Types or Forms of Socialization
Although socialization occurs during childhood and adolescence, it also continues in the middle and adult ages. Talcott Parsons has analyzed two forms of socialization, i.e., primary and secondary.
1. Primary socialization: It refers to socialization of the infant in the primary or earliest years of his life. It is a process by which the infant learns language and cognitive skills, internalizes norms and values. The infant learns the ways of a given grouping and is moulded into an effective social participant in that group. The norms of society become part of the personality of the individual. The child does not have a sense of wrong and right. Through direct and indirect observation and experience, he gradually learns the norms of wrong and right things. The primary socialization takes place in the family.
2. Secondary Socialization: The process can be seen at work outside the immediate family, in the ‘peer group’. The growing child learns very important lessons in social conduct from his peers. He also learns lessons in school. Hence, socialization continues beyond and outside the family environment. Secondary socialization generally refers to the social training received by the child in institutional or formal settings and continues throughout the rest of his life.
Through the above socialisation process, the child learns the reciprocal responses of society. The child must learn society's expectations so that his behaviour can be relied upon.
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