people to behave in a way that favors once-vulnerable groups (Pearson-Merkowitz & Gimpel, 2009).

7. Government

The government is another agent of socialization. It enacts laws that uphold social norms and values, and it also provides institutions and services that support citizens.

Government is notable in that it can fund a number of institutions that encourage socialization. For example, the government funds public schools, which play a key role in children”s socialization.

The government also funds other programs that provide opportunities for social interaction, such as after-school programs, parks, and recreation centers (Oberfield, 2014).

The military is another example of how the government can influence people”s socialization experiences.

For instance, the military teaches people how to work together in a hierarchy, follow orders, and use violence to achieve objectives. People who serve in the military often come from different backgrounds and have different values.

As a result, the military can be an agent for socializing people to collaborate with those from disparate races and classes against a common opponent (Oberfield, 2014).

The government can also create roles through legislation. For example, governments usually define an “adult” as being at least eighteen years old, the age at which a person becomes legally responsible for themselves.

Meanwhile, 65 brings the onset of “old age” as seniors become eligible for benefits. These roles motivate people to be socialized into a different category, learning to conform to both the government”s and broader society”s expectations of age (Oberfield, 2014).

Other Agents of Socialization (Ethnicity and class)

Ethnic socialization is the process by which people learn about their ethnic group’s culture and history. It is a type of socialization that occurs within ethnic groups.

Ethnic socialization helps prepare children for the challenges and opportunities they will face as members of an ethnic group. It also helps them develop a positive sense of self and a strong sense of identity.

It can also lead to the acquisition of patterns of speech, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes of an ethnic group by an individual who comes to see themselves come to see themselves and others as members of that group.

Both parents and peers are primary ethnic socialization agents, but agents as large as the media and the wider community also play a role (Conger & Dogan, 2007).

Class socialization is the process by which people learn about their social class and how to behave in a way that is appropriate for their class. It is a type of socialization that occurs within social classes.

Like ethnic socialization, class socialization helps prepare children for the challenges and opportunities they will face as members of a social class.

Children who undergo class socialization learn to discern other members of their social class as well as develop attitudes of trust and mistrust toward those from other social groups (Conger & Dogan, 2007).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between socialization and enculturation.

Enculturation is a process by which people learn the customs and traditions of their culture. Socialization, on the other hand, is the process by which people learn the norms and values of their society.

While socialization is the process of learning socially acceptable behavior in every culture, enculturation is the process of socialization in a particular culture. That is to say, enculturation is a product of socialization (Cromdal, 2006).

What is the difference between culture and socialization?

Culture is the unique set of beliefs, values, customs, and knowledge of a group of people. Socialization is the process by which people learn the norms and values of their culture. Culture is passed down from generation to generation through socialization (Cromdal, 2006).

One way to think about the difference between culture and socialization is that culture is what people believe, and socialization is how those beliefs are transmitted.

For example, American culture is often classified as highly individualistic. Individualism is the idea that each person is responsible for themselves. This belief is passed down through socialization experiences, such as parents teaching their children to be independent.

What are the most important agents of socialization?

Agents of socialization are the individuals, groups, or institutions that influence our self-concepts, attitudes, behaviors, and orientations toward life. They play a crucial role in shaping us into socially adept individuals.

The most important agents of socialization typically include:

Family: The family is usually the first and most impactful agent of socialization. From infancy, family members impart values, norms, and biases, influencing a child’s personality, emotional development, and behavior.

Schools: After the family, schools play a significant role in socialization. They expose children to new cultural values, expectations, and peer groups, and help them develop a sense of independence.

Agnew, R. (2015). General strain theory and delinquency. The handbook of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice, 2 , 239-256

Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (2011).  Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life . Haymarket Books.

Cromdal, J. (2006). Socialization .

Conger, R. D., & Dogan, S. J. (2007). Social Class and Socialization in Families .

Kingsbury, N., & Scanzoni, J. (2009). Structural-functionalism. In Sourcebook of family theories and methods (pp. 195-221). Springer.

Parsons, T. E., & Shils, E. A. (1951). Toward a general theory of action .

Pearson-Merkowitz, S., & Gimpel, J. G. (2009). Religion and political socialization. The Oxford handbook of religion and American politics , 164-190.

Oberfield, Z. W. (2014). Becoming bureaucrats: Socialization at the front lines of government service . University of Pennsylvania Press.

