Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A. (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.
Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India
There have been quite a variety of definitions and theories of socialization. Some of these approaches are presented here as definitional variety is often informative.
Symbolic Interaction-ism –
This approach argues that socialization is a continuous, lifelong process and the self develops as a result of interrelated social interactions and interpretive processes; as a result, socialization is highly dependent on the situations and the ways in which the person finds him/herself
Role Theory -;
Here socialization is seen as a conservative force, permitting the perpetuation of the social organization in spite of the turn-over of individual members through time. It is seen as a process of acquisition of appropriate norms, attitudes, self-images, values, and role behaviors that enable acceptance in the group and effective performance of new roles
Reinforcement Theory –
Here the self develops as a result of cognitive evaluations of costs and benefits; this understanding assumes that the socializee, in approaching new roles, is an independent and active negotiator for advantages in relationships with role partners.
Internalization Theory -;
This approach was advocated by Talcott Parsons. Socialization is a series of stages in which the individual learns to participate in various levels of organization of society; this theory contends that the child internalizes a cognitive frame of reference for interpersonal relations and a common system of expressive symbolism in addition to a moral conscience;
Sociological Theories of Personality Development
There are four important theories to explain the development of self. These theories have been propounded by Cooley,Erikson, Mead and Freud.
Charles Horton Cooley Theory of Cognitive Development
Charles Horton Cooley, (1864-1929) concept of self development has been termed “looking-glass self’ concept. According to him, man develops the concept of self with the help of others. Man does not come to form opinions about him unless and until he comes into contact with other people and knows their opinions about him.
He forms the concept of himself on the basis of opinions held by others about him. In other words, just as the picture in the mirror gives an image of the physical self, so the perception of others gives an image of the social self. The knowledge about ourselves comes to us from the reaction of other persons. These other comprise our social looking-glass through which we form the image of ourselves.
To quote Cooley, “As we see our face, figure and dress in the glass and are interested in them because they are ours and pleased or otherwise with according as they do or do not answer to what we should like them to be; so in imagination we perceive in another’s mind some thought of our appearance, manners, aims, deeds, character, friends and so on and variously affected by it”.
The looking glass self is composed of three elements:
- our perceptions of how we appear to others
- our perceptions of how others judge us
- our feelings about those judgments
For Cooley, the primary groups like family, to which we belong are the most significant. The relationships are also the most intimate and enduring. The individual develops the idea of self through contact with the members of the family. He does this by becoming conscious of their attitudes towards him
According to Cooley, primary groups play crucial role in the formation of self and personality of an individual. Contacts with the members of secondary groups such as the work group also contribute to the development of self. For Cooley, however, their influence is of lesser significance than that of the primary groups.
The child conceives of himself as better or worse in varying degrees, depending upon the attitudes of others towards him. Thus, the child’s view of himself may be affected by the kind of name given by his family or friends.
The ‘looking glass self assures the child which aspects of the assumed role will praise or blame, which ones are acceptable to others and which ones unacceptable. People normally have their own attitudes towards social roles and adopt the same. The child first tries out these on others and in turn adopts towards his self.
The self thus arises when the person becomes an ‘object’ to himself. He is now capable of taking the same view of himself that he infers others do.
This concept of self is developed through a gradual and complicated process which continues throughout life. The concept is an image that one builds only with the help of others. A very ordinary child whose efforts are appreciated and rewarded will develop a feeling of acceptance and self-confidence, while a truly brilliant child whose efforts are appreciated and rewarded will develop a feeling of acceptance and self – confidence, while a truly brilliant child whose efforts are frequently defined as failures will usually become obsessed with feelings of competence and its abilities can be paralyzed. Thus, a person’s self image need bear no relation to the objective facts.
It may also be referred that the reactions of the people about us are not similar or we may misjudge their reactions. An ego-boosting remark may be a mere flattery. Thus, the looking-glass self which the individual perceives may differ from the image others have actually formed. There is often a significant variation between the individual’s perception of how others picture him and the views they actually hold.
