Social Systems and Socialization

Paper Summary:

This paper addresses the social systems that were present when the writer was growing up and considers how they impacted on his socialization. Being born in 1979, these systems mainly represent those in the 1980s and early 1990s. The writer then considers the systems that were present in the generation prior to his own, which also equates to the same generation as his parents. This information is obtained by interviewing a married couple, both born in the early 1950s. These systems represent those in the 1950s and early 1960s. Finally, the writer compares and contrasts the two socialization experiences and considers how these differences in socialization may have resulted in differences between himself and the people of his parent's generation.

From the Paper:

"An individual becomes the person they are because of their socialization. The social systems a person interacts with, especially as a child, influences both a person's beliefs and their actions. According to Bronfenbrenner, there are four levels that make up the social system: the micro, the meso, the exo, and the macro. The microsystem is described as "a pattern of activities, roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a given face-to-face setting" (Bronfenbrenner,1993, p. 15). The main examples of microsystems are family and school. The mesosystem is described saying it "compromises the linkages and processes taking place between two or more settings containing the developing person" (Bronfenbrenner,1993, p. 22). School is the major example of a mesosystem where school compromises the linkages and processes taking place in the family environment. The exosystem is described as "the linkages and processes taking place between two or more settings, at least one of which does not contain the developing person but in which events occur that indirectly influence processes within the immediate setting within which the developing person lives" (Bronfenbrenner,1993, p. 22). The major example of this is the parent's workplace, where decisions made there indirectly impact on the individual's family environment."

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