“Back then, we were all still willing to take the ‘risk,’ if ‘risk’ is the right word to

describe entering into the lives of others, not merely in symbol but in reality.” - Zadie Smith

Socialization is a part of a person’s everyday life. We need to socialize in order for us to

survive. Social interaction with others enables us to be more knowledgeable as a human being
and it helps us to be more aware of our actions. Through this process, we are able to learn the
values, culture, beliefs, and the rules of our society. The society can either dictate the role that
we should play as a member of its institution or we can be free as to who we wanted to be, not
minding the opinions and the basis of other people, this is according to the functionalists’ view
and the interpretivists’ view respectively. As conveyed on the quote written by Zadie Smith from
her book Feel Free: Essays that was published this 2018, she wanted to imply that the action of
entering into the lives of others is close to being described as a risk. Indeed, we are jeopardizing
our life if we decided to choose to be a member of the wrong social group. These social groups
are called the agents of socialization. These groups are very essential to a person’s life since they
interact and communicate with the other members of the group, having an influence in his or her
life. These agents of socialization can have a positive and a negative effect on us but either way,
these agents can be a major influence on us when it comes to shaping our own identity as a
person. There are certain factors that contribute to the reason why other social groups are
considered more influential than the others such as the member of a group, it could be that a
person has a closer relationship with the members of that certain social group than the others. We
should also consider the fact that there are groups that we meet everyday and there are others that
we only see once in a while. Important or not, we cannot deny the idea that we are a part of
different social groups and these groups contribute to the honing and shaping of our identity.
Socialization is a lifelong process of social interaction and through joining a social group, we are
able to acquire different ideas and tactics for us to be able to survive in the society. The agents of
socialization are important aspects of our life that has the capacity to majorly influence us when
it comes to our actions and perspectives. Now that I have discussed the importance of
socialization and social groups, let us discuss more on the most distinguished agents of
socialization namely the family, school, peer groups, religion and state, and the mass media.
Family is considered as the primary and most important agent of socialization. They are
the first people to introduce to us the set of beliefs, norms and culture that we should practice.
The family has the role of taking the first step of imparting basic knowledge to us. They also
have a great influence in our life since they are the people who set the beliefs and culture that we
have to follow. According to Freeman and Showel (1953), the family is an effective agent of
socialization because of the reason that an individual in infancy and early childhood is more
sensitive to stimuli than he is later, so that experiences register more deeply. For instance, when I
was a child, my older brother and I would constantly fight over matters that are not even
important. One day, we were hitting each other and it went out of hand so I cried loudly. My
mother, probably annoyed, decided to take matters into her own hands and went to take a belt.
She hit me and my brother, not too hard, but enough to remind us what will happen to us if we
ever get into a fight again. Ever since that experience, I tried so hard to behave, especially when
she is around. Because of this certain experience as a child, I grew up with a fear to my mother.
This is to imply that experiences when we were a kid can contribute to the development of our
own well being, thus a reason why family as an agent of socialization is of vital importance.
People’s perspective about a traditional family also changes over time. Examples include
the single-parent families and OFW’s, wherein one or both parents are absent and they decided
to give the responsibility of taking care of the child to their other relatives. This is where the
extended family enters. Your aunt, uncle, cousins, and other relatives may influence a child
growing up. In spite of altering the traditional structure of a family, it is still a primary source for
the dissemination of values, behaviors and beliefs. Children learn their responsibilities as a child,
and as a member of a society in their own home. Religious beliefs are also one of the things that
a family can influence on us. An example would be having a conservative and a very religious
family may prohibit their children from having a relationship at a young age. The way we act and
socialize with others reflect how we were brought by our family. We carry the knowledge that
they taught us about the proper behavior that we must inhibit in order for us to be accepted in a
society. The clash of beliefs may occur later in the adulting years of a child when he or she
establish his or her own beliefs, but still, we cannot successfully socialize with the other groups
not with the help of our family thus, the reason why family is considered as the primary agent of
socialization.
The family may be the agent where we first learn everything but the next agent would be
the place where we continue to learn honing our skills and knowledge. School makes us realize
our potential as a student. This institution helps in molding the child’s knowledge and
understanding about everything that is found in his or her surroundings. Our school adds
additional values to the ones that we have learned from our family in order for us to be more
sensitive and aware about the things that we should do and to the things that we must avoid.
