Module 3 Social Identity
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Module 3 Social Identity
The primary forces of socialization determine the actions, values, and attitudes appropriate to members of a cultural group that a child adopts. The secondary forces guide the learning process regarding the appropriate behavior for a member belonging to a smaller group found within a larger society. Examples of primary forces include the educational system, family, and childhood friends. The secondary forces of socialization include religion, relocating to a new community, and entering a new profession. The primary forces shape the values and norms adopted by children, setting the groundwork for future socialization. The secondary forces determine how adults and children act appropriately, depending on the situations they face.
Understanding the socialization forces can help one comprehend issues. One can acknowledge the fact that socialization is critical to people as well as the societies they live in. It becomes easy to understand the relationship between social worlds and human beings. Understanding the forces makes it clear that teaching culture to children allows the society to perpetuate itself. A society may cease to exist if its new generations fail to learn and practice its ways of life.
The American society defines family as a group consisting of two or more people related by adoption, birth, or marriage and living together. Parenting, according to American culture, is the process of socializing, caring, nurturing, and preparing the children for future adult roles. Childhood is regarded as a period of development, innocence, and vulnerability, during which children need protection and care from adults (Sternheimer, 2009). It is because of their emotional and physical immaturity. Happiness is defined as the experience of positive well-being, contentment, or joy, coupled with a sense of life being good, worthwhile, and meaningful.
The Asian culture defines family as a person’s source of identity meant to offer protection against life’s hardships. A strong emphasis is placed on family connection with the model consisting of immediate members as well as relatives. Independent behavior that may negatively affect the family’s harmony is highly discouraged. Asian parenting involves the close monitoring and directive control of a child’s behavior. It also entails the development of close parent-child relationships. The feeling of closeness between parents and their children defines parental love.
Feinberg means that the American public debates on other issues apart from the opposite-sex marriage. In particular, she argues that the anti-same-sex marriage campaigns use the opposite-sex spouses’ narrative to champion their cause (Feinberg, 2012). The activists tend to urge voters to support laws that protect traditional marriage. The sociological issues raised by Feinberg include permanence, gender roles, procreation, and monogamy (Feinberg, 2012). The campaigns are intended to ensure that traditional marriage remains protected from being redefined.
Marriage can be defined as a formal union as well as a legal and social contract between two people. The association unites their lives emotionally, legally, and economically. The union is a contractual agreement, meaning the two parties can choose to live together throughout their lives or divorce at some point. My definition of marriage is correct over someone else’s because it gives room for societal changes that come into place because of time.
The theoretical perspectives above prove that different cultures have different views when it comes to issues such as marriage, family, and parenting. Certain norms and values of one society may be abominable in another. The social institution of the modern family appears to be an anachronistic institution that is heading towards demise sooner or later.
References
Feinberg, J. (2012). Exposing the traditional marriage agenda. Northwestern Journal of Law &
Social Policy, 7(2): 299-351.
Sternheimer, K. (2009). Childhood in American society: A reader, 1st Edition. New York:
Pearson.