Factors of socialization. Mesofactors of socialization

Socialization is a long process in which an individual acquires knowledge, experience, norms of behavior and moral values ​​accepted in the society that surrounds him.

The main goal of this process is to transfer a person from a biological state into an independent social personality with self-awareness. A person who is aware of his own image, understands his difference from others, finds his place and plays his role in society.

Socialization. What is this

Socialization is possible only through the interaction of individuals. This process is built on interpersonal relationships. As a result, there is a transfer of physiological and moral experience, social norms, and human values.

A person understands his own responsibility, rights and obligations to society, the meaning of events and the meaning of various actions.

Without interaction with other people, the development of self-esteem and self-knowledge of an individual is impossible.

Social development of the individual has its own types and stages. Each individual must go through all stages of interaction with people around him in order to achieve a certain level of self-awareness.

Stages

Formally, the concept of socialization is divided into two stages (periods):

1. Early: childhood, adolescence, youth. Age from 0 to 18 years;
2. Late: youth, maturity, old age. Age from 18-20 years until the end of life.

The age division is conditional, since each individual has his own development and ability to perceive the surrounding reality and people.

Personal socialization has no clear boundaries. A person can learn from experience and learn to interact with other individuals throughout his existence.

However, in psychology and sociology there are several stages social development personality.

Process stages

Each stage has its own characteristics and criteria for assessing the development of social skills. Briefly, the data on them can be presented in the table.

Sociologists distinguish 2 groups of people who influence the development and formation of personality in the process of socialization:

1. Primary- familiar people, or informal agents. These include members of a small community who are well known to each other: family, parents, neighbors;
2. Secondary – strangers- formal agents, or institutions. This is a set of people connected by formal relationships: kindergarten, school, company, enterprise, city, state, etc.

Both groups play different roles and influence the formation of personality in a certain direction:

• Education and upbringing of children from 0 to 3 years old occurs under the influence of the main agents: parents and immediate relatives. They form the motivation and primary attitude of the individual towards others.

• After 3 years the individual enters into relationships with additional agents: educators, teachers, doctors. Most preschool children actively master thinking and cognitive skills under the influence of informal agents.
• From 8 to 15 years old(school period) they are influenced by their peers, adults belonging to different social groups, the media, and the Internet. Such a diverse environment does not exclude a negative impact on the individual and the possibility of antisocial behavior.
• Thus, by the age of 15-18 the personality is considered formed. In the future, other social institutions play their role. They use other means that influence her moral and psychological changes.

Influencing factors

Under the influence of various external factors, an individual is formed into a social or asocial personality.

These include:

• microfactors: gender of the child, his physiological and psychological development, emotional environment;
• mesofactors: region of residence of an individual, subcultures existing in it;
• macro factors: geographical position, climate zone, environment (nature), economy and political structure: authoritarian or democratic state of which the individual is a citizen;
• megafactors: earth as a planet for the life of an individual, space, universe.

Under the influence of these conditions, a mechanism of individualization of personality is carried out, associated with its interaction with various groups of people.

The cyclical nature of human life is associated with periodic changes of roles, acquiring new statuses and a different environment, and abandoning old habits and traditional lifestyles. Throughout his life, an individual learns something and is forced to react to the influence of the environment. This changes his views and social foundations.

Video: Socialization of personality

Daily work activity and acute political events, an article in a newspaper, a remark thrown in public transport, a personal example of the leader of the country, communication with comrades, a discussion in the “smoking room”, criticism from a leader and an intimate leisurely conversation with his father, a disapproving look from a fellow traveler and an interesting book - all it influences a person, shapes his inner world, and guides behavior. Moreover, the same circumstance or event can have a deep impact on one person, but on another it will not have any effect at all, he will not even pay attention to it. Having gone through similar life trials, people differ in their views on the world, beliefs: in the name of what to live and how to live. The formation of a personality is a very complex process, it involves so many factors that the creation of any single model that can explain the spiritual world of each person and the path of his development is extremely difficult. Sociology seeks only to outline the main directions along which it is possible to analyze socialization - the process of formation of social qualities, properties, values, knowledge and skills, thanks to which a person becomes a capable participant in social ties, institutions and communities. Socialization is a fairly broad process; it includes both the acquisition of skills, abilities, knowledge associated with natural objects, and the formation of values, ideals, norms and principles of social behavior. Considering the problems of the individual, we have actually already begun to analyze and comprehend the process of acquiring social properties and qualities by the individual. Let us recall that two components of the process of personality development and its spiritual world were identified. On the one hand, social group, class, ethnic, professional, etc. standards, patterns of role behavior that suggest (prescribe) an individual a certain type of behavior, supported by various forms of social control. On the other hand, it is an autonomous, independent personality, containing the potential for its own position, uniqueness, which manifests itself in the process of searching, choosing and implementing social roles.

Personal socialization process

The socio-psychological side of the socialization process allows us to identify those institutions of society that carry out the process itself, and for which a person is primarily the object of influence. According to their social status, these institutions can be formal or informal. The first are official institutions of society (state), which, according to their functional purpose, are called upon to educate and educate each new generation (preschool institutions, schools, universities, cultural institutions, etc.). The second - informal institutions - have a socio-psychological basis. These are different social groups, from small to large, in which the individual is included (family, class, professional work group, peer group, ethnic community, reference group, etc.). The goals and methods of influence of formal and informal institutions of socialization often do not coincide, as a result of which a struggle arises between them. The results of this struggle are of a very different nature: here are “street children” as evidence of the defeat of the family and school in the fight against the “reference” groups of the street; here are offenders and rebels (real by conviction or imaginary), here is an explanation of the “double morality” of citizens, reflecting the different value systems that exist in society. It has already been mentioned that in different periods of his life a person reacts differently to social impacts. To this we can add the changing role of various institutions of socialization throughout the life of an individual. In this regard, it is advisable to divide the socialization process into age periods, in which the psychological and socio-psychological aspects of the process differ in some specifics. The early period can be limited to the first 12 years of a person's life, the second will be the period between 12 and 18 years, and the third will take the rest of life. It should be emphasized that the process of socialization continues throughout a person’s life, even if in old age it sometimes acquires a regressive character. Age milestones of periods are quite relative and for each person are determined by the specific conditions of his development and environment.

