Personal socialization is a two-way process of an individual’s assimilation of the social experience of the society in which he lives, as well as the active reproduction and expansion of the systems of social connections and relationships in which he develops. In the process of mastering social experience, a person transforms it into personal values and attitude positions.
Social experience has two components;
a) values, rules, norms, relations of the social environment;
b) labor culture of production activities.
The process of an individual mastering social experience and increasing it takes place in two stages.
General socialization of the individual: the formation and consolidation of the basic social and psychological values of a person: moral, labor, aesthetic, legal, political, environmental, family and everyday life, etc.
Professional socialization of the individual. The stage of a person’s mastery of a particular profession or specialty. Both of these stages are interconnected.
In the most general form, the factors of personal socialization can be presented in the form of two large groups: the first includes social factors that reflect the socio-cultural aspect of socialization and touches on the problems of its group, historical, cultural and ethnic specificity, the second includes individual personal factors, largely determined by the uniqueness of the individual’s life path.
In the structure of socialization it is customary to distinguish: 1) content (from this point of view they talk about socialization and asocialization as an adaptation to negative experience); 2) latitude, i.e. the number of areas in which a person was able to adapt.
There are several socio-psychological mechanisms of socialization:
Identification is the identification of an individual with certain people or groups.
An example of identification is sex-role typing - the process of an individual acquiring mental characteristics and behavior characteristic of representatives of a certain gender; Identification is most clear in the early period. This is the identification of an individual with certain people, which allows him to assimilate various norms, attitudes and forms of behavior that are characteristic of others. Parents serve as the primary source of identification for young children. Later they are joined by peers, older children and other adults. Identification, starting in childhood, continues throughout a person’s life. An important type of identification is gender typing - the process of an individual acquiring psychology and behavior characteristic of people of the same sex.
imitation is a conscious or unconscious reproduction by an individual of a model of behavior, the experience of other people (in particular, manners, movements, actions). The imitation mechanism is innate;
suggestion is the process of an individual’s unconscious reproduction of the internal experience, thoughts, feelings and mental states of those people with whom he communicates;
social facilitation is the stimulating influence of the behavior of some people on the activities of others, as a result of which activities proceed more freely and more intensely (“facilitation” means “relief”);
conformity - awareness of differences of opinion. This is a kind of opportunism, designed to avoid creating unnecessary difficulties for yourself in communicating and interacting with other people.
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More on topic 7. Social psychological aspects of personality socialization:
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Socialization covers all processes of cultural inclusion, training and education, through which a person acquires a social nature and the ability to participate in social life.
There are two most expressed views on the essence of socialization. According to one of them, it means the process of development of a born human organism into a full-fledged human personality in the course of the individual’s interaction with the social environment. In this process, on the one hand, the natural psychobiological inclinations inherent in a person are realized, on the other hand, they are transformed into socially significant personality traits in the course of education and upbringing and with the active participation of the person himself. According to another position, socialization acts, first of all, as the self-development of an individual in the course of his interaction with various social groups, institutions, and organizations. As can be seen, in this interpretation the natural-biological side of socialization is not specifically emphasized or highlighted.
Leaning more towards the latter point of view, in the most general form, socialization can be understood as the process of an individual’s assimilation of patterns of behavior, values and norms accepted in society, in specific social communities. Socialization can be presented as a process of mastering social norms that become an integral part of an individual’s life not as a result of external regulation, but as a result of the internal need to follow them. This is one aspect of socialization.
The second aspect concerns its characterization as an essential element of social interaction, suggesting; that people want to change their own image, improve their image in the eyes of others, carrying out their activities in accordance with their expectations. Consequently, socialization is associated with the fulfillment of social roles of an individual.
This interpretation of socialization is widespread in Western sociology. It was most fully outlined by T. Parsons and R. Bales in a book devoted to the problems of family, socialization and interaction processes. It pays special attention to the consideration of such an organ of primary socialization as the family, which “includes” the individual in social structures.
Thus, we can conclude that 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.
It should also be said that one of the most important in the theory of personality socialization is the question of its stages and phases. Upon closer attention, it turns out that these are not the same thing. The number of stages is called differently, but the phases, as a rule, are considered the same. Moreover, each stage of personality socialization may include the same phases that are inherent in other stages.
Traditionally, the process of personality development in social psychology is considered to be in close connection with human socialization. The individual, group, society represent a dialectical unity. A person is also unthinkable outside of society, outside of a group, just as society and groups do not exist without individuals. The basis of the unity of these three components, the basis of the refraction and consolidation in the individual of the requirements of society and the group lies in the process of socialization of the individual. This process partly depends on innate mechanisms and the maturation of the nervous system, but, above all, it is determined by the experiences that a person receives throughout life.
The concept of socialization was first developed in the late 40s - early 50s in the works of American social psychologists A. Park, D. Dollard, J. Coleman, A. Bandura, W. Walters, etc. It received its own in different scientific schools interpretation.
Adaptation or adaptation (B. Skinner, E. Thorndike, V. M. Bekhterev, A. F. Lazursky). Understanding socialization as adaptation places emphasis on the individual and her natural activity.
Another interpretation of socialization focuses attention on society: then socialization is understood as internalization - transferring inside , into the consciousness of the individual of norms, requirements, values, etc. society (E. Durkheim). In this case, a person acts as an object of influence for society. At the same time, this process also includes the individual’s subsequent active reproduction of social experience (A. Bandura, B. Bernstein, F. O. Jiering).
