Types of Socialization         

1. Primary Socialization:

This is the most essential and basic type of socialization. It takes place in the early years of life of newborn individual. It concentrates on the teaching of language and cognitive skills, the internalization of cultural norms and values and the appreciation of other roles and perspectives.

2. Secondary Socialization:

This type of socialization occurs when a person learns an appropriate behavior to be displayed within a smaller group which is still part of a larger society. It refers to the socialization that takes place throughout one’s life, both as a child and as one encounters new groups that require additional socialization.

Stages of Socialization

Socialization is a gradual process of learning. It proceeds from simplicity to complexity. Socialization consists of four stages from infancy to adulthood. They are:

  1. The oral stage
  2. The anal stage
  3. The oedipal stage
  4. The stage of adolescence

The Oral Stage:

(This stage begins with the birth of the child and continues up to the completion of one year).

The Anal Stage:

(The second stage normally begins soon after the first year and is completed the third year. “Toilet training”).

The Oedipal Stage:

 (This stage mostly starts from the fourth year of the child and extends up to puberty, 12 or 13 Years). According to Sigmund Freud, the boy develops the “Oedipus Complex”- the feeling of jealousy towards father and love toward mother. In the same way, the girl develops the “Electra Complex”- the feeling of jealousy towards the mother and love towards the father. Freud believed that the feelings are mainly sexual).

The Stage of Adolescence:

(The fourth stage starts with the period of adolescence. Due to the physiological and psychological changes that take place within the individual this stage assume importance).

Theories of Socialization

Sigmund Freud’s Elements of Personality

Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939), claimed that biology playa a major part in human development. Human mind: Conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious mind. Freud’s combined basic needs and the influence of society into a model of personality with three parts:

  • Id: innate, pleasure- seeking human drives.
  • Superego: the demands of society in the form of internalized values and norms.
  • Ego: our efforts to balance innate, pleasure-seeking drives and the demands of society.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980), studied human cognition, how people think and understand. Piaget went on to identify four stages of cognitive development:

  1. Sensorimotor stage( The level of human development at which individuals experience the world only through their senses)
  2. Preoperational stage( The level of human development at which individuals first use language and other symbols)
  3. Concrete operational stage( The level of human development at which individuals first see causal connections in their surroundings)
  4. Formal operational stage( The level of human development at which individuals think abstractly and critically)

George Herbert Mead’s Theory of the Social Self

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), developed the theory of social behaviorism to explain how social experiences develop an individual’s personality.

  • The Self: Mead’s central concept is the self, the part of an individual’s personality composed of self- awareness and self-image. Mead’s genius was in seeing the self as the product of social experience.

Social experience involves the exchange of symbols. Social interaction depends on understanding the intension of another, which requires taking the role of others. We gain social experience through imitation, play, games, and understanding the generalized other. Charles Horton Cooley used the term Looking-glass Self to explain that we see ourselves as we imagine others see us.

Personality and Socialization

Culture and socialization are very much interrelated. Socialization can be understood as all experiences by which the newly arrived young members learn the culture of the society.

Personality is the product of culture. It is through the process of socialization that the child develops a personality according to the cultural expectations of his society.

According to the social psychologist G.M. Allport, personality is – a person’s pattern of habits, attitudes, and traits which determine his adjustment to his environment.

Culture provides the limits within which personality will develop; through socialization each culture places its distinctive work on human personality. The more homogeneous the culture the more likely it is to produce a characteristic type of person who reflects the dominant.