Features of age periods. WITH psychological point The early period of socialization is characterized by insufficient development of the cognitive sphere of the individual, as a result of which socializing influences are perceived by the individual unconsciously or insufficiently consciously. First of all, an evaluative attitude towards certain social facilities without proper understanding of their essence and meaning. Psychological mechanisms for assimilating the corresponding influences are fear of punishment, desire to earn approval, imitation, identification with parents, etc.

The peculiarity of the socio-psychological side of the socialization process in the early period is that under normal conditions, parents are first the only and then the dominant institution of socialization. From the age of 3-4, television begins to influence the child, and in the second half of the period, school and “peer groups” and friends are included in the process. The second period of socialization is characterized by the completion of the formation of mental abilities and the rapid development of the cognitive sphere of the individual (psychological side), as well as the expansion of the circle of social connections and relationships and the change in the role and authority of various institutions of socialization (socio-psychological side). How authority will be redistributed between institutions of socialization and what direction the whole process will take depends on the specific living conditions and upbringing of the individual.

By the third period, the basic system of social attitudes of the individual turns out to be already formed and quite stable. The individual acquires greater independence and criticality in the perception of various social influences; the main institution of socialization becomes his own life experience, including the experience of social relations. This experience is refracted through the existing system of social attitudes, which, like a filter, distributes new knowledge about social reality in accordance with existing ideas and value judgments. Critical events in the life of society or an individual can play an extremely important role. We call critical events that unexpectedly and dramatically disrupt the usual process of life, are associated with strong and deep emotional experiences and often force a person to reconsider the entire existing system of values. The state in which a person finds himself is called post-traumatic syndrome. Examples of events that have become critical for many thousands of people include the Vietnam War for American veterans and the wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya for their Russian participants. The named aspects and age periods of socialization of the individual constitute a single difficult process, in which various elements are systemically connected, interdependent and mutually influencing.

Factors of personality socialization

Socialization, as already noted, is carried out in different situations arising as a result of the interaction of many circumstances. It is the cumulative influence of these circumstances on a person that requires him to behave and be active. Factors of socialization are those circumstances under which conditions are created for the processes of socialization to take place. As there are many circumstances and options for their combination, there are also many factors (conditions) of socialization. A.V. Mudrik identified the main factors of socialization, combining them into three groups: macrofactors (space, planet, world, country, society, state), which influence the socialization of all inhabitants of the planet or very large groups of people living in certain countries; mesofactors (meso - “average, intermediate”) - conditions for the socialization of large groups of people identified on the basis of nationality (ethnicity as a factor of socialization); by the place and type of settlement in which they live (region, village, city, town); by belonging to the audience of certain networks mass communication(radio, television, cinema, etc.); microfactors - these include those that have a direct impact on specific people - family, peer group, microsociety, organizations in which social education is carried out - educational, professional, social, etc. Microfactors, as sociologists note, influence human development through the so-called agents of socialization, i.e. persons in direct interaction with whom his life takes place. At different age stages, the composition of agents is specific. Thus, in relation to children and adolescents, these are parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, peers, neighbors, and teachers. In adolescence or early adulthood, the number of agents also includes a spouse, colleagues at work, study and military service. In adulthood, one’s own children are added, and in old age, members of their families are added.

Socialization is carried out using a wide range of means specific to a particular society, social stratum, and age of a person. These include, for example, methods of feeding and caring for a baby; methods of reward and punishment in the family, in peer groups, in educational and professional groups; various types and types of relationships in the main spheres of human life (communication, play, sports), etc. The better organized social groups are, the greater the opportunity to have a socializing influence on the individual. However, social groups are unequal in their ability to influence a person at various stages of his ontogenetic development. So, in the early and preschool age The family has the greatest influence. In adolescence and young adulthood, the influence of peer groups increases and is most effective; in adulthood, the class, work or professional collective, and individuals take first place in importance. There are socialization factors whose value remains throughout a person’s life. This is a nation, mentality, ethnicity. In recent years, scientists have attached increasing importance to socialization factors, including natural and geographical conditions, since it has been established that they influence the formation of personality in both direct and indirect ways. Knowledge of the macrofactors of socialization allows us to understand the specifics of the manifestation of the general laws of development of the individual as a representative Homo sapiens. Socialization factors are a developmental environment that must be designed, well organized and even built. The main requirement for a developmental environment is to create an atmosphere in which humane relations, trust, safety, and the opportunity for personal growth will prevail.

Socialization factors are also environmental factors in personality formation. However, unlike socialization, the factors of personality formation are supplemented by a biological factor. Some researchers (behaviorists) assign a primary role to it, believing that the environment, training and upbringing are only conditions for self-development, the manifestation of naturally determined mental characteristics. In support of their conclusions, they refer to data from a comparative study of the development of twins. Indeed, the influence of the biological factor on the formation of personality cannot be ignored already because a person is a living organism, whose life is subordinated as general laws biology, and the special laws of anatomy and physiology. But it is not personality traits that are inherited, but certain inclinations. Inclinations are a natural disposition to a particular activity. There are two types of inclinations, universal (the structure of the brain, the central nervous system, receptors) and individual differences in natural data (features of the type of nervous system, analyzers, etc.). Most domestic teachers do not deny the influence of the biological factor on the formation of personality, but also do not assign it a decisive role, as behaviorists do. Whether the inclinations will develop and become abilities depends on social conditions, training and upbringing, i.e. the influence of heredity is always mediated by training, upbringing and social conditions. Natural features the ways and means of forming mental properties are determined. They can influence the level and height of a person’s achievements in any area. Moreover, their impact on the individual is not direct, but indirect.

