Does A Family Simply Affects One's Development As An Individual?

Who most greatly affects one’s development as an individual? Is it one's peers? individuals with whom one may share interests and beliefs, or perhaps a family? those with whom one has known since birth. I hope to answer this question by focusing on both groups and comparing and contrasting their respective roles within an individual's development. I believe this question to be of great importance as it will allow sociologists to understand individuals with a greater degree of clarity by examining the groups the most actively associate themselves with. I believe that while an individual's peers play a large role in their behaviours and lives; a person’s family plays an even greater role due to the fact that they have been present in one's life since early development began. Both family and peers are beneficial to the development of individual traits and beliefs, and many are quite similar, however some of the traits and beliefs that an individual may learn from each group are inherently different. This contrast between the two serves to highlight that while peers do imprint individuals, the ideas that are imprinted are generally …show more content…
Both family and peer groups “[exert] a great deal of influence over individuals” (79,Symbaluk & Bereska). This can be observed through witnessing an individuals constant want to fit in with peers and conform to the their beliefs and principals. It is also visible within a family setting in regards to the fact that many children are also subjected to their parents wishes to “constrain the impulses” (78,Symbaluk & Bereska) of their children until they have conformed to what they believe to be proper behaviour. Both of these examples highlight how each group attempts to exercise their influence over individuals and the means in which they do, both of which are strikingly