We live in a dynamic society with our own rules, norms and requirements. Coming into this world, a person begins to communicate. The first reactions in babies to other people arise already at the age of 1.5-2 months. And also in utero, the crumbs react to the voices of loved ones: dads, mothers, push in response to touching their mother’s stomach. This confirms that each person is a social creature that cannot fully exist without surrounding people, communication and development in society. But the process of adaptation to established norms and rules does not occur immediately after birth or in one or two days. It occupies a large part of our lives and it happens to everyone in different ways.
This is a complex transformation of the personality, which determines its adaptation in society, the development of internal structures, external interactions, etc. It is still being studied by psychologists, since society is constantly changing, as are the requirements for personality structures. Therefore, passing through the stages and types of socialization, a person sometimes needs help or support. So, what are the types of addiction of a person to society and what kind of process is it?
Socialization of man
No wonder this phenomenon in social psychology was called a process, because it does not occur in 5 minutes. It can last for a lifetime, it all depends on the environment to which a person gets used, and on the structure of the personality itself.
The result of the interaction of man and society is the process of socialization. When an individual enters a certain structure, he is forced to get used to and obey its rules. That is, society affects him. But along with the internal changes of the individual himself, a change in society takes place, since he, being an active person, influences his environment. The results of socialization are visible in the fact that in the mutual change the uniqueness of a small or large group of society appears, a person develops new patterns of behavior, norms and values.
The process of personality socialization lasts throughout life, since society is constantly in dynamics, undergoing some changes, a person in society is forced to adapt to new conditions that are emerging. It is continuous updating, acceptance and identification with something new that determines the adaptation of the individual to the conditions surrounding him.
Forms of adoption of the rules of society
There are two main forms of human adaptation to society and the adoption of basic norms and rules.
- Omnidirectional socialization is the direct acquisition of personality traits and some character traits as a result of the fact that a person is constantly in a certain environment. Examples of non-directional socialization: every time after eating, the child in the family is taught to say "thank you." He has such a character trait as gratitude. Then he will unconsciously thank for serving food at a party, cafe or when he is treated with something. The individual adopts social qualities not only in the family, but also among his peers, colleagues at work, surrounded by fans in the stadium and so on.
- Directional socialization is a specially formed program or system of means and measures that are designed to influence a person with the main goal - to adjust it to the values, interests and ideals that dominate the society. Here the main process is upbringing. Adaptation of a child to society will be difficult without education. This is a planned process of influencing the behavior and consciousness of the younger generation. It is necessary for the developing personality to form social attitudes, values, and an active position in society.
These two forms can complement each other, but can contradict. After all, an undirected form of socialization involves the influence of a specific group of society, and they are not only positive. In this case, a directed influence on the formation of human values should be actively included, parents and the school can do this.
Stages of adaptation to society
A person in society adapts through several stages. They are interconnected. The skills that the child acquired at the previous stage are then improved and are the basis for the emergence of other characteristics of socialization.
- Infancy - this stage covers the first 2 years of the baby. An important factor here is his communication with significant adults, which is colored by positive emotions. The child learns to respond to appeal to him, to distinguish between negative and positive emotions. This can be seen by the way he frowns the eyebrows when he is strictly addressed.
- Early childhood (from 2 to 5 years). The child actively learns the world, along with this learns to interact with objects, manipulating them. Socialization occurs with proper communication with parents.
- Preschool childhood (six to seven years). The leading type of activity during this period is game activity. But at this stage, the process of socialization of the child’s personality occurs through a complicated game - role-playing. A small member of society learns to distribute and play different roles. Playing mother, the child learns to behave like she does, repeats some of her phrases, instructs "her" baby. Thus, he begins to adopt the basic norms and values of the family first of all.
- Early school age covers a period of 7 to 11 years. The social situation of the development of the child is radically changing. During this period, he rethinks everything that he knew from life experience, reinforces his knowledge. The features of socialization at this age also consist in the fact that the child's authority changes. The main significant adult in the process of adapting to new conditions is the teacher. With it, the child communicates and interacts on an equal footing, and sometimes even more than with parents.
- The teenage period (12-14 years). With the help of new knowledge, the formation of his opinion on the basis of conceptual thinking, as well as active interaction with peers, the teenager continues to get used to the norms and requirements of society. At this age, he can either deny them or fully obey them.
- Youthful age from 14 to 18 years. At this stage, several important events take place in the life of each young man or girl. This is puberty, in which young people join the world of adults; completion of studies, while a person becomes more independent. During this period, the formation of a worldview, a change in self-esteem, and, as a result, self-awareness, falls. Basic life principles, self-esteem, value orientations ripen in the psyche .
- Late adolescence (18-25 years old). A person is actively involved in work. Some continue to study, getting a profession. Young people gradually learn and adopt the social norms of society, learn to interact with others, distribute work responsibilities and fulfill them. Personality develops socially and professionally.
- Maturity (25-65 years). A person improves in labor activity and is engaged in self-education.
- Post-employment activities (65 or more years). A person retires, sums up some of the results of life. He realizes himself in different directions (hostess, grandmother, grandfather, self-education, counseling in professional matters).
What factors influence a person’s addiction to society?
All types of socialization cannot be carried out without certain factors. They have a significant impact on the adaptation of a person to social rules. Thanks to these factors, a person can perceive and adopt forms of social norms, having already some idea of moral, legal, aesthetic, political and religious rules.
The main factors affecting socialization:
- biological - determines the diversity of a set of personality characteristics;
- physical environment - a person can also be formed under the influence of climate and other natural indicators, ethnopsychology studies these patterns;
- culture - each society has its own culture, which greatly affects the adoption of the norms of society;
- group experience - here you can recall Jung's theory of the collective unconscious, in which he also argued that groups affect the identity of the person; in communication with different people, perceiving their reactions, a person learns to interact in a specific environment;
- personal (individual) experience is a unique factor, since each person in his own way takes over the laws of upbringing, especially social norms, negative and positive experience and integrates it.