Ochs, E. (1999). Socialization. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9 (1/2), 230-233.

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community . Simon and schuster.

Rideout, V., Roberts, D. F., & Foehr, U. G. (2005). Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18-Year-olds . Executive Summary.

Vandell, D. L. (2000). Parents, peer groups, and other socializing influences. Developmental psychology, 36 (6), 699.

Challenges of the Socialization Process Essay

Introduction, works cited.

Socialization is an integral part of human life, and it determines one’s success in many spheres. However, even though this process is significantly affected by hereditary factors, the environment seems more important for determining one’s interaction patterns with peers (“Chapter 4”). For example, the pandemic’s beginning proved that external circumstances lead to the emergence of restrictions, which modify how people communicate (Dagalev et al.). Therefore, personality development within a community is limited by the government’s policies, and personal conditions do not play a significant role.

Any shifts in public life, such as the spread of coronavirus infection and measures intended to combat it, change citizens’ values related to the social aspect. Thus, according to Dagalev et al., similar events result in the formation of new norms of socializing, which influence the dynamics in this area. Young people are reported to find ways of communicating with friends, which are mostly connected to playing online games together (Dagalev et al.). In this situation, it is evident that the skills developed in the process will drastically differ from those of the previous generations, who benefited from physical meetings with others. This challenge allows considering the change as a negative phenomenon because the creation of the self is unlikely to be successfully performed.

In conclusion, the described problem of the dependency of socialization on the external environment presents a threat to youngsters’ future. Their interactions online for all occasions cannot substitute real-life communication and, consequently, do not contribute to the formation of a healthy personality. Thus, such occasions seem alarming from the perspective of people’s psychological well-being and should be addressed in the first place since they are more important than hereditary factors.

Dagalev, Deni, et al. “Socialization in the “New Normal.” UNICEF North Macedonia, 2020. Web.

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Introduction to Socialization

Chapter outline.

In the summer of 2005, police detective Mark Holste followed an investigator from the Department of Children and Families to a home in Plant City, Florida. They were there to look into a statement from the neighbor concerning a shabby house on Old Sydney Road. A small girl was reported peering from one of its broken windows. This seemed odd because no one in the neighborhood had seen a young child in or around the home, which had been inhabited for the past three years by a woman, her boyfriend, and two adult sons.

Who was the mystery girl in the window?

Entering the house, Detective Holste and his team were shocked. It was the worst mess they’d ever seen, infested with cockroaches, smeared with feces and urine from both people and pets, and filled with dilapidated furniture and ragged window coverings.

Detective Holste headed down a hallway and entered a small room. That’s where he found the little girl, with big, vacant eyes, staring into the darkness. A newspaper report later described the detective’s first encounter with the child: “She lay on a torn, moldy mattress on the floor. She was curled on her side . . . her ribs and collarbone jutted out . . . her black hair was matted, crawling with lice. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her skin . . . She was naked—except for a swollen diaper. … Her name, her mother said, was Danielle. She was almost seven years old” (DeGregory 2008).

Detective Holste immediately carried Danielle out of the home. She was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and evaluation. Through extensive testing, doctors determined that, although she was severely malnourished, Danielle was able to see, hear, and vocalize normally. Still, she wouldn’t look anyone in the eyes, didn’t know how to chew or swallow solid food, didn’t cry, didn’t respond to stimuli that would typically cause pain, and didn’t know how to communicate either with words or simple gestures such as nodding “yes” or “no.” Likewise, although tests showed she had no chronic diseases or genetic abnormalities, the only way she could stand was with someone holding onto her hands, and she “walked sideways on her toes, like a crab” (DeGregory 2008).

What had happened to Danielle? Put simply: beyond the basic requirements for survival, she had been neglected. Based on their investigation, social workers concluded that she had been left almost entirely alone in rooms like the one where she was found. Without regular interaction—the holding, hugging, talking, the explanations and demonstrations given to most young children—she had not learned to walk or to speak, to eat or to interact, to play or even to understand the world around her. From a sociological point of view, Danielle had not been socialized.

