Four Major Agents of Socialization
Sociologists define agents of socialization as people or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, behavior, and other views toward life. Throughout my life many different agents of socialization have influenced me and contributed toward my development. The agents of socialization that most impacted my life as a high school student and now as a college student have remained unchanged. The four specific categories are family, church community, school, and peers.
My family has always had the largest influence on my life. Both of my parents worked hard to provide for my older sister and I. We would probably be considered a middle class family that lives a typical life in a suburb of Atlanta, GA. The thing …show more content…
This makes sense because school, church and extracurricular activities tend to be grouped by age; therefore, the life of a typical child is spent with peers. Fortunately, due to the impact the other agents of socialization had on my nonmaterial culture, my high school peer group was generally positive and negative pressure was never difficult for me to avoid. Most of my friends and I shared similar family backgrounds and the love of organized basketball. We aspired to make the junior varsity, then the varsity teams and ultimately, reach the goal of a college student-athlete. As athletes, we were governed not only by the school’ s student code of conduct, but by the more strict requirements of our coach. High school student athletes are a separate sub-culture. Therefore, in contrast to many of my high school peers, drugs, alcohol, smoking and criminal behavior were not accepted among my student-athlete peer group. Ultimately, when the peer group agrees on the goal, it is not difficult to keep focused on the actions that will bring success and avoid behaviors that lead to failure. As mentioned earlier, in high school, I tried to be a positive role model and inspire my peers to fulfill their …show more content…
This is true for both positive and negative influences. The most likely reason is that most of a child’s socialization takes place when young, and it is difficult to change the individual’s perceptions of the norms of the nonmaterial culture. Admittedly, there is more freedom of choice for a college student versus a high school student that often leads to students socializing with people they probably would not have back at home. Exposure to peers from different countries and cultures has prepared me for the diversity of the work environment. College is a great place to mature, grow, and meet lifetime friends. However, I have observed that both good and bad behaviors tend to follow students onto college
Sociologists define agents of socialization as people or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, behavior, and other views toward life. Throughout my life many different agents of socialization have influenced me and contributed toward my development. The agents of socialization that most impacted my life as a high school student and now as a college student have remained unchanged. The four specific categories are family, church community, school, and peers.
My family has always had the largest influence on my life. Both of my parents worked hard to provide for my older sister and I. We would probably be considered a middle class family that lives a typical life in a suburb of Atlanta, GA. The thing …show more content…
This makes sense because school, church and extracurricular activities tend to be grouped by age; therefore, the life of a typical child is spent with peers. Fortunately, due to the impact the other agents of socialization had on my nonmaterial culture, my high school peer group was generally positive and negative pressure was never difficult for me to avoid. Most of my friends and I shared similar family backgrounds and the love of organized basketball. We aspired to make the junior varsity, then the varsity teams and ultimately, reach the goal of a college student-athlete. As athletes, we were governed not only by the school’ s student code of conduct, but by the more strict requirements of our coach. High school student athletes are a separate sub-culture. Therefore, in contrast to many of my high school peers, drugs, alcohol, smoking and criminal behavior were not accepted among my student-athlete peer group. Ultimately, when the peer group agrees on the goal, it is not difficult to keep focused on the actions that will bring success and avoid behaviors that lead to failure. As mentioned earlier, in high school, I tried to be a positive role model and inspire my peers to fulfill their …show more content…
This is true for both positive and negative influences. The most likely reason is that most of a child’s socialization takes place when young, and it is difficult to change the individual’s perceptions of the norms of the nonmaterial culture. Admittedly, there is more freedom of choice for a college student versus a high school student that often leads to students socializing with people they probably would not have back at home. Exposure to peers from different countries and cultures has prepared me for the diversity of the work environment. College is a great place to mature, grow, and meet lifetime friends. However, I have observed that both good and bad behaviors tend to follow students onto college