Agents of Children's Socialization: Shaping the Path to Adulthood

What are the agents of children Socialization?
Socialization Agents
Introduction

What is an agent of socialization? An agent of socialization is people and groups that influence our self-concept, emotions, attitudes and behavior. There are five agents that play a role in the socialization of children. Every agent of socialization plays a role in the development of children. In this essay I play on describing the five agents and how they aid in child development. The five socializing agents consist of Family, School and Childcare, Peers, Mass media, and Community.

As children grow and change the amount of influence of each agent changes. Children will learn to develop trust, independence, the tendency to take initiative, the sense of competence and ambition, the decision on who we are, our relationships with others, and reflections on life in general. Family

Read more: ersonal factors that affect child development essay

The family functions to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their socialization.

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Raising a family is never easy. In order for everything to run smoothly, each person has a role to play. Humans learn and develop to be the adult person that they become. As the child develops and advances in psychosocial development, the agents become stronger or weaker in their capacity for influence. Early in a child's development, the family is, of course, the strongest agent, but as the child advances to preschool age, programs or schools begin to exert influence. At school age, peers are active socialization agents. School and Child Care

In school children are place outside the direct control of the family, and have to learn to become a part of a peer group.

Children in sports will learn socialization skills and values. Education is the process by which society transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another. It happens through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. With more mothers working in our society daycare has become a significant agent of socialization. Families have to look for a caregiver who provides warm, loving care and guidance for the child and works with the family to ensure that the child develops in the best way possible. The caregivers have to have a setting that keeps the child safe, secure and healthy; and developmentally appropriate activities that help the child develop emotionally, socially, mentally and physically. Peers

Peer groups provide support for children as they transform into the adult society. Children start decreasing dependence on parents. They will increase feeling of self-sufficiency, and connecting with a much larger social network. The term "peer pressure" is often used to describe instances where an individual feels indirectly pressured into changing their behavior to match that of their peers. Peer groups have a significant influence on psychological and social adjustments for group individuals. They provide perspective outside of individual’s viewpoints. Members inside peer groups also learn to develop relationships with others in the social system. Mass Media

Mass media arises as communication technology spreads information on a new scale. The mass media have an enormous effect on a mass scale. The mass media cover a wide range of means of communication, information and entertainment, such as books, music, newspapers and magazines, radio, television, the Internet as well as video games. The mass media have an enormous effect on our attitudes and behaviors. It also affects our way of thinking. When we go out shopping we are going to want to buy what we just seen on the TV. The portrayal of human characters in different programs and its advertisements on television influences our perspective on what is healthy, cool, or the new IT item that we now have to run out and purchase. The same programs help in shaping the attitudes, values, and basic orientation of people to life. Community

The term community has two distinct commutative meanings: 1) Community can refer to a usually small, social unit of any size that shares common values.

The term can also refer to the national community or international community, and 2) in biology, a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment. Community groups can give children different perspectives. The location of what type of community you live in will affect your child socialization. It has been proven that children in a lower economic community are more likely to commit crimes, drink, and drugs. Conclusion

There are many factors that influence your child and the way your child will become independent. Every child will be raised in difference cultures, school, and environments. Each child is different; one child might take a compliment as a compliment while a child with low self-esteem may see an insult. I feel that the family plays the biggest role with development with the child. These five examples of influences on our socialization are important in shaping the adult that we will become.

References:
1. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/community
2. www.boundless.com
3. Child, Family, School, Community Socialization and support (9th edition). Roberta M. Berns.