Behavior and socialization of the individual. Social behavior and personality socialization briefly. Socialization of personality. Theory of social stratification and social mobility

1. Personality and society. Theories of personality development.

2. The purpose and meaning of human life.

3. Socialization of the individual: the meaning of the term and purpose. Agents and institutions of socialization.

4. Social roles and personality.

Personality and society. Theories of personality development. If we imagine society as a living organism, then its simplest “cell” is a person. But upon closer examination, it turns out that a person is a rather complex and sometimes mysterious entity, whose behavior does not always correspond to elementary norms and is characterized by unpredictability.

Beginning with the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, interest in the study of human behavior arose. Scientific disciplines appeared - economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, which formed the sphere of social and human sciences, or human sciences. With varying degrees of success, the human sciences use a variety of scientific methods to explain human behavior. Economics is trying to discover the laws that govern the processes of pricing, value and market, and the growth of national wealth. Anthropology seeks to systematize the diverse world of cultures, languages, and social institutions, while sociology attempts to relate these structures to individual behavior. The youngest of the human sciences, psychology, studies the human mind.

Human in sociology it is considered as the highest stage of development of living organisms on Earth, a subject of socio-historical activity and culture. In contrast to other living beings, man is ultimately a product of his own material and spiritual activity.

If we are talking about an individual person as a representative of society, a people, a social stratum or class, or a given social group, then the term “individual” is used. Social individual- is a separate, isolated member of a social community. This concept is also used in cases where individual representatives of a sample population are considered, who are described contextually by belonging to this population.

Individuality can be defined as a set of traits that distinguish one individual from another, and the differences are made at a variety of levels - biochemical, neurophysiological, psychological, social, etc.

Personality- this is the integrity of a person’s social properties, a product of social development and the inclusion of the individual in the system of social relations through active substantive activity and communication.

For a more complete understanding of personality, it is necessary to consider the nature of its interaction with the environment. Speaking about the environment, we mean the social environment, namely those people among whom a person moves, on whom he depends or who are dependent on him, on whom he is oriented or who are oriented towards him.

Social environment is a set of social factors influencing the formation and behavior of an individual. There is a macroenvironment (the nature of the social division of labor, the resulting social structure of society, the system of education, upbringing, etc.) and a microenvironment (work collective, school, family, etc.). The social environment of an individual is determined by relationships at the level of society as a whole. The interaction of the individual and society is an interconnected process, on the one hand, of the active actions of the individual, capable of changing and changing both the social environment and the living environment, and on the other hand, the impact of the social system and the living environment on the individual.

The relationships that are formed and implemented in the process of such interaction are called social. Social relations are a certain stable system of connections between individuals that have developed in the process of their interaction with each other in the conditions of a given society.

The relationship between the individual and society can also be considered as the activity of an individual satisfying his needs and pursuing certain goals in specific social conditions. These relationships can be described by the formula: search (individual) – proposals (society) – choice (from what is offered). Connections and interactions between people are established because people, in the process of satisfying their needs, depend on each other in something specific.

The issue of human development factors is still controversial. Supporters of biologization approach reduces human nature to the animal principle, based on the fact that he has the same sense organs, circulatory, muscular, hormonal, skeletal, nervous systems, etc. Human behavior, in their opinion, is determined by his instincts. Representatives of this approach are Herbert Spencer, Sigmund Freud, Cesare Lombroso, William Sheldon. A significant drawback of biological theories in explaining human nature is one-sidedness, ignoring the cultural principle in individual behavior.

The exact opposite approach to man, which is developed by sociological concepts, consists in recognizing the biological mechanisms of his life as unimportant. So, Marxism considered personality as a product, the result of existing social relations, where the main ones are material (economic) relations. Proponents of the role theory of personality (J. Mead, M. Kuhn, T. Parsons, R. Dahrendorf) understand personality as an “actor” playing various roles in relation to a specific situation. Society prescribes to an individual a certain standard of behavior in accordance with his status in the group.

The truth, as a rule, is in the middle. It is impossible to ignore the biological foundations of human life, but it is unreasonable to neglect the importance of the social principle. In other words, human nature is dual.

