Factors of socialization: meso, macro and micro factors

Socialization factors are circumstances that encourage a person to take active action. There are only three of them - macrofactors (space, planet, country, society, state), mesofactors (ethnicity, type of settlement, media) and microfactors (family, peer groups, organizations). Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Macrofactors of socialization

Macro factors affect all inhabitants of the planet or very large groups of people living in certain countries.

The modern world is full of global problems that affect the vital interests of all humanity: environmental (environmental pollution), economic (increasing gaps in the level of development of countries and continents), demographic (uncontrolled population growth in some countries and a decrease in its number in others), military- political (increasing number of regional conflicts, proliferation of nuclear weapons, political instability). These problems determine living conditions and directly or indirectly affect the socialization of younger generations.

Human development is influenced by the geographical factor (natural environment). In the 30s of the 20th century, V.I. Vernadsky noted the beginning of a new stage in the development of nature as the biosphere, which was called the modern ecological crisis (changes in dynamic balance that are dangerous for the existence of all life on earth, including humans). Currently, the environmental crisis is becoming global and planetary in nature, and the next stage is predicted: either humanity will intensify its interaction with nature and be able to overcome the environmental crisis, or it will perish. To get out of the environmental crisis, it is necessary to change the attitude of every person towards the environment.

The socialization of the younger generation is influenced by the qualitative characteristics of the gender role structure of society, which determine the assimilation of ideas about the status position of one or the other sex. For example, gender equality in Europe and patriarchy in a number of societies in Asia and Africa.

Different social strata and professional groups have different ideas about what kind of person their children should grow up, that is, they develop a specific lifestyle. The top layer is the political and economic elites; upper middle - owners and managers of large enterprises; medium - entrepreneurs, social sector administrators, etc.; basic - intelligentsia, workers in mass professions in the economic sphere; lowest - unskilled workers of state enterprises, pensioners; social bottom. The values and lifestyle of certain strata, including criminal ones, can become for children whose parents do not belong to them, unique standards that can influence them even more than the values of the strata to which their family belongs.

The state can be viewed from three sides: as a factor of spontaneous socialization, since the politics, ideology, economic and social practices characteristic of the state create certain conditions for the life of its citizens; as a factor regarding directed socialization, since the state determines the mandatory minimum of education, the age of its beginning, the age of marriage, the length of military service, etc.; as a factor of socially controlled socialization, since the state creates educational organizations: kindergartens, secondary schools, colleges, institutions for children, adolescents and young men with significantly impaired health, etc.

