Swinburne EDU20003 Essay: Socialization and Learning in Children

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of socialization, examining its profound impact on children's learning and development. It begins by defining socialization and outlining its core aims, which include fostering self-awareness and self-regulation. The essay then identifies and describes key agents of socialization, such as family, peer groups, schools, mass media, and the community, highlighting their respective roles in shaping a child's social understanding. Furthermore, it explores prominent theories related to socialization, including Skinner's operant conditioning, Bowlby's attachment theory, and Piaget's sociocultural theory, elucidating how these frameworks contribute to our understanding of the socialization process. The essay analyzes the influence of social, cultural, historical, and environmental factors on socialization, emphasizing their impact on an individual's development. Finally, it examines how the outcomes of socialization inform effective teaching strategies, concluding with a comprehensive overview of the subject matter.

Running head: SOCIALIZATION
Socialization
Student’s name:
University:

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Introduction
Human beings are called “social animals”. The moment a child is born, he or she
becomes a part of a social group. However, it takes time and effort to fit in the society. This
process of fitting in is called socialization. This process is a life-long exercise, for a person
learns social intricacies till the last day of his/her life. It is also essential for shaping one’s
psychology and character.
Socialization is a key aspect of learning. It aims to develop a self-concept, enable self-
regulation and empower achievement (Berns, 2013). This paper is an attempt to comprehend
the notion of socialization and its impact on a child’s learning and development process. In
order to understand the importance of socialization, it is important to understand the process
and factors of socialization. The essay will firstly discuss the aim of socialization. Further, it
will critically analyse some of the relevant theories of learning such as Skinner’s operant
conditioning, Bowlby’s attachment theory and Piaget’s sociocultural theory and show their
relation to the process of socialization. Agents of socialization are of prime importance to
understand the process. Therefore, the roles of family, school, peer group, community etc.
will be discussed. The social, cultural, environmental factors that influences socialization will
be analysed thereafter. Finally, the influence of the outcomes of socialization on teaching
strategy will be examined followed by the conclusion.
Discussion
Aim of socialization
Socialization denotes the process of social growth. It turns a biological individual into
a social being (Brown & Lee, 2015). The chief aim of socialization process is to create a self-

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awareness. Self-awareness can be explained as an individual’s subjective perception of
himself/herself. It is a person’s identity that emerges from experience and rational
analysis.The distinction of a person’s from others around him/her indicates the individuality
of that person, thus creating his/her own identity and self-awareness. The value an individual
puts on his/her identity and self-esteem determines his/her personality. It enables people to
achieve self-worth and empowerment as a human being. (Berns, 2013)
Self-regulation or control is another important aim of socialization. It is the ability to
control the urges, impulses or reactions until appropriate situation. Individuals are taught
social and personal guidelines from an early childhood by his/her parents, immediate family,
school, peers or even the community. This enables an individual to accommodate and behave
him/herself within the social structure. For example, a child is taught to refrain from tantrums
in front of guests and elderly people. They are trained in basic manners and courtesy such as
greeting people respectfully or to be polite with people around him. This process goes on
throughout one’s life. Even as adults, a person knows how to behave with a supervisors at
work or strangers one meets on roads. Self-regulation is also essential for shaping one’s
psychology and character. (Berns, 2013) Socialization also enable an individual to achieve
empowerment, learn appropriate social roles and developmental skills.
Agents of socialization
Family
Family is the primary social space that shapes the personality and behaviour of a
person. An individual learns the first use of language. Also transferring of values and belief
occurs in this phase initially. The child also learns valuable skills and knowledge from the
direct family (Thorndike, 2013).

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Peer group
The second agent is his/her peer group, i.e. his/her contemporaries. As the child grows
older, children of his/her similar age group begin to influence him/her. Here, though, the
influence is reciprocal. It is significant in the sense that the child starts learning about
different values and culture than his/her own family. Also, they learn about things from their
peers, which is otherwise tabooed in the society (Habermas, 2015).
School is the first place which serves as the organized social arena. The formal
indoctrination into the practices and culture of a society begins here. The child is introduced
to formal education and theoretical knowledge that develops his/her personal set of beliefs
through school. Apart from the peer group, the teachers play a vital role as an agent of
socialization. A child learns obedience, respect, cooperation and leadership skills from school
itself (Ely & Gleason, 2017).
Mass Media
Another important agent of socialization is mass media. A person is exposed to the
wider world through media. This shapes his/her perception and judgement to a great extent. It
is crucial to an extent, for the way media represents an issue or a person influences a person’s
judgement about them.
Community
Community is a social unit that shares common culture, belief, norms, customs and
history (Grusec & Hastings, 2014). It is derived from the Latin word communitas that stands
for fellowship. It also indicates that people of a specific community live in a particular
demographic area which instils common practices and lifestyles among its members.
Community is another primary agent of socialization, for an individual grow up within a
community as part of it. It invokes sense of belongingness, friendship and shared bonding.