The special role of biological mechanisms in human life is most manifested in the phenomenon of heredity, which provides the possibility of reproduction and development of biological properties of people.

However, the social conditions of his existence and the culture of society are of decisive importance in human development. Personal development is impossible without social connections, since through social interactions the social experience of humanity is transmitted, its culture is assimilated, self-esteem and self-knowledge of the individual occurs.

The purpose and meaning of human life. The question of the purpose and meaning of life is an eternal one; it has arisen since time immemorial and still haunts the minds of mankind. The fact is that human behavior is purposeful and determined by those values and ideals that constitute the content of his moral and spiritual essence. An individual attaches certain meanings to his actions and the actions of other people, thanks to which he can interact with them. The question of why and for what purpose a person lives has found a variety of answers in science.

Representatives of theology (religious philosophy) saw the meaning of a person’s earthly life in preparation for the afterlife through faith in God and in his comprehension. Aurelius Augustine(354 – 430) believed that the liberation of man from his sinful nature is possible through faith in God, which is the result of divine revelation. A famous medieval theologian spoke out against such a tradition Thomas Aquinas(1225 – 1274). In his opinion, belief in the possibility of comprehending the existence of God is possible not through divine revelation, but through rational processes. The main argument proving the existence of God for F. Aquinas was the necessity of the existence of a “first cause” of the creation of the world.

Renaissance(XIX-XXI centuries) tries to rehabilitate the natural joys of earthly existence as the meaning of human life. Now happiness and bliss are achievable not in the afterlife, but in rational knowledge of the world around us. The Renaissance fostered individualism as a worldview in which man sees the purpose of life in himself, and its meaning is to obtain pleasure.

Age of Enlightenment(XXIII – XIX centuries) largely developed the humanistic ideas of the Renaissance. The German philosopher I. Kant (1724 - 1804) saw the meaning of human life in his development as an end in itself, for man “has within himself a highest goal, to which, as far as it is in his power, he can subordinate all of nature.” However, a person can achieve his happiness only in accordance with universal moral laws. I. Kant believed that an action is moral if it can be given a universal character. In his opinion, people perform moral actions rationally, coordinating them with the “categorical imperative” (moral law). Its meaning is that it is necessary to “always treat everything human in oneself and in others as an end in itself and never see it only as a means.” I. Kant insisted that a person should never be used as a means to achieve someone else's happiness.

In the 19th century, English philosophers I. Bentham and D. Stuart Mill developed an ethical theory known as utilitarianism. According to her, the purpose and meaning of life were determined by “as much happiness as possible for as many people as possible.” I. Bentham proposed the principle of “calculating happiness,” which was derived from the relationship between pleasure and pain. Based on this principle, he proposed developing laws in the state.

D. Mill divided all pleasures into higher and lower. At the same time, D. Mill gave preference to the higher ones, since these are intellectual pleasures, and the lower ones are carnal. “It is better to be a dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied fool.” - noted the philosopher.

Unlike Western concepts, Russian philosophical thought saw the purpose of life in the spiritual improvement of man, and the meaning in love for people.

From the search for the global meaning and purpose of life, science in the person of existentialism in the mid-twentieth century moves on to justify the need to develop a subjective goal based on individual experience. Since there is no God, noted Zh.P. Sartre, each individual determines the purpose and meaning of life for himself. It lies in existence, i.e. everyone chooses their own existence and bears responsibility for choosing their future, since genuine actions are an expression of freedom.

Socialization of the individual: the meaning of the term and purpose. Agents and institutions socialization. Socialization is the process of assimilation by an individual of a certain system of knowledge, norms and values necessary for the effective fulfillment of social roles in a particular society.

As a result of socialization, a person becomes an individual, he develops self-awareness or an image of his own “I”, different from other people. Other people act as a kind of mirror for him into which he looks.

American sociologist Charles Cooley believed that a person’s awareness of his “I,” which he called the “Mirror Self,” consists of three components: 1) how we think others perceive us (for example, “I think people look pay attention to my clothes"); 2) how they react to what they see (for example, “they see my clothes and they like them”); 3) how we respond to the reaction we perceive (“since they like my clothes, I will continue to dress this way”).