12.2. Socialization factors

In the works of sociologists, social psychologists and social educators, the concept of “socialization factor” defines the most important conditions that determine the social development of an individual. They are usually arranged in the following hierarchy: 1) megafactors (space, planet, world community); 2) macro factors (ethnicity, country, state); 3) mesofactors (demographic conditions, belonging to a social group, class, subculture); 4) microfactors (family, school, peer groups). Let us turn to the consideration of the main groups of socialization factors in order to understand how they operate in the holistic process of education. It is often thought that education is something that adults give to children. In fact, the basis of any education is a person’s personal experience, his independent interaction with culture, the transformation of the simultaneous influence of various factors of socialization. 1. Megafactors The influence of unknown processes occurring in the Universe on people’s lives was noted by ancient astronomers. At the beginning of the 20th century, outstanding figures of Russian natural science (V.I. Vernadsky, N.A. Umov, N.G. Kholodny, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, A.L. Chizhevsky), who simultaneously acted as cosmist philosophers, convincingly argued that that there is a certain dependence of relationships in the social environment, events of human life on the amount of energy coming from Space. They considered man a “citizen of the Universe,” living with the Cosmos according to the same laws. Thus, A.L. Chizhevsky substantiated the “theory of space eras” and noticed quite obvious coincidences of the most important, often tragic, events in the history of civilization (wars, revolutions) with the moments of maximum solar activity. V.I. Vernadsky discovered the biochemical energy of living matter and argued that it permeates the bodies of people living on Earth and after their death goes into the biosphere. This is how another shell is created around the Earth - the noosphere, consisting of the energetic remnants of the spiritual life of humanity. Therefore, the noosphere naturally influences earthly events and spontaneously controls the mind, will, and feelings of people. Modern research in the field of geopolitics proves the formation by the end of the 20th century of geopathogenic zones of the Alpine-Himalayan belt with a length of more than 10,000 km and a width of 100-300 km (Basque country, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, Transnistria, Abkhazia, Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan, Afghanistan , Iran, Jamna and Kashmir, Cambodia, Vietnam). Researchers claim that it is in the landscape shell of the Earth that the cosmic energy of the Sun is converted into earthly types of energy. Human labor (cultivation of land, mining, construction of roads and hydraulic structures) is associated with the regulation of these energy flows. As a result of the social and economic life of people in the Alpine-Himalayan belt, the anthropogenic landscape is degraded and major social disasters, conflicts and wars occur. 2. Macro factors In the process of socialization, a growing person accumulates the influence of his ethnic group in a special way. Ethnicity is a sociocultural formation whose members are aware of their common origin, language, and traditions. Even ancient travelers described in their travel diaries the specific features of the way of life of people on the lands they discovered. With the development of sciences (geography, ethnography, cultural studies), scientific research substantiated the national characteristics of their social life and culture among different peoples. Geographical and climatic conditions of life, the nature of work and life, methods of struggle for existence formed in each ethnic group its characteristic customs, traditions, social attitudes and value orientations. The classic of Russian pedagogy K. D. Ushinsky, analyzing the educational systems of the largest European countries in the mid-19th century, drew attention to the fact that, despite the similarity of pedagogical forms of teaching children and youth, all European peoples have “their own special national system of education, their own a special goal and its own special means to achieve this goal.” K. D. Ushinsky explains this phenomenon precisely by the powerful influence of the ethnic factor - “nationality”. Nationality is manifested in many features of a person’s appearance, his temperament and character, in the organization of family life and in relation to the state. Family education, believes K. D. Ushinsky, with its folk (ethnic) nature, is a living organ in the historical process of national development. Therefore, there is not and cannot be a system of education common to all nations, no matter what great social ideals thinkers and political leaders paint. The formation of a person’s ethnic identity is influenced by: - community of blood (parents and blood relatives become the main carriers of life values); - mastering the native language (the child learns not only the vocabulary and grammar of his native speech, but meanings and artistic images); - assimilation of traditions, customs, history of one’s ethnic group (“love for the tombs of fathers”). The outstanding historian, geographer and cultural scientist L.N. Gumilyov, explaining the mechanism of action of ethnicity as a factor of socialization, considers ethnic community a biophysical phenomenon and introduces the concept of “ethnic field”. He writes: “The ethnic field, that is, the phenomenon of the ethnos as such, is not concentrated in the bodies of the child and mother, but appears between them. A child who establishes a connection with his mother with the first cry and the first sip of milk enters her ethnic field. Staying in it forms his own ethnic field, which is then only modified as a result of communication with his father, relatives, other children and the whole people.” Each ethnic group has its own experience and its own culture of giving birth and raising a child (methods of feeding, preventing diseases, learning skills of work, life, communication). Therefore, the ethnic factor influences, first of all, the socialization of the child in the family. The influence of the state as a factor of socialization acts as the power of a collective subject that organizes people's lives, determines laws, protects the rights of citizens and regulates their activities. The state, concerned with the socialization of citizens, establishes its own ideology, a system of ideas that explain (and justify) the established social order and help a person adapt to given conditions. 3. Mesofactors The life of citizens of a particular country is always determined by the existing socio-economic relations. These relationships involve individuals, families, social and professional groups, political and public associations. A person’s education and even his fate can directly depend on the demographic conditions in which he finds himself: whether he lives in a metropolitan metropolis or in an ordinary Russian regional center, at a border outpost lost in the tundra or in the Kuban village. The demographic situation largely determines his interests, leisure activities, availability of the information environment, social circle, and even ways to solve many life problems. Now, when the social influence of information technology is so great, a person’s place of residence also means the extent to which the information environment is accessible to him. City dwellers (especially residents of large cities) are more mobile, they have ample opportunities in choosing a profession, getting an education, and spending their free time. But they more often experience a feeling of “loneliness in the crowd,” their uselessness to the people around them, the feeling that life is rapidly rushing by and they need to strain all the time to keep up with it and not remain “on the sidelines.” Rural residents are closer to nature and can live, feeling its greatness and beauty, they are connected with real work on the land, among relatives and neighbors they have a good sense of their “roots”, the traditions of their grandfathers, but fellow villagers openly control their everyday behavior. However, they have fewer opportunities to receive a high-quality competitive education, their leisure time is often poor in impressions and is far from examples of city life. Each person enters into culture and is also socialized in accordance with a certain social affiliation to one or another layer of society (class, estate). Modern sociologists, describing the social structure of society, draw attention to the fact that, in addition to ethnic and religious differences, social stratification is determined by the following “dimensions”: the degree of power; income or wealth; prestige of the profession; education. In modern post-industrial