Socialisation within Peer Groups and Mass Media - Literature review Example

Name Course Lecturer Date Agents of Socialisation Introduction Socialization is used by social psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, educationalists and anthropologists to denote the constant process of acquiring and disseminating customs, ideologies and norms, giving a person the habits and skills that are needed for participation in a particular community or a group. It is an amalgamation of self-imposed as well as externally enforced rules and anticipations of other individuals in the society. Contrasting other species whose behaviours are biologically developed, human beings require social experiences in order to survive and to learn about their culture. Even though cultural differences are noticeable in the customs, behaviours and actions of entire social groups, the uppermost basic articulation of culture is seen at the personal level. The articulation can exclusively be acquired after an individual socializes with his family and external social networks, which represent socialization agents. People who act as socialization’s agents include relatives, friends, teachers, employers, religious leaders, as well as fictional characters which people read about in books or see in the media (Berns, p.46). This essay will analyse how peer group, work and mass media contribute to a person’s beliefs, sense of life, values and view of the world and also how they may have inbuilt blind spots. Peer group According to Mead (p.128), a peer group consists of individuals who have similar age, social status and share common interests. Socialization within peer groups begins in the early years of human growth process, like when children in a playground educate each other on norms relating to game rules or taking turns or even shooting a basket. The socialization process continues as kids grow and turn into teenagers. Peer groups form an important part to teenagers in different ways, as they start to develop identities which are totally different from those of their parents and exercise independence. At this stage, children are in a position to learn about making their own decisions especially with regard to peer group activities. Such decisions may include the techniques to use in order to win a certain game or how to handle issues that may arise during group activities. This kind of independence is acquired almost automatically since children or teenagers participate in peer groups in areas that are far away from parents such as in kindergartens, schools and playgrounds. The kind of knowledge that an individual acquires from his or her peer groups highly influences their sense of life. For instance, the problem-solving knowledge and techniques an individual learns in handling group issues will highly determine his or her approach to life issues in the future. A person can also use the learned knowledge to gauge his or her ability to handle certain matters. In addition, peers highly impact the thoughts of an individual as well as his or her way of thinking. A person learns to act in a way that they consider will please their peers. This is because; acceptance by fellow peers is a crucial constituent of socialization. This implies that, every peer group has its own set of beliefs, thoughts, values and behaviours, which must be followed by all members regardless of whether they are right or wrong. Consequently, a peer group can either have a positive or a negative impact on a person’s values, beliefs and behaviour. In most cases, peer groups during the teenage stage have negative influences on the group members. The main detrimental manifestations include alcohol and drug use, premature adolescent sexual activities and other proscribed behaviours in the society. At this stage, peer influences also develop in academic achievement. Being associated with peers whose level of academic excellence matches that of a given individual helps in providing a sense of belonging and self worth. However, there are tendencies of shunning down low performing students by high performing students, which makes the former feel unimportant in the society. At this stage of the socialization process of a student, teachers, parents as well as other grown-up role models take up a crucial role in helping the affected student have a better sense of self (Brinkerhoff, p.68). Kohn (p.31) further maintains that, peer groups present their members with an opportunity to converse on interests and matters that children may not discuss with their parents like clothing, lifestyles, and fashions. These interests form an important part of the lives of young people and thus, from their peer groups, they are able to learn about the latest mode of dressing, fashions and lifestyles in their surroundings as well as outside. As a result, peers are aware of what is fashionable or not. Moreover, through such interests, peers acquire different viewpoints of looking at the world around them. This means that, they are able to tell about the background of an individual from his or her mode of dressing, eating as well as interacting with other people. Furthermore, schools, neighbourhoods, religious centres and other social institutions provide a wide range of peer groups. People have a tendency of viewing their individual group positively and discrediting others. For instance, a peer group of people with poor family backgrounds and lower social status may have a negative attitude towards group of rich people. Normally, poor people in the society view rich people as selfish, arrogant and rude. Therefore, a peer group of poor individuals may make a person to grow up having the same belief on or attitude towards rich people. Such a negative attitude form an inherent blind spot within individuals, which further hinder developing and nurturing of good relations of people across different social classes. Mass media According to Andersen and Taylor (p.87), this is the sharing out of non-personal information to the members of public, like what takes place through television, radio, the internet, magazines and newspapers. The media largely impacts social norms since people spend more than four hours on average a day watching the TV and children spend more time. People get to learn about material things such as transport options and technology, and also nonmaterial things like beliefs, values and the expectations of the society. A number of sociologists believe that, mass media wield a strong socialising influence; however the degree of its impact is hard to measure. Even though the media is considered to empower people with extensive information and knowledge concerning the general world, it turns out to be factual that, it also causes harm to its receivers and audience. This is made possible by stressing on particular topics, which in turn create, control and manage people’s thoughts on what ought to be viewed as important, normative and real. For