Socialization Worksheet
1. Nature is the physical and mental qualities a person is born with. The gene set defines the certain features that can hardly be changed. Nurture is independent of the inborn characteristics. It is the result of the environmental influences “that shape developmental outcomes” (Pluess & Meaney 251).
2. Socialization is the complex process of assimilation of the system of knowledge, norms, and values by the individual that allow a person to be a regular member of the community. It is a process of the integration of the individual into society when the individual learns the group characteristics as accepts them as his or her own. The process of civilization goes through the following stages: childhood, adolescence, parenting, mature age,
old age. Family, education, race, media, religion, and peers belong to the influential sources of socialization. They are important because the knowledge, behavior patterns, habits, and manners are formed under their impact.
3. Extreme isolation is unacceptable in modern society. Isolated children do not know the main rules of behavior and social norms; they are deprived of basic human pleasures. Besides, “alienation and isolation have been crucial concepts in studies of mental and emotional disorders”, which means that socialization is the key
objective to the successful future of a child (Lowenthal 54).
4. According to Charles Horton Cooley’s looking glass self theory, the sense of self develops in process of the interaction of a person with the others. People learn who they are by interacting with other people.
5. According to George Herbert Mead, there are three stages of the child’s taking the role of others. They are imitation (children under 3 who have no sense of self and imitate others), play (ages from 3 to 6, when a child plays pretending others) and games (children of the age of 6-7, when they play games with multiple roles). Significant other are those things and people that are extremely important in the individual's life in terms of
influence on emotions, behavior, and self-perception (for example, boys admire Spiderman or Batman and act like their heroes do). The ‘generalized other’ are norms and expectations of others, in general. It is taking the role of the group as a whole.
6. Rites of passage are the rituals that symbolize individual’s or group’s change-over from one status or role to another. The importance of such ceremonies is individual, but such ceremonies unite people and give them the feeling of their personal significance. The examples of such ceremonies are the birth of a child, marriage, graduating and also such collective rejoicing as Christmas or Easter.
7. Resocialization is the destruction of previously accepted values and behavior …