At the same time, the role of social factors in personality formation cannot be overestimated. Aristotle also wrote that the soul is “an unwritten book of nature; experience writes its writings on its pages.” D. Locke believed that a person is born with a pure soul, like a board covered with wax. Education writes on this board (tabula raza) whatever it pleases. The social environment is understood in this case metaphysically, as something unchangeable, fatally predetermining the fate of a person, and a person is considered as a passive object of environmental influence. The reassessment of the role (Helvetius, Diderot, Owen) led to the conclusion: in order to change a person, it is necessary to change the environment. But the environment is, first of all, people, so it turns out to be a vicious circle. To change the environment, you need to change people. However, a person is not a passive product of his environment; he also influences it. By changing the environment, he thereby changes himself. Recognition of the activity of the individual as the leading factor in its formation raises the question of purposeful activity, self-development of the individual, i.e. continuous operation over yourself, over your own spiritual growth. Self-development provides the opportunity to consistently complicate the tasks and content of education, implement an age-specific and individual approach, form the creative individuality of the student and at the same time carry out collective education and stimulate the individual’s self-management of his further development.

The nature of the development of each individual, the breadth and depth of this development under the same conditions of training and upbringing depend mainly on her own efforts, on the energy and efficiency that she displays in various types of activities, of course, with appropriate adjustments for natural inclinations. This is precisely what in many cases explains the differences in the development of individual people, including schoolchildren, who live and are brought up in the same environmental conditions and experience approximately the same educational influences. Domestic pedagogy is based on the recognition that free and harmonious development of the individual is possible in conditions of collective activity. One cannot but agree that, under certain conditions, the collective neutralizes the individual. However, individuality can be developed and can find its manifestation only in a team. The organization of various forms of collective activity (educational and cognitive, labor, artistic and aesthetic, etc.) contributes to the manifestation of the creative potential of the individual. The role of the collective is irreplaceable in the formation of the ideological and moral orientation of the individual, his social civic position. In a team, in conditions of empathy, awareness of personal involvement joint activities emotional development takes place. The team with its public opinion, traditions, and customs is indispensable as a factor in the formation of generalized positive experience, as well as socially significant skills and habits of social behavior.

Stages of personality socialization

The long process of entering, adapting and comprehending various social roles has its own stages. The stages of socialization, or its periods, are divided into primary and secondary. Primary ones begin in childhood, when a person’s personality is mainly formed. These are very important and significant periods in which the closest environment (parents, other relatives and friends) plays a significant role; this is the formation and development of interpersonal relationships. The primary periods of socialization are periods of comprehension and mastery of interpersonal communication; they contribute to the fact that a person becomes a full-fledged member of society. Later stages of human socialization are usually called secondary. They relate to the second half of his life, when he encounters various social institutions - the state, the army, educational and production teams, the influence of which on the formation and development of the individual is more significant and noticeable already at a conscious age. Secondary stages of socialization are stages that allow an already socialized individual to comprehend new social roles, enter unknown but important areas of the objective world. Where can we draw the line between primary and secondary periods of socialization? As a rule, it is generally accepted that the stages of socialization of an individual replace each other when he achieves political, economic and social independence, namely, obtaining a passport, profession and work, starting a family, etc. The process of socialization is a complementary and two-way process. By entering and comprehending the system of social connections, the individual acquires experience that is significant for himself; on the other hand, in the process of actively assimilating the social environment, he does not passively accept the experience gained, but transforms it into his own attitudes, values ​​and orientations. Socialization necessarily takes place with someone else's participation and help. The people and institutions that a person encounters while comprehending social experience are called agents of socialization. Just like the stages of socialization, agents are divided into primary (close significant environment) and secondary (public institutions and institutions, their administration, representatives, etc.). Socialization is not just a process of growing up, it is a consistent comprehension by an individual of unfamiliar but significant norms and roles, which continues throughout life. The stages of socialization coincide with the main ones life cycles a person, which indicate the main events of his biography.

Problems of personality socialization

The problem of personality socialization, despite its wide representation in the scientific literature, remains relevant to this day. Processes occurring in any spheres of social life influence the individual, his living space, internal state. As noted by S.L. Rubinstein, personality is “... not only this or that state, but a process during which internal conditions change, and with their change, the possibilities of influencing the individual by changing external conditions" In this regard, the mechanisms, content, and conditions of socialization of the individual, undergoing significant changes, cause equally intense changes in the personality being formed. Modern man is constantly under the influence of many factors: both man-made and those of social origin, which cause a deterioration in his health. The physical health of an individual is inextricably linked with mental health. The latter, in turn, is associated with a person’s need for self-realization, i.e. provides that sphere of life that we call social. A person realizes himself in society only if he has a sufficient level of mental energy that determines his performance, and at the same time sufficient plasticity and harmony of the psyche, allowing him to adapt to society and be adequate to its requirements. Mental health is a necessary condition successful socialization of the individual. Statistics show that on average there are only 35% of people free from any mental disorders. The layer of people with pre-morbid conditions in the population reaches considerable sizes: according to various authors - from 22 to 89%. However, half of the carriers of mental symptoms independently adapt to the environment (A.V. Ananyev, G.S. Nikiforov).

The success of socialization is assessed by three main indicators: a) a person reacts to another person as an equal; b) a person recognizes the existence of norms in relations between people; c) the person admits necessary measure loneliness and relative dependence on other people, that is, there is a certain harmony between the parameters “lonely” and “dependent”. The criterion for successful socialization is a person’s ability to live in the conditions of modern social norms, in the “I – ​​others” system. However, it is increasingly rare to find people who meet these requirements. Increasingly, we are faced with manifestations of difficult socialization, especially among the younger generation. As the results of research in recent years show, the number of children with behavioral disorders and deviations in personal development is not decreasing, despite the existence of an extensive network psychological services(E.O. Smirnova, I.V. Dubrovina, R.V. Ovcharova, L.G. Tatarnikova, O.V. Khukhlaeva). This is how the problem of aggression among teenagers retains its practical significance. In our study (with student Izilyanova Yu.L.), we found that about half of the adolescents surveyed show aggression. Moreover, 74% of boys and 32% of girls are overly aggressive. Undoubtedly, aggressiveness is inherent in any person. Its absence leads to passivity, submissiveness, and conformity. However, its excessive development begins to determine the entire appearance of the personality: it can become conflicting, incapable of conscious cooperation, and therefore complicates the comfortable existence of the individual among the people around him.

