The essence and content of the process of personal socialization

Personal socialization is the individual’s entry into the social environment, the individual’s assimilation of social influences, and inclusion in the system of social connections. In the process of socialization of the individual, social experience is assimilated, transformed into one’s own values, attitudes, orientations, and social experience is reproduced through activity in the system of social connections and relationships.

Socialization is a two-way process, which includes, on the one hand, the individual’s assimilation of social experience by entering the social environment, a system of social connections; on the other hand, the process of active reproduction by an individual of a system of social connections due to his active activity, active inclusion in the social environment.

The first side of the socialization process - the assimilation of social experience - is a characteristic of how the environment affects a person; its second side characterizes the moment of human influence on the environment through activity. The activity of the individual’s position is assumed here because any impact on the system of social connections and relationships requires making a certain decision and, therefore, includes processes of transformation, mobilization of the subject, and construction of a certain strategy of activity.

Contents of the socialization process. Firstly, it is an orientation in the system of connections present in each type of activity and between its various types. It is carried out through personal meanings, i.e. means identifying particularly significant aspects of activity for each individual, and not just understanding them, but also mastering them. One could call the product of such orientation a personal choice of activity.

The second area - communication - is considered in the context of socialization also from the perspective of its expansion and deepening, which goes without saying, since communication is inextricably linked with activity. The expansion of communication can be understood as the multiplication of a person’s contacts with other people, the specificity of these contacts at each age level. As for deepening communication, this is, first of all, a transition from monologue to dialogical communication, decentration, i.e. the ability to focus on a partner, more accurately perceive him.

The third area of socialization is the development of individual self-awareness.

In the most general terms, we can say that the process of socialization means the formation of an image of the Self in a person. Numerous experimental studies, including longitudinal ones, have established that the image of the Self does not arise in a person immediately, but develops throughout his life under the influence of numerous social influences .

There are several different approaches to the structure of the self. The most common scheme includes three components in the “I”: cognitive (knowledge of oneself), emotional (evaluation of oneself), behavioral (attitude towards oneself). That is why the process of socialization can only be understood as a unity of changes in all three designated areas. They, taken as a whole, create for the individual an “expanding reality” in which he acts, learns and communicates, thereby mastering not only the immediate microenvironment, but also the entire system of social relations.

Periods of socialization of the individual in activity:

preparatory (familiarity with the field of activity, orientation in it, adjustment and understanding of the semantic aspects of the activity); determining the central sphere of activity and subordinating other spheres to it; role period (mastering and understanding social roles).

Socialization of personality in communication.

Realization of the need for communication at the micro level (acts of assistance and resistance), mesa level (exchange of opinions, planning joint activities, emotional communication) and macro level (as a way of life in society, through public institutions). The possibility of individual isolation in communication (in communication, in interaction, in perception, in the emotive sphere).

Self-awareness

as a sphere of socialization of the individual (formation of the image of “I”): self-esteem, self-control, self-determination. Specifics of age-related self-esteem. Self-control, as the correlation of one’s behavior with the norms of society or group. Self-determination as choosing one’s own position (mismatch between the claims and capabilities of people). The relationship between the main spheres of personality socialization.

World of Psychology

Socialization of the Personality is the process of development of the Personality, the formation of the image of “I”. Socialization exists only in human society; the development of Personality occurs in socialization.

Socialization is the development of social experience, meanings, culture, meanings.

1. Sociological approach to the interpretation of socialization. Assimilation of social experience - roles, attitudes. The social environment influences a person, but there is no reverse influence.

2. Psychological approach . Socialization is understood as the two-way assimilation by a person of social experience, and the reproduction of this experience by a person in his active Activity.

Socialization occurs in 3 main areas:

1. Activity . A person’s mastery of different types of Activity (at each stage of ontogenesis there is a leading Activity, the passage of each stage leads to development).

2. Communication . A person’s mastery of different types of communication.

3. Self-awareness . Leontyev. 2 stages of the birth of a Personality: 2 – 3 years – distinguishes the child as a separate being; adolescence – worldview changes. The formation of the image of his Self in a person. Its development during socialization is a controlled process, determined by the constant acquisition of social experience in the conditions of expanding the range of Activities and communication. Its development is unthinkable outside of Activity.

