The act of being assimilated is called socialization, a process by which people are made to be versatile enough to belong to a particular society. It illustrates how people learn from their culture what social norms, beliefs, and the society itself are and how they learn the society’s acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Socialization is not the same as socializing, which means following social roles or practicing conformity. In this case, socialization is a sociological process as one socializes in society. Individuals have different genetic structures and biological variables, which widen the diversity of the human species. Even though individuality exists, it is the society that develops the person within the human race. Social interaction is the most important thing to a person, as much as to every society to which he or she belongs. Interaction with others allows us to be vulnerable to others’ judgment, and this ensures that we can begin to look at ourselves through others’ eyes and view ourselves as part of a larger world. According to the dramaturgical view, reality in all aspects could be seen as a theatrical production. According to this perspective, an individual gives the society, the local culture, and the audience members his cast based on cultural values and social norms (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). This essay demonstrates the relevance of the socialization prism and how social structures form unique identities. Writing this paper, I also offer my experience of living with a physical handicap as a tool to analyze how socialization played a role in my formation of identity with a touch of Dramaturgy theory.
A person has a better chance of fitting in the group after socialization because of the impressions of the group’s norms and the expected things. Socialization has three primary goals: acknowledging them just, treating them as respectable humans, and showing affection as their close friends. The idea that people define themselves by the people they interact with is presented in dramaturgical theory. Here, the self is not a purely independent and constant psychological entity. Instead, it is reshaped during the process of interaction with others. According to a model called dramaturgical, the interaction of social type is analyzed in terms of how people live their lives like actors on a stage. In the first stage of socialization, i.e., infanthood, childhood, and adolescence, humans form a core of who they are and develop their personality (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). It is when a person transforms who they are into a person through socialization. Socialization is the primary process through which we acquire our self-identity, so sociologists consider the intersection and the relationship between identity and socialization. During the first three years of the child’s life, parental socialization develops the foreground of all socialization (Mwangi et al., 2018). While a society constitutes a set of guidelines and values, primary socialization is the process through which children learn what is appropriate concerning the particular culture in which they are members. Primarily, the environment around the learner plays an essential role, especially relatives and friends. Sociologically, primary socialization is the early phase in a person’s life and is the time at which socialization starts, whereby the person learns and experiences themselves through various social interactions around them (Crisogen, 2016). It starts at home, with a family that is instrumental in teaching children right from wrong in their particular communities, identifying the cultural practices one is more likely to adopt through observation. Families’ primary socialization brings about growing attachment and building relationships with values such as trust, love, and togetherness.
An example of a primary socialization agent that many institutions have in their resources is the family, childhood friends, the educational system, and social media. The agents, including the mass media, are the triggering factors for the child to build socialization. Such agents comprise those in someone’s immediate environment, like their friends and families. Other people agents like the media and the education system have a significant influence on their thinking as well. On the other hand, the personal culture of every family member and their entire family is one of the most critical factors in the family decision process. According to Crisogen (2016), Cultures affect our perceptions about what the family means, what we as a society think the family would have ideally accomplished, the caregiving processes, and overall, what should be the significant outcomes of learning, education, and school readiness. During the beginning stages of childhood, when a child begins to interact with others, the people whom the child interacts with are family members or those considered caregivers.
When we embark on primary socialization, we do so by conditioning ourselves with fundamental beliefs, norms, and values that later set our perception of our reality. The entire process of being able to move on and deal with my physical disability left me with only one side of my body paralyzed, and accepting it was a challenge made special for me since birth. Even though my family unquestionably supported me, the prevailing notions about being over-obsessed with my looks and their protective nature further deepened my doubt and insecurity. Confronting bullying and discrimination from the community, my secondary socialization, on the other hand, was more marked by an upturn and maturing phase. Having the company of a caring counselor, a therapist, and friends, I thought I was ready to start the demanding but rewarding journey of self-awareness and personal independence. Through these encounters, I was able to face and surmount my allegations of stereotypes, which in turn deepened and broadened my attitude towards myself and everyone else. My socialization network was the primary source that helped me build my worldview and self-identity and represented a crucial milestone in my ever-so-dynamic story of myself. My family remained the source of my nurturing, while counselors, therapists, and friends supported me in fighting and vanquishing the foes I faced. Through these influential connections, social networks were moved beyond traditional relationships, demonstrating the importance of formal and informal networks in determining individual relations.