Another problem that causes concern to the public is the violation of social norms and rules by teenagers and their unwillingness to obey them. This in itself is a manifestation of a violation of the socialization process. There are more and more children belonging to the group of deviant and dilinquent adolescents. In a joint study with student Chernyshova E.A. results were obtained showing that 31% of adolescents attending regular secondary school, have a tendency towards delinquent behavior, among them there are students who are already registered in the Children's Police Room. Moreover, the tendency to deviate behavior is high not only among boys, but also among girls (59% of boys and 52% of girls). It is noteworthy that teachers at all levels of the education system in our country talk today about the low arbitrariness of the behavior of modern children, their inability to regulate, subject to external requirements. It is characterized by impulsiveness and inconsistency (O.E. Smirnova, L.G. Tatarnikova). The results of our study also confirm this position, although it is necessary to take into account possible manifestations of the teenage crisis. Thus, according to our data, 44.6% of adolescents are not capable of volitional regulation of their emotional reactions. But exactly strong-willed qualities make a person a free and conscious subject of his own life. Also L.I. Bozovic emphasized that the problem of will and volition is central to the formation of personality. It is important to note that L.S. Vygotsky considered the child’s relationship with adults to be the source of voluntariness. Despite the deterioration of children's health, changes in socio-economic conditions and other processes occurring in society, the recognized conditions and factors for the development of a child's personality remain unchanged, where an important role is assigned to adults, including society as a whole.

Also, a problem in modern society is the increasing incidence of suicide among the child population. The scale of the problem is much wider than it seems at first glance. After all, statistics usually include completed attempts to die, but an even larger number of people with a tendency towards suicidal behavior remain unaccounted for (A.G. Ambrumova). Also, as part of our research, it was proven that this problem is relevant for Yoshkar-Ola teenagers: 54.6% of students have a tendency to self-harmful behavior, 26% of them have a high tendency. Teenagers in this category repeatedly thought about death as a successful way to resolve their own problems. As it turned out from conversations with class teachers, most often these children do not have trusting relationships with their parents and peers. All this allows us to conclude that modern children have a low ability to adapt, which makes it difficult for them to master social space in adequate ways. As a rule, unresolved difficulties of one age entail the emergence of others, which leads to the formation of a whole symptom complex, becoming entrenched in personal characteristics. Speaking about the importance of forming a socially active personality of the younger generation, we, however, are actually faced with the difficulties of their adaptation to changing conditions. Every year among students entering the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Mari State University state university, only 40% easily adapt to the conditions of study at a university. The rest of the students experience significant difficulties in restructuring their lifestyle. And among this number of students there are far from non-resident or rural residents (based on a study with student E.I. Kuznetsova).

Hence the origins of this social problem, as the experience of loneliness among young people. If a few decades ago the problem of loneliness was considered a problem for older people, today its age threshold has dropped sharply. A certain percentage of lonely people is also observed among student youth. Note that lonely people have minimal social contacts, their personal connections with other people, as a rule, are either limited or completely absent (S.G. Kochagina). The experience of loneliness is typical not only for first-year students who experience difficulties adapting to new living conditions - more than 70% of them turned out to be (according to a study with student E.A. Belyakova), but also for older students. Thus, among 3rd year students, the problem of loneliness is relevant for 67% (17% have a high degree of loneliness). The outlined range of problems of socialization of the younger generation in modern society is only approximate and is based on the results obtained during an empirical study together with students. We see our task as indicating the importance of the problem of socialization of the individual, identifying possible reasons the current situation and ways to resolve it. We see personal helplessness and personal maturity of the subject as the extreme poles of socialization. Undoubtedly, the goal of society should be the formation of a mature personality with such qualities as independence, responsibility, activity, independence, the ability to empathize, and decentralization (A.L. Zhuravlev). These characteristics are most often inherent in an adult, but their foundation is laid already in childhood. Therefore, all efforts of teachers and society as a whole should be aimed at developing the indicated qualities. According to D.A. Tsiring, personal helplessness develops in the process of ontogenesis under the influence of various factors, including the system of relationships with others. A person’s location at one point or another on the continuum “personal helplessness – personal maturity” is an indicator of his socialization and, in general, subjectivity.

A child comes into this world, as they say, tabula rasa (that is, a “blank slate”). And it is on how to raise a child that his future life will depend: will this person be successful in the future or will he sink to the very bottom of life. That is why this article will examine in detail such a problem as the socialization of a child.

Terminology

Initially, of course, you need to decide on those terms that will be actively used throughout the article. So, the socialization of a child is the development of the baby starting from the very moment of his birth. It depends on the interaction of the baby with environment, while the child will actively absorb everything that he sees, hears, feels. This is the understanding and assimilation of all cultural and moral standards and values, as well as the processes of self-development in the society to which the child belongs.

Generally speaking, socialization is the process of a child assimilating the values ​​and principles that exist in a given society. As well as the absorption of those rules of behavior that its members actively use.

Structural Components

It is also important to note that the socialization of a child consists of the following structural components:

1. Spontaneous socialization. In this case, we are talking about the process of self-development of the baby under the influence of objective circumstances. It is very difficult to control this component.
2. Relatively guided socialization. In this case, we are talking about the nuances that the state takes to solve problems that directly affect people. These are various kinds of economic, organizational and legislative measures.
3. Relatively controlled socialization. These are all those spiritual and cultural norms created by the state as a whole and society in particular.
4. Conscious self-change of a person. However, it should be noted that this point of socialization is not typical for children. It most likely applies more to adults. At a minimum - to teenagers who have come to the conclusion that they need to change something in their lives.