Erik Erikson’s(1902–1994) Theory of Eight Life Stages:
Erikson, a psychologist, was one of Freud’s students, was one of the first to write about socialization as it occurs throughout life. Erikson theorized eight stages of development for humans. Each stage brings about physiological changes and new social situations.
Stage I: (1 year) (Infancy) Trust vs Mistrust:
Children are totally dependent upon adults. If their needs are met with warmth and love, kids develop a feeling of trust reliability, comfort in the world. On the other hand, if their needs are not met or people caring for them are not dependable and affectionate, kids develop mistrust– the world is a frightening, suspicious, insecure place.
Stage II: (2+3 yrs) ( toddlerhood ) Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt:
Kids learn how to walk, talk, climb, open and close things, control their bodily functions. If parents allow children freedom to try and even to fail, they will gain confidence that they can control their lives– autonomy. But, if parents are critical, impatient, and over-protective, the child develops a sense of shame and doubt in his abilities.
Stage III (4+5 yrs )( preschool ) Initiative vs. Guilt:
Children struggle to understand the difference between initiative and guilt. Children at this stage, try to extend their abilities, explore, initate, exploit opportunities and try new adventures. If parents praise children’s efforts, and courage them to find out about the world on their own, kids develop feelings of self-worth . However, if kids are punished and ridiculed for their failures in these attempts, they develop feelings of guilt.
Stage IV: (6-11 yrs) ,( pre-adolescence, ) Industry vs Inferiority:
The social setting of the school replaces that of the home. Children get rewards for following the rules. If they are praised in their attempts to learn about the world and to develop talents to live in it successfully, they will acquire a sense of industry. But, if they do poorly in school and are not encouraged in their studies, they will develop a sense of inferiority.
Stage V: (12-18 yrs) ( adolescence, ) Identity vs Role Confusion:
Teenagers experience the challenge of gaining identity versus confusion The “looking glass self” is very important as the adolescent relies upon peers for his/her own self-image. If the adolescent understand the aspects of his or herself, the ego is strengthened and a sense of identity develops. However if adolescents arrive at this point with feelings of mistrust, doubt, shame, guilt, or inferiority, they can’t integrate personalities and role confusion results. The self will be hazy– ill defined.
Stage VI: (young adulthood) Intimacy vs Isolation:
When young people gain insight to life when dealing with the challenge of intimacy and isolation. Learning to make close friends, falling in love, starting families— If young adults have acquired all the positive traits from the previous stages, they will be able to share and give themselves without fear– this is intimacy. However, if they have acquired negative self- feelings from the past stages, there will be isolation– the inability to get close to others.
Stage VII: ( middle adulthood, ) Generativity vs Self- absorption:
At this stage, people experience the challenge of trying to make a difference People will be concerned with those outside their immediate world — the welfare of the younger generation, for example, what Erikson calls generativity, if they feel that they, themselves have led useful, productive lives. On the other hand, people who believe that their lives have been a failure will fail to establish a sense of generativity and instead exhibit, self-absorption.
Stage VIII: (old age) Integrity vs Dispair:
, people are still learning about the challenge of integrity and despair. Integrity gives a person the ability to look back on his or her life with satisfaction and self-acceptance– recognizing that there have been good times, bad times, joy and pain. Despair results when a person sees hislife as a series of failures and disappointments and realizes that it’s too late to change anything.
George Herbert Mead, (1863-1931) Theory of Stages of Socialization
The American psychologist George Herbert Mead (1934) went further in analyzing how the self develops. According to Mead, the self represents the sum total of people’s conscious perception of their identity as distinct from others.
According to him the self develops out of the child’s communicative contact with others. Mead said that the self has two parts: the “I” and the “me.” Mead claimed that the “me” accounts for similarities between people while the “I” accounts for differencs between people.
The “I” is the part of the self that is innate– containing the spontaneous, natural, creative, special aspects of one’s self.