Socialization as a process of assimilation of cultural values and development of social roles is carried out as a result of interpersonal interaction. Outside of social connections, it is pointless to talk about an individual’s self-esteem and its assessment by society. In the process of interpersonal interaction, the meaning and meaning of certain actions, social norms and values, and the development of social roles, rights and responsibilities are transmitted. In other words, a person is taught the basic rules of human society.

As a result of social interaction, internalization occurs, that is, the transformation of external norms and regulations into internal rules and beliefs. In this regard, not only is it impossible, but also self-knowledge of an isolated individual, like Mowgli or Robinson Crusoe. They are called feral people, that is, those who have not become full-fledged members of society due to their isolation from society, their formation outside of communication with people (family, loved ones, social group).

The main purpose of socialization is the transition of a person from a biological being to a social one, in the individual gaining independence and determining his social place in society. This process is extended over time: it begins from the moment of birth and ends with death. Throughout his life, a person performs a significant number of social roles, the development of which is brought to life by specific circumstances: age, career movement, marriage, etc. And every time he is forced to assimilate experiences and attitudes that correspond to his social roles.

The formation of personality occurs in the process of influence on it by various social groups and institutions that are interested in a person acquiring certain values and mastering specific social roles. These are agents and institutions of socialization. Among them are:

individuals are agents of socialization influencing the individual in the process of education and upbringing (for example, a teacher, parents, etc.);

b. institutions - institutions of socialization that direct socialization and control its progress (for example, school, university, etc.).

Based on the nature of the impact of socialization agents (direct or indirect), primary and secondary socialization and their agents are distinguished. Agents of primary socialization are parents, relatives, family, friends, peers, teachers, doctors, etc. Agents of secondary socialization are the administration of schools, universities, enterprises, state institutions: the army, police, court, as well as the church, the media, political parties, etc.

Sometimes we can see a boy playing with dolls, a deteriorating adult who has lost his job. All these are cases of failed socialization caused by violations in its process.

One of the reasons for such violations is derivation, that is, the lack of parental care, which affects the emotional and mental health and cognitive abilities of the child.

The consequences of socialization disorders can include mental disorders, for example, schizophrenia, various types of anxieties (phobias), personality degradation, marginalization, and crime. They are especially acute in extreme situations.

Social roles and personality. The term "structure" translated from Latin. Means structure, arrangement, order. In a general sense, social structure is a set of stable and ordered connections between the elements of the social system, giving society stability, stability and distinguishing it from other phenomena. The constituent elements of society as a whole are individuals, social connections and actions, social relationships, social institutions and organizations, social norms and values, etc. Each of these elements is in a certain relationship with the others. Thanks to social structure, a seemingly chaotic collection of individuals and groups acquires qualitative certainty.

The elements of social structure are social statuses, social roles, social institutions, social communities, social norms and values, social interactions, social action, social relationships.

The most elementary cell of social structure are social statuses and social roles. Their number, order of arrangement and nature of dependence on each other determine the content of the social structure of a particular society.

Social status represents the social position of a person in a society or group, endowed with certain rights and responsibilities and connected through them with other positions. The status of “doctor” makes sense only in relation to the status of “patient”, but not of “student”, “president”, etc. The doctor and the patient enter into social relations as bearers of social status: the doctor is obliged to treat the patient, and the patient is obliged to follow the doctor’s recommendations in order to recover.

Consequently, each social position has certain rights and responsibilities. Responsibilities prescribe what the performer of a given role or bearer of a given status must certainly do in relation to other performers or bearers of other statuses. Rights they talk about what a person can freely allow himself or allow in relation to other people. Responsibilities are strictly regulated; they limit behavior to certain limits and make it predictable. At the same time, rights and obligations are strictly interconnected, so that one presupposes the other.

Each person holds multiple positions as they participate in multiple groups and organizations. Thus, he has several statuses. The totality of all statuses occupied by a given individual constitutes a status set. The main status is the most characteristic status for a given individual, by which others distinguish him or with which they identify him, by which they determine his position in society. Social status is the position of a person in society, which he occupies as a representative of a large social group (profession, class, nationality, gender, age, religion).

Personal status- this is the position that a person occupies in a small, or primary, group, depending on how he is assessed by his individual qualities. Natural status- This is the position that is biologically inherited by a person from birth. (gender, nationality, race). An ascribed status is a position that a person acquires from birth or that is certain to be recognized as such by society or a group later on. The ascribed status very often resembles the innate one, but has differences, the main one of which is that the ascribed status is socially acquired. Achieved status is a position that a person achieves through one's own efforts, free choice, one's own efforts, or through luck or good fortune. The status achieved is strictly under the control of the person and is not related to the fact of his birth.

In a status set, one can distinguish the main statuses, that is, those social positions that determine the social position of its bearer, the main thing in his life; and non-main statuses, that is, temporary social positions, the rights and obligations of whose bearers are difficult to determine (statuses of crowd participant, reader, television viewer, etc.).

Public opinion develops a hierarchy of statuses and social groups, according to which some are valued and respected more than others. The place in such an invisible hierarchy is called rank. They talk about high, middle and low ranks. Hierarchy can exist between groups within the same society, in which case it is called intergroup; and between individuals within the same group

(intragroup). And here a person’s place is expressed by the same term “rank”.

Social role- This is expected behavior due to a certain status. It represents a model, a standard of behavior, focused on a specific status. If status is a set of rights, privileges and responsibilities, then a role is actions within the framework of this set of rights and responsibilities.

A model of behavior oriented toward a certain status includes a set of status rights and responsibilities. Rights mean the ability to perform certain actions due to status. Status rights are inextricably linked with responsibilities. The higher the status, the greater the rights its owner is endowed with and the greater the range of responsibilities assigned to him.

Taken together, status rights, responsibilities, symbols and roles make up a status image - a set of ideas that have developed in public opinion about how a person should behave in accordance with his status, how rights and responsibilities in a given status should relate to each other. Each status includes many roles. The set of all roles assigned to one status is called a role set. Each role in the role set requires a special manner of behavior and forms its own type of social relationships.

The most general characteristic of modern post-Soviet society is a value and practical reorientation. A constant imbalance of interests creates in the individual the feeling that his social security is decreasing, and three human reactions to such a violation come to the fore. The first is an increased focus on individual vertical mobility, on individual survival (“everyone for himself”). The second is the strengthening of the so-called group egoism, i.e. attempts to protect individual interests through group interests, and by any means: from informal to violent, criminal. The third is the strengthening of the spontaneous process of social comparison, as a result of which particularly aggressive types of behavior arise. They are based not so much on the absolute deterioration of one’s own position, but rather on the perceived unfair, undeserved improvement in the position of others.

The rapidly changing situation confronts a person with tasks for which neither the existing educational system nor the entire experience of his previous life prepared him. He can function successfully in it only if he possesses certain personal traits and behavioral skills, among which, first of all, businesslikeness, energy, activity, the ability to construct alternatives to life choices and readiness for the greatest number of options for the development of events, cognitive pluralism, responsibility, and professionalism should be highlighted. and competence. The lack of expression of these features ensured the stability of the previous system and gave rise to the social deformations that we face today.

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Socialization of personality

Introduction

The sociology of personality is the doctrine of personality as a social being operating in a particular society. This is one of the most important sections of sociology as a science of society. After all, all social processes - economic, political, spiritual and others - are made up of the activities of people who are one or another individual. Questions arise about the driving forces of their activity, its content and social orientation, its practical results and their significance for the life and development of society.

We have already pointed out that many thinkers of past eras, especially the Enlightenment era (XVIII century), substantiated the large role of the individual in the development of society. It was about the purposeful education of people, the formation of enlightened and useful individuals for society. “One is born a person, but one becomes a person,” they said. But what kind of personalities certain people become - it depends on the nature of the society in which they live, the education and upbringing system operating in it. This provision remains fully relevant today. The problem of personality is addressed in one way or another by representatives of many areas of modern sociology, including the empirical direction (G. Moreno and others), the traditions of which go back to the sociology of O. Comte, G. Spencer, E. Durheim; Marxist sociology (K. Marx, V. Lenin and their followers); psychological direction in sociology (L. Ward, G. Tarde, V. Pareto, etc.); theory of social action, coming from M. Weber and further developed by T. Parsons and his followers.