society, education becomes the main economic resource. In the public consciousness there is a belief that only those people who have a sufficiently high level of education can be rich and successful. Since knowledge quickly ages and loses its competitiveness, it is necessary to know how to maintain it, update it, have access to sources of information and own fairly modern information technologies. And this requires money and power. Each social stratum in society (economic and political elite, middle class, intelligentsia, unskilled workers, marginalized) builds its own lifestyle, its own stereotypes of socially approved behavior, its own ways of spending free time and its own forms of education. The practice of private kindergartens and schools, already existing in our country, and studying abroad have “separated” the children of the elite from their peers from other social strata. This social stratification is especially difficult for the socialization of adolescents and young people. They, faced with a choice at the “crossroads” of life’s roads, discover that the adult life that attracts them is very contradictory and unfair, in it they can only rely on themselves and their loved ones. This makes microfactors (in particular, the family) the most important area for constructing an image of the social world in modern children and adolescents. 4. Microfactors Both in the family and in the reference group, in communication with “significant others,” the child masters the space of culture and appropriates social values. The family is the earliest institution of socialization, the significance of which remains for a person throughout his life. Its role is unique and irreplaceable, especially in early and preschool childhood, at the time of “primary socialization.” It is no coincidence that children who grew up without a family, in an orphanage or boarding school, even living in a certain comfort and sufficiently financially secure, still turn out to be poorly socialized. At the age of 16-18, when they enter independent life, many of them do not know how to live independently, with their family, do not know how to solve the simplest everyday problems, are afraid of independently fulfilling their social responsibilities, often do not realize them at all, and infantilely expect the usual care from others . The family has a serious influence on the formation of the child’s psychological gender: he assimilates the attributes of his gender, “reading” them in real patterns of “female” and “male” behavior of family members. It is interesting that when studying the social experience of children, one can discover unique “mother’s lines” and “father’s lines.” The “mother line” projects children’s experience onto the “world of people”: it creates basic relationships for such moral qualities as kindness, attention to the weak and old, patience, forbearance towards the shortcomings of other people, love for neighbors. The “father’s line” more actively projects the social experience of children onto the “world of things”: it introduces the values of discipline, order, but at the same time the values of competition, the desire for primacy, for struggle and overcoming, commitment and responsibility. Parents influence the development of the child’s psychological gender and their attitude towards it. The mother often treats children of both sexes equally, especially in the first three years of their life, and the father differentiates his attitude immediately: towards his son - as a future man, towards his daughter - as a future woman. The family is very important for the formation in the social experience of growing children and the future social roles of men and women. In the family, a person’s fundamental value orientations and lifestyle are formed. The action of the family as a microfactor of socialization is determined by the social space that it creates. It is no coincidence that the image of the family is correlated with the image of the “home.” For the socialization of a child, his own territory is very important (his own corner behind the closet, his own table with drawers and shelves, his own place for games). The desire to have his own habitable place in the house strengthens in the child’s mind the fact of his own existence in this world. Equally important for socialization are the personal belongings of each family member, especially those made by hand, which are inherited from older generations. A favorite toy, a cup, or a scarf knitted by a grandmother contribute to a child’s sense of identity and belonging to his family. The world of the family with its unpretentious everyday life is extraordinarily rich and varied. It gives the child the opportunity to feel and understand the most different aspects of life, from everyday worries to high civic impulses. It is the people closest to him who demonstrate the most significant actions and relationships for him, because children perceive everything that happens in the family as relating to them personally. A child’s experience of his relationships in the family (even those not yet fully realized) becomes a model of his future relationships with other people. As evidenced by special socio-psychological studies (A.I. Zakharov, A.A. Rean, G.T. Khomentauskas), the “scenario” of social behavior develops in children early and quite stably. Based on many years of research, Lithuanian psychologist G. T. Hometauskas identifies four types of social attitudes in children, which develop in family communication and subsequently seriously determine their social behavior: 1. “I am needed and loved, and I love you too.” This internal position of a child develops in a family where he constantly experiences closeness with his parents, their trust and love, where his life is filled with joint activities and concerns. 2. “I am needed and loved, and you exist for my sake.” This attitude is a product of family socialization, where the child says, “I am unloved, but I sincerely wish to get through to you.” This type of social attitude develops in children whose families openly demonstrate that they have no place in the lives of their parents. As a rule, this happens in families where the mother is actively involved in the business, and nannies, governesses and home teachers do not compensate for the lack of parental attention. But a similar internal position also characterizes children from so-called “dysfunctional” families, whose parents lead an antisocial lifestyle. Drunkenness and drugs, as a rule, do not leave room for emotional communication with the child, but he still hopes and waits for their love. 4. “I am unneeded and unloved, leave me alone.” Such a social attitude is a socially “coded” cry for help: “I feel bad, no one needs me, I’m alone in this world!” This is how unfortunate children abandoned by their family behave. But the presence of parents often does not save from this result of family socialization. It arises in families where adults always build their relationship with the child as an inferior being, constantly reproaching him for poor performance at school, for ineptitude in household chores, for stupidity in words, for an absurd appearance - in a word, for everything. A child in such a relationship has no chance to accumulate even a meager experience of self-esteem or to establish himself in any of his achievements. Therefore, such children more often than others strive to get rid of all relationships with adults: they become isolated, withdraw into themselves, into illness, into drugs, or even leave home. It is worth specially emphasizing that public education and training involve establishing contact with the child on his “psychological territory”, so teachers will have to take into account and correlate how possible it is to overcome these “scenarios” of behavior that have developed in the process of family socialization. Many adults, including professional educators, are convinced that child development depends entirely on organized upbringing in the family and school. Meanwhile, children master many social values, including forming their behavioral skills, experience of discipline and responsibility, developing their interests and abilities, in peer groups in the school class, in groups of friends of different ages in the yard, in a country camp, in a sports section. The peer group is an irreplaceable microfactor of socialization. This was understood very well by J. Korczak (1878-1942), who wrote: “... it should be remembered that the well-being of children depends not exclusively on how adults regard them, but also - this is equally, and perhaps to a greater extent - from the opinion of peers, who have different, but nevertheless firm, rules for assessing members of their children’s society and their rights.” What results of a child’s socialization in a peer group should education take into account, what achievements of personal development are achieved only in group communication? There are many of them: - mastering