Socialization of Students

Dakota Hawkins

Socialization is the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies; it is becoming acclimated to the social environment in which a person is present. It is wearing a black sweatshirt when your friends do; it is a bride wearing white at a wedding, cutting a cake, and taking vows; it is standing in a grocery line waiting to be checked out. Socialization can take many forms, but most importantly, it is the means by which our actions can be shaped by society.

Take for instance, this video:

The video does not necessarily show the process of socialization, but it does show the products. Students go about wearing ridiculous clothes such as nirts, yamabras, and jeggings because it is supported by at predominant sector of society (in this case most likely the students' peers). If nirts, or whatever other dress were considered inappropriate, the attire would be sanctioned. That is, society, in this case high school students, would act in such a way to "punish" or show their disapproval of wearing a nirt.

Of course, sanctions were placed. The substitute teacher was trying with all his power to sanction the students garb. Students were simultaneously being reinforced in their behaviors by one facet of society and sanctioned by another. These conflicting reinforcements and sanctions show that socialization can happen on many levels of society; socialization does not mean the spread of one hegemonic culture. Instead, socialization can happen in many parts of society both large and small.

What made the students decide to wear their yamabras, nirts and jeggings? It is the worth placed on each group. For example, high school students do not care much what a substitute teacher thinks of them; they care much more about what fellow students think. So, when an action is reinforced by a student's peers but sanctioned by a substitute teacher, it is no surprise a student would act in a way that would be approved by his/her peers. This relationship also helps explain the existence of sub-cultures and counter-cultures: members of such divisions place more value in the sub-culture or counter-culture as oppose to the dominating culture.

Socialization is one of the many explanations for why people act the way they do, but it is also the dissemination of such cultures. It can make jeggings acceptable and make fogey a derogative term. But most of all, it never ends. It will continue affecting our lives as we grow up and old. It will affect us through our teens, middle age, and follow us to our death beds. We are constantly being socialized to new and different things. Who knows, maybe yamabras will be the next big thing.