The “me” is the part of the self that’s socialized– the part that has internalized the values, norms, statuses, roles of society. The “I” represents our inner demands, while the “me” represents the societal demands.
The first people who impose restrictions on the “I” are called significant others. We can also call them “role models.” But there is a subtle difference. Role models are people whom we tend to admire. (Also people whom we would like to please).
Reference Groups are groups of people whom are meaningful in the development of the self.
Of course, there is a process involved in all of this: Mead said that the imitation of role models involves role taking: we put ourselves in the place of a role model. In doing this, we can anticipate the response we will get to our behavior and we can see how we appear to the other (person) and modify our behavior accordinglyNow, as the child grows older, its world enlarges and “others” (significant others), become more numerous. Gradually, what Mead calls the “generalized other,” becomes real to them. (The generalized other is akin to the greater society itself). Through repeated role taking, people begin to assimilate the values of the whole society– community values become set in their minds.
Significant others are real persons.The generalized other represents societal values.
The process of socialization is like symbolic interactionists ,is a gradual process whereby we slowly (and realtively painlessly) assimialte the values of society.
The self is a social product arising from relations with other peopleThe process of forming the self, according to Mead, occurs in three distinct stages. The first is imitation. In this stage children copy the behaviour of adults without understanding it.
During the play stage, children understand behaviours as actual roles- doctor, firefighter, and so on and begin to take on those roles in their play. In doll play little children frequently talk to the doll in both loving and scolding tones as if they were parents then answer for the doll the way a child answers his or her parents.
This shifting from one role to another builds children’s ability to give the same meanings to their thoughts; and actions that other members of society give them-another important step in the building of a self.
During Mead’s third stage, the game stage, the child must learn what is expected not just by one other person but by a whole group
An essential characteristic of the self is its reflexive character. By this Mead, George H. means that the self can be both subject and object to itself. It can reflect upon itself, or in other words, it can be self- conscious. Man can do so only through assuming the role of other persons and looking at himself through their eyes.
But acquiring the attitudes of others towards himself is not sufficient for the individual. He explores and finds out others’ attitudes toward him.
The attitudes can be known only through the mechanism of symbolic communication. He must learn to utilize the symbols by which attitudes are communicated, so that he can conjure up the attitudes of others in his own imagination and in turn communicate his own reaction to others in the light of what he imagines to be their attitudes.
Once he has acquired the attitude of others as part of himself, he can judge how another person will respond or how he himself responds to the words he utters. The individual thus speaks to himself. What he says or thinks, calls out a certain reply in himself. He takes the role of others. “No sharp line can be drawn between our own selves and the selves of others, since our own selves function in our experience only in so far as the selves of others function in our experience also.”
Jean Piaget- Developmental theory
Jean Piaget developed and articulated a highly respected and influential theory of cognitive development .It places emphasis on the internal processes of the mind as it matures through interaction with the social environment. . According to Piaget, each stage of cognitive development involves new skills that define the limits of what can be learned. Children pass through these stages in a definite sequence, though not necessarily with the same stage or thoroughness. Piaget showed that human beings gradually passed through a series of stages of cognitive development.There were four stages to his model:
Stage I; SENSORI-MOTOR (0-2 years):
During this stage, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects . At this point in development, a child’s intelligence consists of their basic motor and sensory explorations of the world. Infants are not rule-bound because they can’t understand and are not aware of the world up to 8 months. . During this period children develop the ability to hold an image in their minds permanently. Before they reach this stage. They might assume that an object ceases to exist when they don’t see it.Children are then able to begin to attach names and words to objects.
Stage II; PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2-7 years):
During this period children learn to tell the difference between symbols and their meanings. At this stage, children can’t handle concepts of speed, weight, number, quality, causality. Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.
More importantly, children at this stage can’t take the roles of another– can’t understand the feelings of others, nor do they care to understand. At the beginning of this stage, children might be upset if someone stepped on a sand castle that represents their own home. . They’re very egocentric.