I invested a lot in expanding my network among different connections; however, my network is still straddled to some extent by the parameters of disability, socioeconomic status, and personal interests. This separation hugely contributes to my identity development, allowing me to experience rich diversity from various cultures while, on the flip side, renewing some ignorant stereotypes. Even though experiencing the world view or racial backgrounds in addition to my own allowed me to fight to dominate inner images and to broaden my perspectives. Among four different mediators of the socialization processes, i.e., the family, school, peers, and mass media, I emphasize that each agent is compelling regarding the communication process. According to Saldana (2013), social bosses can refer to numerous undertakings that parents do. They advise on creating the parenting plan, assisting and interacting with their child, observing the care and interaction of other adults with their own children, and finally, watching their child interact with other children. It has become a place where children learn, and most young socialize. It has, therefore, taken the place of some of the roles that the family and community used to play. The school is the white-stone-made home of which the child becomes the member-n-chief, so to speak, for the first time. I am grateful that my teacher was very supportive of my disability and there was not any question of discrimination towards me; as a result, I grew in terms of my sense of self-worth and learned to accept myself with my disability as a which is an essential part of who I am. Peers are a beautiful facet of life when talking about interaction. As a critical part of individuation, peers appear too essential to sound any other influence. Whether it is realized or expressed as overt or as uncertain, Pressure among peers has a profound effect.
My family has been the most influential agent in my socialization process. Due to the vast support I have received, I have become a sensitive and appreciative human being. Parents will significantly influence an individual’s development the most, but everyone else who is part of the family, such as siblings or grandparents, will affect the socialization process. Connecting many from birth and early adulthood to their family would mean a dependence on the family for support, shelter, food, love, and guidance. Therefore, they often see their parents as role models, which is why many of the family’s beliefs enter the consciousness of a developing human. The family gives the child the wall beyond where all these concepts are found, and to the child, all of them contribute to forming the child’s self. Their absence or weaker abilities to influence the child during his life can make him misbehave. Certain schools of thought on primary socialization suggest that the significant extent to which bonding and socializing happen in this period can result in social misunderstandings and as an addition to addiction to drugs as an adult. This, too, is influenced by adults’ egos in the primary socialization period, as well as their behaviors towards others and the individual influence on their processes, making it a complex process.
Ultimately, this essay discusses how socialization affects the formation of identities and explores how socialization gives birth to new social species. Through this academic essay’s lenses, I use the knowledge acquired from the experience of living with a disability to understand how Sociodrama theory helped my identity formation. The analysis that applies now to both these theories will help me understand when somebody is in trauma or when something is fake; from what I understand, this web of influence finally affects a person. We grasp the complex process of psychosocial development by understanding the diverse components that make up this process, as well as one’s peer networks and socialization experiences. Furthermore, as we navigate the complex mechanisms of modern society, we should always consider the importance of society and socialization to the daily lives of individuals and even societal structures alike.
References
Crisogen, D. T. (2016). Types of Socialization and Their Importance in Understanding the Phenomena of Socialization. European Journal of Social Science Education and Research, 3(1), Page range. ISSN 2411-9563 (Print), ISSN 2312-8429 (Online). [Open Access: CC BY NC Creative Commons attribution license v 4.0]. Submitted: 03/01/2016 – Accepted: 03/02/2016 – Published: 29/04/2016.
Mwangi, E. W., Ndung’u, C., & Gachahi, M. (2018). Contextualizing the influence of socialization agents in shaping primary school pupils’ behavior in Thika Sub-County, Kenya. Pedagogical Research, 3(3), 11. ISSN: 2468-4929.
Saldana, J. (2013). Power and conformity in today’s schools. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 3(1). Retrieved from https://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_1_January_2013/27.pdf
Zhang, X., & Zhao, Y. (2021). Analysis of interactive behavior in social networking: Based on Goffman’s Dramaturgical theory. In Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 571, Proceedings of the 2021 5th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2021).
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