A line graph illustrates the global perception of U.S. power and influence from 2013 till 2017. There is a question that says, “U.S. power and influence is a blank to our country.”, with the options major threat, minor threat, and not a threat. The line from 2013 to 2017
Major threat: 25 percent in 2013, and 38 percent in 2017.
Minor threat: 30 percent in 2013, and 24 percent in 2017.
Not a threat: 35 percent in 2013, and 23 percent in 2017.
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The list of the most spoken languages in the world is as follows:
Chinese: 1,284 million.
Spanish: 437 million.
English: 372 million.
Arabic: 295 million.
Hindi: 260 million.
Bengali: 242 million.
Portuguese: 219 million.
Russian: 154 million.
Japanese: 128 million.
Lahnda: 119 million.
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An illustration shows a large circle named, “National culture”. Within it are many small circles named, “subculture”, and even smaller circles named, “microculture”. A large and a small explosion shaped outline interrupts the national culture circle and is named as, “Counter cultures, opposition”.
Chapter 4 Socialization Becoming Human and Humane
▲ Our close family and friends (micro level) and the organizations and institutions we belong to (meso level) teach us how to be human and humane in our society. We learn skills, as well as values such as loyalty and compassion, by watching others.
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What Will You Learn in This Chapter?
This chapter will help you to do the following:
4.1 Summarize the nature versus nurture debate and the sociological perspective on it
4.2 Predict the impact of isolation and neglect on children
4.3 Defend the position that groups at each level in our social world have a stake in how we are socialized
4.4 Describe how we develop a “self” through interacting with others
4.5 Explain how micro- and meso-level agents of socialization influence individuals
4.6 Discuss how macro-level agents of socialization can impact children today
4.7 Identify policy questions that rely on an understanding of socialization
Canadian preteen Craig Kielburger happened to see an article about a 12-year-old boy in Pakistan, Iqbal Masih, a child who had escaped slavery and was murdered for speaking out against child labor. Iqbal was Craig’s age, so the story stunned him. Curious about what child labor was, he learned that there are 250 million child laborers ages 5 to 17 around the world, about 1 in 4 in the poorest, least developed countries (UNICEF 2018). He was appalled. Although only 12, he mobilized his classmates and they started a nonprofit called Free the Children. It became an international organization that has won a number of awards for its contributions to better the lives of oppressed children (Free the Children 2015). Craig, now in this 30s, and his brother Marc cofounded another organization called Me to We that sells socially conscious products and services that helps to fund Free the Children.
Many people are concerned primarily about their own self-interests, yet even as a child Craig seemed to care about people he had never met. He was motivated to act on that concern, but why? Sociologists would point largely to his upbringing—his socialization. Coming from a religious background that stressed compassion and justice, and being raised in a family that stressed awareness of people different from themselves, his mother, Theresa Kielburger, ensured that her children had direct experiences in the world around them. She commented to a journalist, “Kids become so desensitized by television and the media. It’s important to sensitize them, and you have to do it when they are young” (Langlois 2015). She used small gestures—like stopping to have a conversation with a homeless person rather than just ignoring the person or giving away pocket change—as a way to communicate values of caring and humaneness. She often asked her boys to imagine what it feels like to be the kid in class whom everyone teases, thereby enhancing an ability to see things from the perspective of others. Craig also reported that a central family motto was “The only failure in life is not trying,” so he developed a sense of agency—of his ability to make choices and to act, even while he was still a child (Kielburger 2009:13). Eventually, both brothers became major human rights activists in Canada, and Craig received an International Human Rights Award and has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (World of Children 2012). This type of altruism clearly seems to be developed by an environment that fosters understanding, tolerance, and caring for the plight of others, yet many children are not exposed to this type of upbringing.
In this chapter we examine the process of socialization, how it involves development of our selves, and the many directions that process can take, depending on one’s experiences in life.
▲ Unlike Craig Kielburger, who was socialized to create a gentler and more humane world, some children grow up in a world of hostility and violence. Children as young as 5 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been kidnapped or sold to be child soldiers in rebel armies. They are socialized through abuse by their captors and forced to obey and kill “enemies” in order to survive themselves. They do not look at the world as a friendly place.
© Finbar O’Reilly/Reuters
Socialization is the lifelong process of learning to become a member of the social world, beginning at birth and continuing until death. It is a major part of what the family, education, religion, and other institutions do to prepare individuals to be members of their social world. In some cases, a negative socialization experience from peers or adults results in a damaged self-concept.
From the day they are born, infants are interactive, ready to be socialized into membership in the human social world. As they cry, coo, or smile, they gradually learn that their behaviors elicit responses from other humans. This interaction is the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages. These form the basic building blocks of socialization through which a child learns his or her culture and becomes a member of society. This process of interaction shapes the infant into a human being with a social self—the perception we have of who we are.
▲ Socialization starts at the beginning of life as babies interact intensively with their parents, observing and learning what kinds of sounds or actions elicit response from adults.
© iStock.com/Tatiana