‘Socialization is a process by which all of us acquire the culture that we transmit to the next generation’. Elaborate the statement and discuss its various stages. (1998)
Anthony Giddens describes socialisation as the process whereby the helpless infant gradually becomes a self-aware, knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which he or she is born. The statement joins two moments: acquisition, where the individual internalises culture, and transmission, where society reproduces itself through that individual.
Elaborating the statement
- Culture is acquired, not inherited. Edward B. Tylor defined culture as capabilities and habits acquired “as a member of society”. Language, food taboos and kinship terms are learnt; a child of Tamil parents raised in Punjab speaks Punjabi.
- Internalisation. Talcott Parsons argued that norms become part of the personality’s own need-dispositions, so conformity feels natural rather than imposed.
- Transmission and continuity. Émile Durkheim (Education and Sociology, 1922) called education the “methodical socialisation of the young generation” by the old. Samskaras, festivals and weddings, which bring kin together, are Indian examples of cultural transmission.
- “All of us”. Everyone is both learner and teacher. Parents, grandparents, teachers and peers transmit what they absorbed.
- Qualifications.
- Transmission is selective: Pierre Bourdieu showed dominant classes passing on cultural capital that schools reward.
- It is modified: Karl Mannheim‘s generations reinterpret inherited culture.
- It can reverse: Margaret Mead (Culture and Commitment, 1970) described prefigurative cultures in which elders learn from the young.
- So what we pass on is never identical to what we received.
Stages of socialisation
(a) Childhood stages (Parsons and Robert F. Bales, Family, Socialization and Interaction Process, 1955, building on Sigmund Freud):
| Stage | Approximate age | What is internalised |
|---|---|---|
| Oral | Birth to about 1½ years | Dependence on and trust in the mother; child and mother as one unit |
| Anal | About 1½ to 3 years | Toilet training and self-control; the child becomes a separate role-player giving and receiving love |
| Oedipal | About 4 years to puberty | Identification with the same-sex parent; sex role; conscience |
| Adolescence | Puberty onwards | Independence, peer loyalty, choices of occupation and partner; tension with parental control |
George Herbert Mead gives a parallel sequence of imitation, play (taking roles of significant others) and game (the generalized other).
(b) Life-course stages
- Primary socialisation in the family builds the basic self. Secondary socialisation in schools, workplaces and religious bodies adds institution-specific roles (Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality, 1966).
- Anticipatory socialisation (Robert K. Merton): adopting the values of a group one hopes to join.
- Adult socialisation and resocialisation: marriage, parenthood and occupation. An Indian bride in a patrilocal home unlearns her natal freedom.
- Old age: grandparents transmit ritual and lore but must also adjust to widowhood and dependence. The UNFPA India Ageing Report 2023 projects the elderly to exceed 20% of the population by 2050, which will lengthen this stage.
The labour of transmission remains gendered. The Time Use Survey 2024 shows women spending 137 minutes a day on caregiving against men’s 75.
Conclusion
The statement is right that socialisation links the individual and society across generations. It needs a qualification: people do not simply receive and pass on culture. Each generation filters, contests and revises it at every stage of life, which is how culture both persists and changes.