Lesson
Socialization and
1 Enculturation
A human being should not live by himself or herself because he or she is a social
being who needs other people. Baleña, E. et. al. (2016) stresses that for man to survive,
and to develop himself or herself as a human being, there is a need for social interaction.
He or she should be with others and interacts with them in order to realize his or her dreams
and to withstand whatever adversities encountered in life in a given society. Lanuza and
Raymundo (2016) expounds that to become a full member of a society, he or she has to
acquire and learn all the necessary social roles and skills. The process of learning these
skills and social roles is called socialization. Socialization is a process in which society
molds the individual to conform to established social norms and rules.
Brinkerhoff et. al. (2011) defines socialization as a process through which people
learn the rules and practices needed to participate successfully in their culture and society.
Its process is very essential in man’s daily life because it teaches man how to behave and
act within our society. Consequently, if he or she does know how to socialize and conform
to standards, his or her actions may impede social order.
Santarita and Madrid (2016) describes that socialization takes place when
prospective culture bearers learn the body of knowledge and skills through education,
training, exposure, and experience; while enculturation, occurs when cultural knowledge
is passed on to the next bearer who will perpetuate and ensure the continuation of culture.
Both socialization and enculturation result to identity formation, developing norms and
values, and statuses and roles:
A. Identity Formation
An individual’s identity is formed through his interactions with others. One’s
socialization with individuals or groups allows him or her to imbibe certain
characteristics and interests that contribute to his or her identity. For example, the
centuries of Philippine Chinese exposure to Filipino culture made them imbibe facets
of Filipino character in the same way Filipino learned to love Chinese culture like
food such as preference for noodle-based cuisine like pancit (Newman, 2012 as
cited by Santarita and Madrid).
B. Norms and Values
Norms are those culturally determined rules that guide people regarding
what is “right”, “wrong”, “proper”, “improper”. They create predictability in daily affairs
and interactions, making it easier to live with other members of society. They are
fundamental to the establishment of social order in any societies (Newman, 2012 as
cited by Santarita and Madrid). These include society’s standards of morality, good
manners, legality, and integrity. The following are forms of norms:
* customary patterns that specify what is socially correct
Folkways and proper in everyday life.
* repetitive or typical habits and patterns of expected
behavior followed within a group or community.
* define what is morally right and morally wrong.
Mores * standards of conduct with ethical and moral significance
Laws * regulate and control the people’s behavior and conduct.
Source: Palispis, Epitacio S. (2007)
Schaefer (2012) delineates cultural values as collective conceptions of what
is considered good, desirable, and proper- or bad, undesirable and improper. It
reveals on what preferences people should pursue which are vital for their continued
existence. With the favorable norms and values in a society, all people are expected
to conform, follow and practice them.
C. Statuses and Roles
A status is any position that an individual can occupy in society. It is not a
ranked position, but simply a label that implies certain roles that must be performed
(Newman, 2012). For example, one can be a student, singer, or a computer genius.
Though some statuses are generally recognized as prestigious, prestige like beauty
is certainly relative or depends in the eye of the beholder (Santarita and Madrid,
2016). Social Statuses can be classified into two:
Ascribed Statuses Achieved Statuses
* assigned to the individual from * acquired by choice, merit, or
birth such as age and sex individual effort
* involve little personal choice like * made possible through special
age and sex abilities or talents,
performance or opportunities
* carry with them certain * choice in occupation,
expectations of behavior marriage, joining a religious
organization are examples
Source: Panopio, et. Al. (1994)
Role, on the other hand, involves the pattern of expected behavior in a social
relationship with one or more persons occupying other statuses. (Panopio, 1994). It
is what the individual is expected to do, given his status (Arcinas, M., 2016).
