The Role of Socialization - Assignment Example

Sociology Name Institution 1. a) Socialization: This is the process in which an individual behaves in accordance with the norms and cultures of the society. The socialization process involves the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values and norms that are necessary in the integration of various people in the society. Socialization involves self-imposed values and skills as well as externally imposed values and rules that allow the individual to interact with others in the society. Primary socialization refers to the process in which an individual or a child learns the norms and values of the society from the home settings. The norms and values of the society are taught by the parents and relatives at home. In fact, it is the behaviour which is termed as appropriate to the whole culture of the society. Secondary socialization is where the norms and values of the society and culture are learnt outside the home stings settings such as learning institutions and religious places. They include learning values and norms that are governing the various institutions attended by the individual (O’Dell, 2010). b) Bricolage: This is the process or trial and error which results in the assembly of various things. In culture and sociology bricolage can be defined as the process in which people acquire some objects from various divisions, which are vital in the assembly of new cultural practices and norms (Shepard, 2009). c) Reciprocity: This is the process where an individual response to a positive action from another individual in a positive manner. This means that, when an individual treats another individual fairly, the individual will also be nicer in response to fair treatment. Therefore, it is a mutual relationship in terms of how people relate to one another (Kolm, 2008). d) Subculture: A subculture is termed as the culture which exists within the mainstream culture. This subculture has its own values and norms which may or may not be related to the main culture (O’Dell, 2010). e) Imagined community: This is a community, which is differentiated from the larger community on the basis of the human face to face interactions. In an imagined community, the people perceive the nation as an imagined community which is socially constructed in a community (Shepard, 2009). 2. The process of gift giving is seen as a way in which individual strengthen their social ties. In addition, gift giving leads to reciprocity which is a mutual relationship of positive responses between two people. When people are used to getting a gift from a certain individual, these people will respond positively to the giver. In such cases, there is a mutual social interaction which is developed between the giver and the receiver. According to the social exchange theory, an individual is expected to reciprocate with a positive reward to those who have done marvellous things to them. Additionally, the social cohesion theory argues that gift giving creates solidarity since people are existing through sharing of resources. This creates favourable morality among the various people in the community. According to Emile Durkheim, mechanic and organic solidarity consists of social ties between different individual in the society and prevents social disintegration. For example, many religious and humanitarian institutions encourage a gift giving holiday in order to promote cohesion and solidarity among various people in the society. This will allow socialization and interaction among the individuals (Komter, 2005). 3. Embodied culture refers to the situation in which cultural practices are inherited (not genetically but in a sense of time) and acquired in one ’s self. This is where the practices and beliefs are passed from one generation of a family to another through socialization and various cultural traditions. The embodiment of culture refers to how people use the psychological and moral cognitions in influencing their lives. This leads to an evolved human nature. Therefore, in cultural embodiment, the human body is used in shaping the human psychology and morals. For example, embodied cognition where all aspects of the human body are crucial in shaping the human cognition. For example, human reasoning and judgment. The bodily interaction with the mind of the person is through sensory and motor neurons of the individual (Krois, 2007). 4. The process of socialization consists of various steps in which a child develops and acquires certain values and norms through their life. It is the way in which children and adults are able to learn social behaviours that are acceptable in the society. It involves the development of self and self-social control, agents in the socialization process and reconstruction of socialization. In fact, the stages in socialization can be simplified into the following stages. a) Investigation phase: this is where the person searches for the best values and norms which are best to adopt. This will help them in selecting the best values which suits their needs. In this way, the individuals are trying to establish their self and social control. b) Socialization phase: this is where the individual accepts the norms of the groups and practices them. The person undergoes a transition from the practices and norms that he or she had to those of the new group. c) Maintenance: in this stage the individual tries to maintain the values and norms of the new group. d) Socialisation: this is where the individuals fail to maintain the norms and values of the group, hence the need to re-establish the interaction process. Socialization ensures that different peoples in the communities are able to live together and avoid individual separations. Boundaries of belonging separate the individual from the entire society while the socialization process unites the individual in ensuring that people of different ethnic backgrounds are able to interact and live together (O’Dell, 2010). 5. Goffman’s dramaturgical theory of the self demonstrates that human beings are able to present themselves as performers, as audience members, and as operators who are able to operate in a different stage of life. In this theory, it is argued that the way human beings present themselves is mainly to achieve impression management. This is crucial in decision making, which are vital in revealing the self of an individual. The main concepts of the theory include performance, setting, appearance, manner and front. The performance of an individual is the set of activities that an individual displays in front of observers. It is through this set of activities that individual gets meaning to their self, to others and to their own situations. Although the performer may not be aware of his or her actions, the actions may be meaningful to the audience. The setting is the place where the performer conducts his or her activities. It is where the interaction between the performer and the audience interacts. In suiting the different audience needs, the performer alters the performance activities depending on the audience. The appearance refers to the performer portrays himself in order to reveal his social status. The dress code of the performer is likely to reveal the gender and social status. Theory, the theory assists the person in realizing his or her self in the presence of others. This is crucial in the creation of social interactions (Ritzer, 2004). 