Another interpretation of the understanding of the socialization process emphasizes, on the one hand, the historicity and variability of the environment of existence, on the other, the socialization process acquires an existential meaning and is considered within the framework holistic human existence , his way of being . With this understanding, the process of socialization appears as intersubjective, and the relationship “person - society” is considered as interpenetration (L. S. Vygotsky, B. G. Ananyev, A. G. Asmolov, A. Adler, K. Jung, etc.).
Currently, in psychology, socialization is considered as a two-way process, including not only the assimilation, but also the active reproduction of social relations by the individual. Then the formula for the modern understanding of personality development becomes clear: a changing personality in a changing world. Thus, socialization of the individual is the process and result of the individual’s assimilation and subsequent active reproduction of social experience (Ya.L. Kolominsky). The process of socialization is inextricably linked with communication and joint activities of people.
Concept "social" has at least four interpretations in the history of psychology: how universal , How cultural , How public , How collective .
The generalized expression of the external determinants of socialization are norms, traditions, expectations generated by the historical development of humanity, culture, science, production, which reveal their specificity in various conditions of socialization and specific groups. Equally important for socialization are internal determinants, which are not only individual formations, but also the structure of values, states and properties, professional orientation of the individual, etc. - everything that is formed in the process of socialization, constituting its internal conditions. All changes in personality, behavior, activity, attitudes and relationships create the prerequisites for a certain direction of socialization and, at the same time, determine its subjectivity in this process.
According to modern views, the main areas of socialization are activity , communication And self-awareness , since the basis of socialization is the interaction of a person with the social environment.
Socialization in the field activities manifests itself in the expansion of activities; in mastering and understanding each type of activity.
Socialization in the field communication includes the development of communication skills, expanding the circle of communication, enriching its content.
Socialization in the field self-awareness consists in forming an image of one’s own self as an active subject of activity, understanding one’s social affiliation and one’s social roles, and forming self-esteem. The image of the Self does not arise in a person immediately, but develops throughout his life under the influence of numerous social influences.
At different stages of his life, a person reacts differently to social influences. To this we can add the changing role of various institutions of socialization throughout the life of an individual. Socialization continues throughout a person’s life, even if in old age it sometimes acquires a regressive character. In this regard, the process of socialization is divided into age periods, which are quite relative and for each person are determined by the specific conditions of his development and environment.
The socialization process conventionally includes four periods: childhood , adolescence And youth , maturity , old age . An important period of socialization is childhood , which includes three stages:
- infancy(from birth to one year) and pre-preschool childhood (from one to three years). At this stage, functional independence and speech develop;
- preschool childhood covers the period from 3 to 6 years and is characterized by the development and formation of the child’s personality, as well as cognitive processes;
- school childhood lasts from 6 to 12 years, that is, it corresponds to primary school age and the child’s inclusion in a social group that is fundamentally different from the family and preschool institutions - the school class.
From a psychological point of view, the childhood period of socialization is characterized by insufficient development of the cognitive sphere of the individual, as a result of which socializing influences are perceived by the individual unconsciously or not consciously enough. First of all, an evaluative attitude towards certain social objects is acquired without proper ideas about their essence and meaning. Psychological mechanisms for assimilating the corresponding influences are fear of punishment, desire to earn approval, imitation, identification with parents, etc. The peculiarity of the socialization process in childhood is that under normal conditions, parents are first the only and then the dominant institution of socialization. From the age of 3–4 years, television, peer groups, school and friends begin to influence the child.
The onset of puberty marks the end of childhood and the child's entry into adolescence. Boyhood And youth includes two stages:
Actually adolescence or adolescence, corresponds to puberty and lasts from 12 to about 16 years. At this time, under the influence of constitutional changes, the teenager develops a new idea of himself;
- youth, lasting from 16 to 21 years (the first period is from 16 to 18 years and the second period is from 18 to 21 years), corresponds to the adaptation of young men of both sexes to the family, school, and environment of their peers. Adolescence represents a period of transition from adolescence to adulthood; youth is characterized by a sense of psychological independence, although a person has not yet had time to take on any social obligations.
The second period of socialization is distinguished by the completion of the formation of mental abilities and the rapid development of the cognitive sphere of the individual (psychological side), as well as the expansion of the circle of social connections and relationships and the change in the role and authority of various institutions of socialization. How authority will be redistributed between institutions of socialization and what direction the whole process will take depends on the specific living conditions and upbringing of the individual.
Maturity as the period of socialization includes two stages:
Stage early adulthood covers the period from 20 to 40 years. It corresponds to a person’s entry into an intense personal life and professional activity;
- mature age, lasting from 40 to 60 years, is characterized by stability and productivity, especially in professional and social terms.
By the period of maturity, the basic system of social attitudes of the individual turns out to be already formed and quite stable. The individual acquires greater independence and criticality in the perception of various social influences; the main institution of socialization becomes his own life experience, including the experience of social relations. This experience is refracted through the existing system of social attitudes, which, like a filter, distributes new knowledge about social reality in accordance with existing ideas and value judgments.
The final period of socialization is old age lasts from 60 to 90 years and is most often accompanied by a person’s withdrawal from active life. The process of socialization for many people at this age is very selective and occurs in a limited, in contrast to previous periods, range of social relations, as a rule, where wisdom is in demand. The specificity of this period also lies in the fact that the continuity and dynamics of the socialization process are largely determined by personal (motivational), rather than social, factors.
