ST GREGORY THE GREAT PROVINCIAL MAJOR SEMINARY

NAME: SETH FRIMPONG
COURSE: DIVERSITY OF PEOPLE AND CULTURES
TOPIC: SOCIALIZATION

1.0 Definition / Scope

Sociologists, Social Psychologists, anthropologists, as well as Educationalists and Politicians use the word “Socialization” in reference to the process through which an individual inherits the norms, customs and ideologies of the social order they live in. Socialization is necessary for making an individual capable of interacting within the society and a society itself shares the common values, customs, norms, traditions languages etc.
Socialization is the process whereby the helpless infant gradually becomes a self-aware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which she or he is born. Socialization is not a kind of ‘cultural programming’, in which the child absorbs passively the influences with which he or she comes into contact.

Socialization is a lifelong process by which one keep learning and developing oneself as a human being. Socialization process is very important as it teaches one to behave in a society. Without socialization, one would not be able to learn the accepted customs, norms, symbols, languages and behaviours. Socialization helps one develop and shape one’s place by learning social skills.

Socialization in a layman’s sense is the process of learning from others. This learning process starts right after birth or after the emergence from the womb. It is Socialization that fills the tabula raza mind we come into existence with. Socialization technically starts at the early stages of life, this learning process continues all through life in most people, unless some physical disability or mental infirmity ceases or stops the learning process.
Human infants are born without any culture; they must be transformed by their parents, teachers and others into