Human Culture and Socialization Process
The Need for Culture in Human Beings
The closed world of animals contrasts with the open world of human beings. Humans do not have instincts that spontaneously resolve situations characteristic of their habitat, nor are they conditioned by them. The small amount of instinct that could help preserve us is lost forever in the new ways of life that human beings have invented. Since we do not have adequate instinctive responses to our world today, we must devise strategies to overcome our problems. Furthermore, humans never fully develop all their capacities. In particular, there is a permanent capacity to learn and be educated, called neoteny, which is never complete. Neoteny is a phenomenon by which living things retain juvenile features while maturing and becoming capable of reproduction. The logical conclusion we can draw from this is that the lack of instincts compels humans to solve their problems using their high cognitive ability. As a result, we can not only handle, transmit, and store information necessary to build a culture that will supply natural gaps, but we also have different responses to the same problem.
Socialization
Socialization is a lifelong process through which we acquire the knowledge, skills, norms, and values necessary to live in a society. Through this process, we internalize these cultural elements and adapt as members of society.
Key Features of Socialization:
- Learning Cultural Patterns: Values and acceptable behaviors in a particular social group are some of the cultural patterns that individuals must learn to be part of society.
- Internalization: Everything learned during childhood is internalized. This means that the child doesn’t just repeat what they see or is forced to behave a certain way, but spontaneously assumes for themselves how things should be.
- Psychological Well-being: By adopting externally imposed standards, individuals can relate to others and understand their world. This provides psychological stability resulting from integration into the surrounding culture.
Stages of Socialization:
- Primary Socialization: This stage covers approximately the first five years of life. During this period, human beings learn the most important lessons in an eminently familiar environment. Affection and significant others are crucial for the child. A characteristic of this stage is that the child plays by copying adult roles, thus preparing for the next step of interpreting them.
- Secondary Socialization: This stage lasts the rest of a human’s life. Learning is less intense than in primary socialization, but previously learned patterns can be changed. It includes all types of learning because, as individuals grow older, they become part of new sectors of society, such as school or work.
- Resocialization: This involves re-internalizing another culture, that is, a different way of understanding the world. It is a restructuring of learning where everything previously learned is re-evaluated. The person undergoing this process forgets or understands their past and present life differently. This is not a mandatory step for everyone, but only for those experiencing a personal crisis or those who must adapt to a new way of life.