Types of Socialization
There are several additional and two main types of socialization:
- Primary - the perception of society in childhood. The child learns society through the cultural position of the family and the perception of the world by significant adults - parents. Inoculating basic values through the laws of upbringing, parents form the child’s first experience. He experiences this experience as his own and learns to perceive the other through an identity mechanism. Through communication with significant adults, the child forms elements of an assessment of what is happening.
- Secondary - has no graduation and lasts as long as people enter the professional circle, interest companies and other small and large social groups. Here the child learns different roles, learns to perceive himself on the basis of what role he needs to fulfill. One can easily give examples of secondary socialization: the child plays the role of a son at home, in the school of a student, in the sports club - the athlete. But sometimes the world of secondary adaptation to society contradicts the primary (that which is instilled in childhood), for example, the values of the family do not correspond to the interests of a group of rock music fans. In this case, a person has to go through the process of self-identification (which is more suitable) and push away any direction of interests.
It should be noted that the primary perception of society is less often adjusted, since what is inherent in childhood is difficult to reformat, remove from the subconscious. Types of socialization are not limited to primary and secondary. There is also the concept of resocialization and desocialization. In addition, adaptation to society can be successful and unsuccessful.
The concept of resocialization
This process refers to the types of knowledge about the norms of society. It means a sharp change in social conditions, which in a new way begin to affect a person, his ideas and interests. It can occur during prolonged hospitalization or when changing a permanent place of residence. A person under the influence of new conditions again begins to adapt to a different social situation.
Also, this concept is used to change the perception of man by society. For example, when work partners perceive him as an incompetent specialist and constantly attribute this image to him. And he had already taken advanced training courses or retraining and began to work much better. In this case, the process of resocialization is important, that is, a change of place or working conditions so that this person can better express himself.
What is desocialization?
This is a phenomenon that is the opposite of socialization. In this case, the personality for a number of reasons loses social values and norms, is alienated from the group it belongs to, and deprivation develops. With desocialization, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a person to realize himself in society, and if he is not helped, the situation will worsen.
Therefore, the issue of successful or unsuccessful adaptation to society becomes relevant. The success of this process is determined by the harmony between the expected and actual state of affairs in the family, school, and society as a whole. Unsuccessful socialization occurs when the norms and values that a person has learned at one time do not coincide with the norms and values of the world around him.
Family as the first institution for adopting the norms of society
Socialization in the family operates from birth, when the child begins to communicate with loved ones, responds to turning to himself, smiles and aguket. The family has the responsibility to introduce a new person into society. Therefore, the special commission of this small cell of society is to grow a worthy member of society. Surrounding close people influence the formation of the spiritual, moral, physical component. The relationship of the child to them depends on how mom and dad relate to different phenomena of the world around them.
It is in the family that the child receives the first experience in building interpersonal relationships. He sees and hears how parents communicate with each other, what their values and interests are. As a kid, he begins to imitate the behavior of mom or dad, adopting their habits, words. Children perceive verbal information by approximately 40%, if they hear and see how their parents act, the likelihood of their behavior is 60%. But if a child hears what to do, sees that his parents behave this way, and does so with them, the probability of such a skill being formed and following it throughout life is 80%! Therefore, the behavior of a child in adolescence and beyond is more dependent on the family. Only in the process of building harmonious relationships in the family can a fully developed personality mature.
School as an adaptation of a child to social requirements
In the first six years, the child receives important life skills. He learns to interact with others, builds relationships and adopts the basic values of the family and the norms of society. But as soon as he begins to attend school, the social situation around him changes. New requirements appear, norms are inculcated. The socialization of schoolchildren is a large stage in the development of personality, in which not only parents are taking part. It involves the processes of education, training, human development.
The school creates the basis for further adaptation to society. This social institution does not have the right to refuse to develop the child, as is the case in some social groups (for example, the sports section, where the child does not fit according to certain parameters).
The socialization of students is very dependent on another significant figure, who in this period occupies the second (sometimes first) place after parents - this is a teacher. This is not only the main character of the pedagogical process, but a role model for children, especially in the lower grades. The first teacher has a great responsibility for resolving various problems of the child in school, his adaptation to the educational process and the classroom team. All teachers are also responsible for solving the educational, social and educational tasks of the school.
Socialization in the school has its own functions:
- cultural and educational development of personality, in which mature and competent people are formed, who are able to reason and make decisions logically;
- regulatory and educational - the formation and upbringing of a positive attitude to the surrounding reality, value attitudes, activity motivation, and so on;
- communicative - the child learns the skills of role-based behavior, learns to communicate;
- organizational and managerial - helps the student organize personal space, time;
- socially integrative - helps to strengthen trusting relationships, team cohesion.
Peers as significant people in socialization
Peers stand out as separate agents of personality socialization. Why are they so important for the development of the child? In adolescence and older, a person feels the need for information of interest to him. It can be fully provided not by adults, but by peers. Therefore, interest groups are formed in which the personality continues to develop. In this interaction, a teenager receives information about the people around him, the world, expands his self-image. Parents should guide the child so that he does not fall under the influence of maladaptive subcultural groups.
The results of socialization are a continuous process of adaptation to changing conditions in society. With each new stage, a person changes, his interests and values are transformed. Therefore, it is important to surround yourself with people who will not affect us sharply negatively. It is especially important to monitor how the child is adapting to the new conditions surrounding him, to promote the development of his interests, to instill values, and also to take an active part in his successful socialization.