Children’s lives are centered initially within their families, the family environment becomes the primary agent of socialization. The family environment “involves the circumstances and social climate conditions within families. Since each family is made up of different individuals in a different setting, each family environment is unique. The environments can differ in many ways. For example, one obvious difference lies in the socio-economic level. Some families live in luxurious twenty-four-room estates, own a Porsche and a Mercedes in addition to the family mini-van and can afford to have shrimp cocktail for an appetizer whenever they choose. Other families live in two-room shacks, struggle with time payments on their used ‘85 Chevy and have …show more content…
When faced with decisions or crises, healthy families involve all family members to come to solutions for the mutual good. Conflicts are settled through rational discussion and compromise instead of open hostility and conflict. If one family member feels strongly about an issue, healthy families work to accommodate his / her views in a satisfactory way. As unhealthy families suffer conflict and disagreements, so do healthy families. However, a healthy family deals with conflict much more rationally and effectively. Families can be compared and evaluated on many other dimensions and variables. The specific variables involved are not as important as the concept that children learn how to behave or are socialized according to the makeup of their individual family environments. The family environment is important in that children are taught what types of transactions are considered appropriate. They learn to form relationships, handle power, maintain personal boundaries, communicate with others and feel that they are an important subset of the whole family
Socially and Emotionally the family is a big influence in a child’s development. Parents have a big role by providing care and guidance for their development. Unfortunately some families cannot promote the development of a child because of the conflict among the parents. A single parent can have difficulties in boosting a better development in children and young people, sometimes a child is separated from its siblings and this can affect them too.
Family stability can be described in many ways. Traditionally it is defined in terms family structure (for example, single parenthood, extended families, working families, foster care etc) Exploring the various family processes that pertain to stability may be a useful means of understanding the specific characteristics of family stability that support healthy child development. For example,
1. What other socializing agents can you think of besides those discussed in the chapter?
In today’s world, families are dynamic and interdependent systems. The developmental processes of the children in the family are deeply affected by how the family system operates. However, a family’s structure does not determine whether it is a healthy family system or not. Today, families consist of single parents, stepparents, divorced parents, remarried parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all able to contribute to a healthy functioning family system by meeting each family member’s needs and encouraging positive communication (Jamiolkowski, 2008). Unhealthy family systems have negative and possibly
Although families may not always feel this connectedness, it is always there. The emotional climate of the family is interdependent of what is going on in the family as a whole. If one unit of the family is distant emotionally, it can have a great affect on the whole family. These attitudes are reciprocated throughout the entire family. It is important that most family members are able to stay healthy emotionally and have that ability to communicate their feelings to one another. Problems arise when individuals don’t fulfill their roles that are needed from all family members. Michael Kerr, explained this idea in an article he wrote to explain the family system theory. He explained that “heightened tension can intensify these processes that promote that promote unity and teamwork, and this can lead to problems” (Kerr,
We see within these two stories how our social and cultural background as a child has a strong impact on the life you continue to live as an adult. This is why it is imperative to make a child's living arrangements the best they can be. It
When comparing these amazing TV shows, there are similarities and a lot differences between them. However, one thing most certainly remained the same: the love they had for one another. While watching a healthy dose of both shows, there are some differences between them in regards to gender roles and socialization, family structure portrayal and parent-child interactions across the board. In The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, the audience was introduced to a new nuclear family. This seemed like the new norm as some would call it ideal because there was an evident decline from the traditional extended family. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, families were always diverse. Comparing their family style to that of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the idea of a nuclear family was accepted and integrated by most during that time. As time goes on, we, as a community, become more accepting to changes within a family so they become the norm for society. In the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, we saw an extended family living together as a poor black boy who grows up in inner-city Philadelphia moves with his wealthy, upscale family. The family structures between these 2 shows were complete opposites of each other. In the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, you have the parents, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and their 2 children, David and Ricky Nelson. This family structure, as mentioned earlier, would be described as a nuclear family, consisting of the most basic unit of family possible. On the other
“Cut from the same cloth”, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, “A chip off the old block”; most of us have heard these types of idioms at one point or another, ways of likening us to our parents. Sometimes they are right, while other times it couldn’t be farther from the truth; leaving us to wonder, “what is it that makes us who we are?” Are we simply the product of our environments, a collective sum of our interactions and experiences? Or, do our genetics pre-determine who we are, complex variations in our DNA that dictate our individual personalities? Some scientists argue on behalf of the nurture theory, that our personalities are continually changing and growing, influenced by the world and people around us. Others believe that we are pre-wired by genetics alone, that while external factors may magnify or diminish some aspects of that wiring, everything we are is already programmed into us from the moment of conception. So, who is right?
