Essay On Socialisation

Resource Description

My prelim essay on the agents of socialisation. This was for an assessment task and received full marks. Data used is from my own primary research.

Analyse how the processes of socialisation have changed over time.

Socialisation is the process by which individuals discover and adapt to behavioural standards within their society over the course of their life. The processes of socialisation have changed over time to varying degrees, dependent on specific agents of socialisation. Agents of socialisation are highly influential to the development of one’s personal and social identity, and studies have shown these agents are the most impactful during adolescence. Agents of socialisation include the primary agent of family and secondary agents of media, gender, class and status, sexuality, peers and culture. In examining the changes in the socialisation processes, this essay will compare findings from Generation X and Generation Z questionnaires and secondary sources in a cross-generational study. In this study, Gen X refers to people born between 1961 and 1981, while Gen Z refers to people born between 1995 and 2010. The agents that will be focused on are: family, gender and sexuality. While the process of socialisation in family has remained consistent, the influence of gender and sexuality has somewhat changed over time.

Family is a primary agent of socialisation. The way a child is raised and the values and beliefs of the parents are profoundly influential in developing a child’s identity. As Roberta Berns discusses in her book Child, Family, School, Community: Socialisation and Support [81-82] (2010), family ensures that the fundamental societal values, beliefs and attitudes are passed on to their children and supports their development. The findings from my study reflects this. From Generation X, 78% of my respondents lived with both parents together during adolescence, while 22% lived with a single parent. When asked to rate the closeness they had with their parents during their adolescence on a scale of 1-10, the average was 7.5. It was largely the respondents that lived with single parents that felt their closeness with their parents was low, whereas the majority of the respondents from both-parent families reported higher levels of closeness. This contrast leads me to conclude that both-parent families provided a higher level of support and refuge in the relationship between parent and child than that of a single parent family. This indicates the importance of a solid family structure. This is further proven by another question I posed: evaluate the strictness of their parents during their adolescence. The answers varied considerably. Comparing individual respondents’ answers to both of these scaled questions, I discovered that stricter parents had a closer connection with their children, while less strict parents raised children reporting less closeness. Based on these results, it appears that for Gen X, the relationship between parent and child was benefited by stricter boundaries. Contrastingly, for Generation Z, 78% of my respondents lived with parents together, 15% lived with separate parents and 7% lived with a single parent. Respondents on average rated their closeness with their parents during adolescence to be 7.4, very similar to Gen X. I found there to be no correlation between parental closeness and the family’s living situation for this generation. However, the respondents averaged a 4 for strictness in this generation’s upbringing. In comparing individual respondents’ answers to both of the scaled questions, I discovered that less strict parents were the ones children connected with more. The high levels of closeness equated with low levels of strictness. These results lead me to believe that having less strict and more gentle parents has been more beneficial to building a stronger relationship between them. Both generations were asked to discuss how their parents’ rearing methods have influenced their identity. All answers varied, but it was Gen Z that demonstrated the most negative impacts of family. A high percentage of respondents said how having overly critical or judgmental parents created a ‘toxic and traumatic’ home atmosphere, negatively affecting how these individuals see themselves. This was not present in the Gen X results, though this is not to say parents are the cause of this. The overall answers from both generations indicated that respondents have been taught essential values by their parents, which is one of the fundamental roles of family. These results lead me to believe that over time, the importance of family has remained consistent, but that families have adapted and changed their child rearing methods to better suit today’s social climate.