1.Oral stage (Birth – 18 months)
This is the first stage which signifies the initial moments of a baby’s life soon after birth. At this stage, the baby depends only on the use of his mouth to tell others of his needs. Using the only audible language known to him, crying, he learns to signal his pressing need for care. He may be wet, cold, hungry, sick or just lonely. It is for the parent to decode signal and there after provide the necessary remedy. The baby learns to anticipate its feeding time depending on when the mother or provider schedules. This helps the baby also to learn some control of its hunger drive. The main goal of socialization here is oral dependence. Here, the baby does not distinguish between himself and the mother.
2.Anal stage (18months – 3years)
This is the second stage of socialisation which is characterized by the imposition of new demands such as controlling bowel movements. Toilet training is the main focus of socialization in this stage. At this stage, the child learns to receive and give love. Through the repeated cues, cautions, rewards and punishments given by the mother or other provider |the child learns to begin avoiding some incorrect moves such as wetting himself in favour of correct ones. The child becomes aware of himself as a separate being from his mother. Furthermore, it realizes that certain specific activities such as preparing a meal are performed by his mother. He is however still attached strongly to his mother or provider. At this stage, the mother or provider performs the role of a socialiser on behalf of the society.
3.Oedipus (3-6 years)
This is the third stage of socialization. It is also called phallic stage. The oedipal period is short and lasts only through four to five years. The latency period of this stage then follows. Again this is only a rough diversion as each period may last a little longer in some children. The oedipal period is marked by a crisis, called – the ‘oedipal crisis’ during which the child realizes, for the first time since birth, the fact that he is being cared for by a lot more people in the family. The child learns to identify, accept and trust other members of his family such as the father, brothers and sisters. Interaction involves all members of the family apart from the mother and the caregiver.
Through this interaction in the family the child first learns to be a full member of his family as well as to interact with other humans in the society. Fixation at this stage may lead the child to become inhibited or even develop into a social misfit if no effort is made to socialize him as he matures. A complicating feature that appears during the oedipal period is jealousy. This feeling among the four, five and six year olds arises from the children’s tendency to become closely attached to the parent of the opposite sex. That is the boy will tend to show greater attachment to the mother and thus display a feeling of jealousy towards the father who may appear to be in competition for the mother’s attention.
Freud termed this feeling of jealous in the boy, the “oedipal complex”. The “electro complex” is the strong attachment the girl has for the father and the feeling of jealousy she displays towards the mother who is seen as a competing factor in the father- daughter relationship.But as the children grow, certain social pressures are imposed upon them to reduce these tendencies. Major efforts are then made to begin mounding the child into an individual that reflects his or her correct and appropriate sex role. For example, boys as well as girls are given toys that reflect their separate sex roles. The boys are encouraged to engage in activities or tolerate as they have roles similar to their father’s imitate their mothers. It is hoped that eventually, once a boy or a girl has learned to identify certain tasks and activities as being those of his/her sex, he/she will look upon the father of the mother as the model and therefore make the correct sex role identification. This correct sex identification by boys and girls through imitation is of crucial importance in any society. Failure to learn the correct sex identification has often been blamed as one of the sources of homosexuality in the societies.
As the child is going through the oedipal crisis and trying to learn to accept his father and siblings, and to become a member of his family he also learns to associate with children of his age outside his family. These are known as the age mates, playmates or peer groups. It is also the time when formal schooling begins.
In school, the child must learn to obey rules, whether school or peer group rules. He must learn to play the games of his peer group and follow certain rules. He must learn to share and be responsible, honest and cooperative if he wants the friendship to continue. In school, he must learn to be courteous, respectful, competitive but cooperative at the same time. The school situation imposes difficult tasks on the child. But these tasks must be learned in accordance with what the society expects of its grown –up members. Boys for instance, are more careful mow to avoid girlish activities and move away from identifying with their mothers. Girls learn to identify more completely with companions and activities that fit their own sex.
Latency Stage (6 -12 years)
Following the Oedipus period comes the latency period. This is part of the Oedipus – latency stage, and is only significant in the socialization of a child in that it is the only period during which interest or attachment to the opposite sex is somewhat suppressed or latent. For example, boys after the stage of about six or so, and on the beginning of adolescence, appear to be preoccupied only with boyish kinds of activities. During this time generally, boys tend to sneer at anything to do with girls or of “girlish” things.
4.Adolescence stage (12- 18 years)
This is the fourth stage of socialization which is the dawn of adulthood. It begins roughly with the onset of puberty and includes the years normally referred as the teen – years. This is the stage during which young men and women start learning what lies – the in adult life
Adolescence is however, regarded as by crisis, conflicts, and disagreements between parents and adolescents. This is because; during this stage certain important body-maturing process such sex maturity are beginning to take place. Adolescents demand independence from parental control in order to be free to experience certain activities such as sex and drug taking. Parents on the other hand, have duty to control participation in these activities if they are live with the morals of the society. Most adolescents are at school and still dependent on their parents. The kind of trains and the extent to which they worsen during adolescence could depend on the teaching and reasoning parents use to guide their adolescent children in spite of strains, there is a more serious kind of socialization that the adolescents need to go through during this stage. This socialization should start preparing to the adolescents for the adulthood with its responsibilities, and roles such as marriage, parenthood occupation, career, and other obligation in the wider society.
sharon kalunda answered the question on April 11, 2019 at 12:56