behavior that corresponds to the social, moral, and cultural preferences of group members; - mastery of sexual behavior; - organization and experience of its autonomy from the world of adults (the accumulation and transfer of “secrets”, “secrets”, design of their style in clothes, hairstyles, leisure time); -creation of conditions for the formation of a “self-concept” of members of the group (comparing oneself with others, assessing their actions and relations, realizing oneself in specific actions); - ensuring the possibility of choosing the position of “majority” or “minority”, experience of upholding their position. A group of peers, as a children's community, in its own way draws up a semantic space of values, attitudes, methods of activity and communication and thus creates its subculture. The Latin prefix “Sub-” translates as “sub-” and indicates that children's (teenage, youth) culture occupies a subordinate place in relation to the official culture of the adult society. It often develops autonomously and almost underground, a large number of teachers and parents are not aware of its existence. The content of the children's subculture is unusually rich. These are children's folklore (counters, teasers, stories, stories, jokes, fairy tales), children's amateur games, a kind of children's legal code (rules of disputes and fights, rules for the exchange and recovery of debts, oaths and guarantees). There is also children's witchcraft (“secrets”, fortune-telling), children's word-making (slang, nicknames and nicknames, poems, songs), children's philosophy (conducting “girls' diaries”, compilation of “notebooks-anchors”, albums with questions and answers). Children's subculture should not be perceived as an underground, and therefore inferior, flawed layer of culture. She lives and develops, fuel from adult culture, primarily from pop culture. Therefore, in children's stories and games, analogies with plots from television series are easily guessed, adolescents often compose their songs on the motives of popular melodies, and nicknames and nicknames directly borrow from adults. The factor of socialization is the educational space. In the process of socialization of a child, phenomena inevitably arise that require a certain coordination of social influence and real pedagogical influence, specific pedagogical instrumentation. When it comes to education, it is insufficient to determine its essence only through the system of interaction “teacher - student”, “teacher - pupil”. The substantial characteristics of education in the classics of domestic pedagogy and modern theorists often finds atypical categories: “School Spirit”, “The Moral Amropy of the Educational Institution”, “Educational Environment”. All of them, to one degree or another, characterize the hidden educational influence, which sometimes can seriously resist official measures. Outstanding teachers have always realized the importance of this “field” of education and invariably emphasized the personal component of its nature. K. D. Ushinsky wrote: “Much, of course, means the spirit of the institution; But this spirit does not live in the walls, not on paper, but in the character of most educators and from there already passes into the nature of the pupils. ” The existence in the pedagogical consciousness of such a transcendental category indicates that pedagogy has long tried to understand the nature of the socializing influences of those pedagogical conditions that educators and teachers create. In modern scientific literature, several levels of study of the concept of “educational space” are found: - as “the space of the world of adults” (I. S. Kon, M.V. Osorin); - as a wide manifestation of the values of culture in various types of children's activity - “game space”, “cognitive space”, “artistic space”, “childhood space” (O. S. Gazman, I. D. Demakov, I.P. Ivanov) ; - as a strategic basis of the state education system, as the field of functioning of state educational standards (N. D. Nikandrov, V. M. Polonsky, V.V. Serikov); - as a way of life of the school, its educational system (V. A. Karakovsky, L. I. Novikova, A. N. Tubelsky, N. E. Schurkova); - as communication in the conditions of a personality -oriented education (E.V. Bondarevskaya, S. V. Kulnevich). In order to answer the question of how the category of “educational space” characterizes the process of socialization of the child, it should be indicated that the social environment (the most important concept in the theory of socialization) is by the nature of its chaos, living reality with all its inherent unpredictability and imperfection of being. Meanwhile, the educational space denotes the area of an ordered and even harmonized environment, subordinate to the tasks of development, socialization and education of personality. Based on the general philosophical nature of this pedagogical phenomenon, the educational space should be considered a pedagogically organized form of being of a socialized personality. The educational space includes in complex and various relationships quite certain attributes:-a material and high environment (territories and natural objects, premises for various activities, equipment and equipment, including books, technical and multimedia tools); - educational institutions at the level of the microsocium (preschool educational institutions, schools, children's and youth institutions of cultures and additional education, public organizations, sports, leisure institutions); - sources of mass communication (television and radio programs, children's and youth publications, home-made magazines and wall newspapers); - the content of the educational space (social experience, “encoded” in the content of training, in games, in artistic activity, sports, children's and youth subculture); - the organization of educational space (regime, organization of time and the regulation of the life of participants in the educational space, the prevailing system of power and management, methods of co -organizing participants in the educational space and form of self -government, norms, commandments, and prevailing discipline measures). Such various attributes of the educational space are united by a common cultural basis. The educational space always carries the image of a person of culture, but does not present it imperative, but in the real interaction of adults and children. Therefore, it is impossible to understand the pedagogical space as a one -sided influence of a specially organized pedagogical environment. The functional nature of the educational space determines the pedagogical interaction. The socialized personality not only experiences the impact of objects of educational space, but also acts on them, determining the state of the educational space. For example, according to numerous sociological studies (in particular, conducted in Russia by the UN UNISEF Children's Fund), it is known that among their favorite classes of modern schoolchildren leading the viewing of television programs and videos, communicating with friends, playing a computer, and pedagogically organized forms of leisure activities (mugs (mugs , excursions, reading the recommended books) are significantly inferior to the fact that schoolchildren choose as they wish. It turns out that these attributes of the educational space, traditionally organized by the school in order to occupy children, distract them from aimless pastime, give them additional knowledge, modern children evaluate from the standpoint of significance for their social experience and thereby reconstruct the educational space. The educational space is unlawful only in the associations of the school structure. The education system organized by the state, the content and educational technologies operating in its bowels, the pedagogically regulated regime, the current practice of the life of educational institutions are always “filled” with the social experience of all participants in the educational space. Official functionaries from pedagogy, theorists and methodologists, school leaders, teachers and parents are real “builders” of educational space. Their pedagogical philosophy, the idea of the goals of education and priorities in the life of children are embodied in the models and reforms of educational systems, in curricula and programs, the organization of developing circles and studios, or, on the contrary, in the search for tutors and tutors (as the expansion of educational space by the forces of a particular family ). But the educational space does not directly build the specified parameters of the socialization of the personality of the child, but organizes the pedagogically enriched lifestyle of adults and children. The art of education consists in order to present the children a complex, unsafe real world and help choose and master the form of socialization that correlates with the needs of their individuality and at the same time meets the requirements of society.