After 90 years, a person is considered a centenarian.
The process of socialization never stops and always has conscious or unconscious goals. In this regard, the concepts of “maturity” and “adulthood” are not synonymous. In fact, even at the individual level, the concepts of “maturity” and “adulthood” do not completely coincide. Thus, the level of personality development most often correlates with the degree of its socialization.
The criteria of maturity, accordingly, appear as the criteria of socialization. Maturity indicators include:
breadth of social connections;
A measure of the development of personality as a subject of activity;
The nature of the activity is from appropriation to implementation and conscious reproduction;
Creative abilities;
Social competence.
The last criterion is integrative, since it covers all the others and is simultaneously present in them.
The socialization of adults differs from the socialization of children in several ways. Socialization of adults is more likely to change external behavior, while socialization of children shapes internal personality structures. Socialization in adults is designed to acquire certain skills, while socialization in childhood is more focused on the formation of character and motivational structures.
Socio-psychological socialization mechanisms (Yanchuk V.A.):
- imitation - conscious or unconscious reproduction of imposed patterns of behavior, the experience of significant other people, patterns drawn from other sources.
- suggestion - unconscious, uncritical assimilation and subsequent reproduction of experience, thoughts, feelings, patterns and algorithms proposed by authoritative others.
- belief - conscious, critical assimilation and subsequent reproduction of values, norms, guidelines, behavioral algorithms, etc.
- identification - identification of oneself with certain people or social groups, through which the assimilation of various norms, relationships, forms and algorithms of behavior is carried out.
- empathy - emotional empathy through sensory identification of oneself with another.
The listed mechanisms are presented in a sequence reflecting their age-related effectiveness.
The concept of “socialization” means involvement and connection with society. The prefix “a” in the concept "asocialization" means the antisocial nature of this connection, the socialization of the individual with the opposite sign. Term "asocialization" means the process of assimilation by an individual of antisocial, antisocial norms, values, negative roles, attitudes, behavioral stereotypes, which objectively lead to the deformation of social relations, to the destabilization of society.
If, at a certain stage of normal socialization, some deformation occurs under the influence of certain factors and for some reasons, the destruction of previous, positive norms and values occurs, in place of which new antisocial norms and values and patterns of behavior are adopted. This process is referred to as "desocialization" .
The mechanisms of asocialization (desocialization) of an individual are the same mechanisms of socialization: imitation, suggestion, identification, guidance, etc. Although the process of asocialization is carried out spontaneously, unconsciously, nevertheless, like socialization, it can be purposeful (parents, educators, or leaders of criminal groups can teach teenagers antisocial behavior quite consciously, using the mechanism of reward and punishment).
In relation to an individual who has embarked on an asocial, criminal path of behavior, society, represented by socialization institutions and social control bodies, carries out resocialization - the process of assimilation by an individual again (in the process of desocialization) or for the first time (in the case of asocialization) positive, from the point of view of society, social norms and values, patterns of behavior.
Social institutions engaged in social control (family, school, labor collective, military, public organization, preventive structures of law enforcement agencies, etc.), when detecting that an individual has entered an asocial path, can take appropriate resocialization measures. If there are systemic failures and discrepancies in the activities of these institutions, and a person has committed a criminally punishable socially dangerous act, then he may end up in prison. The essence of this stage of resocialization is:
Disruption of antisocial behavior and roles;
Assimilation and consolidation of positive patterns of behavior and social values;
Restoring and establishing social connections with institutions that allow him to lead a lifestyle approved by society.
Related information.
There is a well-known story of the Lykov family of Old Believers, who lived alone for a long time in the remote taiga. The meeting with people turned into a tragedy for them. One more example. Since 1913, a sect of Russian Old Believers has lived in one of the Uruguayan departments, isolated from the influence of civilization. There is no radio, no television, no telephone in the village, despite the fact that nearby settlements have all this.
The cases cited are based on a violation of what is called socialization in the psychological literature. Socialization — the process and result of an individual’s inclusion in social relations. It is carried out through the individual’s assimilation of social experience and its reproduction in his activities. In the process of socialization, an individual becomes an individual and acquires the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to live among people, i.e. the ability to communicate and interact with other people.
There are many “author’s” definitions of the concept of socialization. For example, according to A.A. Reanu, Socialization is the process and result of the assimilation and subsequent active reproduction of social experience by an individual. K. Bronfenbrenner: socialization is the totality of all social processes through which an individual acquires a certain system of norms and values that allow him to function as a member of society. T. Shibutani: Socialization is the process by which people learn to participate effectively in social groups. According to most common definition, socialization is the accumulation by an individual throughout his life of social roles, norms and values of the society to which he belongs.
Scientists such as G. Tarde, T. Parsons and others were involved in the development of the theory of personality socialization. In particular, 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. In the works of T. Parsons, the process is explained somewhat differently. He believes that an individual, communicating with values that are significant to him, absorbs the common ones. If we take the general scheme of socialization, we can conclude that the theories are based on the classic formula of behaviorism “S - R” and the theory of L.S. Vygotsky about the internalization of external experience (the transformation of external actions with material objects into internal, mental ones, operating with symbols).
Social conditions for personality development. The concept of the social situation of personality development.