A common characteristic of all these spheres is the process of expansion and multiplication of the individual’s social connections with the outside world.

Mastery of different types of Activities, different types of communication and the formation of self-awareness is the result of socialization, is the identity of the Personality.

Identity (Erikson) is the identity of the Personality with itself, the formation of a stable image of “I”, which a person adequately and consistently uses in life situations.

If the image is formed, then the person is mature.

The opposite is confused identity. A person has little idea of what is possible for him and what is not; there is no understanding of his resource.

Three main stages:

Pre-labor. Covers the entire period of a person’s life before starting work:
a stage of learning that includes the entire period of adolescence in the broad sense of the term. This stage includes the entire time of schooling. There are different points of view regarding the period of study at a university or technical school.
Labor _ Covers the period of human maturity. This is the entire period of a person’s labor activity.
Post-work . This is a complex issue. Problems of old age are becoming relevant for a number of sciences in modern societies.

The process of socialization occurs through socialization institutions and agents.

Socialization institutions are the social group that conveys a part of social experience to a person. Family, preschool institutions, school, university, work collective.

All of them provide a person with the conditions for mastering experience (these are their tasks).

Each institute has specific functions :

1. Family:

formation of basic settings;
providing psychological support, accepting the child, where basic trust in the world is formed.

2. School:

gives an objective assessment;
systematization of knowledge, scientific knowledge;
ensuring the development of independence and citizenship.

Socialization agents are specific people responsible for socialization (parents, teachers, etc.).

The concept of socialization

In studies of philosophy, psychology, sociology and pedagogy, the term “socialization” is widely used, although its unambiguous interpretation has not yet been developed. The problem of personality socialization was developed in the works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontyeva, L.I. Bozovic, R.G. Gurova, A.S. Zubra, I.S. Kona, A.V. Mudrika and others. In foreign psychology, the process of socialization was studied by J. Dewey, E. Durkheim, C.H. Cooley, J. G. M and House, T. Parsons, G. Tarde, et al.

Socialization as the entire multifaceted process of a person’s assimilation of the experience of social life and social relations. In the process of socialization, a person acquires beliefs and socially approved forms of behavior that he needs for a normal life in society. Socialization is considered as the process of a person’s assimilation of the social connections of the society to which he belongs, and as the process of a person’s reproduction of the acquired social experience.

Thus, socialization is a two-way process that includes both the individual’s assimilation of social experience by entering a social environment, a system of social connections, and the process of active reproduction by him of the system of social connections and relationships in which he develops, due to his active activity, active inclusion in the social environment. This is the entry of the personality into itself.

From the first days of existence, a person is surrounded by other people and included in social interaction. In the process of relationships with others, he gains experience of social life and social relations, which, being subjectively assimilated, becomes an integral part of his personality. A person not only perceives social experience and masters it, but also actively transforms it into his own values, attitudes, positions, orientations, into his own vision of social relations. At the same time, the individual is included in various social connections, in the performance of various role functions, thereby transforming both the social world around him and himself.

Through socialization, people learn to live together and interact effectively. The subject of activity as a subject of social relations consistently and in parallel assimilates the social experience of society and himself influences society through his own activities.

However, socialization is not the antithesis of individualization. The process of socialization does not lead to the leveling of a person’s personality or individuality. Rather, on the contrary, a person acquires his individuality, but in a complex and contradictory way. The assimilation of social experience is always subjective. The same social situations are perceived and experienced differently by different individuals, and therefore leave different marks on their psyche. The social experience that different people gain from objectively identical situations varies significantly. That is why the assimilation of social experience, which underlies socialization, becomes a source of individualization of the individual, who not only subjectively assimilates this experience, but also actively processes it.

Socialization is a complex socio-psychological phenomenon, which is simultaneously a process, an attitude, a method, and a result of the formation of personality in interaction, communication and activity.

Socialization is an extremely diverse, active and lifelong phenomenon, since, having been socialized in one group, a person may turn out to be completely unsocialized in another, which is clearly manifested among emigrants, refugees, pensioners, the unemployed, etc.