School also teaches us to be more respectful and conforming to the authority. The school is not
complete without the role of the teachers. They are the people who guide us along the way into
becoming a more educated and self-improved person. The school plays a vital role in a student’s
life because the majority of their time is spent in school. Justin Saldana, PhD, stated in his
journal entitled Power and Conformity in Today’s Schools that was published on the year 2013,
that school system responds to society’s needs, and complies with society’s demands, for trained
workers, intellectual citizens, and well-educated citizens. School helps us to be more ready when
the time comes for us to face the real world. They prepare us to be a more productive citizen and
they grant us a very powerful and useful tool that we can develop and share, and that is
knowledge.
In over a long period of time that we spend in school, we meet interesting individuals
along the way. Peer groups are people who share the same characteristics such as age and social
background. Having a peer group is important to an individual because he or she can feel the
sense of belongingness and the mutual support from the other members of the group. When I was
in grade 7, I entered an institution where I am not familiar with. I came from a private school
and it would be my first time to be enrolled in a public school. I never truly understood the
importance of having a peer group until I have realized that everyone in my room has their own
cliques. Throughout the whole school year, I was known as the loner of the class. It was a year
after that I decided to embrace the changes happening in my life. I gained friends and it actually
felt really good to have people who share the same interests as I have. These people know me in
a different level. Peer groups are composed of different individuals who have distinct qualities
yet at the same time, they share the same interests as you have. We often spend our time together
with our friends thus, they also influence us in the way that we behave and the way that we see
things. At the end of the day, it is always a pleasure to know that we have the support of our
peers.
A society would be in chaos if there is no social order thus, there is authority. The
religion and state are considered as the ultimate sources of authority. Religion has a great
influence on the perspective of a person. It also legitimizes accepted social practices. For
instance, the wedding practice between the catholic and the muslims are different. The catholics
has to be in a monogamous relationship while the muslims practice polygamy. Both practices are
different from one another yet the people in the society learns to accept this social practices.
Religion can also be a source of social change, the First People Power in 1986 is a proof that
religion is a major influence in the way we behave and view things. The strength of a family is
said to be intertwined in the practice of religion. Most people believe that the more religious your
family is, the more compact you are with each other. The reason why our society needs religion
is to control our behavior. The majority of the laws that we follow today are based on the
religious teachings that we were taught. An individual can be a disciplined member of the society
if he or she will internalize the virtues that the religion keeps on promoting to us such as truth,
honesty, love, discipline, etc.The Importance of Religion in Today’s World by Nahid Eva stated
that people who are not religious by nature consider religion as important. The reason is largely
down to the belief that society needs religion. As a society, we benefit from our collective
religious beliefs. In fact there are many people who would argue that we could not function
without religion.
Moreover, the state is also an ultimate source of authority because it regulates the
member of its society by the practice of rewards and sanctions. It is also a bearer of important
ideas such as our rights and responsibilities as a citizen of our country. To be a citizen of this
country, we also have our obligations. We have to be loyal to our country. We have to defend
and contribute to the development of the country and we have the duty to obey the rules that
were given by the authority. The state may have a large influence on us as a human being, the
society also defines certain aspects of the state. The laws are influenced by the values shared in a
society and the citizens work hand in hand to enforce law in order to promote social order. After
all, who does not want to live in a society who practice solidarity?
The last agent of socialization is a powerful medium that is widely used by people
nowadays. Mass media is a participant that has a lot of functions in this world that is
experiencing rapid technological advancement. Throughout the time, inventors and creators
develop devices and features in this devices that can make communication and information
dissemination a lot easier. As stated earlier, mass media has a lot of functions. The first one is
that it is a source of information regarding the recent happenings in our society. Back then, we
have to read news in a newspaper or listen to the radio. Now, we have televisions that broadcast
issues about our society and news is also available to phones that can be accessed through social
medias. Another function of mass media would be presenting different perspectives about an
issue in our society. We cannot be always bias and only believe the things that we want to
believe. We have to be more open to the different viewpoints of an issue because the more we
know, the more chances of us to contribute in solving the problem. At the end of the day,, the
truth shall always prevail. The last important function of the mass media would be the
entertainment it provides to the people. The media is not just about presenting issues and harsh
realities to us, it is also a platform of entertainment wherein people can forget social issues for
awhile. Mass media is widely used today and this is the reason why it is of great influence on a
person.
The way we shape our identity is not an individual effort. We have participant or agents
of socialization that greatly influence us on the way we think and see things. It is important to
choose properly the group that we should join in because these social groups play a huge role in
our life. The bottom line here is that each and everyone of us has the capacity to cause chaos or
promote peace, we just have to decide properly as to who are the right accomplices that we need
in our team.