The formation and development of personality is determined by the totality of the conditions of social existence in a given historical era. A personality is always a product of his era and the life of his country. Depending on the socio-economic formation in modern conditions, a certain integral way of life develops - a complex of interacting circumstances (economic, political, legal, ideological, socio-psychological, etc.). This complex includes the phenomena of production of the material life of society and the sphere of needs, social authorities, the media and the people themselves, united in various societies. The interaction of a person with these circumstances of life constitutes either or and. social situation of personality development.
From the moment of birth, a person is formed in a certain social environment and depending on the status or position of the parents in this environment, their economic, legal and political position, occupation, education, etc. If there is a sharp disruption, especially a decrease in the material and cultural standard of living of the family, then this directly affects the conditions for the formation of personality. The family status may be more or less stable. In this case, a life stereotype of this or that is created. a level that stabilizes the most general and important personality traits for subsequent evolution. With the beginning of independent social and labor activity, a person’s own status is built, mainly associated with the status of the family from which he came.
Socialization occurs through a number of conditions that can be called “factors.” Such factors of socialization are: targeted education, training and random social influences in activity and communication.
Education and training(in the narrow sense) is a specially organized activity for the purpose of transferring social experience to an individual (child) and forming in him certain, socially desirable stereotypes of behavior, qualities and personality traits.
Random social influences take place in any social situation, i.e. when two or more individuals interact. For example, adults talking about their problems can have a strong impact on a child, but this can hardly be called an educational process.
Factors of socialization can be relationships in the family, kindergarten, school, work collective, university, friendly companies, as well as familiar and unfamiliar people, books, films, television and radio programs, etc.
A child socializes not by passively accepting various influences (including educational ones), but by gradually moving from the position of an object of social influence to the position of an active subject. A child is active because he has needs, and if upbringing takes into account these needs, this will contribute to the development of the child’s activity .
If educators try to eliminate the child’s activity, forcing him to “sit quietly” while they carry out their “educational activities,” then they will be able to achieve the formation of not an ideal and harmonious, but a flawed, deformed, passive personality. The child’s activity will either be completely suppressed, and then the personality will be formed as socially maladapted, anxious, or (in the presence of certain individual characteristics, such as a strong type of nervous system, etc.) the activity will be realized through various compensatory outputs ( for example, what is not allowed, the child will try to do secretly, etc.).
Socialization begins with influences on the individual, since the child’s parents are already socialized, and the child can initially influence them only as a biological being (for example, if the child wants to eat, he communicates this by screaming), then he becomes able to interact with adults and, further , reproduce his existing social experience in his activities.
To the leaders phenomena socialization should include the assimilation of behavioral stereotypes, current social norms, customs, interests, value orientations, etc. Stereotypes of behavior are formed through signaling heredity, i.e. through imitation of adults in early childhood. They are very stable and can be the basis of mental incompatibility (for example, in a family, ethnic group).
Basic directions of socialization correspond to the key spheres of human life: behavioral, emotional-sensual, cognitive, existential, moral, interpersonal. In other words, in the process of socialization, people learn how to behave, react emotionally to various situations, experience and express different feelings; how to understand the surrounding natural and social world; how to organize your life; what moral and ethical guidelines to adhere to; how to effectively participate in interpersonal communication and collaborative activities.
According to established tradition, socialization has the following structure :
2) latitude, i.e. the number of spheres to which a person was able to adapt.
The content of socialization is determined, on the one hand, by the totality of social influences (political programs and doctrines, the media, culture), and on the other hand, by the individual’s attitude to all this. Moreover, these relationships depend not only on the characteristics of the individual himself, but also on the social situation in which he finds himself: material conditions or, for example, considerations related to his career. Therefore, a person can only outwardly demonstrate obedience to the law, loyalty to political and legal institutions, knowing that in the field of politics there are double standards, and for deviations from the rules of the game, the prescribed norms will have to be paid. In other words, the content of socialization cannot be judged only by verbal behavior.
In addition, when considering the content of socialization, an important role is played by locus of control(Latin lokus - place). There are two extreme types of this concept, proposed by the American psychologist D. Rotter: internal and external. In the first case, a person is convinced that the results of his activities depend on personal qualities: competence, determination, intellectual abilities; in the second, he believes that his successes (failures) are due to the action of external forces - help and pressure from the environment, etc.
Locus of control is a special personal characteristic, depending on which individuals are divided into those who are more sensitive to external influences and those whose behavior is determined by internal strategy. As a result, a person can perceive social problems as a normal phenomenon and be quite adapted to them, and vice versa. Therefore, the content of socialization should be assessed not from the point of view of an individual’s adaptability to specific conditions (after all, one can get used to anything), but from the point of view of world standards, civilization and culture, the universal way of life and lifestyle.
The content of socialization also depends on such an important parameter as social institutions , economic, social, including family, preschool institutions, schools, informal groups, official organizations, etc. The effectiveness of socialization is determined by their moral, cultural and economic state. In a dispute about the significance of these institutions for the socialization of an individual (the strength of influence of social institutions on an individual depends on their significance - referentiality), preference is usually given to the family. Indeed, it occupies a special place in the socialization of the individual; it cannot be replaced with anything. As a rule, children raised outside the family suffer due to lack of adaptation, impaired emotional contacts, and group identity.
