“WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION AND HOW ARE THEY BEING ACCOUNTED FOR IN CHILDREN LIVES”

Parents are important agents of socialization but they are not the only source of socialization when it comes to kids. In my paper I will be discussing the important factors of socialization and what we perceive to be a turning point in our children lives. Believe it or not but parents, family, educational institutions, and media are socializing agents who carry out the process of socialization. The family is the most influential socializing agent. Infants are born into certain types of families and grow up with them as children and adults. Socialization is the process of imbibing the norms, value and social patterns of a
The absence of a power imbalance enables peers to teach other skills and to provide resources in ways in which parents frequently cannot. Children select peers; they do not select their parents. This selection opportunity enables children and young adults to test some of their preferences for certain types of friends. Peers also teach each other about subjects that adults consider sensitive or taboo and develop their own distinctive norms and values. During adolescence the influence of peers increases, while the influence of parents decreases. Adolescents often experience conflict with the power and expectations of their parents and other adults. However, adolescents generally remain responsive to their parent’s desires regarding goals and values. Peer values generally reinforce parental values. Cross-cultural research has highlighted differences in peer group socialization in different societies (Wilson, 1995). Children are exposed increasingly to a variety of mass media. The media play a substantial role in contemporary socialization and have become increasingly important over the last several decades. Children in the United States today spend more time watching television than in school. Parents as well as others have become increasingly concerned with the role of television and other mass media, but a review of the research on the impact of television on children yields mixed results. Fathers, especially, are