Identifying the Agencies of Socialization - Essay Example

Education is a value that can be attained in both formal and informal settings. The former meant engaging self in an educative process within the confines of educational institutions while the latter pertains to the acquisition of knowledge from experiences, interactions, and socialization.

Social experts define social interaction as a progression where persons inherit the norms, customs and traditions, and ideologies adopted by the society where they live (Freese & Burke, 1991). This paper will explain the value of education and its significant contribution to the process of socialization. Education is perceived as the most effective response to reduce poverty (Global Partnership for Education, 2012). Experts posit that this does not only engage a child to learn and develop comprehension or analytical skills but is considered as an opportunity for social interaction toward the creation of a sustainable economy (GPE, 2012).

It helped increase their knowledge about the need to improve health or about the importance of transparency for good governance. Sociologists contend that education encourages more social interactions to engender a society that is working for gender equality, mitigating impacts for climate change, and reducing poverty (GPE, 2012, p. 1). Education is therefore valued highly, hence, constitutionally upheld among nations as a basic right of every citizen. It is a significant tool for communication and the utilization of language to inculcate proper behaviors as persons integrated into the mainstream and involved constantly in developmental activities as agents for socialization (Wertsch, 1979).

Socialization is indeed necessary for persons to adopt acceptable customs, norms, symbols, languages, behavior, and social skills. As society progresses into a more complex state, a person is more challenged to shape one’s behavior in accordance with the inspirations derived from agents of society. The latter refers to the task of persons and institutions, as agents of socialization, to inculcate the values of social order to every person. This means that persons are molded in the process of transferring behaviors, social rules, norms, expectations, and values that are advocated by agents.

Who and what are the agents for socialization? Sociologists infer that parents, peers, social institutions e.g. schools and religious institutions involved in the efforts of integrating a person into society are agents of socialization. They argued that family, educational institutions, community, social culture, and friends are major stakeholders for a person’s socialization. Other agents for social interaction are mass media, gender realities, and workplaces. Experts divided these agents of change as primary and secondary agents.

The former refers to agents of socialization that are close or immediate to an individual. These are family and friends. The family helps shape the person’s perspective of the world and social realities. This is where the basic lessons on religions and politics are derived. Parents are therefore considered as the strongest responsible agents for the social developments of a child. Sociologists and social workers shared the purview that families and friends shape human behavior and an individual’s life (Wertsch, 1979).

The secondary agents refer to institutions that aided individuals to locate their right or proper place within the community by motivating a child or person to improve their social skills so that they will be integrated into society accordingly (Wertsch, 1979). In the course of socialization, a person will come to understand the causes and reasons about social classes and their impact on the person and society. Some of these may inspire a person to adopt a life-changing change in his beliefs and behaviors depending on his experiences with societal developments and political revolutions (Freese & Burke, 1991).

Such effect, as argued by social scientists, will not only impact a specific person or a group but the entire society. For instance, economic depression will impact a person’s work and lifestyle. Another example is when a major social incident will have a severe impact on society, such as the disastrous tsunami which devastated Japan in 2011 and threatens to destroy its nuclear-based power plants. This reasserts the importance of education for a person to partake in constant learning and unlearning processes.

Indeed, education is crucial for the social development of a person. Without it, a person is put into the sad damnation of ignorance, isolation, anarchic behavior, and violent tendencies (Freese & Burke, 1991). The educative process enjoyed through socialization, empowers a person to rise from conditions; provides a wide array of options to survive; and, creates opportunities to choose proper values, beliefs, religious inclinations, and political perspectives (Freese & Burke, 1991). Education inspires persons and groups to take part in the enculturation of a child to create awareness about right and wrong and for them to freely interact for personal and community growth.

It also assists in nurturing peers acceptance.