Socialization is the process through which people are taught to be proficient members of a society. It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society’s beliefs, and to be aware of societal values. Socialization is not the same as socializing (interacting with others, like family, friends, and coworkers); to be precise, it is a sociological process that occurs through socializing. As Danielle’s story illustrates, even the most basic of human activities are learned. You may be surprised to know that even physical tasks like sitting, standing, and walking had not automatically developed for Danielle as she grew. And without socialization, Danielle hadn’t learned about the material culture of her society (the tangible objects a culture uses): for example, she couldn’t hold a spoon, bounce a ball, or use a chair for sitting. She also hadn’t learned its nonmaterial culture, such as its beliefs, values, and norms. She had no understanding of the concept of “family,” didn’t know cultural expectations for using a bathroom for elimination, and had no sense of modesty. Most importantly, she hadn’t learned to use the symbols that make up language—through which we learn about who we are, how we fit with other people, and the natural and social worlds in which we live.

Sociologists have long been fascinated by circumstances like Danielle’s—in which a child receives sufficient human support to survive, but virtually no social interaction—because they highlight how much we depend on social interaction to provide the information and skills that we need to be part of society or even to develop a “self.”

The necessity for early social contact was demonstrated by the research of Harry and Margaret Harlow. From 1957 to 1963, the Harlows conducted a series of experiments studying how rhesus monkeys, which behave a lot like people, are affected by isolation as babies. They studied monkeys raised under two types of “substitute” mothering circumstances: a mesh and wire sculpture, or a soft terrycloth “mother.” The monkeys systematically preferred the company of a soft, terrycloth substitute mother (closely resembling a rhesus monkey) that was unable to feed them, to a mesh and wire mother that provided sustenance via a feeding tube. This demonstrated that while food was important, social comfort was of greater value (Harlow and Harlow 1962; Harlow 1971). Later experiments testing more severe isolation revealed that such deprivation of social contact led to significant developmental and social challenges later in life.

In the following sections, we will examine the importance of the complex process of socialization and how it takes place through interaction with many individuals, groups, and social institutions. We will explore how socialization is not only critical to children as they develop but how it is also a lifelong process through which we become prepared for new social environments and expectations in every stage of our lives. But first, we will turn to scholarship about self-development, the process of coming to recognize a sense of self, a “self” that is then able to be socialized.

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• Authors: Heather Griffiths, Nathan Keirns
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: Introduction to Sociology 2e
• Publication date: Apr 24, 2015
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-2e/pages/1-introduction-to-sociology
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-2e/pages/5-introduction-to-socialization

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How to Write a Short Essay

Last Updated: January 17, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 111,472 times.

Essay writing is a common assignment in high school or college courses, especially within the humanities. You’ll also be asked to write essays for college admissions and scholarships. In a short essay (250-500 words), you will need to provide an introduction with a thesis, a body, and a conclusion, as you would with a longer essay. Depending on the essay requirements, you may also need to do academic or online research to find sources to back up your claims.

Picking a Topic and Gathering Research

• If you have any questions about the topic, ask your instructor. If your essay doesn't respond to the prompt, you likely won't receive full credit.

• If you're writing an essay for an in-class test or for an application, tailor the essay to the given prompt and topic. Quickly brainstorm a few ideas; for example, think of positive things you can say about yourself for a college-entrance essay.
• For example, the topic “depression in American literature” is far too broad. Narrow down your topic to something like “Willie Loman’s depression in Death of a Salesman .”
• Or, you could write about a narrow topic like “the increase in the USA’s national debt in the 1950s” rather than a broad topic like “the American economy in the 20th century.”

• Depending on the field in which you’re writing the essay—e.g., hard sciences, sociology, humanities, etc.—your instructor will direct you towards appropriate databases. For example, if you’re writing a high-school or college-level essay for your English class, visit online literary databases like JSTOR, LION, and the MLA Bibliography.
• If you're writing the essay for a college or graduate-school application, it's unlikely that you'll need to include any secondary sources.
• If you're writing a timed or in-class essay, you may not be able to find research articles. But, still do draw information from texts and sources you've studied both in and out of class, and build from points made in any provided reading passages.

• If you’re writing about current events or journalism topics, read articles from well-known news sites like CNN or the BBC.
• Avoid citing unreliable websites like blogs or any sites that have a clear bias about the topic they’re reporting on.

Composing the Essay

• If you write the essay without outlining, the essay will be poorly organized.

• This thesis statement is far too weak: “ Death of a Salesman shows the difficulty of living in America after WWII.”
• Instead, hone your thesis to something like: “Arthur Miller uses Death of a Salesman to show that the American Dream is materialist and impractical.”