Mesofactors of socialization

These are the conditions for the socialization of large groups of people, distinguished: by nationality (ethnicity); by location and type of settlement (region, village, city, town); by belonging to the audience of certain media (radio, television, cinema, computers, etc.).

A person's ethnicity or nationality is determined primarily by their native language and the culture behind that language. Each nation has its own geographical habitat, which has a specific impact on national identity, demographic structure, interpersonal relationships, lifestyle, customs, and culture.

Ethnic characteristics associated with methods of socialization are divided into vital, that is, vital (methods of physical development of children - feeding a child, the nature of nutrition, protecting the health of children, etc.) and mental, that is, spiritual (mentality - a set of attitudes of people towards a certain type of thinking and action).

Features of socialization in the conditions of rural, urban and village lifestyles: in the lifestyle of villages, control over human behavior is strong, openness in communication is characteristic; the city provides the individual with the opportunity to choose a wide range of communication groups, value systems, lifestyle, and diverse opportunities for self-realization; The result of the socialization of the younger generation in villages is the assimilation of experience created in them from the traditional life characteristic of the village and the norms of the urban lifestyle.

The main functions of mass communications: maintaining and strengthening public relations, social regulation and management, dissemination of scientific knowledge and culture, etc. The media perform socio-psychological functions, satisfying a person’s need for information for orientation in society, the need for connections with other people , in a person receiving information that confirms his values, ideas and views.

Institutional socialization

The institutional mechanism of socialization functions in the process of interaction of a person with the institutions of society and various organizations, both specially created for his socialization, and those implementing socializing functions along the way, in parallel with their main functions (industrial, social, club and other structures, as well as mass media) . In the process of interaction of a person with various institutions and organizations, there is an increasing accumulation of relevant knowledge and experience of socially approved behavior, as well as experience of imitation of socially approved behavior and conflict or conflict-free avoidance of fulfilling social norms.

Education - relatively socially controlled socialization differs from spontaneous and relatively directed socialization in that it is based on social action.

Microfactors of socialization

These are groups that have a direct impact on specific people: family, peer groups, organizations in which education is carried out (educational, professional, social, etc.).

Society is always concerned that the pace of socialization of the younger generation does not lag behind the pace and level of development of society itself, and carries out this process through institutions and agents of socialization (generally accepted norms, the family, as well as state and public institutions and organizations).

The leading role in the process, along with the family, belongs to educational institutions - kindergartens, schools, secondary and higher educational institutions. An indispensable condition is also his communication with peers, which develops in kindergarten groups, school classes, and various children's and adolescent associations. Teachers are agents of socialization, responsible for teaching cultural norms and internalizing roles.

Agents of Socialization

The most important role in how a person grows up, how his formation goes, is played by the people in direct interaction with whom his life flows. They are usually called agents of socialization. At different age stages the composition of agents is specific. Thus, in relation to children and adolescents, these are parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, peers, neighbors, and teachers. In adolescence or young adulthood, the number of agents also includes a spouse, work colleagues, etc. In their role in socialization, agents differ depending on the direction and by what means they exert their influence. The result of socialization is socialization. Socialization in the most general form is understood as “the formation of traits specified by status and required by a given society.” There is also an approach to socialization as a person’s assimilation of attitudes, values, ways of thinking and other personal and social qualities that will characterize him at the next stage of development.