Sociologists study many problems of the spiritual structure of the individual, the incentives for his activity and behavior, relying on the works of representatives of such areas of modern personality psychology and social psychology as behaviorism, cognitivism, psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology, interactionism and others.

Of the wide range of issues in the sociology of personality, we will briefly analyze only the most basic ones.

1. The concept of personality.Personality and society

What is personality? In order to answer this question, it is necessary, first of all, to distinguish between the concepts of “person,” “individual,” and “personality.” Concept « Human» used to characterize the universal qualities and abilities inherent in all people. This concept emphasizes the presence in the world of such a special historically developing community as the human race (homo sapiens), humanity, which differs from all other material systems only in its inherent way of life. Thanks to this way of life, a person at all stages of historical development, in all points of the globe, remains identical to himself and retains a certain ontological status.

So, humanity exists as a specific material reality. But humanity as such does not exist independently. Specific people live and act. The existence of individual representatives of humanity is expressed by the concept « individual» . An individual is a single representative of the human race, a specific bearer of all the social and psychological traits of humanity: reason, will, needs, interests, etc. The concept of “individual” in this case is used in the meaning of “a specific person”. With this formulation of the question, both the peculiarities of the action of various biological factors (age characteristics, gender, temperament) and the differences in the social conditions of human life are not recorded. However, it is impossible to completely abstract from the action of these factors. It is obvious that there are big differences between the life of a child and an adult, a person of a primitive society and more developed historical eras. To reflect the specific historical features of human development at various levels of his individual and historical development, along with the concept of “individual” they use the concept « personality» . The individual in this case is considered as the starting point for the formation of personality from the initial state for human onto- and phylogenesis; personality is the result of the development of the individual, the most complete embodiment of all human qualities.

Personality is the object of study in a number of humanities, primarily philosophy, psychology and sociology. Philosophy considers personality from the point of view of its position in the world as a subject of activity, cognition and creativity. Psychology studies personality as a stable integrity of mental processes, properties and relationships: temperament, character, abilities, volitional qualities, etc.

The sociological approach highlights the socially typical in personality. The main problems of the sociological theory of personality are related to the process of personality formation and the development of its needs in inextricable connection with the functioning and development of social communities, the study of the natural connection between the individual and society, the individual and the group, the regulation and self-regulation of the social behavior of the individual. Sociology in general contains many theories of personality, which differ from each other in fundamental methodological settings.

The personality as a subject of social relations is, first of all, characterized by autonomy, a certain degree of independence from society, capable of opposing itself to society. Personal independence is associated with the ability to dominate oneself, and this, in turn, presupposes that the individual has self-awareness, i.e. not just consciousness, thinking and will, but the ability for introspection, self-esteem, self-control.

The self-awareness of the individual is transformed into a life position. A life position is a principle of behavior based on ideological attitudes, social values, ideals and norms of the individual, and readiness for action. The importance of ideological and value-normative factors in an individual’s life is explained by the dispositional theory of self-regulation of an individual’s social behavior. The founders of this theory were American sociologists T. Znaniecki and C. Thomas; in Soviet sociology, this theory was actively developed by V.A. Yadov. Dispositional theory allows us to establish connections between sociological and socio-psychological behavior of an individual. Personal disposition means a person’s predisposition to a certain perception of the conditions of activity and to a certain behavior in these conditions. Dispositions are divided into higher and lower. The higher ones regulate the general direction of behavior. They include: 1) the concept of life and value orientations; 2) generalized social attitudes towards typical social objects and situations; 3) situational social attitudes as a predisposition to perception and behavior in given specific conditions, in a given subject and social environment. Lower - behavior in certain areas of activity, the direction of actions in typical situations. Higher personal dispositions, being a product of general social conditions and meeting the most important needs of the individual, the needs of harmony with society, actively influence lower dispositions.