“Back then, we were all still willing to take the ‘risk,’ if ‘risk’ is the right word to
describe entering into the lives of others, not merely in symbol but in reality.” - Zadie Smith

Socialization is a part of a person’s everyday life. We need to socialize in order for us to

survive. Social interaction with others enables us to be more knowledgeable as a human being
and it helps us to be more aware of our actions. Through this process, we are able to learn the
values, culture, beliefs, and the rules of our society. The society can either dictate the role that
we should play as a member of its institution or we can be free as to who we wanted to be, not
minding the opinions and the basis of other people, this is according to the functionalists’ view
and the interpretivists’ view respectively. As conveyed on the quote written by Zadie Smith from
her book Feel Free: Essays that was published this 2018, she wanted to imply that the action of
entering into the lives of others is close to being described as a risk. Indeed, we are jeopardizing
our life if we decided to choose to be a member of the wrong social group. These social groups
are called the agents of socialization. These groups are very essential to a person’s life since they
interact and communicate with the other members of the group, having an influence in his or her
life. These agents of socialization can have a positive and a negative effect on us but either way,
these agents can be a major influence on us when it comes to shaping our own identity as a
person. There are certain factors that contribute to the reason why other social groups are
considered more influential than the others such as the member of a group, it could be that a
person has a closer relationship with the members of that certain social group than the others. We
should also consider the fact that there are groups that we meet everyday and there are others that
we only see once in a while. Important or not, we cannot deny the idea that we are a part of
different social groups and these groups contribute to the honing and shaping of our identity.
Socialization is a lifelong process of social interaction and through joining a social group, we are
able to acquire different ideas and tactics for us to be able to survive in the society. The agents of
socialization are important aspects of our life that has the capacity to majorly influence us when
it comes to our actions and perspectives. Now that I have discussed the importance of
socialization and social groups, let us discuss more on the most distinguished agents of
socialization namely the family, school, peer groups, religion and state, and the mass media.
Family is considered as the primary and most important agent of socialization. They are
the first people to introduce to us the set of beliefs, norms and culture that we should practice.
The family has the role of taking the first step of imparting basic knowledge to us. They also
have a great influence in our life since they are the people who set the beliefs and culture that we
have to follow. According to Freeman and Showel (1953), the family is an effective agent of
socialization because of the reason that an individual in infancy and early childhood is more
sensitive to stimuli than he is later, so that experiences register more deeply. For instance, when I
was a child, my older brother and I would constantly fight over matters that are not even
important. One day, we were hitting each other and it went out of hand so I cried loudly. My
mother, probably annoyed, decided to take matters into her own hands and went to take a belt.
She hit me and my brother, not too hard, but enough to remind us what will happen to us if we
ever get into a fight again. Ever since that experience, I tried so hard to behave, especially when
she is around. Because of this certain experience as a child, I grew up with a fear to my mother.
This is to imply that experiences when we were a kid can contribute to the development of our
own well being, thus a reason why family as an agent of socialization is of vital importance.
People’s perspective about a traditional family also changes over time. Examples include
the single-parent families and OFW’s, wherein one or both parents are absent and they decided
to give the responsibility of taking care of the child to their other relatives. This is where the
extended family enters. Your aunt, uncle, cousins, and other relatives may influence a child
growing up. In spite of altering the traditional structure of a family, it is still a primary source for
the dissemination of values, behaviors and beliefs. Children learn their responsibilities as a child,
and as a member of a society in their own home. Religious beliefs are also one of the things that
a family can influence on us. An example would be having a conservative and a very religious
family may prohibit their children from having a relationship at a young age. The way we act and
socialize with others reflect how we were brought by our family. We carry the knowledge that
they taught us about the proper behavior that we must inhibit in order for us to be accepted in a
society. The clash of beliefs may occur later in the adulting years of a child when he or she
establish his or her own beliefs, but still, we cannot successfully socialize with the other groups
not with the help of our family thus, the reason why family is considered as the primary agent of
socialization.
The family may be the agent where we first learn everything but the next agent would be
the place where we continue to learn honing our skills and knowledge. School makes us realize
our potential as a student. This institution helps in molding the child’s knowledge and
understanding about everything that is found in his or her surroundings. Our school adds
additional values to the ones that we have learned from our family in order for us to be more
sensitive and aware about the things that we should do and to the things that we must avoid.