The individual acts as an active subject of socialization. Moreover, this process must be considered as actively developing, and not just actively adaptive. Socialization is not only never completed, but also never complete.

The development of the theory of personality socialization was carried out by G. Tarde, T. Parsons and other scientists. G. Tarde based his theory on the principle of imitation, and proclaimed the “teacher-student” relationship as a model of social behavior, i.e. socialization. According to T. Parsons, an individual, in the process of socialization, absorbs common values in the process of communicating with significant others. In Russian social psychology, there are narrow and broad interpretations of socialization proposed by B.D. Parygin. Socialization in the narrow sense is the process of entering the social environment and adapting to it, and in the broad sense it is a historical process, phylogenesis.

Socialization can be considered both a typical and a singular process. Its typicality is determined by social factors and depends on class, racial, ethnic and cultural conditions. This means the similarity of the course of socialization for representatives of similar social or age groups - the same religions, cultures, generations. The socialization of an unemployed person is typical of the unemployed and differs from the socialization of a successful businessman. The socialization of emigrants, national minorities, marginalized people, vagabonds, homeless people, disabled people, etc. is completely different, but in its own typical way.

Socialization as a single process is determined by the individual specifics of a person: his abilities, external data, the degree of conformity, sociability of the individual, the individual level of identity, i.e. the desire to develop one’s abilities, awareness of one’s life path, etc.

The concept of “socialization” does not replace the terms “personality development”, “upbringing”, “adaptation”, “personality formation”, etc. widely used in psychological and pedagogical literature, although it is quite difficult to separate them.

Recognition of the individual as a subject of social activity attaches special importance to the development of the individual: the child becomes a subject, which is unthinkable without assimilation of the system of social connections and relationships, without inclusion in them. The concepts of “personal development” and “socialization” in this case seem to coincide. The emphasis on individual activity is more clearly represented in the idea of development. The focus of socialization is the social environment and its impact on the individual. The process of personal development consists of active interaction with the social environment, and each aspect of such interaction requires special consideration.

If developmental psychology is most interested in looking at this problem from the perspective of the individual, then for social psychology it is most interesting from the perspective of the interaction between the individual and the environment.

Some psychologists and educators propose to consider the concepts of “socialization” and “upbringing” as synonyms, understanding by upbringing the impact on a person of the entire system of social relations in order to assimilate social experience. However, it is necessary to distinguish between these concepts: socialization is a broader category than education (A.V. Mudrik).

Education is a process of pedagogically organized, purposeful, systematic influence on a person in order to convey to him a certain system of ideas, concepts, and norms. The concept of “socialization” characterizes the complexity, inconsistency, and multi-level nature of the process of personal development, in which there are both spontaneous, uncontrollable and controlled spheres of influence, self-development and self-improvement. According to G.M. Andreeva, “socialization” is still closer to the concept of “personal development” than to “education.”

Adjacent to socialization is the concept of socio-psychological adaptation as an individual’s adaptation to changes in the environment, as mastering a new role when entering a different social situation. This is an integral part of socialization, one of its mechanisms.

When using the term “personality formation,” emphasis is placed on the self-activity of the individual, his subjective socialization, the formation of certain traits, and the processes of self-education.

According to established tradition, socialization has the following structure:

content;
latitude, i.e. the number of spheres to which a person was able to adapt.

When considering the content of socialization, it is important to determine what is offered to the individual as a social and cultural “menu”, what pictures of the world, attitudes, stereotypes, and values are formed in the individual in the process of socialization.

The content of socialization is determined, on the one hand, by the totality of social influences (culture, art, political doctrines, the media), and on the other hand, by the individual’s attitude to all this. These relationships depend both on the characteristics of the individual himself and on the social situation in which he finds himself and takes them into account accordingly.

The content of personality socialization is manifested, according to T. Shibutani, in patterns of behavior, habits, and the presence of generally accepted meanings and views. This is clearly expressed in the peculiarities of national psychology: ethnic stereotypes, emotional assessments, etc.

Socialization of an individual is carried out as a result of its inclusion in various social groups and communities. This involves the interaction of people with each other, a person’s involvement in various multi-level and multi-aspect connections and relationships with Other people, and the acquisition of skills to interact with them. The starting point for socialization is the presence of a person’s need for communication.

