Influence of Agents of Socialization

This article discusses the influence of agents of socialization on an individual's behavior and decision-making process. It covers the role of family, peers, schools, neighborhood, religion, and mass media in shaping an individual's personality.

Running head: INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
When we were children, we were embedded with one thought that we should confirm
to the rules and views of others. As I slowly grew up, I came to realize that there were many
factors in the society which influenced our viewpoints and the way we acted with other
individuals. Not everything that we said or did was based on our thoughts alone and were
impacted by the actions and words of the other individuals around us as well. We can say that
the social environment and heredity are what determines the behaviour that we portray.
Society plays a very important role into making us humans (Bauman, 2013). People become
members of the society by interacting with different individuals of the society and through
many other ways of human contact. We, humans, are not naturally born with the knowledge
about themselves and that of other people. We are able to gain this knowledge slowly with
the help of social interactions, contact and by observing other individuals. Socializing with
people is important not only for the development of our mind but also for the development of
our emotions and the connectedness with the other individuals of the society. We all possess
the same kinds of emotions but we do not express them in the same way because the extent of
emotions is different for every individual (Izard, 2013). Individuals of different social groups,
gender, age, class, region and religion may express the same emotions in different ways and
also in different extents. This is because of the difference that we as individuals possess from
each other. As we grow up, we first and foremost come to realize our gender and we are
taught ways in which we should act in the society depending on our gender. The things that
are taught to us are based on the presumptions of each cultural and social group that we
belong to, and how they set rules for each gender to behave in the society. We, in our adult
years, behave in the same manner in which we are taught in our childhood years. Even
though we go through various changes as we keep growing up by the influence of the various
factors, we still possess the initial knowledge that was taught to us and behave accordingly on
different occasions and situations. I had several questions on the way that the society and the

INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
individuals whom I grew up with behaved and why did they behave in the particular manner.
As I grew up, I came to understand that they behaved on the influence of different factors
which can also be said the agents of socialization which made them behave the way they did.
These agents of socialization were a great part in the life of every individual, including me, as
I went forward in my life (Giddens et al., 2016). They were important factors which helped
me to stay out of trouble in many instances and were also many time unable to keep me out
of trouble due to various reasons. The agents of socializations are family, mass media, peers,
neighborhood, religion, schools and workplace. These agents of socializations helped me a
lot and played a major role in my life and into shaping it and making me what I am and
continually helping me to evolve. The most important and influential agents in my life were
peers, mass media, neighborhood, family and school (Carter, 2014). These agents at several
point in my life helped me to keep a check on myself but not every agent was as successful.
My family is the most important part if my life and is the reason for my existence in this
world. They are the ones who have always guided me in the right way from my birth and
helped me shape myself into a good human being. They are the ones who have always
worked hard to keep me happy and satisfied in my life and in turn have only wanted me to
become a knowledgeable and good human being who always did well for the others. They
have always helped me out in my time of need, whether it is studies or friends or any other
issues that I faced in my life. They have always made sure that I did nothing that would get
me into trouble or would harm me. Even if I was in trouble due to some reason, they would
first get me out of it and then reprimand me for my mistake so that I would not make the
same mistake the second time. The next influential part of my life was my neighborhood
(Saatcioglu & Ozanne, 2013). My neighborhood consisted of both good and bad people who
influenced me according to their characteristics. There were many people in my
neighborhood who liked me very much and always helped me when I needed or asked for

INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
their help. Their motive was to keep me safe from harm’s way as they were good people who
wished well for the people they liked. However, there were also such people in my
neighborhood who waited for a chance to complain about me and to make sure that I did the
wrong thing so that they could rebuke me without making me understanding my mistake.
These are the people because of whom I did took many small negative actions in my anger
because of their negative behaviour towards me. It so happens many times that negatives
actions towards a person and incur various negative actions which can sometimes be harmful.
Even though I did nothing which would cause harm to anyone, however, I did things which at
my age would made me get into trouble a lot of times. Schools also play a major role in the
shaping our future and our character (Grusec & Hastings, 2014). From the initial years we
have been enrolled into a school which connects us with different teachers. Teachers are a
main source of influence in our life because they are the ones who teach us the basics of life
and helps us to form our own thoughts and ideas. Elementary schools help the children to
form their own world through which they can grow slowly and develop their own emotions
and lifestyle. The children also realized the difference in their gender and developed their
characters according to that. The main aspect of schools and education is that we are exposed
to various individuals and peer groups (Yang, Schaninger & Laroche, 2013). This enables us
to make new friends and form special bonds with certain people. Our friends also helps us to
develop our lifestyle and they influence our views on life and society. It is true that we spend
most of our adolescence life in schools and with our friends. This is why majority of our
decisions are dependent on the actions of our friends and teachers. The way they behave and
make decisions is what influences our actions in daily life. The group that we mix ourselves
with defines us as a person. If our friends are people who are notorious in nature and make
bad decisions then our decisions and actions will also be notorious like our friends and this
will get us into a lot trouble both in the school and outside. However, if our choice of friends

INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
is good who make good decisions in life then we will also be motivated to do the same and
this will make us good humans whom everyone will like as we will not face any trouble from
anyone. Peer groups are important in our life because the only rule of a peer group is to
follow their norms or being out casted from the group. We, as social beings, need the
association of peer groups to communicate and stay in a school surrounding because we
would not be able to survive all the time in the school without communication or being
without any group. All these above mentioned agents of socialization are an important and
influential part of our life. However, in recent times the most influential factor is mass media
(Prot et al., 2015). The way we are exposed to the different forms of mass media in today’s
time is creating a great impact on our lives. There different form of mass media which has
different kinds of impact on our thoughts and views. Television was the most common source
through which we came across. Children mostly viewed cartoons and kid shows when they
are small as I have, and they help in forming childish ideas in our minds about superheroes
and special powers. I used to get into a great deal of trouble with my parents since I would act
like a superhero and destroy almost all objects of my house. Excessive exposure to television
can also be harmful for us as they can make us addicted and divert us or stop us from
performing any other important tasks in our life such as work or study. The most current form
of mass media is the internet and social media. Both of these forms of mass media has got
more negative impact on us than positive ones. Social media has made us addictive and keeps
us glued to our phones or desktops. This has many negative effects on our lives and could
make us lethargic and also keep us away from our actual society. Hence, I can say that these
above mentioned agents are the most influential agents of my life. There had also been
several incidents in my life where I have got myself into trouble with my own actions where
no one else was influential in my decision making. This mostly happened when I did not
follow the rules of any place especially school because I found no logic in doing so as I did

INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
not know the reason why those rules were made. This mostly happened when I was a kid and
did not understand the gravity of following rules. I had this curiosity when I was a child that
who formed these rules that I had to follow and even asked such questions to my parents and
teachers. Both my parents and teachers, though had different ways of explaining the reasons
to me, but had the same answer that rules were made so that we could manage our life and
form it in a systematic way and grow up into good human beings. If people started to live life
in their own way then there would be a huge chaos, as everyone’s views and actions will
clash with each other. To avoid such chaos these rules were made in schools and also in the
society which gave us pointers in how to properly execute our life by keeping the people of
the society happy, the agents of socialization happy and also by keeping ourselves happy in
the process. The way that the agents of socialization affected me in my childhood is much
different from the way they affect me now. With the increase in maturity the way we are
affected by these agents also changes. Children are more easily influenced by these agents as
I had also been when I was a child. However, now I have formed my own views and thoughts
by communicating with people all these years and being associated with all kinds of groups
in the society. Hence, the influence now would be very less than the influence before. Now I
form views by researching on my own and by experiencing the situation in my own way, and
not by merely listening to the decisions or thoughts of other people (Kelman, 2017). I have
also learnt to make my own decisions and hence can also find ways to keep myself out of
trouble without taking the help of other people. The increase in socialization have helped me
to increase and expand my horizon and knowledge in life and have ultimately helped me to
be a better person and make good decisions which will have good impact on my life and also
on the life of those present around me.

INFLUENCE OF AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
References:
Bauman, Z. (2013). The individualized society. John Wiley & Sons.
Carter, M. J. (2014). Gender socialization and identity theory. Social Sciences, 3(2), 242-263.
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. P., & Carr, D. S. (2016). Introduction to sociology.
WW Norton.
Grusec, J. E., & Hastings, P. D. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of socialization: Theory and
research. Guilford Publications.
Izard, C. E. (2013). Human emotions. Springer Science & Business Media.
Kelman, H. C. (2017). Processes of opinion change. In Attitude Change (pp. 205-233).
Routledge.
Prot, S., Anderson, C. A., Gentile, D. A., Warburton, W., Saleem, M., Groves, C. L., &
Brown, S. C. (2015). Media as agents of socialization. Handbook of socialization:
Theory and research, 276-300.
Saatcioglu, B., & Ozanne, J. L. (2013). Moral habitus and status negotiation in a
marginalized working-class neighborhood. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(4),
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Yang, Z., Schaninger, C. M., & Laroche, M. (2013). Demarketing teen tobacco and alcohol
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