Social Identity

5 Pages 1312 Words

Socialization is an important factor in everyone’s life. No matter one’s color, race, gender, etc, socialization occurs and brings about a social identity for every individual. How the individual chooses to adapt to their environment and develop their own sense of self is the important sociological question here. I intend to discuss the main points of my own socialization and how I have found myself on the life path on which I am currently. Specifically, the main points of socialization are primary socialization, secondary socialization, and one’s significant others. I will give examples of each of these areas of socialization in my own life.
Primary socialization is the first socialization and individual undergoes in childhood through which he becomes a member of society. Primary socialization generally occurs during the very early stages of childhood. This time does not so much promote individual abstract thought as much as it gives one simply a spot in society. During this time, I learned my own name. I learned the difference between my own name and my older sister’s name, Megan. The basic differentiation between the two showed me that I was a different person from Megan. Along with this realization came the idea that we were sisters and although different, we were both my parents’ children. These realizations are part of “internalization.” Society, identity, and reality are subjectively crystallized in the same process of internalization. So, primary socialization is on the beginning of developing a personal identity. First, one must understand what they are (i.e. their parents’ child, a sister, a brother, an individual, etc.) before they can decide who they are. The people responsible for showing one their place in the world are called “significant others.” This group of people is generally one’s parents, along with close family members or sometimes close friends of the family. These peop...