Primary Socialization Essay ⋆ Sociology Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Socialization is the process by which humans learn the ways of being and doing considered to be appropriate and expected in their social environments. Primary socialization occurs when the individual is a newly born member of society experiencing this process for the first time. Primary socialization has the social psychological characteristic of primacy, meaning that its position as first in the acquisition of social knowledge renders it a filter and a foundation for the subsequent information internalized by the fledgling social being. Primacy also makes early socialization remarkably resilient, in that it is much more difficult to change primary habits and beliefs than those learned later in the life course.

Primary socialization is an initial set of significant symbols by which the individual interprets the perceived social world, formulates a conception of personal identity or identities, and through which he or she communicates understanding and desire with others. Through the symbolic structure of language, coupled with nonverbal communication and other cultural cues, the individual negotiates an understanding of the agreed-upon realities of social settings with significant others in their environment.

An early social philosophy of childhood portrayed the newborn social participant as a tabula rasa, or a blank slate upon which society then inscribed an identity. Later theorists, however, questioned the passivity of this model of child socialization. George Herbert Mead (1934) drew upon the looking-glass self” model formulated by Charles Horton Cooley (1902). Unlike Cooley, however, Mead located the self as more than a passive reflection of social observation and response. Mead’s novice social being was an active participant and negotiator in the socialization process, and his conceptualization of this agency has influenced subsequent theorizing on the subject.

There may be biological preconditions for primary socialization to be effective. Although any stage theory should be treated with caution, Piaget’s (1954: The Language of Thought and Child) schema indicates that a child may not be capable of socialization beyond a certain point if physical development is inadequate. However, children also require sociability in order to thrive emotionally, mentally, and physically. Kingsley Davis (1947: Final note on a case of extreme isolation”) and others who studied children raised in isolation provide evidence of the essentiality of interaction with human others for the full development and ongoing physical wellbeing of the child.

Complex learning processes that may occur during primary socialization include operant conditioning to environmental or social contingencies, observational learning (imitation), and internalization of social norms and values. The content of primary socialization is likely to include language and other forms of communication, identities and role-taking, negotiation and meaning construction, and cultural routines.

Society exists before the individual arrives, and primary socialization allows new members to be integrated into existing social arrangements. This process also enables the perpetuation of culture via intergenerational transmission. In primary socialization, the earliest agents of socialization are crucial to the fundamental construction of new social beings. Changes in the composition of families in contemporary society, however, such as single parent households, grandparents parenting, and day care for working families, may create changes in the sources and character of primary socialization.

Bibliography:

Cooley, C. H. (1902) Human Nature and the Social Order. Scribner, New York.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, Self, and Society. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.