Stages of socialization

It should also be noted that the socialization of a child consists of a number of important stages, which differ depending on the age of the child:

1. baby until the first year of life).
2. Early childhood, when the baby is from 1 to 3 years old.
3. (from 3 to 6 years).
4. Junior school (6-10 years old) age.
5. Early adolescence (about 10-12 years old).
6. Senior adolescence (12-14 years) age.
7. Early adolescence (15-18 years).

Socialization factors

The process of socialization is very difficult. After all, it also includes such a concept as socialization factors. In this case, we are talking about those conditions and the behavior of society that clearly formulates certain norms and foundations for the child. Factors are divided into four huge groups:

1. Megafactors. Such that affect all inhabitants of the planet. For example, this is space, the world, the planet. In this case, the child must be raised to understand the value of the Earth, that is, the planet on which everyone lives.
2. Macro factors. Reach fewer people. Namely, residents of one state, people, ethnic group. So, everyone knows that different regions differ in climatic conditions, urbanization processes, economic nuances and, of course, cultural characteristics. It will not be a secret to anyone that it is precisely depending on historical characteristics that a special type of personality is formed.
3. Mesofactors. These are also social factors that greatly influence a person. So, these are groups of people divided by type of settlement. That is, we are talking about where exactly the child lives: in a village, town or city. In this case, communication routes and the presence of subcultures ( the most important stage in the process of personal autonomy), the characteristics of a particular place of settlement. It's also worth noting that regional differences can affect a person very differently.
4. Microfactors. Well, the last group of factors that most influence a person is the family, microsociety, home, neighborhood, upbringing, and attitude towards religion.

Agents of Socialization

The upbringing and socialization of a child takes place under the influence of so-called agents. Who are they? Thus, agents of socialization are those institutions or groups through which the child learns certain norms, values ​​and rules of behavior.

1. Individuals. These are people who have direct contact with the child in the process of upbringing and education. Parents, relatives, friends, teachers, neighbors, etc.
2. Certain institutions. These are kindergartens, schools, additional development groups, clubs, etc. That is, those institutions that also influence the child in one way or another.

Here it is also necessary to say that there is a division into primary and secondary socialization. The role of agents in such cases will vary significantly.

1. So, in the early childhood, up to three years of age, the most important role as agents of socialization is assigned to individuals: parents, grandparents and the child’s immediate environment. That is, those people who are in contact with him from birth and in the first years of life.
2. From 3 to 8 years, other agents also come into work, for example, a kindergarten or other educational institution. Here, in addition to the immediate environment, educators, nannies, doctors, etc. influence the upbringing of the child.
3. In the period from 8 to 18 years of age, a person’s personality is greatly influenced by the media: television, the Internet.

Early socialization of children

As mentioned above, the process of socialization of children consists of two main stages: primary and secondary socialization. Now I would like to talk about the first most important point.

Thus, in the process of (primary) early socialization, it is the family that is of utmost importance. Just after being born, the baby turns out to be helpless and still completely unprepared for life in a new world for him. And only his parents and others help him adapt at the very first time. It is worth noting that after birth a child not only grows and develops, but also socializes. After all, he absorbs what he sees around him: how parents communicate with each other, what they say and how. This is what the baby will reproduce over time. And if they say about a child that he is harmful, you should first of all reproach not the baby, but the parents. After all, only they provoke their child to such behavior. If the parents are calm, do not communicate in raised voices and do not shout, the baby will be the same. Otherwise, children become capricious, nervous, and quick-tempered. These are already the nuances of socialization. That is, the child believes that this is how one should behave in the future in society. What will he do over time? kindergarten, on the street, in the park or at a party.

What is it like, the socialization of a child in a family? If we draw a small conclusion, then all parents need to be reminded: we must not forget that the child absorbs everything he sees in the family. And he will carry this into his life in the future.

A few words about dysfunctional families

Successful socialization of children is possible only if the agents conform to socially acceptable standards. This is where the problem arises. So, this is a special, structural-functional type of family, which is characterized by low social status in various spheres of life. It is worth noting that such a family very rarely fulfills the functions assigned to it for a number of reasons: primarily economic, but also pedagogical, social, legal, medical, psychological, etc. It is here that all sorts of problems in the socialization of children most often arise.

Facilities

The process of socialization is so complex that it includes multiple nuances and elements. Thus, it is also necessary to separately consider various means of socialization of children. What are we talking about in this case? This is a set of necessary elements that are specific to each individual society, social class, and age. So, these are, for example, methods of caring for and feeding a newborn, the formation of hygienic and living conditions, products of material and spiritual culture that surround the child, a set of both positive and negative sanctions in the event of a particular act. All of this is the most important means of socialization, thanks to which the child learns all kinds of norms of behavior, as well as the values ​​that those around him are trying to instill in him.

Mechanisms

When understanding how the socialization of a child’s personality takes place, it is also worth paying attention to the mechanisms of its work. So, in science there are two main ones. The first of them is social and pedagogical. TO this mechanism include:

1. Traditional mechanism. This is the child’s assimilation of norms of behavior, views and stereotypes that are characteristic of his immediate environment: family and relatives.
2. Institutional. In this case, the influence on the child of a variety of social institutions with which he interacts in the process of his development is involved.
3. Stylized. Here we are already talking about the influence of a subculture or other characteristics (for example, religious) on the development of a child.
4. Interpersonal. The child learns norms of behavior and principles through communication with certain people.
5. Reflective. This is already more complex mechanism self-identification of oneself as a unit of a large whole, the relationship between oneself and the surrounding world.

Another important mechanism of child socialization is socio-psychological. In science, it is divided into the following elements:

1. Suppression. This is the process of eliminating feelings, thoughts, desires.
2. Insulation. When a child tries to get rid of unwanted thoughts or sensations.
3. Projection. Transferring certain norms of behavior and values ​​to another person.
4. Identification. In the process, the child relates himself to other people, a team, a group.
5. Introjection. The child transfers onto himself the attitudes of another person: authority, idol.
6. Empathy. The most important mechanism of empathy.
7. Self-deception. The child obviously knows that his thoughts and judgments are incorrect.
8. Sublimation. A most useful mechanism for transferring a need or desire into a socially acceptable reality.

