SOCIALIZATION: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, NATURE, Social Isolation

<< CULTURE (continued):Culture by social class, Multiculturalism, Cultural Lag

UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS >>

Introduction to Sociology SOC101

Lesson 12

SOCIALIZATION: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Human development is based on two assumptions:

The newborn having the capacity to become a member of human society. The infant has

the capacity to learn human social behavior. This capacity is provided by nature to every normal

child. But

The newborn child cannot become social being unless there is interaction with other

human beings.

Helpless at birth, the human infant depends on others to provide nourishment and care. Human infants are

the most helpless of all; a human child cannot survive unaided for at least four or five years of life. It is a

matter of survival of human child; and then to transform the human child into a social being he needs

interaction with other members of human society without which learning capacity is lost. This process of

transformation is socialization.

Socialization is process whereby people learn through interaction with others that which they must

know in order to survive and function within society. In this process, as defined by the local culture,

they learn what roles are associated with their status. Also, as prescribed by the culture, they learn how to

play those roles. Therefore it is a matter of NATURE and NURTURE.

NATURE

Nature implies the contribution of heredity to the human being, which may include physical- characteristics

and what is inside the human body. Presumably physical and psychological characteristics can be

transmitted through heredity. Whatever is being transmitted through heredity may be considered as human

potential given by nature.

Biological determinism prevailed in the late 19th century. Proponents of this position opined that inborn

factors exerted greater influence on human behavior and personality. In the second decade of the 20th

century biological determinism was displaced by socio-cultural determinism. For the sake of argument the

twins, having the same heredity, should show the same behavior even if they were raised apart, but it does

not happen like that. In fact their behavior, to a great extent is affected by environment [physical, cultural,

social], which may be part of the process of nurture. Nevertheless, lot of genetic engineering has also come

into operation for tinkering with the physical and psychical make up.

NUTURE

As said earlier, in the 20th century, the biological explanations of human behavior were challenged. It was

assumed that much of the human behavior was not instinctive; rather it was learned. Thus, people

everywhere were equally human, differing only in their learned cultural patterns, which highlighted the role

of nurture.

Today social scientists are cautious about describing any behavior as instinctive. This does not mean that

biology plays no part in human behavior. Human life, after all, depends on the functioning of the human

body. We also know that children often share biological traits (like height, hair color, and complexion) with

their parents and that heredity plays a part in intelligence, aptitude, and personality. Ignoring the

contribution of genetic engineering, by and large, the physical characteristics are biologically determined;

though having social interpretations. We learn these social interpretations through interaction with other

members of human society. Without denying the importance of nature, then, nature matters more in

shaping human behavior. More precisely, nurture has become our nature.

As part of nurturing, opportunities are to be provided for the development of human potentials. If the

society does not provide learning opportunities, the human potentials given by nature may be lost.

Introduction to Sociology SOC101

Social Isolation

Tragic cases of children isolated by abusive family members show the damage caused by depriving human

beings of social experience. Three such cases quoted in your textbook have already been referred to earlier.

These cases are of:

· Anna discovered at age 5 years.

· Isabelle discovered at age 6 years.

· Genie discovered at age 13 years.

(These cases may be studied in the textbook).

All the evidence points to the crucial role of social experience to human development. Human beings can

recover from abuse and short-term isolation. But there is a point at which isolation in infancy causes

permanent development damage.

Provision of Learning Situations

The provision of learning situations is very crucial in the development of human potentials. Human group

plays a pivotal role in this respect by:

The provision of learning situations;

The provision of guidance; and

Controlling the behavior.

Human groups like the family with whom the child normally has the first contact provide these learning

opportunities. These learning situations are provided automatically in the day-to-day routine activities in

the family. The children listen to people talking around them, see them walking, and playing different roles.

A girl looks at her mother the way she looks after the cooking arrangements, the way she cooks the food,

the way she looks after the guests, and other household chores. She is very likely to copy the behavior of

her mother.

Provision of automatic learning situation is necessary but may not be sufficient to learn to talk, to walk, and

to perform certain role. The group (family) has to provide guidance to the child by intentionally arranging

the learning situations. The parents may have to provide real guidance to the children for in the

pronunciation of certain words, taking steps in walking, wearing of clothes, answering the telephone, and so

on. Parents try to nurture their child as it is considered appropriate under the cultural norms.

Since all behavior is governed by the cultural values and norms, the parents make it sure that the child acts

as it is culturally permissible. Therefore they try to control the actions of their child by applying rewards

and punishments. For an appropriate behavior just giving a pat on the shoulder may reward the child, or

placing a kiss on the face, or giving a big hug, each may be rewarding. There could be other ways of

appreciating the role being played by the child, a socialize in this situation. Similarly the group may apply

punishments to the socialize in case the behavior is not in accordance with cultural expectations. Such

punishments may be the withdrawal of love and affection, social boycott, withholding of pocket money,

corporal punishment, and so on as permissible under the cultural norms.

Whereas the group provides the learning situations to the child, the child also takes certain actions about

what he or she experiences in the learning situations. These actions are:

· Imitation;

· Experimentation; and

· Adjustment.

In many cases the socialize tries to copy the behavior of others in the learning situations. The socialize may

be talking like others, walking like them, shouting like them, and so on. To what extent he or she can

imitate can be determined by the outcome of the experience of giving a trial to any imitative behavior. The

Introduction to Sociology SOC101

experimentation of the performance of any role may take place in the presence of the primary group, be it

the parents, or the peer group. This primary group gives its evaluation of the performance, whereas the

socialization is likely to make adjustments in the role performance, and, by and by, develops his/her self-

image.

In this way, as explained in the preceding discussion, the nature provides the potentials, which are

developed through nurture. This whole process may be called socialization, which is a lifelong learning

experience by which individuals develop their human potentials and learn the patterns of their culture. As a

result of socialization process the individuals develop their self-concept.

Table of Contents: