The sociology of the individual: Relating Self and Society

Socialization is one of the most central concepts in sociology. It is through socialization that an infant gets in contact with the social world and this process will continue throughout the life course. Socialization is probably the first and certainly the most important systematic link between the individual and society.The reason is that each individual enables her/him self to get in contact or interact with anything other than her/him self primarily through socialization.Therefore, socialization is based on inter- action (as well as symbolic interaction) and would naturally be about the exchange of action between the individual and something/somebody else. But is this the case? Is this exchange of action exclusively between individuals? Or is it within individuals as well? So is socialization only about interaction or could it also be about intra-action?
This chapter uses both sociological and psychological approaches to answer key questions in understanding the concept of socialization. The first question this chapter will try to explain regards: what do we mean by socialization? Specific schools of thought will be discussed and a variety of definitions will be involved. The second question tries to explore: what are the origins of socialization? The process of socialization throughout childhood will then be analysed.The last ques- tion this chapter explores has to do with: how does socialization take place? Certain aspects of socialization will then be explained, starting from childhood and moving on to life course.