6 Socialization in the Schooling Process
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to
- Define socialization, primary socialization, and secondary socialization.
- Identify how the role of the family differs from the role of the school in the socialization process.
- Explain the dimensions of socialization.
- Describe the processes by which socialization occurs in schools.
- Summarize how streaming contributes to socialization in schools.
- Describe how school rules, codes of conduct, and dress codes impact on the socialization of students.
- Summarize how students learn about gender roles in school.
- Explain how relationships with teachers and the social climate of the school impact upon socialization.
- Illustrate how peer groups contribute to the social identity of students.
- Describe how peer victimization, peer rejection, and relational aggression impact on the socialization experiences of students.
- Differentiate between the home schooled experience and outcomes of socialization with those who attend school.
Schools and the Socializing Process
In Canada, children from elementary to high school levels spend about seven hours a day at school for about 200 days of the year. These 1400 hours in the school setting per year do not include extracurricular activities and school preparatory work, like homework. From an early age until adulthood, school is a place where children spend a large portion of their days—and, indeed, their lives. Prior to attending school, children’s main source of socialization comes from their families.
Socialization refers to the ongoing process of learning the expected behaviours, values, norms, and social skills of individuals who occupy particular roles in society. Agents of socialization are the social structures in which socialization occurs. Major agents of socialization include the family and school, but also the media, peer groups, and other major social institutions such as religion and the legal system. Furthermore, socialization can be divided into two types: primary socialization and secondary socialization. Primary socialization occurs within the family and is where children first learn their own individual identity, acquire language, and develop cognitive skills. Within the family, children are socialized into particular ways of thinking about morals, cultural values, and social roles. Of course, the socialization that results from primary socialization rests heavily upon the social class, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds and attitudes of the family.
Secondary socialization refers to the social learning that children undergo when they enter other social institutions, like school. Characteristics of the school, teachers, and the peer group all influence the socialization of children within school settings. The family still remains an important part of children’s socialization, even when they enter into school. Children, however, will now have other significant people in t