Stage III; CONCRETE OPERATIONAL (7 TO 12 years):
In this stage, thinking is tied to the concrete world— real situations, not abstract ones. , children learn to mentally perform certain tasks that they formerly did by hand. Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. At this point, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. Kids in the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Children feel that they must obey the rules, but do not feel that they have to believe in them.
Stage IV; FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (13+ years);
The final stage of Piaget’s theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas. At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more scientifically about the world around them. At this stage formal, abstract thought is obtained. Young adults come to realize that the rules are good for all members of the group. Rules are necessary for the existence of the social order. However, they also realize that rules are made by mutual consent and can be changed by mutual consent.
To better understand some of the things that happen during cognitive development, it is important first to examine a few of the important ideas and concepts introduced by Piaget. The following are some of the factors that influence how children learn and grow:
Fundamental Concepts
Schemas – Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world.In Piaget’s view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to, or change previously existing schemas.
Assimilation – The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat subjective because we tend to modify experiences and information slightly to fit in with our preexisting beliefs.
Accommodation – Accommodation involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this process.
Equilibration – As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge (accommodation). Equilibration helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought into the next.
Final Thoughts
One of the most important elements to remember of Piaget’s theory is that it takes the view that the creation of knowledge and intelligence is an inherently active process. Piaget explained. ” I believe that knowing an object means acting upon it, constructing systems of transformations that can be carried out on or with this object. Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality.”
The Theory of Psycho-Sexual Development:
Stages of Sexual Development:
According to Freud, personality is formed in four stages. Each of the stages is linked to a specific area of the body an erogenous zone.
Freud’s theory of personality development focused on the effects of sexual pleasure that affects one’s psyche. Childhood sexuality plays an important role in the development of the personality . According to him, every child is full of energy that needs to be channelized in the right direction. He named this energy as libido. He believed that libido provides the basic platform for the mind to run on. Freud postulated a series of developmental stages that describe this narrowing process of sexual gratification Freud’s stages of development essentially showcase how sexuality starts from the very young age in humans and how it develops till adulthood at different stages.
Stage 1 – Oral Stage ( Age Range: Birth to 1 Year .Erogenous Zone: Mouth)
This stage occurs from birth to around one year. As the name suggests, in this stage, a child tries to gratify his libidinal energy through his mouth by sucking, biting, chewing, etc. All desires are oriented towards lips and mouth, which accepted food, milk, and anything else he could get hands on . The first object of this stage was, of course, the mother’s breast, which could be transferred to auto-erotic objects (thumb-sucking).
Stage 2 – Anal Stage:( Age Range: 1 to 3 years. Erogenous Zone: Bowel and Bladder Control)
The anal stage develops during the second and third years of life as the anal area begins to assume a central position in the child’s sexual development. As children become capable of voluntary muscle control and eventual bowel control, they discover that sexual stimulation occurs from voluntarily retaining and expelling farces.
Stage 3 – Phallic Stage: ( Age Range: 4 to 6 Years. Erogenous Zone: Genitals)
This stage occurs between four to six years of age where the erogenous zones of the body are genitals start developing. At this age, children also begin to discover the differences between males and females.
At this stage the child discovers the pleasures of genital manipulation and another shift of the zone of sexual stimulation occurs. In the phallic phase, when the penis (or the clitoris, which, according to Freud, stands for the penis in the young girl) become primary object.
The most important aspect of the phallic stage is the Oedipus complex. This is one of Freud’s most controversial ideas and one that many people reject outright. This Oedipal is the generic (i.e. general) term for both Oedipus and Electra complexes. In the young boy, the Oedipus complex or more correctly conflict, arises because the boy develops sexual (pleasurable) desires for his mother. He wants to possess his mother exclusively and get rid of his father to enable him to do so.For girls, the Oedipus or Electra complex is less than satisfactory. Briefly, the girl desires the father,
Stage 4 – Latency Stage ( Age Range: 6 to Puberty. Erogenous Zone: Sexual Feelings Are Inactive)
Next followed a long “latency period” during which sexual development was more or less suspended and concentrated on repressing and sublimating of earlier desires and thus learned to follow the reality-principle. This stage occurs between six to twelve years when children express no psycho-sexual development. No further psycho-sexual development takes place during this stage (latent means hidden). The libido is dormant.