Socialization in cyberspace

Bondarenko defines socialization in cyberspace as “...the process of the user’s entry (integration) into the sociocultural environment through the development of communication technologies, information culture, social navigation, information literacy, as well as social norms, values and role requirements. Indicators of socialization are the levels of electronic literacy and information culture of an individual...”

Bondarenko S.V. Social structure of virtual network communities. Rostov: Rostov State. University, 2004. 319 p. (p. 90).
Efimova T.V. Socialization in the conditions of post-industrial culture // Man and Education. 2011. No. 4. pp. 4–9.

Internet as an institution of socialization

Computer networks play a special role in the spontaneous socialization of younger generations. Working with a computer, on the one hand, leads to the expansion of contacts, opportunities for the exchange of sociocultural values, the generation and implementation of new forms of symbolic experience, the development of imagination processes, the intensification of the study of foreign languages and a number of other positive effects. The development of electronic systems has given rise to a completely new type of communication and self-realization - the interaction of a person with certain partners of interest to him for one reason or another, which allows him to find like-minded people and express himself in communication with them.

It is absolutely obvious that everyday practices, unique from the point of view of classical institutional models, are being formed in the network space, unified and having a fairly clear structure. There is a formalized, sustainable organization of joint activities of people aimed at meeting social needs. In fact, we are talking about a social institution - no less important a social institution than politics, art, education or science, but one that has great popularity in society due to its coverage, transformation of transmission and reproduction of virtually all stable forms of social relations. Social practice shows that it is vital for human society to consolidate certain types of social relations, to make them mandatory for members of a certain society or a certain social group. This primarily refers to those social relationships, by entering into which members of a social group ensure the satisfaction of the most important needs necessary for the successful functioning of the group as an integral social unit. The Internet provides phenomenal opportunities for the realization of many needs, social and cultural in the first place.

Types of socialization

Sciences that study society distinguish the following types of socialization:

full and partial;
directional and non-directional;
family and household;
professional and labor (organizational);
subcultural;
group;
resocialization;
gender (sex-role).

A person is formed under the influence of limiting, stimulating, directing and shaping institutions and agents.

Scientists developing sociological theory classify as agents people who are responsible for developing social values in a subject and teaching him cultural norms - teachers, friends, leaders of youth groups, relatives.

No less important influences on people come from the media, churches, law enforcement agencies, the armed forces, businesses, educational institutions and representatives of the administration of educational institutions - public institutions.

Primary socialization

In accordance with the age of the individual, primary socialization can be distinguished - in the first half of life, and secondary, covering maturity and old age.

Inclusion in social structures begins in the circle of family and friends. From a normative and substantive point of view, agents taking part in adaptation processes during this period are classified as informal. Contacts are carried out at the interpersonal level; their form and content are not fundamentally regulated.

In the future, representatives of formal structures - public and state institutions - play a large socializing role. They act on the basis of documents defining the time, order and content of relationships.

Informal institutions function throughout life, but are most influential during the period of personality formation - in childhood and adolescence, as well as in old age. In midlife, formal business relationships come to the fore.

The first patterns of behavior and social sanctions are laid down in the family. Here norms of mutual assistance and moral responsibility are developed. Family education involves:

participation of an adult in the process;
an individualized form of transmission of human experience;
meeting the child's basic needs;
determining children's attitudes towards learning;
formation of a person’s level of aspirations through condemnation, indifference, support or approval of his decisions and behavior.

Initial adaptation is often spontaneous and depends on the relationships of family members, lifestyle, their prosocial or antisocial attitudes, material conditions, social status, level of education and composition.

Resocialization

Examples of socialization studied by science contain a process that sometimes occurs in adults in the second half of life - resocialization. It can be caused by the subject consciously or have an unconscious nature. Under the influence of new circumstances, the individual is forced to adapt to the changing requirements of the environment.

The secondary adaptation process is started:

change in social status and role of a person in society;
stress factors: death of loved ones, illness, natural disaster, global social conflicts;
conditions that cause isolation of the subject, for example, ending up in a military school, a psychiatric hospital, a colony, or any other closed institution, with its own norms and values.

Secondary processes occur in different forms:

Superficial. Only fundamental values and external patterns of behavior are not corrected.
Adaptive. Norms and rules change to help adapt to the situation.
Identification. The individual is required to reconsider the basic beliefs and assessments that underlie his self-identification.

Group

The levels of socialization of an individual also depend on the characteristics and composition of the groups to which he belongs in one way or another. A community of people can be considered a group if:

its members interact regularly;
there are interaction goals that are common;
participants act as a single organism and carry out group behavior;
the group is characterized by self-identification;
people from the outside define the community as a single whole.

The basis of consolidation is ideology. Members of a team have the same beliefs, values, motives, goals and implement group behavioral patterns.