The problem of studying personality in sociology is one of the central ones, since every sociologist, in order to understand the essence of social phenomena, the system of interrelations of people in society, is obliged to understand what motivates the actions of each individual person. Individual behavior thus represents the basis for understanding the life of an entire social group or society.

Unlike psychology, sociology immediately tries to give answers to questions about the social behavior of an individual, to present the individual in all the diversity of social connections. In this regard, in the course of studying personality in the context of social connections, it is necessary to answer questions about the formation of personality in the social environment, the place occupied by the personality in social space, the inclusion of the individual in social groups, the individual’s perception of cultural norms, and deviations from these cultural norms.

2. Personality and the main factors of its development

Personality is one of those phenomena that is rarely interpreted in the same way by two different authors. All definitions of personality are, in one way or another, determined by two opposing views on its development. From the point of view of some, each personality is formed and develops in accordance with its innate qualities and abilities, and the social environment plays a very insignificant role. Representatives of another point of view completely reject the innate internal traits and abilities of the individual, believing that personality is a certain product, completely formed in the course of social experience. Obviously, these are extreme points of view on the process of personality formation. In our analysis, we, of course, must take into account both the biological characteristics of the individual and his social experience. At the same time, practice shows that social factors in personality formation are more significant. The definition of personality given by V. Yadov seems satisfactory: “Personality is the integrity of a person’s social properties, a product of social development and the inclusion of the individual in the system of social relations through active activity and communication.” According to this view, personality develops from a biological organism solely through various types of social and cultural experiences. At the same time, it is not denied that she has innate abilities, temperament and predisposition, which significantly influence the process of formation of personality traits.

The main factors influencing the formation of personality are divided into the following types: 1) biological heredity; 2) physical environment; 3) culture; 4) group experience; 5) unique individual experience.

The formation of personality is influenced to a certain extent by biological factors, as well as factors of the physical environment and general cultural patterns of behavior in a particular social group. However, the main factors determining the process of personality formation are, of course, group experience and subjective, unique personal experience. These factors are fully manifested in the process of socialization of the individual.

personality society socialization behavior

3. Socialization of personality

Stages of socialization

It is known that a baby enters the big world as a biological organism and his main concern at this moment is his own physical comfort. After some time, the child becomes a human being with a complex of attitudes and values, with likes and dislikes, goals and intentions, patterns of behavior and responsibility, as well as with a uniquely individual vision of the world. A person achieves this state through a process we call socialization. During this process, the individual becomes a human person.

Socialization is the process by which an individual assimilates the norms of his group in such a way that through the formation of his own “I” the uniqueness of this individual as a person is manifested, the process of assimilation by the individual of patterns of behavior, social norms and values necessary for his successful functioning in a given society.

Socialization covers all processes of cultural inclusion, training and education, through which a person acquires a social nature and the ability to participate in social life. The entire environment of the individual takes part in the process of socialization: family, neighbors, peers in a children's institution, school, the media, etc.

For successful socialization, according to D. Smelser, the action of three facts is necessary: expectations, behavior changes and the desire to meet these expectations. The process of personality formation, in his opinion, occurs in three different stages:

1. stages of imitation and copying of adult behavior by children;

2. the play stage, when children recognize behavior as playing a role;

3. the stage of group games, in which children learn to understand what a whole group of people expects of them.

One of the first to identify the elements of child socialization Z. Freud. According to Freud, personality includes three elements: the “id” - a source of energy stimulated by the desire for pleasure; “ego” - exercising control over the personality, based on the principle of reality, and “superego”, or the moral evaluative element. Socialization is represented by Freud as a process of unfolding the innate properties of a person, as a result of which the formation of these three constituent elements of personality occurs. In this process, Freud identifies four stages, each of which is associated with certain areas of the body, the so-called erogenous zones: oral, anal, phallic and puberty.

French psychologist AND. Piaget, while maintaining the idea of various stages in personality development, emphasizes the development of the individual’s cognitive structures and their subsequent restructuring depending on experience and social interaction. These stages replace one another in a certain sequence: sensory-motor (from birth to 2 years), operational (from 2 to 7), the stage of specific operations (from 7 to 11), the stage of formal operations (from 12 to 15).