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The nature of a particular community, its customs, faith and norms influence a person’s
development to a great extent.
Methods of socialization
Attachment theory
Human beings usually seem to have a tendency towards sociability (Craib, 2015).
Sigmund Freud maintained that human being’s ability to make connection or attachment to
other members of the society is formed during the first five years of his/her life. He also
suggests that a child’s personality is developed in the early stages of life by interacting with
parents and other family members. Further, he/she proceeds to social mixing and is exposed
to customs and social practices. This initiates his/her inclusion into the larger arena of society
(Fine, 2013).
John Bowlby develops the concrete idea of Attachment theory. He observes that the
urge of developing attachments in infant primates to their family caregivers is a result of
evolutionary process. This behaviour facilitates the infant’s survival in cases like threats of
predation or exposure to danger. Bowlby also maintains that this attachment with at least one
primary caregiver is the most instrumental aspect of an infant’s successful emotional and
social behaviour. Hence, it can be asserted that attachment between a child and his/her
parents is the primary stage of socialization in human’s life. This facilitates the child with
initial exposure of communication, reciprocation and cooperation (Holmes, 2014).
Operant conditioning
Another theory of significance is Operant Conditioning. Developed by the
Behaviourist B.F. Skinner, the theory asserts that learning is form of operant conditioning.
That is, human activity is guided by its consequences. An act producing a pleasurable
experience is likely to be repeated. Whereas, acts producing a negative or undesired

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experience leads an individual to avoid it in future. This theory is immensely influenced by
Thorndike’s Law of Effect. Operant Conditioning theory broadly suggests that human
activity is impacted by reward and punishment process. More specifically, behaviour which is
reinforced is likely to be repeated and vice-versa. (McLeod, 2015).
Sociocultural method
Sociocultural methods of learning also has huge impact on socialization. Theories of
Piaget or Vygotsky is worth mentioning in this regard. Constructivist approach teaching
method is a theory propagated by many educationists like John Dewey and Piaget. It
maintains that knowledge is not merely transferred to the students by the teacher, rather it is
constructed in the minds of the students. Piaget holds that learning occurs by constructing a
meaning actively, rather than by passive reception. New information conflicts or merges with
the existing set of knowledge and beliefs, creating an imbalance in the equilibrium. To restore
the equilibrium, new set of judgement has to be supplied. Hence, the new information,
associated with the previous set constructs a new set of meaning and judgement (Barrouillet,
2015). Socialization is regarded as the key factor for supplying of this new knowledge and
experiences.
As opposed to Piaget’s theory of child development, Lev Vygotsky advocates his
view of Social Developmental Theory as a factor of learning as well. This theory maintains
that learning is an essential and universal aspect of developing a culturally organized human
psychological function. To elucidate, Piaget maintained that the cognitive development of a
child shapes his/her learning capabilities. Vygotsky, unlike Piaget, suggests that social
learning precedes personal development (Newman & Holzman, 2013). Evidently, to acquire
such social knowledge, an individual must be involved in the social process of cooperation
and communication. This is the essence of socialization as an influence on learning.

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These theories are beneficial for devising effective teaching methods. For a period of
time, schools followed constructivist method of teaching, where it was believed that the
instructor will impart the knowledge and skill and the students will be at the receiving end.
This approach of transmitting the information, which is usually a top-down approach, has
been revised in the recent times. Now, classroom teaching is regarded as more of
collaborative in nature. Roles of both the teacher and the students have been transformed
therefore. Learning and teaching is considered as a reciprocal exercise, where students are
more actively involved (Musgrave, 2017). Vygotsky’s theory promotes this collaborative
method of teaching, where teachers are supposed to cooperate with the students to facilitate
them with meaning construction.
Socialization is a process of incorporating an individual into a social group. An
individual has to be trained in social norms, customs and culture to become a member of
his/her community. It is an interactive process that involves social relations and social
structure. Generally, it is understood as a top-down approach in which individuals are
expected to accept social values and regulation of the social group and internalize them.
However, in reality, it is a two-way process. Sociologists hold that there are four aspects of
socialization, i.e. context, content, process and outcome (Williams, 2013).
Factors of socialization
Context is regarded as the prime factor of socialization. It includes culture, language,
social hierarchies such as class, race and gender. It also includes historical background of the
people and institutions involved in the process. All these things together form the customs,
values and beliefs of a community, social group or society as a whole.
Thus, the social context is an important aspect of the process of socialization.
Different social perceptions seem to affect people’s behaviour in this cases (Scott &

