Which socializing agent has a purpose to perpetuate societies knowledge skills customs and beliefs?

Society is a system of a group of people, their social interactions and relations as well as their values, beliefs and practices. In other words, society is a group of people with their culture. Any new individual or the young generation are integrated into the culture of the society because the cultural elements and aspects are transmitted and learned from one person or generation to another. This process by which the cultural elements of the society are transmitted from one person to another is known as socialization. Socialization in its simplest exposition, is the process of learning the accepted beliefs, behaviour, practices and knowledge of the society. An individual usually learns these aspects of culture and society social groups called agents of socialization. There are five main agents of socialization: family, education, peer groups, religious organization and mass media. In this article, an attempt will be made to critically explain these agents of socialization, stating their advantages and disadvantages.

Agents of socialization can be described in various ways. Kozol (2011) defines them as Individuals, groups, as well as social institutions through which socialization occurs. On the other hand, Bills (2004) simply defines agents of socialization as social units that carry the process of socialization in the society. He further points out that these social units are people, group of people or social institutions such as school, church, government and so on. Melbourne (2007) is also of the view that agents of socialization are social groups of groups that helps an individual to be induced into the culture of the society through social interactions. Agents of socialization in short are the people, groups, and social institutions, as well as the interactions within these groups that help a person to become a member of the society through the transmission of the societal culture. They influence a person’s social and self-development. Agents of socialization are believed to provide the critical information needed for children to function successfully as a member of society.

The first agent if socialization to be discussed is family. The family is termed as the primary agent of socialization because it is the first and closest social environment of the child. It has the main role of childbearing and childrearing in the society. When a child is born, the first social contact is the family, that is, the parents, siblings and other relatives. With the help of family, the child gets into society through learning the basic aspects of the societal culture. The family determines the first social identity of the child through its socioeconomic status and conditions, transmission of culture and kind of education the child is enrolled in.

The merits of family as an agent of socialization is that it reproduce society, both biologically through procreation. Thus, family ensures the survival of society because society cannot exist without the existence of humans. It does not only give birth to new members if the society but it also ensures that the children are properly physically reared through provision of basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes and other needs like love and care. Family also stabilizes society and preserves societal culture through  socialization. It transmits the cultural norms, values and practices to the child. Thus, the family is the to develop and mould the social behaviour of a child in order to be accepted as a member of the society. Additionally, family provides social security and an environment of interactions; in families there is usually no loneliness, which allows children to have greater ease of relating to other people. Children have siblings as their playmates, people to interact with and this helps them become more social.

However, the family has its limitations. One the demerits of the family is that it may not transmit the accepted universal culture of the society as social conditions of families differ from one another. For example, rich families may teach their children values of rich life which may be different from those of poor families. Such differences in families may create cultural conflict within the society. Family may also limit the full socialization of the child through the restrictions and sanctions they place on children in terms of their social interactions with their peers. This is because usually have emotional attachments to children. If the family is poor, it may also not limit complete socialization by failure to enroll the child in school.

The second agent of socialization to be discussed is school. The school is the social institutions in which formal or programmed learning occurs. The school is termed as the secondary agent of socialization. The interactions in the school is between an individual the teacher and peer students. The culture and knowledge learned in school is usually planned and programmed in the curriculum. However, informal learning occurs among fellow students in out-of-class situations. The school as an agent of socialization is fundamentally different from a family because it is emotionally neutral environment where the child is treated as not only beloved, but objectively, in accordance with his real qualities.

Thus, the school as an agent of socialization has certain advantages which other agents cannot give out. It provides a universal culture or social norms that are widely accepted by everyone in the society because it considers and integrates different social issues of people in the society. The school promotes social solidarity and harmony as to reshapes the social behaviour and attitudes of children from different family backgrounds by developing the acceptable social norms. Like the family, the school further trains an individual social responsibilities to accomplish in the society as a member of the society. For example, it teaches about citizenship, rights and duties of a citizen in the nation. Further, another vital importance of the school in socialization is training of individuals for vocational development. It teaches them skills and competencies which prepares them for future jobs.  In school, the child learns on practice what is competition, success and failure, learn to overcome difficulties, or give up every time when cannot do something. There is developing self-esteem of the child in the school socialization period, which in many cases remains with a child for life.

On the other hand, the school is criticized as promoting values of minority upper class people of the society. Kozol (2011) points out that the school does not promote socialism but creates individualism and social stratification. Schools in many instances schools limit opportunities for learners from lower class in various ways such as tracking, streaming and selection schemes. In the words of Berne (2005: 45), “How schools choose the content and organization of curriculum and instructional practices has strong link in creating of various inequalities of intelligence, technical skills, achievement, and future opportunities.”  Thus, schools in the real sense are not agents if equality but inequalities in the society.

Additionally, schools may also perpetuate deviance and delinquency of children in the society. This may be happen through the various methods that promotes negative labelling on the learners. For example, the attitudes and methods of teachers towards indiscipline learners may cause learners to continue in wrong doing. Boudon (2004) argue against discipline methods such as suspensions, expulsions, one to two weeks manual working without learning, and corporal punishment, used to address indiscipline as not alleviating the problems but perpetuating them. This is because it creates a negative label on learners which results in negative self-concept and self-fulfilling prophecy. So learners continue in their wrong behaviour because they are indirectly socially labelled like that that punishment.