• So, avoid beginning the paragraph by writing something like, “Since the beginning of time, all people have been consumed with the desire for their father’s approval.”
• Instead, write something like, “In the play Death of a Salesman , Willie Loman’s sons compete for their father’s approval through various masculine displays."
• Then, you can say, "To examine this topic, I will perform a close reading of several key passages of the play and present analyses by noted Arthur Miller scholars."

• In a short essay, the conclusion should do nothing more than briefly restate your main claim and remind readers of the evidence you provided.

• So, take the example about Death of a Salesman . The first body paragraph could discuss the ways in which Willie’s sons try to impress him.
• The second body paragraph could dive into Willie’s hopelessness and despair, and the third paragraph could discuss how Miller uses his characters to show the flaws in their understanding of the American Dream.

• Always cite your sources so you avoid charges of plagiarism. Check with your instructor (or the essay prompt) and find out what citation style you should use.
• For example, if you’re summarizing the inflation of the American dollar during the 1930s, provide 2 or 3 years and inflation-rate percentages. Don’t provide a full-paragraph summary of the economic decline.
• If you're writing an in-class essay and don't have time to perform any research, you don't need to incorporate outside sources. But, it will impress your teacher if you quote from a reading passage or bring up pertinent knowledge you may have gained during the class.

• If no one agrees to read the essay, read over your own first draft and look for errors or spots where you could clarify your meaning. Reading the essay out loud often helps, as you’ll be able to hear sentences that aren’t quite coherent.
• This step does not apply to essays written during a timed or in-class exam, as you won't be able to ask peers to read your work.

• It’s always a mistake to submit an unrevised first draft, whether for a grade, for admissions, or for a scholarship essay.
• However, if you're writing an essay for a timed exam, it's okay if you don't have enough time to combine multiple drafts before the time runs out.

Condensing Your Essay

• So, if you’re writing about Death of a Salesman , an article about symbolism in Arthur Miller’s plays would be useful. But, an article about the average cost of Midwestern hotels in the 1940s would be irrelevant.
• If you’re writing a scholarship essay, double-check the instructions to clarify what types of sources you’re allowed to use.

• A common cliche you might find in an essay is a statement like, "I'm the hardest working student at my school."
• For example, this sentence is too verbose: “I have been a relentlessly stellar student throughout my entire high school career since I am a seriously dedicated reader and thoroughly apply myself to every assignment I receive in class.”
• Shortened, it could read: “I was a stellar student throughout my high school career since I was a dedicated reader and applied myself to every assignment I received.”

• Avoid writing something like, “Willie Loman can be seen as having achieved little through his life because he is not respected by his sons and is not valued by his co-workers.”
• Instead, write, “Arthur Miller shows readers that Willie’s life accomplishments have amounted to little. Willie’s sons do not look up to him, and his co-workers treat him without respect.”

• For example, if you’re trying to prove that WWII pulled the USA out of the Great Depression, focus strictly on an economic argument.
• Avoid bringing in other, less convincing topics. For example, don’t dedicate a paragraph to discussing how much it cost the USA to build fighter jets in 1944.

Short Essay Template and Example

Expert Q&A

• When composing the text of your essay, resist the temptation to pull words from a thesaurus in an attempt to sound academic or intelligent. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If your high school or college has an online or in-person writing center, schedule an appointment. Taking advantage of this type of service can improve your essay and help you recognize structural or grammatical problems you would not have noticed otherwise. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/research_papers/choosing_a_topic.html
• ↑ https://monroecollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=589208&p=4072926
• ↑ https://www.utep.edu/extendeduniversity/utepconnect/blog/march-2017/4-ways-to-differentiate-a-good-source-from-a-bad-source.html
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essay-outline/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/
• ↑ https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/how-to-write-an-essay/essay-introduction
• ↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-write-an-intro--conclusion----body-paragraph.html
• ↑ https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/writingsuccess/chapter/8-3-drafting/
• ↑ https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/how-guides/how-write-university/how-approach-any-assignment/writing-english-essay/using-secondary
• ↑ https://patch.com/michigan/berkley/bp--how-to-shorten-your-college-essay-without-ruining-it
• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/style/ccs_activevoice/
• ↑ https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/01/26/101025_how-to-reduce-essay-word-count.html

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