A person identifies himself as a member of a community and realizes its difference from other social formations. The following parts can be distinguished in the socializing mechanism of a group:

obligations assumed by a member of the association if he is satisfied with the quality and volume of rewards (benefits) received from interaction;
assessment by the group and the individual of the consequences of the implementation of mutual expectations, declared norms and goals;
role changes that occur as a result of the dynamics of the “individual-group” relationship, when there is a correction of the obligations assumed by the parties.

The stages that a subject goes through during role movements:

No membership. The status is typical for those who have left the team or its potential participants.
Quasi-membership. People who do not live up to the expectations of the group or who do not achieve full membership are given this status.
Full members of the group. They enjoy all available privileges and take on the full range of social obligations.

Gender

Spontaneous socialization leads to the fact that a child begins to identify himself as female or male around 3 years from birth, and at the age of 3-7 he already understands that it is impossible to change gender.

Factors that influence gender-role self-identification and adaptation:

Society punishes unacceptable gender-role behavior and rewards when actions correspond to the gender vector, thereby increasing differentiation.
The division by gender is influenced by imitation, which is characteristic of children following the example of behavior patterns that exist in the family, at school, and among peers.

It is typical for society that it condemns the feminine behavior of boys, but tolerates it when girls behave masculinely.

Socializing mechanisms based on gender from the point of view of psychology are:

gender-role behavior patterns;
understanding gender roles;
social expectations;
social reinforcements;
identification.

Organizational

Means of socialization are used in training employees in different organizational structures.

A positive result of a person’s adaptation process in a company can be stated if:

the new employee has no uncertainty, fear, or feeling of tension;
the employee has become accustomed to his professional role, acquired the necessary skills and the required amount of knowledge;
managers are satisfied with the results of his work;
the assessment of the labor contribution by management and the team satisfies the employee;
a new member of the work team wants to develop in the profession and connects his success in life with this.

In order for a person to become a full-fledged part of the structure of an enterprise, he must learn patterns of professional behavior, sociocultural and moral values of the organization.

A company's ability to socialize new members can be assessed by analyzing employee turnover, productivity, and employee commitment to the firm.

Problems that have to be solved in the process of a subject’s entry into the production structure:

change in human behavior;
correction of organizational requirements and conditions;
optimization of interaction between the organizational environment and the new employee.

In addition to the official requirements, during the adaptation process new employees will learn:

distribution of power;
unwritten, but mandatory norms and rules;
approved appearance;
behavioral stereotypes inherent to the position;
permissible freedoms in carrying out work schedules and using time for rest.

Early

The problem of socialization arises at the stage of an individual making decisions about certain forms of cooperation with society.

Before the subject assumes full legal obligations and the resulting responsibility, there are ways to first familiarize him with the requirements and norms of social structures, the conditions of interaction with the future social environment.

A person is given the opportunity ahead of schedule to be in the role of a member of a group, to get acquainted with its traditions, patterns of behavior, cultural, ethical and aesthetic preferences.

Social institutions offering early socialization:

Communities of interests and professions. A person can attend meetings, seminars, and participate in open events organized by such structures specifically for the purpose of familiarizing future members with the terms of cooperation.
Educational establishments. Before entering a university, you can attend lectures, participate in practical classes, and take preliminary courses at a university, institute, or college.
Family. Some couples prefer to live together before marriage in order to get to know family relationships better and experience the nuances and problems of living together.
Religion. A conscious choice of religion presupposes preliminary familiarization with the teaching, the features of its traditions and rituals, literature, and the nature of the lives of followers.
Armed forces. At some military institutes and schools, permanent courses are organized, where a future officer can live the life of a serviceman, participate in the education process and training, before finally throwing in his lot with the army.
Penitentiary system. For troubled teenagers who have come to the attention of the police, events are held that give them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the conditions of detention of prisoners in prisons and colonies, and to experience the social status of a person whose rights have been infringed.

Models of socialization

Sikorskaya L.E. The crisis of institutions of socialization of modern youth // BULLETIN OF KOstroma STATE UNIVERSITY. ON THE. NEKRASOVA. SERIES: PEDAGOGY. PSYCHOLOGY. SOCIAL WORK. JUVENOLOGY. SOCIOKINETICS. 2009. No. 4. P. 258 – 265.
VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY AND MODELS OF SOCIALIZATION OF YOUTH

Forced socialization

Forced socialization is a model of social formation of personality, which is based on means of coercion, suppression, oppression, and violence against an individual in order to subjugate and control him from society. The forced model of socialization, starting from the indicated opposition, does not shun all kinds of attempts to belittle and discredit the value of human individuality, since it poses a danger, a threat to the depersonalized structure of society. The coercive model is based on the motivation of fear, which it feeds and supports in every possible way, resorting to all kinds of intimidation and repression. It is fear that becomes the motivational spring that forces individuals to obey and act in favor of other people's demands, even if they run counter to their own desires. Fear of avoiding punishment is often hidden behind many forms of social activity that appear to be voluntary. Within the framework of the compulsory model, the individual is assigned external responsibility in the form of an endless, usually inexhaustible debt to society (group), to which he owes everything he has (and even the fact that he lives and breathes). The appeal to an individual from the side of society is imperative in nature, in orderly, administrative and conscription vocabulary. Monologue dominates in society; the flow of information is dosed and unidirectional in nature without feedback and lively social reflection. the model of forced socialization, in essence, is a project created by individuals who are not self-sufficient, dependent, internally weak for the production of their own kind. If this model dominates in a society, if it produces an endless, vicious circle of coercion and violence, then such a society inevitably gives rise to victims of socialization.