School also teaches us to be more respectful and conforming to the authority. The school is not
complete without the role of the teachers. They are the people who guide us along the way into
becoming a more educated and self-improved person. The school plays a vital role in a student’s
life because the majority of their time is spent in school. Justin Saldana, PhD, stated in his
journal entitled Power and Conformity in Today’s Schools that was published on the year 2013,
that school system responds to society’s needs, and complies with society’s demands, for trained
workers, intellectual citizens, and well-educated citizens. School helps us to be more ready when
the time comes for us to face the real world. They prepare us to be a more productive citizen and
they grant us a very powerful and useful tool that we can develop and share, and that is
knowledge.
In over a long period of time that we spend in school, we meet interesting individuals
along the way. Peer groups are people who share the same characteristics such as age and social
background. Having a peer group is important to an individual because he or she can feel the
sense of belongingness and the mutual support from the other members of the group. When I was
in grade 7, I entered an institution where I am not familiar with. I came from a private school
and it would be my first time to be enrolled in a public school. I never truly understood the
importance of having a peer group until I have realized that everyone in my room has their own
cliques. Throughout the whole school year, I was known as the loner of the class. It was a year
after that I decided to embrace the changes happening in my life. I gained friends and it actually
felt really good to have people who share the same interests as I have. These people know me in
a different level. Peer groups are composed of different individuals who have distinct qualities
yet at the same time, they share the same interests as you have. We often spend our time together
with our friends thus, they also influence us in the way that we behave and the way that we see
things. At the end of the day, it is always a pleasure to know that we have the support of our
peers.
A society would be in chaos if there is no social order thus, there is authority. The
religion and state are considered as the ultimate sources of authority. Religion has a great
influence on the perspective of a person. It also legitimizes accepted social practices. For
instance, the wedding practice between the catholic and the muslims are different. The catholics
has to be in a monogamous relationship while the muslims practice polygamy. Both practices are
different from one another yet the people in the society learns to accept this social practices.
Religion can also be a source of social change, the First People Power in 1986 is a proof that
religion is a major influence in the way we behave and view things. The strength of a family is
said to be intertwined in the practice of religion. Most people believe that the more religious your
family is, the more compact you are with each other. The reason why our society needs religion
is to control our behavior. The majority of the laws that we follow today are based on the
religious teachings that we were taught. An individual can be a disciplined member of the society
if he or she will internalize the virtues that the religion keeps on promoting to us such as truth,
honesty, love, discipline, etc.The Importance of Religion in Today’s World by Nahid Eva stated
that people who are not religious by nature consider religion as important. The reason is largely
down to the belief that society needs religion. As a society, we benefit from our collective
religious beliefs. In fact there are many people who would argue that we could not function
without religion.
 Moreover, the state is also an ultimate source of authority because it regulates the
member of its society by the practice of rewards and sanctions. It is also a bearer of important
ideas such as our rights and responsibilities as a citizen of our country. To be a citizen of this
country, we also have our obligations. We have to be loyal to our country. We have to defend
and contribute to the development of the country and we have the duty to obey the rules that
were given by the authority. The state may have a large influence on us as a human being, the
society also defines certain aspects of the state. The laws are influenced by the values shared in a
society and the citizens work hand in hand to enforce law in order to promote social order. After
all, who does not want to live in a society who practice solidarity?
The last agent of socialization is a powerful medium that is widely used by people
nowadays. Mass media is a participant that has a lot of functions in this world that is
experiencing rapid technological advancement. Throughout the time, inventors and creators
develop devices and features in this devices that can make communication and information
dissemination a lot easier. As stated earlier, mass media has a lot of functions. The first one is
that it is a source of information regarding the recent happenings in our society. Back then, we
have to read news in a newspaper or listen to the radio. Now, we have televisions that broadcast
issues about our society and news is also available to phones that can be accessed through social
medias. Another function of mass media would be presenting different perspectives about an
issue in our society. We cannot be always bias and only believe the things that we want to
believe. We have to be more open to the different viewpoints of an issue because the more we
know, the more chances of us to contribute in solving the problem. At the end of the day,, the
truth shall always prevail. The last important function of the mass media would be the
entertainment it provides to the people. The media is not just about presenting issues and harsh
realities to us, it is also a platform of entertainment wherein people can forget social issues for
awhile. Mass media is widely used today and this is the reason why it is of great influence on a
person.
The way we shape our identity is not an individual effort. We have participant or agents
of socialization that greatly influence us on the way we think and see things. It is important to
choose properly the group that we should join in because these social groups play a huge role in
our life. The bottom line here is that each and everyone of us has the capacity to cause chaos or
promote peace, we just have to decide properly as to who are the right accomplices that we need
in our team.