Agents of Socialization The views of Locke, Cooley, and Mead provide theoretical explanations of the socialization process. Sociologists use the term agents of socialization to describe the specific individuals, groups, and institutions that enable socialization to take place. Primary Agents of Socialization In the United States, the primary agents of socialization include the family, the peer group, the school, and the mass media. firl The Family The most important agent of socialization in almost every society. Primary importance rests in its role as the principal socializer of young children. Children first interact with others and leam the values, norms, and beliefs of society through their families. The Family Socialization in a family setting can be both deliberate and unintended. Deliberate: Intended socialization activities. Ex., father teaching children about the importance of tailing the truth. Unintended: Can have an even greater effect on children than deliberate attempts at socialization. Ex, a father explains the importance of being polite. However, the child witnesses the father being impolite. Is the child likely to follow what the father says or what the father actually does? The Family The socialization process differs from family to family. Families come in all shapes and sizes (family size, family make-up [single parent], race, ethnicity, religion, geographic region). All these differences affect the way a family socializes its children. The Peer Group As children grow older, forces outside of the family increasingly influence them. Children begin to relate more and more to their peer groups. Peer Group: A primary group composed of individuals of roughly equal age and similar social characteristics. The Peer Group Pear groups are particularly influential during the pre-teenage and early teenage years. a Winning pear acceptance is powerful force in the lives of young people. To win this acceptance, young people willingly adopt the values and standards of the peer group. Young people often shape themselves into the kind of person they think the group wants them to be. Peer-Group Socialization vs. Socialization Within the Family The norm and culture Parent they come to of the the group are more important to their child society whole. Within the Family In peer groups, the focus is the subculture of the group. Pear-group goals are sometimes at odds with the goals of the larger society. Peer Group Boolazion The School School occupies large amounts of time and attention. Between the ages of 5 and 18, young people spend some 30 weeks a year in school. The school plays a major role in socializing individuals. Much of this socialization is deliberate The School Class activities are planned for the deliberate purpose of teaching reading, writing. arithmetic, and other skills. Extracurricular activities such as school dances, clubs, and athletic events, are intended to prepare the student for life in the larger society. Schools also attempt to transmit cultural values, such as patriotism, responsibility, and good citizenship. The School A large amount of unintentional socialization also occurs within the school. What are some examples of unintentional socialization that occurs within the school? The Mass Media Influential agent of socialization that involves no face-to-face interaction. Mass Media: Instruments of communication that reach large audiences with no persons contact between those sending the information and those receiving it. Major forms of mass media are books, films, the Internet, magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. The Mass Media Television probably has the most influence on the socialization of children. 98 percent of homes in the United States have television sets, with an average of more than two sets per home. Most children watch an average of about 28 hours each week. Resocialization Total Institution: A setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period of time and are subject to tight control. Resocialization Socialization in a total institution differs from the process found in most other settings. Total institutions are primarily concerned with resocializing their members. Resocialization: Involves a break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms. Resocialization In the cast of mos changing an individuality and social behar This accomplished by ripping away alliance of individual Identity and replacing it with standard haircuts, and so on. The individual and the freedoms of the outside world. Once the person's sof been weakened, for th in power to convince the person to conform to new palms of behavior.