Adaptive socialization

Society strives to treat a person with greater attention, strives to study him, his demands, needs, etc. At the same time, society is already more selective in the means and methods of influence so that they do not provoke resistance and rejection on the part of the individual, but to a certain extent meet his immediate needs. At the same time, within the framework of the adaptive model, as in compulsory practice, the developing individual is considered as an object of socialization, requiring gradual inclusion in the sociocultural process through training and education within the framework of standards established by social norms and institutions. In this model, the pair “person - society” as the main participants in socialization, as well as in the previous model, are considered initially disconnected, distant from each other, although not necessarily opposed to each other.

Society as a subject of socialization is considered as the main carrier of social experience and norms, and the individual as an object is a person who assimilates this experience, is guided by it and reproduces it in his actions. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that a person in this model does not become a full-fledged subject of socialization. The model of adaptive socialization includes the functioning of all types of social communities and groups that profess the principles of a social contract, democracy, adhering to various kinds of conventions, agreements, compromises, rights of private life, property, etc., as well as the basic freedoms of a civilized society.

In the adaptive model of socialization, instead of direct coercion and pressure, there is a complex and branched system of means of social reinforcement (positive and negative), well known from psychological developments in line with neo-behaviorism by B.F. Skinner as programmed behavior. The individual seems to move in the labyrinth of life, relying on the prompts of society. It gives him guiding signs, signals and rewards, and thereby leads him in the direction he needs. And what is often perceived as an independent achievement may in fact be nothing more than the ability to skillfully “read signs”, i.e. adapt to the existing rules of the game. Technologically, the task of this model is to produce as many scenarios as possible for programming individuals for “all occasions” in order to control and manage people’s behavior. Thus, the adaptive model also creates victims of socialization. The motivational basis on which this model is built seems to be the needs of social acceptance, the desire to be like everyone else, fear of isolation and loneliness, fear of losing social benefits, etc. But the main motivational source here is obviously the individual’s desire to avoid the difficult burden of internal responsibility for his destiny and life in this world.

The theory of social exchange, according to which people exchange not only material goods, but also social goods - love, services, information, status. This means that by showing kindness to others, a person makes subtle calculations about reward that precede the action. The reward may include career considerations, increased social adaptability, decreased feelings of guilt, strengthened self-esteem, etc.

Incentive socialization

Incentive socialization is aimed at awakening his personality in a person, appealing to his self-awareness, dignity, conscience, and moral sense. This model is based on the fundamental position of the unity of society and the developing individual, who is not opposed to society and is not removed from it, but from the very beginning is built into the fabric of social connections and relationships, refracting them in its essence. At the same time, the person himself does not dissolve in society, but retains his autonomy and acts as the bearer of his unique way of life. Human nature in this model is conceived not as predetermined by the presence of evil and good principles, but as a set of abilities, potentials and development opportunities. The incentive model is implemented on the basis of the value of free will as positive freedom (“freedom for”), and its embodiment is the spontaneous activity of the individual. This model is based on the recognition of the possibility of positive freedom, in which, as E. Fromm notes, the individual exists as an independent person, but not isolated, but connected with the world, with other people and with nature. At the same time, the process of developing freedom is not a vicious circle; a person can be free but not alone, critical but not overwhelmed by doubt, independent but inextricably linked to humanity.

The resource of the incentive model of socialization is not the power of power, temptation or manipulation, but the power of authority and moral example, calling a person to the full realization of his personality through devoting himself to the values of good and good. Hence, this model posits a purely personalized channel of interaction and communication, when society, represented by the authorities, does not hide from the individual in anonymous media channels, formal procedures and bureaucratic niches, but directly addresses him as an individual and a citizen. At the same time, the information is not distorted or dosed, but is presented in a complete and open form, objectively reflecting the essence of the processes occurring in society. That is, within the framework of the incentive model, socializing influence is exerted according to the principle of “reflected subjectivity.”

Society, represented by individuals, on the one hand, addresses the developing individual as an individual, on the other hand, appealing to his self-awareness, establishing direct cooperation and full-fledged dialogue within the framework of common affairs on the basis of mutual participation and trust. Elements of trust are people’s shared views on a person’s place in society, their interests and intentions, commitment to family values, ethical, religious and ethnic traditions, national identity and much more. Trust is what makes a community a society, just as, for example, laws make a management system a state, since laws themselves only fill the vacuum formed in the absence of trust. The motivational basis of the incentive model is the natural desire of a person for self-realization and self-actualization, as well as love as the highest moral feeling.