How Socialization and Culture Shapes Individual Identity - Essay Example

How Socialization and Culture shapes Individual Identity Introduction Socialisation de s a process where a person gains knowledge and other social skills or values necessary for integration in the community. Socialisation involves adhering to both self-imposed and externally imposed rules and also conforming to the expectations of others in the community. On the other hand, culture refers to the customs or social behaviours embraced by a particular group or society. On the same note, socialisation and culture also tend to shape the identity of persons in a given group or community. This is because, the identity that individuals develop in a given community or society depends on the knowledge, skills and values individuals acquire through socialisation and the customs or traditions that individuals conform to while growing up in a given community (Plummer, 2010). How socialisation shapes individual identity Identity refers to how people or groups view and define themselves and this often occurs through the process of socialisation. On the same note, there are social institutions that influence and shape individual identity; this involves the family, school, community, media and friends. In essence, these institutions play an important role in helping an individual to develop individual identity. With regard to the concept of self-identity, individuals can establish their identities by learning from other members in the family, community or a group. Through these avenues, individuals are able to learn about other people and this make them similar in terms of character or behaviour to other people in the same family, community or group (Plummer, 2010). Through the family, socialisation plays a role in shaping individual identity through the process of interaction and cooperation between family members. In this sense, social identities are acquired by individuals in the family through internalizing the values, norms or roles that are considered appropriate to persons belonging to a particular group or culture. The behaviours or attitudes that individuals develop are influenced by what is dictated by the society. As such, individuals develop their identity by conforming to what the society requires. Further, how the family relate for instance is important in shaping personal identity. Family that work as a unit contributes to the development of individuals who are more open with their issues compared to families that embrace individuality. On another note, families where there is violence contributes to individuals growing up with the same behaviour. This is because their socialisation while growing up revolved around domestic violence (Furze, Savy, Brym & Lie, 2012). Other than the family, the learning institutions where individuals attend have an influence on the type of identity that an individual acquires. During the learning years, socialisation takes place through interaction with friends and peers. In this sense, the behaviours that individuals form is mostly influenced by the kind of friends or peers that an individual associate with while learning at school. The formation of individual identity through friends or peers often occurs through observation and emulating what other friends are doing. For instance, an individual can develop an extrovert or introvert identity depending on the behaviours he or she observes other friends doing. During the process of growing up, an individual passes through stages that include the adolescent stage. At this stage, individuals often faced with identity crisis. As such, individuals often search for friends who will provide them with the identity they desire. This explains the reason why most teenagers are prone to forming various behaviours not familiar to how they are expected to behave by the community and their families (Gergen, 2000). Further, the group or friends that a person associates with plays a role in the development of self-concepts such as self-image and self-esteem. On the other hand, the educators or teachers at school also play a role in the type of identity that a person develops. For instance, where a teacher is able to relate to his or her students in a social manner helps the students to become confident in their abilities and this ensures that students acquire a positive personality towards education and life (Gergen, 2000). The community where a person belongs is also important in shaping individual identity, this is because the community has established norms that influence how individuals are supposed to behave. As such, individuals grow up watching how other community members carry themselves and they emulate their behaviours that eventually, plays a role in shaping their identity. Among different communities, people have rules and norms that they often follow and as such, the identity that they form is often influenced by what they have learned from their community since their formative years. Further, the community acts as an important avenue for socialisation where members can interact and influence the characters of other individuals in the same community. With regard to the media, this is also an important avenue where individuals can form their identity. For instance, children in their formative years associate with role model they observe in the TV to develop their identities (Gergen, 2000). It is a common occurrence to find children identifying themselves with media personalities that they consider a significant part of their life. This often plays a significant role in shaping for instance, the career that a person chooses while growing. The media further provides individuals with an insight regarding real life experiences of other persons that often plays a role in shaping the individual identity of the viewers of such programs on the TV. At present, the advent of social media platforms has also contributed to the formation of individual identity. Social media platforms provide individuals with an avenue to interact with other people from different geographical backgrounds. This provides individuals with an opportunity to learn about their friend’s social life and in turn, this shapes the identity that an individual forms. For instance, an individual may be fascinated with a friend’s social life and this contributes probably to behaviour change (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). In addition, interacting with friends on the social media platform is also important in developing individual identity in that, the profile that individuals post on various social media platform is often influenced by the identity that a person want to present to the outside world. Through the social media platforms, individuals are often eager to present themselves in a positive light in order to attract admiration from friends. This often leads to the development of a twofold identity that includes an identity presented to the public and the private identity not known to the public and friends respectively. Change of environment also leads to development of a new identity in the sense that, a new environment has new norms and roles. As such, individuals in a new environment conform by adopting the new norms and roles. This further means that adopting new norms and roles also result in the development of a new identity not similar to a person’s old environment (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). How culture shapes individual identity In the society, culture denotes the beliefs, customs, the values, roles, skills and knowledge that are passed from one generation to another in a societal set up. Depending on the culture that a person subscribes, this has an influence on the identity that a person acquires. Identity is often shaped by culture in that, the beliefs or customs within a community or a group is dominant in terms of defining the characters and behaviours acquired by individuals. On the same note, individuals often develop characters or behaviours that they believe are acceptable in their community (Cast, Stets & Burke, 1999). Further, the roles that individuals take in the society are also shaped by culture; this is evident in the roles taken by both the male and feminine gender in the society. For instance, while women in a given society may develop a more reserved identity, men on the other hand, have a dominant character and this leads to development of a superior personality compared to their female counterparts. Further, the values that are embraced by a particular community is also important in the identity formation in that, the behaviours that individuals develop while growing depends on the values instilled in them by their family and the community in general. This further has an influence on how an individual relate with the outside world where people come from different cultural backgrounds. In this sense, the values that an individual may exhibit are mostly influenced by what he or she has learnt while growing (Cast, Stets & Burke, 1999). On the other hand, culture also plays a role in the development of individual identity in that there are behaviours in a family or a particular community that are passed from generation to generation. As such, individuals accommodate such behaviours in their lives, and this has an influence in the identity that they form while growing. For example, a family that believes in a culture of achievers has an influence in the individual identity that family members develop. This is because they grow knowing that it is a rule in the family for everyone to achieve in life. This leads to the development of a character where everyone works hard to achieve in life since failure is unacceptable (Bauman, 1991). Conclusion Both socialisation and culture plays an important role in the development of individual identity. This is because, they allow an individual to either acquire characters, skills and knowledge they observe in their environment or conforms to the norms, customs and values that are established in the society. While socialisation is a more formal way of developing individual identity, culture also is an important component of identity formation since individuals conforms to the traditions established in their communities or families. References Bauman, Z. 1991, Modernity and Ambivalence, Cambridge: Polity Press. Cast, A. D., Stets, J. E., & Burke, P. J 1999, ‘Does the self conform to the views of others? Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 62, pp. 68-82. Furze, B., Savy, P., Brym, R. J., & Lie, J. (eds) 2012, Sociology in Today’s World Second Edition, Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning. Gergen, K.J 2000, An Invitation to Social Construction, Sage, London. Macionis, J. J., & Plummer, K 2012 Sociology: A Global Introduction, 5th Edition, Pearson Education Limited, England. Plummer, K 2010, Sociology: The Basics, London: Routledge. Read More