"Difficult" children

Separately, we need to say a few words about how the socialization of children with disabilities (that is, with disabilities) takes place. Initially, it should be noted that the primary socialization of the baby is of utmost importance here, that is, everything that will happen at home. If parents treat a child with special needs as a full-fledged member of society, secondary socialization will not be as difficult as it might be. Of course, there will be difficulties, because special children are often perceived negatively or simply warily by their peers. They are not treated as equals, which has an extremely negative impact on the development of the child’s personality. It is worth noting that the socialization of children with disabilities should take place almost the same as in the case of the most ordinary healthy baby. However, additional funds may be required. The main problems that may arise along this path are:

• Insufficient number of necessary aids for full socialization (elementary, lack of ramps in schools).
• Lack of attention and communication when it comes to children with disabilities.
• Omissions at the stage of early socialization of such children, when they begin to perceive themselves completely differently from how they should be.

It is also important to note that in this case, specially trained teachers who are able to take into account the needs and, most importantly, the capabilities of such special children should work with children.

Children who are left without parents

Orphans deserve special attention when considering the stages of socialization of such a child. Why? Everything is simple, because for such children the primary thing is not the family, as it should be, but a special institution - an orphanage, Orphanage, boarding school It is worth noting that this gives rise to multiple problems. So, initially such little ones begin to perceive life as it is in a completely wrong way. That is, from the very beginning he begins to formulate for himself a certain model of behavior and subsequent life similar to the one he sees at the moment. Also, the process of raising and educating orphans is completely different. Such babies receive much less personal attention; they receive less physical warmth, affection and care from a very early age. And all this strictly influences the worldview and the formation of personality. Experts have long been saying that graduates of such institutions - boarding schools - end up with little independence, unadapted to life in society outside the walls of educational institutions. They do not have those basic skills and abilities that will allow them to properly run the household, manage material means and even your own time.

Socialization of the baby in kindergarten

How does a child’s socialization occur in a preschool educational institution? It is worth recalling that in this case we will already be talking about secondary socialization. That is, various educational institutions come into operation, which strictly influence human life. So, in kindergarten the main role is played by the child’s learning process. It is for this purpose that specialists are developing a variety of educational programs that educators must follow. Their goals:

• Creating positive conditions for the development of children (choosing motivation, creating one or another behavioral form).
• Thinking through the types and forms of pedagogical activity. That is, it is important to design classes so that they, for example, form a positive attitude towards the world, self-esteem, the need for empathy, etc.
• It is also important to be able to determine the level of development of each child in order to be able to work with each child according to his needs and capabilities.

The most important element is the socialization of the child. The program that will be chosen by preschool employees for this is also a special and responsible moment. Much of the child’s subsequent education may depend on this.

Children's and adult socialization: features

Having examined the features of the socialization of children, I would also like to compare everything with similar processes in adults. What are the differences?

1. If we talk about adults, then in the process of socialization a person’s behavior changes. In children, basic values ​​are adjusted.
2. Adults are able to evaluate what is happening. Children simply absorb information without judgment.
3. An adult is able to distinguish not only “white” and “black,” but also various shades of “gray.” Such people understand how to behave at home, at work, in a team, playing certain roles. The child simply obeys the adults, fulfilling their demands and wishes.
4. Adults acquire certain skills during the process of socialization. It is also worth noting that only a conscious adult is subject to the processes of resocialization. In children, socialization only forms motivation for certain behavior.

If socialization fails...

It happens that the conditions for a child’s socialization are completely inappropriate and do not meet generally accepted requirements. This can be compared to a shot: the process has begun, but it does not achieve the desired goal. Why is socialization sometimes unsuccessful?

1. Some experts are ready to argue that there is a connection with mental illness and unsuccessful socialization.
2. Socialization also fails if the child undergoes these processes at an early age not in the family, but in various institutions: a boarding school, an orphanage.
3. One of the reasons for unsuccessful socialization is hospitalization of children. That is, if the child spends a lot of time within the walls of hospitals. Experts say that the socialization processes of such children are also disrupted and do not correspond to generally accepted norms.
4. And, of course, socialization can be unsuccessful if the child is under too much influence from the media, television or the Internet.

On the issue of resocialization

Having examined various social factors - the driving forces of the child’s socialization process, it is also worth saying a few words about such a problem as resocialization. As mentioned above, children are not subject to these processes. This is true, however, if we talk about independence. That is, the child himself cannot come to the understanding that his standards of behavior are incorrect and something needs to be changed. This is typical only for adults. If we are talking about children, then the question arises about the so-called forced resocialization. When a child is simply re-taught what is necessary for a full life in society.

Thus, resocialization is the process of a child assimilating new norms and values, roles and skills instead of those previously acquired and used for some time. There are quite a lot of ways of resocialization. But still, experts say that psychotherapy is the most effective and effective way, if we talk about children. Special specialists must work with such children, and besides, they will have to spend a lot of time on this. However, the results are always positive. Even if the norms and principles of unsuccessful socialization were used by the child for quite a long time.

Socialization is the development of a person throughout his life in interaction with the environment in the process of assimilation and reproduction of social norms and cultural values, as well as self-development and self-realization in the society to which he belongs.

In a general sense, socialization is understood as the process of a person’s assimilation of existing social norms, values, and typical forms of behavior in society, as well as the establishment of new individual norms that meet the interests of the entire society. L.S. Vygotsky viewed socialization as the individual’s appropriation of social experience and the entire culture of society.

Essence socialization consists of a combination of adaptation and isolation of a person in the conditions of a particular society.

The structure of the socialization process includes the following components: 1) spontaneous socialization - the process of development and self-development of a person in interaction and under the influence of objective circumstances in the life of society; 2) relatively guided socialization - when the state takes economic, legislative, and organizational measures to solve its problems, which objectively influence a person’s life path and his development; 3) relatively socially controlled socialization - the systematic creation by society and the state of legal, organizational, material and spiritual conditions for human development; 4) conscious self-change of a person.