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Palincsar, 2013). The family structure of a person, his/her home environment, religious and
political belief are some of the key factors that determines his/her process of socialization, for
these notions often lead to isolate or segregate people from their peer group.
Gender roles and preference too is an obstacle to socialization. In many culture,
women and people of non-binary gender are often marginalized. Hence, it limits the scope of
social engagement for those people. Economic status, race, ethnicity etc. are also believed to
segregate people and limit their scope of socialization. It sometimes even lead to social and
personal conflicts as well. However, a peaceful family setting or a healthy community allows
a child to engage socially and successfully (Purcell, 2013).
Apart from social and cultural factors, historical and environmental also constructs the
social context of socialization. The historical heritage of a specific social group may often
determine their acceptance of social interactions with people beyond their community.
Communities with history of war among them or the relation of oppressor-oppressed tend to
not socialize well among themselves. For example, the Aboriginal people of Australia or the
Native people of America did not welcome the other people in their society initially. Another
important factor of socialization in the recent times is technological advancement. The
presence of various social platforms and media produces a wide exposure to the individuals.
Children are exposed to these influences at a very young age these days. As a result, to evoke
a value system in them is much more complex and crucial now.
While social context constitutes the stage of socialization, the content and process of
socialization describes the instrumental part of the concept. That is, the acts done while
socializing. The content is information provided to then children about how to behave. They
are taught to follow directions, obey elders, respect authority, take responsibilities etc.

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Outcomes of socialization
Results are the outcome of social behaviour. The experience of positive or negative
reinforcement for a social act, committed by an individual, constructs certain thoughts or
judgments regarding the act. This determines the future possibility of their committing the act
again. This constructed judgment is called result of socialization. Broadly, achieving the aims
of socialization can be regarded as the outcome of the process. It includes realizing self-
awareness, learning self-regulation and imparting values, morals and culture.
Socialization and teaching/learning strategy
The ability to socialize determines the learning approach and ability a great deal.
Depending upon the receptiveness of the students, the teaching method has to be devised.
Therefore, to impart education, first a teacher needs to understand a student’s ability to
socialize and receive instructions. Effective education requires good communication and
cooperation between teacher and students. A child learns use of language through
socialization. It inculcates basic discipline and respect for elders in children. Socialization
also helps individuals follow fundamental social principles and control their behaviour in a
social setting (Handel, 2011). This is the prime reason of socialization being an instrumental
factor of teaching as well as learning.
The factors and agents of socialization alike affect the process of teaching/learning.
An effective teaching strategy can be devised based on the specific sociocultural factors and
concerned agents of socialization for a specific demography. For example, a school with a
wide range of diversity in its students are a great scope of socialization for its members. They
are exposed to a diverse culture and ethnicity, as well as a variety of individuals. In such a
setting, the respective teacher must promote awareness of equality and diversity and invoke a
sense of mutual respect and cooperation among students. Various measures can be taken to

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achieve such aim, such as an introduction to respective cultures by observing a Diversity Day
at school or arranging a workshop on equality can help too.
Conclusion
Socialization implies transmission of culture and social practices, of which education
is an extension (Inhelder, Sinclair & Bovet, 2014). Hence, socialization is a key ingredient of
effective teaching method. On the other hand, from the individual’s perspective, socialization
is the process from which he or she acquires the knowledge of social conducts and practices.
It helps to shape up the personality of the individual. By the means of socialization the
individual develops his or her self.
The importance of socialization has to be recognized in a society. A person with
socialized attitude will always participate in the welfare of the larger community, even going
beyond his or her personal benefit. This attitude helps individuals to connect and bond with
his or her fellow members in a better way. It is also a significant way of self-development.
Hence, it is to be considered as a key element of the formation of a healthy society as well.
Apart from its overall significance over society, socialization is an important factor of
learning as well. Interactions with family, peers and larger social groups requires control over
individual urges, impulses and preferences. Thus, the process of socialization teaches human
beings how to behave within a society. It is a process of assimilation. Learning, however, is a
form of personal growth and development. At the same time, it enables individuals to
incorporate into a larger exposure. A society’s formal and informal institutions socialize its
population. Schools, workplace, mass media and other institutes reinforce cultural values and
norms. Hence, to be a part of an effective learning process, one must be able to socialize.

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