Question

Describe the main agents of socialisation.

Answer 1

The main agents of socialisation are as follows:

(i) Parents

• The socialisation of a child starts with the help of parents and other members of the family. Parents introduce the child to society and provide the building blocks of socialisation.

• Parents approve and discourage certain types of behaviour among children.

• Parenting styles are based upon strategies that can be authoritative, authoritarian and democratic or permissive. They exert varying degrees of acceptance and control upon their children.

• The parenting style is also influenced by conditions of life like poverty, illness etc. Grandparents and the network of social relationships also socialise children through parental influences.

• This agency has a direct and significant effect on the child’s behaviour and personality.

(ii) School

• Schools provide children with an organised set up for interaction with teachers and peers.

• Children in schools learn various cognitive skills, social skills, self-control, self-initiative, responsibility, and creativity and also internalise the norms set by society.

• Schooling, therefore, can transform a child’s personality since children learn to become self-reliant.

(iii) Peer group

• Development of self-identity is greatly facilitated by the peer group.

• Children not only learn to assert their own point of view but also accept and adapt to those of others.

• They also acquire qualities like sharing, trust, mutual understanding, role acceptance and fulfilment.

• The interaction is direct, therefore the socialisation is smooth.

(iv) Mass Media

• Children learn about many things through television, newspaper, books and cinema. Adolescents and young adults often derive their models from them.

• Children learn to form their own opinions and ideas with interaction to mass media.

• However, this agency may also promote anti-social aspects that have to be avoided by individuals.