Socialization

Socialization, also spelled socialisation, is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and educators to refer to the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating societal norms, customs, and ideologies.

Quotes

• Socialization consists of those patterns of action or aspects of action which inculcate in individuals the skills (including knowledge), motives, and attitudes necessary for the performance of present and anticipated roles.
  • David Aberle (1961: 387), quoted in: William E. Willmott (1972) Economic Organization in Chinese Society,

• There is a socialization which turns curious children into adult automatons in a social environment of repressive uniformity, and there is a socialization which turns selfish, impulsive children into self-aware and deliberate participants in a larger community.
  • Benjamin R. Barber, “Forced to be Free: An Illiberal Defense of Liberty,” Superman and Common Men (New York: 1971), p. 72

• Socialization refers to the whole process by which an individual born with behavioral potentialities of enormously wide range, is confined within a much narrower range -- the range of what is customary and acceptable for him according to the standards of the group.
  • Irving L. Child (1954), "Socialization." in: Gardner Lindzey (Ed), (1954). Handbook of social psychology. I. Theory and method. II. Special fields and applications.

• Social scientists ... do not like to think that fighting and dissenting are proper social functions, nor that rebelling or initiating fundamental change is a social function. Rather, if something does not run smoothly, they say it has been improperly socialized; there has been a failure in communication. ... But perhaps there has not been a failure in communication. Perhaps the social message has been communicated clearly to the young men and is unacceptable. ... We must ask the question, “Is the harmonious organization to which the young are inadequately socialized perhaps against human nature, or not worthy of human nature, and therefore there is difficulty in growing up?”
  • Paul Goodman, Growing Up Absurd (1956), pp. 10-11

• Socialization through schooling, as it takes place here, and in Western societies, in general, is a priori stupefaction
  • Peter Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason, M. Eldred, trans. (1987), p. xxix

• To assume that one’s existential task is completed when the individual is brought into right relation with society, that is, when the individual has been socialized, is to absolutize society and confuse society with God.
  • Merold Westphal, Kierkegaard’s Critique of Reason and Society (1979), p. 35

See also

• Adjustment (psychology)