Main species socialization are: a) gender-role (mastery of the roles of men and women by members of society); b) family (creation of a family by members of society, performing functions in relation to each other, performing the functions of parents in relation to their children and children in relation to their parents); c) professional (competent participation of members of society in economic and social life); d) legal (law-abiding behavior of every member of society).

Stages socialization can be correlated with the age periodization of a person’s life: infancy (from birth to 1 year), early childhood (1–3 years), preschool childhood (3–6 years), primary school age (6–10 years), early adolescence (10 –12 years), older adolescence (12–14 years), early adolescence (15–17 years), youth (18–23 years), youth (23–30 years), early adulthood (30–40 years), late adulthood (40–55 years old), elderly age(55–65 years), old age (65–70 years), longevity (over 70 years).

Agents socialization refers to people in direct interaction with whom a person’s life takes place. In their role in socialization, agents differ depending on how significant they are for him. At different age stages, the composition of agents is specific.

Facilities socialization is a set of means specific to a certain society, a certain social stratum, a certain age. These include: methods of feeding and caring for a baby; developed household and hygienic skills; products of material culture surrounding a person; elements of spiritual culture; the consistent introduction of a person to numerous types and types of relationships in the main spheres of his life; a set of positive and negative formal and informal sanctions.

Mechanisms Socializations are divided into socio-psychological and socio-pedagogical.

TO socio-pedagogical mechanisms include: traditional (represents a person’s assimilation of norms, standards of behavior, views, stereotypes that are characteristic of his family and immediate environment); institutional (functions in the process of interaction of a person with the institutions of society and various organizations, both specially created for his socialization, and those implementing socializing functions in parallel with their main ones); stylized (operates within a subculture); interpersonal (functions in the process of interaction with people who are subjectively significant to a person); reflexive (awareness and experience of the reality in which a person lives, and of himself).

TO socio-psychological mechanisms include: suppression (exclusion from the sphere of consciousness of thoughts, feelings, desires and attractions that cause shame or mental pain); repression (voluntary suppression); reaction to the opposite attitude (suppression of feelings of guilt due to existing socially unacceptable desires and resolution of the contradiction between desires and the assigned social norm); isolation (repression of the emotional components of unpleasant, traumatic impressions); self-restraint (retreating in the face of difficulties, limiting one’s “I”); projection (prescribing one's own undesirable traits to other people); identification (identifying oneself with another subject, group, sample); introjection (the attitudes of another person seem to be built into the structure of the subject’s personality without special processing); empathy (sympathy with the emotional state of another person); intellectualization (abstract reasoning about a difficult situation instead of real actions to resolve it); discrediting the goal, self-deception (inventing seemingly logical conclusions and judgments to falsely explain one’s frustrations); reversal (preventing or mitigating unacceptable actions); sublimation (translation of any instinctive drive, need and motive, the satisfaction of which is blocked by the conditions of the situation, into socially acceptable activity).

The result socialization is socialization, which is understood as the formation of human characteristics specified by status and required by a given society.

The concept of “sociality” is also directly related to human socialization. Under sociality is understood as an integrated result of social education, expressed in a person’s ability to interact with the social world and other people.

Factors socialization refers to conditions that more or less actively influence human development and require certain behavior and activity from him. The studied factors of socialization can be combined into four large groups: megafactors, macrofactors, mesofactors, microfactors.

Megafactors are conditions that affect all people on Earth. These include the world, space, planet. These circumstances must be kept in mind when determining the goals and content of education. Pedagogical goal setting should include the formation and development of planetary consciousness in adults and children, an attitude towards the Earth as common house. The content side of such consciousness is determined by universal human values.

Macro factors are conditions that influence the process of socialization of all people living in certain countries. These include country, state, society, ethnic group. The regions of the country differ from each other in natural and climatic conditions, economic characteristics, degree of urbanization, and cultural characteristics. Depending on the historical path, the achieved level and prospects for development in society, the ideal of a person is formed, a certain type of personality is formed. Policies and social practices characteristic of a given state create certain living conditions for citizens, in which socialization takes place. Among macro factors, ethnicity has a huge influence on the formation of personality. Each ethnic group has its own specific features and properties, the totality of which determines its national character. They manifest themselves in national culture. Socialization in a particular ethnic group has its own characteristics, conditionally united into two groups: vital (biological-physical) and mental (fundamental spiritual properties). The mentality of an ethnic group is manifested in implicit concepts of personality and its upbringing.

Mesofactors are the conditions for the socialization of large groups of people, distinguished: by the place and type of settlement in which they live (city, town, village); by belonging to the audience of certain mass communication networks; according to belonging to certain subcultures. The most significant among them are region and type of settlement. The influence of regional conditions on socialization is of a different nature and is determined by natural-geographical, socio-geographical, socio-economic, socio-demographic, historical, cultural characteristics, climate, ethnic composition and the degree of stability of the population. In villages and towns it is preserved social control behind human behavior, since there is a stable composition of residents, weak social, professional and cultural differentiation, close ties between neighbors and relatives, ensuring open communication. The city creates potential opportunities for adults and children to make individual choices in various spheres of life, and provides opportunities for a wide choice of communication groups, lifestyles, and value systems. In the city and town, a person is under the influence of mass communications, which perform informational and relaxation functions in the development of children. Subcultures play a huge role in socialization simply because they represent a specific way of differentiating developed national cultures, their influence on certain communities, as well as marking the social and age structure of society. The signs of the subculture are: value orientations, norms of behavior, interactions and relationships, preferred sources of information, aesthetic preferences, jargon, status structure. Subculture serves as one of the ways to isolate a person in society, one of the stages of individual autonomy.

Microfactors are conditions that directly affect specific people. These include family, neighborhood, microsociety, home, peer groups, educational, public, government, private, and religious organizations.