6. The main argument in The Beauty Myth is how about how the cultural aspects of the society are influenced by the beauty. This leads beauty to influence human beings into obsessive pursuits that may not be acceptable in the society. In this book, Naomi is more concerned with feminism and the circulation of images and adverts and how they let women chase for beauty standards which they cannot attain (Wolf, 2009). According to Naomi, beauty is more that the appearance of the woman, but it concerns all aspects of the individual life. Promiscuity, sexual harassment, and other evil women engage in may not define their beauty. Women who engage are desirable standard get promoted in society. Naomi Wolf argues that in the public point of view, women may be considered to be too pretty, yet too ugly for attention. Additionally, wolf links beauty in women with sex hence beautiful women is enjoyable, and all individuals desire to have sex with them. This leads to promiscuity in women. The fact that beauty is linked to sex lead women to see their outside beauty and fails to consider their inner beauty. Therefore, Naomi wolf is more concerned on how women have been influenced by plastic surgery in attaining beauty, which will make the sexually attractive. It is for this reason that fat and older women are not in the public domain since they are considered to be ugly. This leads these women to use excessive cosmetics and surgery in order to look young (Willet, 2010). 7. According to Trinca and Fox, the white collar jobs are influenced by technology. With the development of new working tine schedules, most employees will prefer to work from their homes. This is possible since the internet and developments in computer technology, as well as improvements in mobile phone technologies allow it. Initially, people would attend work from nine o’clock in the morning up to five o’clock in the evening hence separating the time for work, home and recreational activities in the life of a human being. The debate over the working hours has increased with many countries including Australia increasing the working hours which are influencing the work performance. With an increase in working hours, most employees suffer from work related stress which decreases their productivity and performance, as well as their output. Therefore, there has been an increase in work pressure and job insecurity in white collar job (Trinca & Fox, 2004). 8. There is a different class of individuals in the human society. According to the social class theory, those in the high socioeconomic status are capable of accessing most of the valuable resources in the society. In addition, the lower class individuals are dependent on the high class individuals in getting employments while the high class people depend on the lower class people for labour. Therefore, people identify themselves by the groups they belong to. People in high class are able to eat nutritionally balanced diet food while those in the lower class are not able to access high quality food. In addition, the access to food is limited to those in the lower class people due to poverty. Therefore, the access to food and the ability of people to access balanced food can be used to identify the social groups in which people belong to (Andersen & Taylor, 2012). 9. This may lead to poor socialization and racism. The black people and female Australian may feel neglected by their white counterparts. In addition, the society may be divided into a different class of people on the basis of gender and race. Since the society is described as white, the black people will form a different class which will be different from the white class people. This is because the black individuals feel as though they are not part of the nation. Moreover, the female Australian feel neglected, and not part of the society hence may view their male colleagues in a negative and chauvinist way. Therefore, referring the society as white and male may lead to stratification of the Australian society (Komter, 2005). 10. Everyday multiculturalism is where the indigenous people of a country recognise the presence of other foreign individuals in their homelands. In this case, people from different ethnic backgrounds are able to socialise and work together in various workplaces (Wise and Velayutham, 2009). In everyday multiculturalism, interaction between different people from different ethnic groups allows the sharing of ideas and enhances productivity in various sectors of the economy. Therefore, everyday multiculturalism is the normal interaction and socialisation of different people from various ethnic backgrounds in everyday life. On the other official multiculturalism is where the interaction of different people is enhanced by government agencies. In most cases, official multiculturalism is backed by national policies and legislation. Official multiculturalism is influenced by the increased rate of immigration of people from one nation to another. This immigration makes the communities in various states to consist of diverse individuals who have diverse ethnic backgrounds (Amin, 2002). References Amin, A. (2002). Ethnicity and the multicultural city: living with diversity. Environment & Planning, 34 (6), 959-980. Andersen, M., & Taylor, H. (2012). Sociology: The Essentials. Connecticut: Cengage Learning Komter, A. (2005). Social Solidarity and the Gift. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Kolm, S. (2008). Reciprocity: An Economics of Social Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Krois, J. (2007). Embodiment in cognition and culture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Ritzer, G. (2004). Encyclopedia of Social Theory. California: SAGE O’Dell, F. (2010). Socialisation through Children's Literature: The Soviet Example. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Shepard, J. (2009). Sociology. Connecticut: Cengage Learning Trinca, H., & Fox, C. (2004). Better than Sex – How a whole Generation Got Hooked on Work. North Sydney: Random House Australia Wolf, N. (2009). The Beauty Myth. Scranton: HarperCollins Willet, J. (2010). The American Beauty Industry Encyclopaedia. California: ABC-CLIO Wise, A. and Velayutham, S. (2009). Everyday Multiculturalism. Palgrave Macmillan: Houndsmills. Read More