AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION
The Family
The family is identified as the most important agent of socialization. The process of socialization within this institution is both intentional and unconscious. While parenting styles vary, the most important aspect in parent-child relations seems to be attention paid by parents to their children. The family is the initial source for transmission of culture to the child.
From an early age children learn from their families that social class exists and that it is associated with different behaviour patterns.
Schooling
It is within the context of school that children begin to establish contact with people from a diversity of social backgrounds. The expressed objective purpose of the school experience is the imparting of knowledge, math, reading, etc. However, there exists a hidden curriculum which also teaches children important cultural values such as achievement and punctuality.
It is within the educational environment that evaluations are made of children based on universal standards on how they perform instead of who they are. Schooling is critical for obtaining the knowledge and skills necessary for adult roles but the limitations of gender schema are also reinforced.
The Peer Group
Peer group socialization typically occurs outside the context of adult supervision. A peer group is defined as a social group whose members have interests, social position, and age in common. Some research provides evidence suggesting that the conflict between parents and their adolescent children is more apparent than real. A major feature operative during adolescence is referred to as anticipatory socialization, or the process of social learning directed toward gaining a desired position.
The Mass Media
The mass media are impersonal communications directed to a vast audience. This includes television, newspapers, and radio but television has become the dominant medium such that children spend more hours watching television than they do in school or in interacting with their parents. The message includes class, gender and racial biases but, on the other hand, the producers tend to be more liberal than the average Canadian or American. Figures 5-2, 5-3 and 5-4 demonstrate the pervasiveness of T.V. viewing and the Social Diversity box (p. 121) discusses the portrayal of racial minorities and women in television productions. While historically minority groups and women were under-represented and portrayed stereotypically, there has been massive change in the last few years so that minorities and women play a more dominant role and are portrayed, more often, in a fair and sympathetic fashion.
Although television and other mass media can be magnificent sources for entertainment and learning, there has developed a concern over media violence and its impact upon behaviour, especially of children. There is, as yet, no consensus about the existence of a cause and effect relationship.
SOCIALIZATION AND THE LIFE COURSE
While focus is given to childhood in terms of the significance of socialization, this process is lifelong. Social experience is structured during different stages of the life course.
Childhood
Nike and Michael Jordan are criticized for the employment of children in the production of sneakers since childhood in Canadian culture lasts roughly the first twelve years of life and it is a period characterized by freedom from responsibilities. While most suggest it is an expanding period in technologically advanced societies, some research, especially on affluent families, suggests it actually may be getting shorter. The "hurried child" pattern reflects this idea. Critics of the concept suggest lower-class children have always accepted adult responsibilities as children. In primitive societies, moreover, less differentiation is made between childhood and adulthood. Global Map 5-1 (p. 124) shows how commonplace work is for children in the poorer societies of the world.
Adolescence
This period emerged as a distinct life cycle stage in industrial societies. This period corresponds roughly to the teen years. The social turmoil often associated with this stage appears to be the result of inconsistencies in the socialization process as opposed to physical changes. Examples concerning the status of teens in relation to voting and drinking are discussed, along with Margaret Mead's cross-cultural research which demonstrates that the period owes much to cultural definition. Social class also plays a role since working class youth are often working at age 18 while middle class individuals may be in graduate school at 30.
Adulthood
Adulthood is a period when most of our life's accomplishments occur, and, especially toward the end of this stage, people reflect upon what they have accomplished.
Early Adulthood
This period lasts approximately from the early 20's to age 40. While personality is largely set by this time, certain dislocations, like unemployment, divorce, or a serious illness can result in significant changes to the self. This period is dominated by meeting day-to-day responsibilities and achieving goals set earlier in life. The juggling of conflicting priorities also characterizes this period especially for women who work but who are expected to maintain the functions of mother and housewife.
Middle Adulthood
This period lasts roughly between the ages of 40 to 60. A distinctive quality of this period is reflection on personal achievements in light of earlier expectations. While working men and women are often forced to recognize their failure to realize earlier expectations, women must also confront their physical decline in a society which is less generous, in this respect, to them as compared to men. There is some evidence, however, that as our society ages, we are less likely to suggest that vibrant life ends at forty.
Old Age
This period begins during the mid-60s. The status of the aged varies greatly cross-culturally. In rapidly changing modern societies the aged tend to be defined as marginal or even obsolete. This period is quite different from previous ones as it is characterized by the leaving of roles instead of entering new ones. As the proportion of elderly people increases, as it will rather dramatically over the next thirty years, the anti-elderly bias will surely decline.
Dying
As the proportion of people in old age increases we will likely be more comfortable with death and perhaps even permit people to end pain and suffering by their own decision. More people now make legal and financial preparations for a surviving spouse.
THE LIFE COURSE: AN OVERVIEW
The life course is largely a social construction and each stage contains characteristic problems which, however, are affected by the dynamics of class, race, ethnicity and gender.
Life experience also varies by when people were born. Age cohorts or generations are likely to have experienced cultural and economic trends that other cohorts have not. Those born at mid-century faced economic expansion while today’s youth face economic uncertainty.
RESOCIALIZATION: TOTAL INSTITUTIONS
A total institution is defined as a setting in which individuals are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff. Erving Goffman has identified three distinct qualities of such institutions: (1) they control all aspects of the daily lives of the residents, (2) they subject residents to standardized activities, and (3) they apply formal rules and rigid scheduling to all activities. This structure is designed to achieve the policy of resocialization, or deliberate control of an environment to radically alter an inmates personality. This is understood as a two part process—the destruction of the individual's self-conception, and the systematic building of another one. A process known as institutionalization often occurs whereby residents become dependent on the structure of the institution and are unable to function outside the institution. The Controversy and Debate Box (p. 127) describes how Ontario’s first boot camp can be conceptualized as a total institution.