As the main institution of socialization, the family is the personal environment for a person’s life and development throughout his life. It performs certain socializing functions: it ensures the physical and emotional development of a person, mastering it social norms, shapes the child’s psychological gender, his value orientations, and determines subsequent intellectual development. The support, negative or indifferent attitude of the family has a huge impact on a person's aspirations. A benevolent attitude helps in a person’s adaptation to life, a negative one contributes to the emergence of barriers to its implementation, and an indifferent attitude is the source of many difficulties throughout his life. In any family, a person undergoes spontaneous socialization, the content of which is determined by its objective characteristics, value systems, lifestyle and relationships among family members. Relatively socially controlled socialization is carried out in the family in the form of education, understood as conscious efforts to raise the child made by older family members.

The basic principles of family education are: a combination of close and urgent, possible and necessary tasks, emphasis on the present moment, the principle of overcoming difficulties and achieving well-deserved success. Special meaning has a social orientation of family education, which consists in the development and strengthening of the spiritual strength of the child.

The basis of the pedagogical activity of parents should be pedagogical culture as component general human culture. In the process of mastering pedagogical culture, the task is to form knowledge that will help parents get to know their child. Along with theoretical knowledge about what methods and techniques should be used to achieve the goal, parents must have certain skills that will contribute to the implementation of these techniques. The concern of parents is the formation inner world the child as a whole.

It should be noted that in recent years, not every family has become the main institution for the socialization of a child, which has a positive impact not on his development, worldview, behavior, etc. The number of dysfunctional families is growing.

A dysfunctional family is understood as a structural and functional type of family, characterized by low social status in different areas her life activity. A family of this kind does not always fulfill the functions assigned to it for a number of reasons (social, pedagogical, psychological, economic, medical, legal, etc.) to which it cannot adapt. Taking into account the experience of specialists working in the field of social pedagogy, we can highlight social, physical, psychological, legal, economic, pedagogical and medical ill-being of the family.

Identification of one or more of the above types of disadvantage serves as the basis for providing assistance to a given family, and the type of family disadvantage is directly related to the type of assistance that is provided to it.

Mass communications play a special role in the conditions of modern scientific and technological progress. They have a huge impact on the socialization processes of the younger generation. When considering the means of mass communication as a mesofactor of socialization, it is necessary to remember that the direct object of influence of the flow of their messages is not an individual, but mass consciousness and behavior.

In modern pedagogical science The following functions of mass communication media are distinguished: a) the function of social orientation, which is based on a person’s need for information for orientation in society; b) the function of affiliation (from English to affiliate - to join), based on a person’s need to feel like a member of certain groups, joining which increases his security and confidence; c) the function of contact with other persons, determined by a person’s need for connections with other people, which make it possible to personalize; c) the function of self-affirmation, which manifests itself in a person receiving information confirming his values ​​and views; d) the function of emotional release, realized through inclusion in entertainment programs, publications and messages that act as distractions and switching factors.

A.V. Mudrik identifies such functions of mass communication as: a) the function of information influence, which consists in acquiring a variety of contradictory, unsystematized information about the types of people’s behavior and lifestyle in various social strata, regions, countries; b) the function of non-formal education, which allows you to isolate from the entire flow of information the subjectively necessary for a certain person knowledge; c) recreational function, which determines individual and group leisure time for people, distracting them from everyday worries and routine; d) relaxation function, which allows you to compensate for emotional dissatisfaction; e) normative function, manifested in the formation of material, spiritual and social needs among large groups of people and specific individuals.

Since the culture of using mass media is not taught in any educational institution, and parents themselves do not always act as active subjects of this culture, mass communications, along with a positive influence, also have various kinds negative impact on the process of socialization of the younger generation.

Agents and conditions of socialization. Agents of socialization are individuals, groups and institutions that participate in the process of personality formation. These usually include family and relatives; groups of peers and acquaintances; school (university); media, etc. We do not aim to describe all these agents.

At different stages of socialization, certain agents and institutions play an active role. At the pre-work stage, the main factors are family, educational institutions and peers. At the labor stage, a significant role is played by the team, the professional community, friendly company, and the media. At the post-work stage, the circle of socialization agents narrows significantly. At the same time, socialization is carried out under the influence of a set of conditions - socially controlled and directionally organized, spontaneous and spontaneous (involuntarily arising). These are economic, socio-political, spiritual and ideological conditions and factors necessary or sufficient to ensure the development of the individual.

Mechanisms of socialization In the scientific literature, primarily psychological mechanisms of socialization are distinguished. S. Freud was one of the first to try to do this. He identified confirmation mechanisms - exclusion, imitation, prohibition, substitution (substitution), imitation and identification.

In J. Mead's concept of role behavior, the mechanisms of socialization are revealed through the perception of roles. Awareness of the “generalized other” occurs, in his opinion, through the processes of accepting and playing a role. Accepting a role is the process of assigning a role in another, unusual interaction situation, and the performance of pain is actual actions or acts of role behavior. Role training must also be added to these processes. Let us now move on to a presentation of the main points characterizing the content of the concepts of socialization: socialization is usually defined as the process of an individual’s assimilation of the values, norms and roles that prevail in a given society and determine the degree of its inclusion in the system of social relations; socialization must be considered as a two-way process: on the one hand, as typification, the adoption of rules of behavior typical for a given community (typification); on the other hand, as an active influence of the individual on his social environment, the creation of new, individually colored forms of life and experience (individualization); the process of socialization is carried out in different forms depending on age and social conditions (primary and secondary socialization, socialization of adults and older people, resocialization and desocialization); the socialization process is divided into different stages or stages (for example, pre-labor, labor and post-labor stages, etc.); agents of socialization can be entire institutions and groups, as well as individuals who influence the development of the individual at one stage or another; methods of mastering roles (acceptance, performance and training) can be considered as mechanisms of socialization.

End of work -

This topic belongs to the section:

Socialization of the individual. Agents of Socialization

Due to this, a person is included in a multitude social systems, each of which has a systematized effect on him.. Sociology does not consider personality in all its diversity, that is, how.. The indispensable characteristics of personality are self-awareness, value orientations and social relationships..

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