So, institutions of socialization are: family, pre-school institutions, school, informal associations, university, production teams, etc. Such institutions represent communities of people in which the process of human socialization takes place.
There are several socio-psychological mechanisms of socialization:
1) identification is the identification of an individual with certain people or groups, which allows one to assimilate various norms, attitudes and forms of behavior that are characteristic of others. An example of identification is gender-role typing - the process of an individual acquiring mental characteristics and behavior characteristic of representatives of a certain gender;
2) imitation is a conscious or unconscious reproduction by an individual of a model of behavior, the experience of other people (in particular, manners, movements, actions, etc.);
3) suggestion - the process of an individual’s unconscious reproduction of the internal experience, thoughts, feelings and mental states of those people with whom he communicates;
4) social facilitation (inhibition) (facilitation - relief, inhibition - suppression) - increasing the speed or productivity of an individual’s activity due to the actualization in his mind of the image (perception, idea, etc.) of another person (or group of people) speaking as a competitor or observer of the actions of a given individual (increasing the productivity of an activity, its speed and quality, when it is performed either simply in the presence of other people, or in a competitive situation);
5) conformity - awareness of differences in opinions with people around and external agreement with them, realized in behavior.
1) imitation - a child’s conscious desire to copy a certain model of behavior;
2) identification - children’s assimilation of parental behavior, attitudes and values as their own;
3) shame - the experience of exposure and shame associated with the reactions of other people;
4) guilt - the experience of exposure and shame associated with punishing oneself, regardless of other people.
The first two mechanisms are positive; shame and guilt are negative mechanisms that prohibit or suppress certain behavior.
A person cannot immediately assimilate all social experience from the moment of birth. Socialization is a long process, extended in time and space, even permanent. Moreover, it has an individual aspect and is associated with certain cycles in the field of physical, anatomical-physiological, sensory, emotional, cognitive and social development of the individual. The staged nature of socialization is explained by the relationship between a person’s development and the specifics of the social situation in which he finds himself at different periods of his life.
There are different approaches to identifying the stages of socialization. Sociological focuses on the process of a person’s assimilation of repertoires of social roles, values and norms, culture, and gaining a position in a particular community. An example of a sociological approach is the point of view of G.M. Andreeva, who divides socialization into three stages: pre-labor, post-labor.
Pre-labor The socialization stage covers the entire period of a person’s life before the start of work.
In turn, this stage is divided into two more or less independent periods:
a) early socialization, covering the time from the birth of a child to his entry into school, i.e. that period which in developmental psychology is called the period of early childhood;
b) the stage of learning, which includes the entire period of adolescence in the broad sense of the term. This stage, of course, includes the entire time of schooling. There are different points of view regarding the period of study at a university or technical school. If the criterion for identifying stages is the attitude to work activity, then a university, technical school and other forms of education cannot be classified as the next stage.
On the other hand, the specificity of training in educational institutions of this kind is quite significant in comparison with secondary school, in particular in the light of the increasingly consistent implementation of the principle of combining learning with work, and therefore these periods in a person’s life are difficult to consider according to the same scheme, same as school time. One way or another, in the literature the issue receives a double coverage, although with any solution the problem itself is very important both in theoretical and practical terms: students are one of the important social groups of society, and the problems of socialization of this group are extremely relevant.
Labor the stage of socialization covers the period of human maturity, although the demographic boundaries of “mature” age are arbitrary; fixing such a stage is not difficult - this is the entire period of a person’s working activity. Contrary to the idea that socialization ends with the completion of education, most researchers put forward the idea of continuing socialization during working life. Moreover, the emphasis on the fact that the individual not only assimilates social experience, but also reproduces it, gives special significance to this stage.
Recognition of the labor stage of socialization logically follows from the recognition of the leading importance of labor activity for the development of personality. It is difficult to agree that labor, as a condition for the development of a person’s essential forces, stops the process of assimilating social experience; It is even more difficult to accept the thesis that at the stage of labor activity the reproduction of social experience ceases. Of course, youth is the most important time in the development of personality, but work in adulthood cannot be discounted when identifying the factors of this process.
Post-work the socialization stage is an even more complex issue. A certain justification, of course, can be the fact that this problem is even newer than the problem of socialization at the labor stage. Its formulation is caused by the objective requirements of society for social psychology, which are generated by the very course of social development. Problems of old age are becoming relevant for a number of sciences in modern societies.
An increase in life expectancy - on the one hand, a certain social policy of states - on the other (meaning the pension system) leads to the fact that old age begins to occupy a significant place in the population structure. First of all, its specific gravity increases. The labor potential of those individuals who make up such a social group as pensioners is largely preserved. It is no coincidence that disciplines such as gerontology (the study of aging of living organisms, including humans) and geriatrics (a branch of clinical medicine that studies the characteristics of diseases in elderly and senile people and develops methods for their treatment and prevention) are now experiencing a period of rapid development. .
In social psychology, this problem is present as a problem of the post-work stage of socialization. The main positions in the discussion are polar opposites: one of them believes that the very concept of socialization is simply meaningless when applied to that period of a person’s life when all his social functions are curtailed. From this point of view, this period cannot be described at all in terms of “assimilation of social experience” or even in terms of its reproduction.
An extreme expression of this point of view is the idea of “desocialization,” which follows the completion of the socialization process. Another position, on the contrary, actively insists on a completely new approach to understanding the psychological essence of old age. Quite a number of experimental studies of the continuing social activity of older people speak in favor of this position; in particular, old age is considered as an age that makes a significant contribution to the reproduction of social experience. The only question is about changing the type of activity individuals during this period.