example, viewing of fighting or violent television shows or videos tend to lead to violent behaviours among children and teenagers. This is because; they try to put into practice what they see or learn on the television or internet. From this perspective, it can be argued that, the media influences individuals’ views and beliefs on violence by making them consider it as a good thing. Moreover, the media is used by political and other influential groups to seek support from members of the community on their activities whether good or bad. For instance, social networks on the internet may be used by such groups to distribute information on planned strikes or riots in order for the government to address certain matters like insecurity, unemployment or injustice in the society. In such a case, people especially the youth end up believing that, violent reactions or behaviours are the best way of getting things done, which is against societal norms and values. In addition, the internet is becoming a channel of distributing hate speech and threats as well as socially unaccepted practices like racism particularly towards minority groups. Consequently, individuals from dominant groups view those from minority groups as insignificant in the society. On the other hand, those from minority group may develop self-hatred and a feeling of worthlessness. This is a wrong view of the world because, every member of the society play a different role regardless of their ethnic group, race, skin colour and culture (Andersen and Taylor, p.91). Rosengren (p.53) asserts that, the use of the internet is becoming popular among children and teenagers, which poses a threat to children through access to pornographic materials and adverts. It acts as a visual motivator of the minds of young people. The culture expressed through mass media stresses on glamour, promiscuity, sexual satisfaction, violence, instant gratification of needs and comedic vulgarity. Youngsters are being drawn to immoral behaviours like prostitution in order to easily earn money to satisfy their needs. This results in degradation of personal values, adoption of negative beliefs and an immoral view of the world. On the contrary, mass media make positive contribution to the beliefs and values of individuals to some extent. There are TV shows airing religious messages which strengthen their spiritual beliefs. There are also shows, internet sites and posts distributing information on positive values like fighting against violence, racism, gender and social inequalities and premature sex. Such information helps people especially youngsters to grow and live according to expected social values and norms and to have positive view of the society in general. Work Drawing from Ferrante-Wallace (p.170), work is part of people’s lives and thus individuals spend a considerable period of time at their workplace. Although they have developed certain cultures through socialization since childhood, employees need new socialization for them to fit in their workplace. Such socialization includes material culture like operating machines and nonmaterial culture like interaction among employees at different levels of the organisation. Every organization has a distinct organizational culture, code of conduct and rules and regulations most of which revolve around relating to customers, colleagues as well as discharging duties. Employee motivation is viewed as a significant way of enhancing efficiency and increasing productivity within an organization. Thus, different organizations have different motivational factors such as promotions, training programs, bonuses, insurance covers, leaves and salary increments. Rewards at the workplace are a way of recognizing the efforts of employees and thus brings about a sense of belonging and self-actualisation among individual or a group of employees. In addition, an organizational culture that advocates for honest, transparency and accountability helps in building the values of individuals within the organization. Working in such an environment may contribute to the values of an individual by teaching him or her to be honesty in all his or her dealings both at work and outside. Nevertheless, this type of culture may lead workers in an inherent blind spot of assuming that all people are honest which may in turn result into financial losses through trusting fraudulent customers or other people. Moreover, most companies do not operate during the weekends especially on Sunday, which is considered as a worship day for some religions. However, there are organizations that operate throughout the week and do not support the religious beliefs of their employees. Consequently, the religious beliefs of individuals working for such organizations may be negatively affected. Additionally, organizations that practice corporate social responsibility teach their workers to be socially responsible individuals and to have a different perspective of the society as full of responsible people and business organizations (Ferrante-Wallace, p.172). Conclusion Socialization helps individuals to acquire the needed norms, ideologies and customs for participating in the society. Human beings learn their culture and survive through social experiences. Peer groups help children to develop identities that are different from their parents and independence. They contribute to one’s sense of life through the acquisition of knowledge on dealing with issues. During teenage, peer groups mostly have negative impacts on the values and behaviour of an individual. Through peer groups, people also develop different perspectives of the world in relation to lifestyle, fashion and social status. Mass media influences the values, beliefs and views of individuals by stressing on topics that people should consider real, important and normative. The internet leads to the degradation of personal values, adoption of negative beliefs and an immoral view of the world through its culture. However, religious beliefs and social norms and values are supported through religious and social TV shows. Work influences a person’s sense of self, belief, values and view of the society through the prevailing organizational culture at his or her workplace. Work Cited Andersen, Margaret L and Howard Francis Taylor. Sociology: understanding a diverse society. Belmont: Thomson Learning, 2008. Berns, Roberta. Child, family, school, community: socialization and support. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2010. Brinkerhoff, David B. Essentials of sociology. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2008. Ferrante-Wallace, Joan. Sociology: a global perspective. New York: Routledge, 2011. Kohn, Melvin L. Class and Conformity: A Study in Values. Homewood: Dorsey Press, 2007. Mead, G. H. Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Rosengren, Karl. Media Effects and Beyond: Culture, Socialisation and Lifestyles. London: Routledge, 2004. Read More