The Importance of Family for Person's Socialization - Assignment Example

Insert Why the Family Is Necessary for a Persons Socialization The family is known as the basic social unit for several reasons. One of the reasons the family is labeled as the basic social unit is that values that shape a society’s collective conscience originates from the family. This is the case since the society is one of the strongest tools for socialization. Specifically, a person is born into a home and a family. This family has values which originate from values that proceed from the shared values holding the marital union of the man and woman (as husband and wife). Thus, when an individual is born into a family, he becomes conscious of the shared values in the marital union, imperceptibly and subconsciously. Again, the family actively and deliberately provides a platform from which the father and mother inculcate values into a child which will live to be an individual adult. In this case, the parents or guardians will reinforce and recommend specific kinds of behavior as virtues (good habits or behavior) and discriminate against others which may be labeled as vices. Parents or guardians may therefore use different tools of reinforcement to ensure that desirable traits are acquired while vices are abstained from. The behavioral approach may be used at this point as virtues may be extolled and rewarded while vices may be condemned verbally or even actively through the meting out of punishment. Parents or guardians may also take the role of a teacher by explaining to the child, why some actions are right and acceptable to the society while others are frowned upon by the society in general. A child who has grown from elementary schooling through his tertiary level of learning being rewarded for his good grades will grow into an individual who believes in diligence and excellence. The same is likely to transfer these values into his career, family life and social circle. The converse of this is also true that children who hail from distraught pasts and dysfunctional families are also likely to be more prone to weak character and even, a life of crime. An apt example to this standpoint is Theodore Robert Cowell (Bundy). Born out of wedlock, Bundy had to live with his grandparents, Samuel and Eleanor Cowell. Samuel Cowell harbored very strong racist tendencies and deeply abhorred blacks, Catholics, Jews and Italians besides being an obnoxious bully, a wife beater and animal beater. At times, Mr. Cowell would swing neighbors’ cats by their tails. One day, Mr. Cowell threw Bundy’s aunt, Julia Cowell down a fleet of stairs for oversleeping. As already stated, Bundy as a child observed Mr. Cowell’s behavioral predispositions and habits and became one of the vilest serial killer, kidnapper, rapist and necrophile in American history. The import of the foregoing is that in the family, an individual gets into contact with his first teachers. As an individual’s first teachers, parents or guardians are very influential since they willingly and unknowingly present the child with a behavioral model, spend considerable time with the child, provide materially, financially, emotionally and psychosocially for the child. As a child grows in the family, he becomes accustomed to family values so that he appreciates his role as a provider, guide and disciplinarian. 2. Defining family (different kinds of families) and socialization A family may be defined as a group of people who are related to one another and are living in a household together. There are different forms of families. A nuclear family comprises the father, mother and children or a child while an extended family consists of the father, mother, children and any other relatives such as uncles, aunts and/ or grandparents. There is also the single-parent family where there is only parent in the family. The other parent’s absence may be necessitated by a divorce, separation or death. There are also the blended-type families which are also known as stepfamilies. These families may be informed by life’s circumstances such as remarriage due to a divorce or death of a spouse. In these kinds of families, children who are biologically unrelated may share the same household and parents or guardians. As a side note, one may want to place the levirate family or a family that has been founded upon the Law of the Levirate under the umbrella of blended-type families, and this may still be credible. This is especially the case if the man carrying out the Law of the Levirate already had children. There are also two forms of non-conventional families: commuter and LGBT types of families. In the case of the former, a parent or a guardian works and lives in a different state or town or county. This forces one parent to provide primary residence since the other parent can only come for relatively short periods of times such as holidays, weekends or during sabbaticals. In the Lesbian or Gay family, children are reared by guardians who are of the same sex. 3. Thesis Statement on What Experiences and Learning Takes Place in the Family The first and most fundamental things that happen to a person growing up is receiving the presence and support of either or both of the parents. 4. Important Point of the Experience Above The first and most fundamental things that happen to a person growing up is receiving the presence and support of either or both of the parents. The presence of a parent(s) to a child’s life is a major factor in a child’s emotional and psychosocial development. Children with a parent(s) or guardian(s) who are constantly stable for them are bound to feel more loved and secured, compared to their counterparts in a different situation. Conversely, studies show that girls who experienced father’s absenteeism during their middle childhood stages have a significantly higher level of emotional stability at school, compared to girls who had present fathers, at the same stage of development. This state of affair is likely to spill over to other areas of development such as academics, self-esteem, socialization and sports. The children of supportive parents have always excelled and rose to be leaders and entrepreneurs. The relative stability that the ruling class enjoys helps its children to grow into abler people and leaders as can be seen in the case of George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jeb Bush and the relative success of the late Professor Benzion Netanyahu’s family. The same is also true that parents or guardians constantly providing their children material, emotional and psychosocial support are likely to rear children who are better-rounded in different and important of areas of development such as academics, self-esteem, socialization, leadership and sports. Just as it is pointed out in the Ericson Model of Personality Development, children who are accorded with challenges, positive correction and encouragement are likely to be more confident and hence, better leaders. This is diametrically opposed to children who were quite often put down, vilified and exposed to embarrassing actions and situations. Theodore Bundy serves as an apt illustration of the future that awaits a child whose parents are not available. Bundy neither knew his father nor had sufficient interaction with his mother, Ms. Eleanor Louise Cowell. 6. A counterargument There are those who argue against the statement above, saying that having a strong or stable family is not an automatic guarantee to a successful child. This school of thought cites the dynamics of life, life’s realities and the power of individual choices as the most significant factors to the creation of individual success. This school of thought may point out successful people (such as Frederick Douglas) who hailed from unstable families and distraught pasts to strengthen its standpoint. However, this argument is not sufficiently plausible since it leaves out the totality of the environment in which an individual is nurtured. A closer look at leaders with an unstable past will reveal that people stepped into take on the role of the missing parent in the life of a leader and transformed the individual before he became a leader. Works Cited McDonald, C; Wiebe, D J; Guerra, T; Thomas, N; Richmond, T S. “The importance of family to youth living in violent communities.” Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 18.7 (2011): 653 – 656. Print Malikow, Max. “The Importance of Family Involvement.” The Educational Forum, 70.1 (2005): 94 – 95. Print Schickedanz, Judith A. “Family Socialization and Academic Achievement.” Journal of Education, 177.1 (1995): 17. Print Read More