EDU 212- Sociology of Education in the Environment

Socialization as a social process has been defined by various authorities in the field of sociology. Socialization can be described as the process of adaptation by the individuals to the conventional patterns of behaviour. It thus occurs on account of the individual’s interaction with others and the expression of the culture which operates through them. Ross defined socialization as the development of “we-feeling” in the ways and manners individuals behave in the society. Bogardu has viewed socialization as the process whereby persons learn to behave dependably together on behalf of human welfare and by so doing experience social self control, social responsibility and balanced personality. Farayola sees socialization as the business of adjusting people to the way of life of the community, usually by way of initiation into its customs, beliefs, rituals conventions, expectation and demands combined with instructions and the setting of examples. Having gone through the ideas of various experts on the meaning of socialization, an attempt can be made to further justify the meaning of socialization as the process by which the individuals learn to behave according to the social traditions and conventionality of their environment. The human child has a remarkable capacity to imitate others to develop according to the tenets of environment. Being a social animal, he/she tries to win the appreciation of the group in which he/she lives and hence, he/she naturally tries to imitate the culture of the group. It is through socialization that he is transformed from the animals into the human, and it is socialization which gives him/her a balanced personality. The social aspect of the personality is no less important than the individual aspect. Socialization teaches him/her to retain control over himself/herself in the interest of others.