Socialization Processes and Agents in Individual and Organizational Life

Social Dimension: Individual and Company

Item 9: Social Dimension — Individual Company

"The socialization" is the process of learning through which we integrate into the community in which we take part. It basically consists of the acquisition and internalization of the rules, principles, and practices of the culture in which we live.

Primary Socialization

The stage occurs during the first years of life. Its main features are the acquisition of customary patterns and social group membership. Power is favored by affective bonds. There is no discussion or awareness of this process. Its success depends on comprehensive education. Examples: acquisition of language; respect for social customs. The mechanisms used are imitation and the granting of rewards and punishments.

Secondary Socialization

Secondary socialization: This occurs at a later, more particular stage of life. Its features include adaptation to environmental changes or new circumstances; it responds to both affective and other interests and can be more conscious. Example: adjustment of our behavior to the customs of a new school. The methods used are imitation, granting of rewards and punishments, communication, and explicit transmission.

Agents of Humanization

• The family: It is the first and most important socializing agent. Although the family model varies from one culture to another, all families play a role in the formation and integration of children.
• School: If the family is the group that emotionally models the first social and personal traits of the individual, the school is the institution formed for the express purpose of educating and training new members of society.
• Peer group: Psychologically, this group is composed of individuals of the same age with whom the child will interact at school and in other areas of everyday life.
• The media: The mainstream media play an increasingly prominent role in the formation of new generations. Through television, the child has access to a range of experiences and knowledge that might otherwise be ignored until much later. Television makes available to children content (sex, violence) that, given their immaturity, is difficult to digest.

Tensions in the Individual-Society Relationship

• Rejection: Occurs when the majority group does not accept members as full participants.
• Opting out: Occurs when the individual does not identify with their society and lives ignoring its rules and customs.
• Marginalization: When an individual is rejected by society, they are isolated from others and may suffer emotional, economic, and cultural deficiencies.
• Violence: The outcast, rejected by society, may resort to violence to assert basic needs such as food, hygiene, housing, and so on.