An indirect recognition that socialization continues into old age is E. Erikson’s concept of the existence of eight human ages (infancy, early childhood, playing age, school age, adolescence and youth, youth, middle age, maturity). Only the last of the ages - “maturity” (the period after 65 years) can, according to Erikson, be designated by the motto “wisdom”, which corresponds to the final formation of identity (Burns, 1976). If we accept this position, then we must admit that the post-labor stage of socialization does exist.
The sociological approach is opposed to the psychoanalytic one, from the standpoint of which the stages of socialization are linked to the manifestation of biological drives, instincts and subconscious motives of a person. Socialization is considered as a process that coincides chronologically with the period of early childhood.
However, the real approach to considering the stages of socialization is a compromise, which takes into account both sociological and psychoanalytic views on this matter.
As a result, we can distinguish:
Primary
Marginal,
Sustainable socialization, as well as
A stage caused by the need to adapt to a new situation, for example due to a person’s retirement and other circumstances.
Primary stage the child’s socialization, according to Z. Freud, breaks down into oral (from birth to 2 years), when the child’s world is centered around the mouth; anal (from 2 to 3 years), during which the child is taught hygiene skills. According to S. Freud, this stage largely determines the later development of a person; phallic (from 4 to 5 years). At this stage, children first develop sympathy for parents of the opposite sex. Freud called the conflicts associated with these feelings the Oedipus complex (in boys) and the Electra complex (in girls). Children who have successfully overcome this stage begin to identify themselves with their parents.
Z. Freud argued that the main personal characteristics are formed at these stages. At the same time, taking into account the role of the unconscious in the process of socialization of the individual, we must not forget that the processes of cognition and the child’s mastery of social roles in play activities, his exercises in self-identification, the system of expectations that arises and becomes established in him and the nature of their satisfaction, requirements are of decisive importance here. to him by his parents, the nature of their treatment of him. As confirmation of these factors, we can give an example of a family where twin girls were born. One of them, born five minutes earlier, then began to play the role of an older sister with all the ensuing consequences. Strict demands were placed on her, including caring for her younger sister. The “elder” turned into the antipode of the “younger”, was formed by a strong-willed person, and the younger one - by an infantile person.
Marginal (intermediate, pseudo-stable) socialization- socialization of a teenager. This is a transitional age from childhood to adolescence, associated mainly with self-affirmation of the individual and group identity.
Sustainable socialization coincides with achieving a certain status and fulfilling a wide range of social and interpersonal roles. This stage is associated with a person’s stable position in society or any community. It indicates the socio-psychological adaptation of the individual, his social identity.
And finally, the last stage of socialization is associated with loss of status, a number of roles after a person retires. At this time, he becomes maladapted and, as a rule, reacts painfully to the situation in which he finds himself. Often difficult experiences are caused by the loss of loved ones and the meaning of one’s existence, the irreversible processes of aging of the body, a feeling of loneliness and uselessness. But such a state of mind can largely be compensated by love for grandchildren, which gives a person vitality, creates a feeling of usefulness and repetition of life.
Socialization can be viewed as a typical and singular process. Typicality determined by social conditions and influenced by class, racial, ethnic and cultural differences. Socialization as a typical process means the similarity of its course for representatives of typical social or age groups who have the same religion, culture, and social status. The socialization of, for example, the unemployed is typical for them and differs from the socialization of successful businessmen. The same can be said about tramps, chronically ill people, and disabled people. The socialization of emigrants is completely different, but still typical. It is associated with the forced need to adapt to a foreign language environment and culture. The socialization of national minorities is peculiar.
Socialization as a single process arises due to the characteristics characteristic of a given person (abilities, external data, degree of conformity, sociability, individual level of identity), i.e. the desire to develop one’s abilities, to understand one’s life path as unique, etc.
A person can outwardly demonstrate his socialization, which raises the question of external and internal criteria for this process. Criteria for personality socialization are: the content of formed attitudes, stereotypes, values, pictures of the world; adaptability of the personality, its normotypical behavior, lifestyle; social identity (group and universal). The main criterion for the socialization of a person is the degree of his independence, confidence, self-sufficiency, emancipation, and initiative. The main goal of personal socialization is to satisfy the “need for self-realization” (A. Maslow) and to develop the ability to successfully achieve this goal. Otherwise, the process of socialization is deprived of its humanistic meaning and becomes an instrument of psychological violence, aimed not at personal growth, but at unification, stratification, and leveling of the “I”.
However, if we rely on the opinion of E. Fromm, then the actualization of the “I”, the disclosure of the potential of the individual, his capabilities are possible only in true democracy. IN totalitarian state everything is completely different. In these conditions such forms of socialization are possible as masochism, sadism, destruction, conformism.
Masochism is the desire for submission, moral humiliation.
Socialization in the form of sadism is carried out by placing other people in a position dependent on oneself and acquiring unlimited power over them, exploiting them, and intimidating others.
Destruction- one of the methods of socialization, which consists in ridding a person of the feeling of his own powerlessness through the destruction of the surrounding world. As E. Fromm believed, the destruction of the world for man is the last, desperate attempt in their confrontation.
Conformism(from the Latin conformis - similar) in its extreme expression means the rejection of one’s own “I”, the transformation of a person into a robot, the replacement of a true personality with a pseudo-personality (the absence of one’s own positions, uncritical adherence to any model that has the greatest pressure).
As a result of strict socialization in a totalitarian society, a “one-dimensional” (“mass”) person (“organizational person”), an “externally (automatically) oriented personality,” is formed. The author of this concept is G. Marcuse. A one-dimensional person is characterized by: an uncritical attitude to reality, to behavioral and propaganda stereotypes, lack of individuality, susceptibility to manipulation, conservatism, a distorted vision of the world (purely consumer orientation, unification of the “I” (bringing the “I” to a single system, uniformity)).
2. The concept of asocialization, desocialization and resocialization of the individual.
The concept of “socialization” means involvement, connection with society, while the prefix “a” in the concept of “asocialization” means the antisocial nature of such a connection. If the essence of the socialization process in general comes down to the individual’s assimilation of social norms, values and roles approved by society and aimed at its stabilization and normal functioning, then the term "asocialization" means the process of a person’s assimilation of antisocial, antisocial norms, values, negative roles, attitudes, behavioral stereotypes that lead to the destabilization of society.
Along with the concept of “asocialization” of the individual, the term “social maladjustment” is widely used.
Social maladjustment- this is the process of loss of socially significant qualities that prevent the individual from successfully adapting to the conditions of the social environment. Social maladaptation is manifested in a wide range of deviations in the behavior of a teenager: dromomania (vagrancy), early alcoholism, substance abuse and drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, illegal actions, moral violations. Social maladaptation in adolescence leads to the formation of poorly educated people who do not have the skills to work, start a family, or be good parents. They easily cross the line of moral and legal norms. Respectively, social maladjustment manifests itself in antisocial forms of behavior and deformation of the system of internal regulation, referent and value orientations, social attitudes.
The concept is very close "desocialization", which means that at a certain stage of normal socialization of a person, some deformation occurs when he comes under the influence (spontaneous or purposeful) of a negative microenvironment - a yard company of peers, a criminal group, etc. As a result of this, the individual experiences the destruction of previous positive norms and values, in replacement of which new antisocial patterns of behavior are adopted. Thus, the term “desocialization” is close in content to the concept of “asocialization”, but reflects a different facet of this process.
Lag in socialization means untimely, belated assimilation by the individual of those positive norms and patterns of behavior that are prescribed by society for each stage of socialization. These two concepts are related as follows. A lag in socialization, without being antisocial, can still lead (and often does) to the individual’s assimilation of negative norms or to the thoughtless subordination of such a person lagging behind in socialization to the will of other antisocial elements.
Asocialization personality occurs in the same chronological periods (childhood, adolescence, adolescence) as socialization, while desocialization can also be carried out in adulthood. True, in this case we are more often talking about partial desocialization when a person breaks one or more positive ties with society or the state, while others remain positive. For example, a mature person who has embarked on the path of stealing state property under the influence of a group of hidden criminals can at the same time remain a good father of the family, be cultured, polite, and normally perform all other social roles.
What is it like socio-psychological mechanism of asocialization (desocialization) of personality ? At the early stage of asocialization, the main mechanism is imitation, when children or adolescents unconsciously or partially consciously adopt negative patterns of behavior and a certain subculture from adults leading an antisocial lifestyle. At the same time, their main motive is the desire to be an adult, to gain approval in this negative microenvironment. The latter stimulates the consolidation of such patterns of behavior and, on the contrary, condemns generally accepted norms of behavior.
In other words, here social control is exercised over the individual, during which either positive sanctions (praise, approval, support, etc.) are applied to him, provided that the behavior of this individual is “normal” from the point of view of the environment, or negative ones (condemnation, disapproval , threats of beating, etc.) in case of deviation from compliance with the rules of behavior established in this environment. For example, kindness, mercy, hard work may be ridiculed and, conversely, cruelty, contempt for work, etc. may be approved.
The process of asocialization of a person, although it is carried out mainly spontaneously, unconsciously, nevertheless, like socialization, it can occur purposefully. After all, parents and leaders of criminal groups can teach adolescents (and in the case of desocialization, adults) criminal behavior quite consciously, through gradual involvement in criminal activity, using the same mechanism of rewards and punishments.
In relation to an individual who has embarked on a criminal path of behavior, society, represented by socialization institutions and social control bodies, carries out resocialization, i.e. the process of social restoration of the individual, his assimilation again (in the case of desocialization) or for the first time (in the case of asocialization or lag in socialization) of social norms and values, patterns of behavior that are positive from the point of view of society. The prefix “re” means the destruction of negative, antisocial norms and values internalized by an individual and the instilling in her of positive norms and values approved by society.
The problem of resocialization comes to the problem of including convicts and other categories of people into the normal process of socialization: patients, drug addicts, people who have experienced stress during accidents, military operations, natural disasters. Therefore, at present, along with the concept of “social adaptation” in social psychology, the term “social rehabilitation” is used.. In many ways, these terms are synonymous with each other; in any case, they constitute the main content of social work. But between them There are also differences - primarily in the object of social work.