The third agent of socialization is peer groups. Peer groups is a social group of people of the same age group. In this case, it can be friends of an individual at home, school or any other place. They all have similar social status and who share interests. Peer groups begin at the during the early childhood stage of a person, and continue in teenage, and then adulthood for instance with workmates. It is argued that more creative learning happens in peer groups as compared to the family and in class. A person is exposed to meaningful learning which is important in life, social development and social identity. Peer are also among influential agents of socialization. This is why a person tends to share the social characteristics of their peers.

The goodness of peer groups in the socialization of an individual as a member of society is that it provide a person particularly adolescents, the first major socialization experience outside the realm of their families. They also provide a good adjustments and transition from childhood to adolescence or adulthood. In this way, they are important to adolescents in a new way, as they begin to develop an identity separate from their parents and exert independence. They learn knowledge about adolescence which they may not possibly learn from their families or teachers. Additionally, peer groups provide their own opportunities for socialization since children usually engage in different types of activities with their peers than they do with their families.

However, the major disadvantage of peer groups that families and society cries about is negative peer pressure. If the child or an individual is a peer group that exhibit some form of delinquency such as drug abuse, theft, prostitution, violence or other forms of deviance. There is a high likelihood that an individual may adapt such delinquent behaviour since peer groups have a major influence on the social development of an individual. Thus, it may be said that peer groups may greatly perpetuate deviance and delinquency in the society.

Mass media is yet another agent of socialization that has an influence personal and social development of an individual to become a member of the society. Mass media is the strongest and the most argued indirect agent of socialization. It include newspapers, magazines, radio, Internet, video games and of course, the most dominant of them all, television. The mass media brings diverts cultures and knowledge across the world near to an individual. It puts across to an individual, lot of ideas and mannerisms without having any kind of interpersonal communication.

The mass media is a vital source of learning of knowledge. A person is exposed to a wide range of knowledge which supplements what is learnt in class, homes and in peers. It helps an individual to have an awareness and appreciation of their own culture and those of other people. This is because  Bills (2004) asserts that people become aware of their culture when they are in contact with a different culture of other people. Mass media helps people to adjust well to new evolving situations in the society. By reading, watching or listening to how others are living in line with similar situations of other people, people in society learn to assimilate the behaviour, practices and knowledge which enable them to properly adjust to new challenges and situations in the society. In other words, mass media is a powerful tool of modernization. Mass media such as the internet provides a boundless interactions and communication that is not limited by time and place. The internet in socialization is a virtual world, into which the young people gets, gives them more freedom to express their emotions, feelings, attitudes, moods, and overcoming various internal and external conflicts that arise in real life, in family relationships, relationships with their peers.

On the other hand, mass media is a dangerous tool that leads to loss of culture. Particularly less influential culture easily absorb the elements of western culture transmitted through the media and this causes extinction of some of the native cultural elements. The media also transmits negative social vices such as violence, immortality and values like homosexuality which may disrupt the social harmony of the society. They may cause cultural conflicts and pertuate delinquency in the society. It also takes away productive time which people may use in developing the society. This is because people may spend much time on internet or watching television.

The last but not the least, religious organizations such as Christian churches, Hinduism and Islamic mosques are also considered as agents of socialization. They may informal or formal institutions. Religion is an important avenue of socialization for many people. The socialization in religious organizations are centered on religious belief system around supreme or supernatural beings. The belief system is touches many aspects of societal life that are taught in families, schools and society at large.

Religion is a source of teachings on morality and values that are shapes and influences desired social behaviour in the society. Thus, religious organizations play an important role in the personal and social development of an individual. A person learns right or wrong, good or bad in religious organizations. Religious organizations provide affirmations of values taught in families, and schools. Melbourne (2007) points out that social vales on social responsibility, marriages and social behaviour in society are usually influenced by religious belief system. Thus, religious organizations cement these values which children are first exposed to in families and schools. They also promote solidarity and social harmony. In most cases, religion preaches against violence, confusion and deviance. In this way, they promote peace, unity and create a social environment which is habitable by everyone.

On the other hand, religious organizations also have negative impacts on the socialization of an individual in the society. They perpetuate negative social vices such as gender inequalities and stereotypes. According to Smolensk (2015), sex stereotypes and gender stereotypes are influenced by religious beliefs that portrays a man as superior to a woman. Such beliefs are extended to family values and the school curriculum. Some religious institutions may create rebellious groups or occultist groups such as the Book Haram of Nigeria that is centred on Islam. These may disrupt the social harmony or morality of the society. Thus, it is not in every case that religious organizations promote social harmony and morality. Religious organizations also have different social belief systems which may create diversity of culture or subcultures within the society. Some of these subcultures may be different from the widely accepted social norms of the society. It is worthy noting that most of the religions in African societies are foreign, and their presence contributes to the extinction of Africa culture. In conclusion, as was mentioned in the introduction, this academic essay has explained the five main agents of socialization, stating their advantages and disadvantages. It can be well noted from above that the agents of socialization, have a very profound effect on one’s personal, conceptual and development. They help one interact and communicate with society and also to understand his or her social roles. However, the impact these agents have on one’s life, and consequently on society, also depends largely on the parameters of time and space. For instance, these agents, though performing similar functions worldwide, may have contradicting impact on the mindset of the people of a country at war, as opposed to the one at peace.

REFERENCES

Berne, R. (2005). Educational input and outcome. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Bills, D. B. (2004). The Sociology of Education and Work. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Boudon, R. (2004). Effects of Labelling in the School Setting. New York: Winklin Pub. Co.

Kozol, J. (2011). Basics in Sociology of Education. London: George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Melbourne, T. (2007). Sociology (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw Hill.

Smolensk, N. G. (2015). An Introduction to Sociology: The Society in 21st Century. New Delhi: Aston & Boston Ltd.

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