1 The family
This is the primary socializing agent because immediately after birth, the new born child has mother, the father and sisters, and other relatives as the first contact people. It thus totally depends on them for his many psychological, physical and social needs. These needs are essential features for the socialization of a child in the family. The child learns his first lessons in social living, social roles, and social behaviour and in the general way of life of his socialization.
The family provides the socializee with initial education. Using the family as his reference group a socializee learns some patterns of behaviours, perceives some realities and acquires habits of thinking which features of his family and the wider society are. In this way, the family therefore teaches the socializee culture and subculture to which he belongs. For example, pastoralist, being an agriculturist. Equally the child learns the type of religion in which it is born in. In the wider context the Kenya child learns values, norms, behaviour and culture which are distinctly Kenyan.
It must be clear that the type of learning that goes on in the family is informal. This is because it occurs without the parents or other members of the family being consciously aware that they are teaching. As the child grows up, he joins the school which becomes another major socializing agent in his life
2 The school
The school uses both formal and informal approaches in its socializing function.
Formally, the child learns basic intellectual skills such as reading, writing, verbal expression, quantitative and other cognitive abilities. Through the school curriculum, the socializee learns about the history, the technology, the skills and other areas of knowledge pertaining to the cultural achievement of his society. It also provides the socializee with opportunities to acquire the social and vocational abilities which are necessary in order to make him socially useful and economically productive member of the society.
Informally, the child learns social roles and skills which are also important in his overall development as a member of the society. That is, he learns how to share things and ideas, compete responsibly, cooperate, relate well and obey rules within his age group. Learning these values will eventually lead him to become respectful to his elders, his acquaintances or equals, and absorb the culture of his wider society.
For the school to realise these goals it must have teachers as adults are accepted as being more socialized or educated then the school children. Because of this, they are considered suitable to socialize the school children according to the needs of the adult world. It also has other children from different families, backgrounds and neighbourhoods. They comprise of a variety of views, interests, expressions, habits and influences which are exchanged between and learnt by the children. The peer groups that affect the socialization process occur both in school and in a child’s neighbourhood.
3 The peer group
The peer group is comprised of people within the same age-group. It is a recognized agent of socialization whether among adults or growing children. The child learn adult values such as cooperation, responsibility, following rules, honesty, fair play in competition and many other good habits. These values are learnt through children’s play acting and games.
The children imitate the roles of husband and wife and thus learn responsibility. Although these values appear meaningful to the child only at play level, they nevertheless become increasingly the basis of adult behaviours. It also helps the child to learn sex roles. It thus reinforces both the family and the school in their socializing roles in the society.
4 Mass media
This refers to both print and electronic aspects of media. These are important in socializing all of us in various ways. They learn from mass media certain manners, attitudes behaviours and values that exist in the society. They learn new dances and use of certain commercial products; no doubt, they also become aware of new issues pertaining to farming, diseases, social life, and language. The children therefore view the world, their nation or society in the light of what they see, learn and read in the media organs.
5 Religious Institutions
Role of the religious institutions is usually to perpetuate the beliefs and practices as accepted in the respective religious groups. It teaches moral or good behaviours to children. This teaching is usually done by pastors or madras teachers. They for instance learn at the oedipal stage that God is watching over them. They are taught to respect and obey their parents and teachers. It also provides models for character development to the children. Ultimately, these teachings and models reinforce or complement the role of the family, the school and the peer group with regard to socializing in the society.
6 The Nation
The state has a noteworthy impact on the life cycle in the aspects such as government regulations. They state the age at which a person can drive a car, take alcohol, and vote in an election or even without parental permission.
Through regulating the life cycle, the state shapes socialisation process by influencing individual’s views of appropriate behaviour at particular ages.
sharon kalunda answered the question on April 11, 2019 at 13:04