According to Freud, at this stage, children suppress their sexual energy and direct it towards asexual pursuits such as, school, athletics, hobbies, social relationships, friendship with same-sex, etc., During this phase, the child gradually freed himself from parents (moving away from the mother and reconciling with father) or by asserting the independence (if he responded to his incestuous desires by becoming overly subservient to his/her father.
Stage 5 – Genital Stage: (Age Range: Puberty to Death .Erogenous Zone: Maturing Sexual Interests)
This stage occurs between twelve to eighteen years which is also the puberty period. This fifth stage of psychosexual development is characterized by non-narcissistic behaviour that develops in the direction of biological reproduction. It is a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in a loving one-to-one relationship with another in our 20′s or so. Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual pleasure, rather than self pleasure during the phallic stage. In this stage, as the child’s energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns to heterosexual relationships
Freud’s Components of the Personality:
Let us now turn to the second part of Freud’s doctrine. Roughly speaking, Freud recognized three main parts of the brain functioning in the personality.
- The Id
- The Ego
- The Super-ego.
The Id works in keeping with the pleasure principle, which can be understood as a demand to take care of needs immediately. Just picture the hungry infant, screaming itself blue. It doesn’t “know” what it wants in any adult sense; it just knows that it wants it and it wants it now. The infant, in the Freudian view, is pure, or nearly pure id. And the id is nothing if not the psychic representative of biology.
According to Freud, the Id directs basic drive instincts. It is unorganized and seeks to obtain pleasure, or avoid pain, at times when increased arousal of tension takes place.
Freud described the Id as such: “It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our study of the dream-work… and most of that is of a negative character… We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations… It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle”.
The Id, according to Freud, “’knows no judgements of value: no good and evil, no morality… [It is] the great reservoir of libido”. From the outset (i.e. birth) the Id includes all the instinctual impulses as well as the destructive instinct.
The ego, unlike the id, functions according to the reality principle, which says “take care of a need as soon as an appropriate object is found.” It represents reality and, to a considerable extent, reason.
The Ego seeks to please the instinctive drive of the Id but only in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term. The Ego, says Freud, “attempts to mediate between id and reality”. The Ego comprises organized structure of one’s personality. In other words, the great majority of the Ego’s operative duties are at a conscious level (e.g. defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions).
There are two aspects to the superego: One is the conscience, which is an internalization of punishments and warnings. The other is called the ego ideal. It derives from rewards and positive models .The conscience and ego ideal communicate their requirements to the ego with feelings like pride, shame, and guilt.
The Super-Ego aims for perfection. Freud said: “The Super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt. In other words, the Super-Ego, in its role of moral authoritarian, is the opposite of the Id.
Where the Id is entirely about satisfying instinctive need with no regulation over morals to achieve that objective, the Super-Ego operates in accordance with social conformity and appropriateness. Due to these extremes, the Ego is constantly striving to regulate balance between the two. In all, the Super-Ego regulates our sense of right and wrong. It helps assimilate into the social structure around us via making us act in socially acceptable ways. It acts as our conscience, maintaining our sense of morality.
As stated above, Freud theorized that the Ego is constantly under the strain of causing discontent on two sides (i.e. the Id and Super-Ego). The role of Ego is like a servant in between two masters .Ego has a role to minimize conflicts whilst simultaneously pretending to care about the said same reality.
The Super-Ego is the Ego’s constant watchdog and if/when it (the Id) steps out of line, the Super-Ego punishes it with feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inferiority. However, the Ego will then employ mechanisms to defend itself such as denial, displacement, intellectualization, fantasy, compensation, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and sublimation. These mechanisms are not undertaken at a conscious level, they kick in when the Id’s behaviour conflicts with reality .