Theories of Socialization

It is the process whereby people come to learn and accept the values, beliefs, norms, and practices of a
culture and society. Many theories explain how this process takes place and to what factors it is
susceptible. The major theories of socialization will be discussed in detail next.
1. Structural Functionalism
Key Proponents:Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons
Summary: In contrast, this theory views socialization mainly as a process in the promotion of social
continuity and stability. Greater emphasis is given to social agencies-family, education, and religion-thru
which the individual learns to integrate himself into the larger structure of society. These agencies thus
promote social cohesion.
Key Points:
Social Order: It helps the individual understand and accept his or her roles in the larger schema of social
things and helps in promoting social stability.
Role Learning: Socialization imparts to a person his or her social role, i.e., the expectations and norms
that help the machinery of society function rightly.
- Integration:The social institutions play an indispensable role in integrating the individual within the
social fold through certain values and norms common to all.
2. Conflict Theory
Key Proponents: Karl Marx, Max Weber
Overview: In this theory, the concern is basically how socialization perpetuates inequality and serves
dominant groups. The theory holds good that through the socialization process, pre-existing structure
power gets reinforced and differences in social class get reproduced.
Key Terms Power and Inequality - Socialization may serve, and often appears to have the conscious
function in life of maintaining and/or forwarding powerful groups through reinforcement of values and
norms that validate and perpetuate their power. Social Reproduction - How schools and media may
reproduce class structures through reinforcement of the status quo and limitation of avenues for social
mobility.
Resistance and Change: While socialization perpetuates inequality, it also constitutes simultaneously a
site of resistance and change at which the subordinate group contests and even changes the existing
social structure.
3. Symbolic Interactionism
Main Propagators: George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley
Overview: The core in this theory is the social interactions and the meanings in the socialization process.
The theory explains how a person develops a sense of self, how one learns it, interprets it, and responds
to social symbols.
Key Points:
- Social Self: According to Mead, the self is created outside in. Through this process, he developed a
sense of self by assuming others' roles to understand them better.
Looking-Glass Self: Cooley here propounds that people develop their sense of self through beliefs about
what other people's opinions are of themselves and then establish a foundation of behavior and identity
in those feelings.
- **Role-Taking: It is through socialization that an individual develops and/or practices the different roles
one is expected to play and what is expected from them to fit into those roles for self-concept and social
interplays that occur through interactions.
4. Cognitive Development Theory
Key Proponents: Jean Piaget
Overview: The theory approaches problems such as the development of cognition in a child throughout
his years, considering how further more changes in thinking affect one's socialization process. Piaget's
stages of cognitive development summarize how the thought processes evolve and influence how
children conceptualize and relate to their social world.
Key Points:
Stages of Development : Piaget considers the child as moving through a series of progression of stages
by which knowledge and understanding of the world are obtained : sensorimotor, preoperational,
concrete operation, formal operation.
Social Interaction : One's social interaction is determined by their cognitive development since through
such interactions individuals learn to understand and respond to others based upon their levels of
cognitive development.
Adaptation and Assimilation: A person, while developing an understanding of social norms and roles,
adapts and assimilates new information into his already pre-existing cognitive schemata.
5. Social Learning Theory
Key Proponents: Albert Bandura
Overview: This theory is hinged on the fact that socialization occurs as a result of observing others and
imitating them, especially those who are held in a place of prominence or influence. Through this
development, Bandura brought into focus two emphases: observational learning and
imitation/modeling. The manner through which socialization occurs includes observation, imitation, and
repetition.
Key Points:
Observational learning: It is basically learned through the observation of others, later on imitating those
people who are performing different behaviors when such behavior is reinforced or praised.
Role Models: Parents, friends, and several media personalities tend to be those role models from whom
people generally learn correct behaviors or social norms.
- Reciprocal Determinism: Bandura proposed the concept of reciprocal determinism wherein personal,
behavioral, and environmental factors integrate to cause an effect on the process of learning and
socialization.
6. Life Course Perspective
Key Proponents:Glen Elder, Peter B. Erikson
Socialization is viewed not as a discrete process but rather as a lifelong one. It concerns itself with how
socialization is affected by stage of life, social roles, and historical events.
Key Terms
Stages of Life: Different stages of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age are used in socializing;
all of the stages have differing and sometimes changing roles and responsibilities.
Historical and Social Context: The experiences that people encounter from the point of view of
socialization differ with historical as well as social contexts and hence this aspect is used in offering
explanation on interaction between personal as well as societal elements.
Transitions and Turning Points: Major life transitions such as beginning school or career, or retirement
may be transition points in and of themselves because one is involved in significant socialization:
adjusting to new roles and expectations.
All these theories bring different points of view to such a complex process as socialization and the
development of the person with his or her functioning in the social environment. Each has contributed
something toward a better understanding of the way in which socialization shapes individual identities
and societal dynamics.

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It is the process whereby people come to learn and accept the values, beliefs, norms, and practices of a

Key Proponents:Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons

Key Proponents: Karl Marx, Max Weber

Main Propagators: George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley

4. Cognitive Development Theory

Key Proponents: Jean Piaget

5. Social Learning Theory

Key Proponents: Albert Bandura

6. Life Course Perspective

Key Proponents:Glen Elder, Peter B. Erikson

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