Some agents of socialization that have had the greatest effect on me would be my family, culture, and gender. To begin with, culture has had a big effect on me in the sense that I am the complete contrary as my family members. It has affected me in a negative way since according to my family members, I do not act in a way that a Mexican person should. Since I am a vegetarian, my family often times accuse me of not being Mexican enough due to the fact that Mexican culture revolves around its foods that is mainly made of meats and poultries. Secondly, the way in which I choose to dress is also a subject of question among my family members. They believe that I dress more like an American citizen, rather than a person who was born in Mexico. Because I was legally born in Mexico, my family often times expect me to behave or act a certain way. This socialization agent has made me be self-conscious of what family members think of me. These serious of events have also made me drift away from the family since their constant criticism makes me feel as if I am not accepted. This socialization has also affected me because at one point I found myself purchasing certain attires and accessories just so I could feel accepted by the family and show that I have not lost my culture. Although I was not content, at one point I tried to change my self for the sake of fitting in among them.
In the early stages of a child’s character development, the family is the first social group that the child has. The relationship that is fostered between the family and the child is important, because it is the role of the family that influences the child’s behavior. Although the child may be influenced by the father and siblings, these relationships are looked to second. The child realizes early that the family belongs to him. This leads to jealousy towards other siblings because he may strive to be significant, and establish a position of superiority. Once the child comes to trust the family, it no longer feels threatened. By fostering a good relationship with the family, the child develops trust which leads to the child developing
Conflicts in the family are usually considered as an undesirable symptom of a problem that need to be solved by family members. 1 In the family relationships, the parent-adolescent relationship represents an involuntary association, an imbalance of power and resources, and an obligation for the parent to function as caregiver.
The family is the single most important agent of socialization because the family is the first and most continuous social world for infants and children. The family provides the child's initial social identity in terms of race, religion, social class, and gender. In time,
Socialization is “the process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior and social skills that are essential appropriate to his or her social environment.” Socialization applies to our daily life and it’s the most important process of human society. Without socialization the human would not be able to take part in group life and develop human characteristics. The world wouldn’t never be organized and everyone would have their own ways of doing thing. The general rules that we follow every day tells us what we should and shouldn’t do and how we should interact in situations. There are always consequences if we violate the rules and everyone recognizes the rules. Individual personality is really important in socialization. As a child, we start to learn and imitate others behavior, and as we get older, we start to understand the social life and accustom to the environment we live in, which can have effects on our personality. Personality refers to the patterns of feeling, thought, and action that characterizes human beings. The experiences we go through in life can change our personality too. Socialization essentially represents the process of learning throughout the life course. The important theories of socialization are defined by Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, Sigmund Freud and Judith R. Harris. Charles Cooley, George Mead and Erving Goffman mention the importance of the social side of
The Socialization of my life. This is how I become who I am. My early socialization has been a big role in my life along with my significant others, which includes my parents and friends. My defining moments in my life and the experiences I’ve faced. Also with the media's help I’ve become to understand the simple things. Over the past sixteen years I have learned to become the person i am today all because of socialization.
Studies on the main effects of childhood family relationships on health have done much to show a definitive correlation between childhood family conflicts and poor health. Specifically, conflicts or adversities such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse toward a child, parental mental health, parental substance abuse problems, and parental divorce have a been linked to poor health in adult individuals (CITE!!!). There have been a been studies on both the negative and positive family characteristics. Negative family characteristics or families with a high level of