As a rule, there are three main spheres of life in which the socialization of the individual occurs: activity, communication and self-awareness, in each of which the acquisition, expansion and complication of the individual’s social connections with the external and internal world occurs.

As noted by A.N. Leontiev, in the process of socialization, a person expands the “catalogue” of his activities and masters new types of activities. Orientation is formed both in each type of activity separately and in the connections between them. The result of such orientation is a personal choice of activity, i.e. identifying and mastering aspects of activity that are particularly significant for the individual. Activities are centered around the leading species, and a personal hierarchy of activities and behaviors is created. During the implementation of activities, the individual assimilates new roles and comprehends their significance, which means an expansion of the individual’s capabilities as a subject of activity.

The expansion and deepening of the sphere of communication is due to its inextricable connection with activity. This is the multiplication of a person’s contacts with other people, their changes at each age stage. Dialogue forms of communication are becoming more complex, decentralization is increasing, i.e. the ability to focus on a partner, more adequate perception of him. In communication, a person acquires new features, assimilates communication norms and activity standards.

The process of socialization in the sphere of self-awareness means the formation of an image of one’s own “I” in a person. Numerous experimental studies have shown that this image does not appear in a person immediately, but develops throughout life under the influence of numerous social influences. For social psychology, it is important to find out how the formation of self-awareness is influenced by a person’s inclusion in various social groups. What determines this process: the number of groups in which a person is included, or their quality? How does the level of development of his self-awareness influence a person’s activity and behavior? It is in this area of socialization that there are especially many conflicting opinions. This is due to the fact that the solution to the listed issues depends on which of the many existing theories and concepts of personality is shared by a particular researcher, what understanding of the image of “I” he adheres to.

The development of self-awareness during the socialization of an individual is a process controlled and determined by the constant acquisition of social experience in the context of an expanding range of human activities and communication. Therefore, the process of socialization is the unity of changes in all three areas considered: activity, communication and self-awareness.

The breadth of socialization is assessed by how socially mature and developed a person is. This depends on a large number of factors: the social roles of the individual, his social experience, the type of individual accentuation of the individual’s social behavior, his locus of control, etc.

It is customary to distinguish as criteria for the socialization of an individual:

the content of human attitudes, stereotypes, values, pictures of the world;
adaptability of the personality, its normotypical behavior, lifestyle;
social (group and universal) identity.

However, the main, external criterion of socialization should be considered not the degree of opportunism, conformism of an individual, but the degree of its independence, confidence, independence, and initiative. The main goal of socialization is to satisfy the individual’s need for self-actualization (A. Maslow), personal growth, and the development of his abilities, and not to unify the individual, leveling his own “I”.

Basic life cycles in the process of human development

Socialization as the process of a person’s adaptation to generally accepted social norms and rules of behavior covers all existing phases of human development as a biological and social being.
These developmental phases are also called the main life cycles of human development. There are four such cycles:

The period of childhood - which includes the time period from birth to puberty, this cycle is characterized by the development of basic skills accepted in human society;
The period of adolescence (from 14 to 20 years) - including preparation for the active working period of a person’s life;
The period of maturity (from 18 to 60 years) is the most active period of a person’s life, characterized by the active development of all aspects of life.
The period of old age (60 years and older) is a period of decreased human activity, characterized by exit from the active working period.

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Main stages of socialization

According to these life cycles, there are four main stages of socialization:

1. Primary socialization, which corresponds to the stage of socialization of infancy; 1.Secondary socialization, coinciding with education; 1. Socialization of maturity is the stage at which the individual turns into an independent and independent person, is capable of economic independence and is ready to start a family. 1. Socialization of old age is the stage at which the individual’s activity gradually decreases and he has the right to count on the help and support of the state and his own children.

Note 1

All these stages are associated with the individual acquiring a new social status, mastering and living new roles. The duration of each of these stages and its content depend on the characterological characteristics of the individual and the level of development of the society in which he lives.

Finished works on a similar topic

Course work Phases and content of the socialization process 470 ₽ Abstract Phases and content of the socialization process 250 ₽ Test work Phases and content of the socialization process 210 ₽

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