Social adaptation necessary for both healthy and sick people. As for social rehabilitation, then people who are characterized by post-traumatic syndrome need it, in particular military personnel who have returned from a combat zone, people who have suffered natural disasters, refugees from so-called “hot spots”, those released from prison, disabled people, etc. individuals feel the need not only for social assistance, but also for psychotherapy, psychocorrection (auto-training, etc.). Without relieving emotional tension (rehabilitation), social adaptation is impossible. In this case, it is important not only to restore social functions, but also to normalize mental states.
In the West, various foundations, relief societies, churches, the Salvation Army, etc. have accumulated experience in social rehabilitation.
Social work of similar content is being developed in Russia, as evidenced by the creation of rehabilitation centers. This circumstance determines the need to accelerate the development of humanistic psychology, focused on the needs of social practice.
Socialization is the process of formation by an individual of social qualities throughout his life (mastery of the language of communication, knowledge of communication norms, traditions, customs, assimilation of social roles), thanks to which a person becomes a capable participant in social life.
The process of socialization begins in infancy; the period of childhood and adolescence plays the most important role in the process of socialization; at this age, basic knowledge about the norms of behavior in society is laid down. Previously, preparation for adult life was shorter than it is now: at the age of 14-15, a young man became an adult, and girls at the age of 13 got married and formed an independent family, but now a person continues his studies, sometimes until he is 25 years old. In comparison with our ape-like ancestors, the period of preparation for life has increased at least 5 times. There is no need to talk about the end of socialization, since this process occurs throughout a person’s life and ends in old age, but the most favorable time for socialization is still childhood and adolescence.
Currently, the process of socialization is the subject of research by specialists in many branches of scientific knowledge. Psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, teachers, social psychologists, etc. Reveal various aspects of this process, explore mechanisms, stages and stages, factors of socialization.
There are different approaches to defining the concept of socialization, each of which reflects a particular theory of personal socialization. The development of the theory of personality socialization in foreign sociology and psychology was carried out by G. Tarde, T. Parsons and others. In particular, G. Parsons based his theory on the principle of imitation, and proclaimed the “teacher-student” relationship as a model of social behavior. In the works of T. Parson, the process of socialization is explained somewhat differently. He believes that an individual, communicating with values that are significant to him, absorbs the common ones.
E. Giddens, in his recently published book Sociology, defines socialization as “the social processes by which children become accustomed to social norms and values; in this process the formation of their personality occurs. Despite the fact that socialization processes are especially important for an individual in childhood, they continue throughout his life. No person can exist without the influence of other people on him, and this affects the behavior of the individual at all stages of his life cycle” (See: Giddens E., 1999. P. 572).
Analyzing the above theories, social psychologist A.N. Sukhov concludes that the theories of socialization are based on the classical formula of behaviorism and the theory of L.S. Vygotsky about the internalization of external experience, his cultural-historical concept (Sukhov A.: 2002. P. 40).
In traditional Russian sociology, socialization is considered as the self-development of an individual in the process of his interaction with various social groups, institutions, organizations, as a result of which an active life position of the individual is developed.
In domestic social psychology there is a narrow and broad interpretation of socialization. This approach to its understanding was proposed by B.D. Parygin. Socialization in the narrow sense is the process of entering a social environment. Adaptation to it, in broad terms, is a historical process, phylogeny. Along with the concept of “socialization,” they use quite similar meanings, for example, education and adaptation. In particular, Professor G. M. Andreeva believes that there is no difference between the concepts of “education” and “socialization” (Andreeva: 1988. P. 46). However, most scientists believe that the concept of “socialization” is broader than the concept of “education”.
The concepts of “socialization” and “adaptation” are closely related. Adaptation as a process of adaptation can be considered both as an integral part of socialization and as its mechanism. The process of socio-psychological adaptation, according to A.V. Mudrika, being a specific process of socialization, falls into several stages: familiarization, role orientation, self-affirmation (Mudrik: 2000. P.59).
According to the established tradition, socialization has the following structure: content (adaptation to negative experience) and breadth (the number of spheres to which a person was able to adapt). The most frequently considered characteristics of socialization are factors, agents, mechanisms and means.
It is important to keep in mind that socialization is a process that continues throughout a person's life. In this regard, certain stages of socialization are usually distinguished: pre-labor (childhood, education), labor and post-labor. Socialization of a personality is a complex process of its interaction with the social environment, as a result of which the qualities of a person are formed as a true subject of social relations.
One of the main goals of socialization is adaptation, adaptation of a person to social reality, which serves, perhaps, as the most possible condition for the normal functioning of society. However, there may be extremes that go beyond the normal process of socialization, ultimately connected with the place of the individual in the system of social relations, with his social activity. Such extremes can be called negative types of adaptation. One of them is called “conformism” - passive, devoid of personal content, acceptance of the existing order of things, prevailing opinions. Conformism is characterized by the absence of one’s own position, unquestioning adherence to certain patterns, and submission to authorities.
The asocial meaning of conformism is that a person with a conformist consciousness creates an alibi for himself in various life situations, explaining his actions or inactions by reference to the force of circumstances, which is far from indifferent to the social health of society.
Reasonable adaptation to social conditions, which does not cause damage to both the individual and others, should not only not be condemned, but in many cases supported. Otherwise, questions about social norms, discipline, organization, and even the integrity of society become meaningless.
The question of the role of the environment in determining the behavior of an individual is related to its social and moral responsibility. A person always has a choice and, therefore, must have social responsibility. A reasonable structure of society presupposes the mutual balance of the individual to society and the responsibility of society to the individual.