Stages of Socialization and the Life Course

Pursuant to G.H. Mead, the self, as it did for Cooley, reflects the cumulative total of people's conscious understanding of their personality as distinct from others. However, his general view of socialization as a lifetime mechanism influenced Mead's philosophy of self.

The process of self-forming takes place in three separate steps. Imitation is the first. Children mimic the behavior of adults at this stage without k

He assumed that self, like Cooley, is a social product that emerges from interactions with other individuals. However, as babies and young girls, we are unable at first to interpret the significance of the actions of humans. They have stepped beyond themselves as kids learn to assign meanings to their actions. When kids can think of themselves the same way they can think about someone else, they start getting a sense of self. According to Mead, the process of self-forming takes place in three separate steps. Imitation is the first. Children mimic the behavior of adults at this stage without knowing it. By moving a toy vacuum cleaner or even a stick around the room, a little boy could 'help' his parents vacuum the floor.

Children recognize actions as real roles at the play stage: doctor, firefighter, and race car driver, and so on, and continue to take on those roles in their play. Little children often talk to the doll in both loving and scolding tones in doll play, as if they were parents, then respond to the doll the way a child responds to his or her parents. This change from one position to another builds the capacity of children to assign their feelings the same meanings; and acts that are offered to them by other members of society, another crucial step in creating a self.

The self is composed of two parts, according to Mead, the 'I' and the 'I' The 'I' is the reaction of the individual to other people and to society at large; the 'I' is a self-concept that consists of how important the person is to others, that is, relatives and friends. The 'I' is speaking of and referring to the 'I' as well as to other entities. 'I' respond to criticism, for example, by carefully evaluating it, sometimes modifying and sometimes not, depending on whether I think the criticism is true. I recognize why people view me as a rational person who is still able to listen. Kids eventually establish a 'me' as they switch off parts in their plays. They practice reacting to the impression any time they see themselves from the eyes of someone else.

The child must understand what is anticipated not only by one other person but by a whole community during Mead's third stage, the game stage. For starters, on a baseball team, each player follows a series of rules and ideas common to the team and baseball. Kids measure their actions through norms assumed to be maintained by the "other out there," these behaviors of "other" a faceless person "out there." Following the rules of a baseball game teaches children to follow the rules of society's game as reflected in laws and guidelines. Children also developed a social identity during this level.

Socialization and the Life Course

Throughout the different periods of the life course, socialization begins, most generally classified as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Scholars further consider subcategories for each of these groups, such as early adolescence and late adolescence, early adulthood and middle adulthood, and so on.

Childhood

Childhood (including infancy) undoubtedly remains the most important stage in most people's lives for socialization and for the cognitive, mental, and physiological growth that is so essential during the early years of anyone's life, despite growing awareness of the whole life course. We have already addressed what can happen if at least one parent does not undergo "normal" socialization from an infant, and feral children are a sad reminder that socialization is important to create an entity in the broader sense of the term that not only looks human but also is human. However, behind this profound value of childhood, lies an ugly reality. Many children do not fare well during infancy in regards to school, wellbeing, and other outcomes. In addition, how well they do fare also relies on their social location, their social status, race and ethnicity, and gender.

What develops during childhood may have life-long effects. Being ignored or abused, experiencing crime, being critically wounded, and so on, adverse events during childhood placed young people at much higher risk of such negative effects. During puberty, they are more likely to commit extreme delinquency, and they are more likely to develop different psychological issues, cognitive disabilities, and drug abuse throughout their lives. They are often less likely to graduate or attend college, whether they marry, to get married or escape divorce, and to earn and hold a career. Over all, the different periods of the life course are just not that distinct.

Adolescence

Adolescence may be a very difficult time, as many readers can know. Teenagers are no longer simple youth, but they are not entirely grown-ups yet. Their freedom is what they desire, but parents and teachers keep asking them what to do. During puberty, social pressure can be immense, and for many teenagers, cigarettes, alcohol, and other substance use can become a major issue. These are all social facets of adolescence, but adolescence, namely, puberty, is also a period of great biological transition.

Social status, race and ethnicity, and gender appear to influence the interactions of individuals throughout puberty, as the debate on childhood indicated. Adolescence may definitely be a fascinating period in the course of adulthood, but these three basic elements of our social status also profoundly affect how we fare during adolescence.

Adulthood

Adulthood is generally defined as the period of 18-64 years. Obviously, 18-year-olds are somewhat distinct from 64-year-olds, which is why young adults are also distinguished from middle-aged adults by researchers. In a way, by going to college after high school and, for others, then proceeding to be a graduate or technical school student, many young people, like most readers of this novel, defer entry into full adulthood. By the time the latter get their advanced degree, many are long into their 30s, and about a dozen years after people who finish high school but do not go on to college, they ultimately join the work force full time.

By the time they are 18 or 19, these latter individuals can well marry, have kids, or both, while those who go to college and particularly those who get an advanced degree will wait to take these crucial moves before their late 20s or early to mid-30s. One thing is evident from surveys in young adulthood: when they exit their teenage years, people tend to "settle down" and their behavior normally changes. Two reasons at least account for this change. First, as scientists gradually accept, physiologically, the adolescent brain is not yet entirely mature. The frontal lobe, the area of the brain that regulates thought and the capacity to weigh the ramifications of one's behavior, for instance, is not yet fully developed, making adolescents more impulsive. In the mid- and late 20s, as the brain matures, impulsiveness decreases and behavior improves.

One trend is apparent from young adulthood surveys: people appear to "settle down" as they leave their teenage years, and their behavior typically changes. At the very least, two factors account for this move. Second, physiologically, as scientists increasingly realize, the teenage brain is still not fully mature. For example, the frontal lobe, the brain region that controls perception and the ability to weigh the consequences of one's actions, is not yet fully formed, making teenagers more impulsive. When the brain matures, impulsiveness decreases in the mid- to late 20s, and behavior increases.

Old Age

At age 65, this step of the life course unofficially begins. Once again, because of the numerous variations between people who are 65 or 66 and others who are 85, 86, or much older, researchers make sharper distinctions, such as 'young-old' and 'old-old'. Section 12 "Aging and the Elderly" is completely committed to this step of the life course. Here we would only suggest that for certain individuals, old age can be a satisfying time of life, but one fraught with fear and difficulties for other individuals, with social location (social status, race and ethnicity, and gender) making a major difference again.

The derogatory attitudes and even racism that many people hold towards old age and towards old people compound these issues. Since we all want to be aged one day, it should be of great importance to address ageing and the elderly.