Process by which individuals learn the norms and values of the society in which we live
Socialization is the process by which people apprehend and internalize the norms and values that prevail in the society in which they live and those that do the same in the specific culture that it holds..
The success that the person achieves in this process will be decisive when it comes to successfully performing within the society to which he belongs, because it will be this aforementioned learning of norms and values that will allow him to obtain the necessary capacities to carry it to a successful conclusion.
The relevance of the process for society and for the individual
The importance of the process then lies in the fact that it is through this that the person becomes a member of a given society and through the person it is that society will be able to transmit and maintain culture, uses and customs over time.
People learn in socialization the language that is spoken, the symbols, beliefs, norms and values that were erecting themselves as absolute referents of the society in question. This last issue of values will also allow differentiating what is good, what is bad, what is expected and what is not expected of a component of society.
Another important issue that we cannot ignore is that the socialization of a person never ends, it begins when he is born and continues throughout his life and the various stages that he goes through and ends with his death.
However, socialization will become more complex in consequent stages as the person grows and develops more and more their cognitive capacity.
Primary and secondary socialization
Scholars of the subject consider that there are two types of socialization, primary and secondary. In the first, the child acquires the first patterns and intellectual and social capacities and it could be said that the family usually plays a fundamental role in this. And high school will take place when certain specific institutions, such as the school or the army, will provide the individual with certain specific competencies that only they can do because of their training and special work.
In primary socialization we can locate the family as a socializing agent, and then educational institutions such as school, co-workers, friends, religion, political parties and the media appear. All of these are highly important socializing agents.
At the beginning of the person's life, few social behaviors will be taught and always under the command of the closest adults, who of course are the parents or the most direct relatives. Later, when the subject grows, it acquires more autonomy and will be cognitively prepared to incorporate other types of content such as values, norms and beliefs.
This cluster will then be transmitted to future generations in a cycle that is constantly renewed.
Also, it is correct to understand socialization as the awareness process carried out by the individual about the social structure in which he is inserted.
Socialization, also designated as socialization it is feasible thanks to the action of those known as social agents, which are none other than the institutions and representative people who have the special capacity to transmit the appropriate cultural elements. Among these socializing agents, they stand out in the first instance family and schoolAlthough of course, they are not the only ones, but they do have a first and formal role of exercising socialization.
According to the trend and the school to which it responds, we can find different points of view about this social process.
For instance, the Austrian psychologist, also considered the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, considered socialization from the point of view of conflict and defined it for this as the process through which individuals learn to contain your innate antisocial instincts.
On your side, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget has taken as a starting point egocentrism, which according to him is one of the fundamental aspects of the human condition, which can be controlled through the mechanisms imposed by socialization.