Many psychologists and sociologists emphasize that the process of socialization continues throughout a person's life, and argue that the socialization of adults differs from the socialization of children in several ways. The socialization of adults rather changes external behavior, while the socialization of children shapes value orientations. Socialization in adults is designed to help a person acquire certain skills; socialization in childhood deals more with the motivation of behavior. Psychologist R. Harold proposed a theory in which the socialization of adults is considered not as a continuation of children's socialization, but as a process in which the psychological signs of childhood are eliminated: the rejection of childhood myths (such as the omnipotence of authority or the idea that our demands should be a law for others ).

Group Experience

At the very beginning of life, a person does not have his own “I”. It simply continues the life of the embryo as part of the mother's body. Even distinguishing the physical boundaries of his own body from the rest of the world is the result of a rather long, consistent exploration of the child's environment and the subsequent discovery that the noise and movement around his crib belong to another world, and are not part of his own body, such as fingers or hands.

The isolation of the individual, first from the physical world, and then from the social world, is a rather complex process that continues throughout life. The child learns to differentiate between other people by their names. He realizes that a man is a father, a woman is a mother. So gradually his consciousness moves from names that characterize statuses (for example, the status of a man) to specific names designating individual individuals, including himself. At the age of about one and a half years, the child begins to use the concept of “I”, while realizing that he is becoming a separate human being. Continuing to accumulate social experience, the child forms images of various personalities, including the image of his own “I”. All further formation of a person as an individual is the construction of one’s own “I” based on constant comparison of oneself with other individuals. Thus, a gradual creation of a personality is carried out with unique internal qualities and, at the same time, with perceived qualities common to its social environment, which are comprehended through group communication, group experience.

The fact that personality develops not simply through the automatic deployment of natural inclinations is proven by the experience of social isolation of the human individual. There are cases where a child was deprived of a human environment as a child and was brought up among animals. The study of such individuals’ perception of themselves as a separate being in the world around them showed that they do not have their own “I”, since they completely lack the idea of themselves as a separate, separate being among other similar beings. Moreover, such individuals cannot perceive their differences and similarities with other individuals. In this case, a human being cannot be considered a person.

How is personality formed during group communication, when a person becomes aware of his “I”? Let's consider the most well-known scientific explanations of this process.

The famous American psychologist and sociologist Charles Cooley set himself the task of exploring the process of a person’s gradual understanding of the difference between his “I” and other personalities. As a result of numerous studies, he determined that the development of the concept of one’s own “I” occurs during a long, contradictory and confusing process and cannot be carried out without the participation of other individuals, i.e. without a social environment. Each person, according to C. Cooley, builds his “I” based on the reactions he perceives of other people with whom he comes into contact. For example, a girl’s parents and friends tell her that she is pretty and looks great. If these statements are repeated often enough, more or less constantly and by different people, then the girl eventually feels pretty and acts like a beautiful creature. But even a pretty girl will feel like an ugly duckling if from an early age her parents or acquaintances disappoint her and treat her as ugly. A.I. Kuprin, in his story “The Blue Star,” perfectly described a situation when a girl who was considered the ugliest in her country began to be considered the first beauty after moving to another country.

Such reasoning led C. Cooley to the idea that the personal “I” - the image is not born only in connection with objective facts. The most ordinary child, whose efforts are appreciated and rewarded, will feel a sense of confidence in his abilities and his own talent, while a truly capable and talented child, whose efforts are perceived by those closest to him as unsuccessful, will feel a painful sense of incompetence and his abilities may be almost paralyzed . It is through relationships with others, through their assessments, that each person determines whether he is smart or stupid, attractive or ugly, worthy or worthless.

This human self, revealed through the reactions of others, became known as the mirror self by Charles Cooley, who first analyzed the process of self discovery. C. Cooley identified three stages in the construction of the mirror “I”:

1. our perception of how we look at others;

2. our perception of their opinion about how we look;

3. our feelings about this opinion.

Suppose that whenever you walk into a room and walk towards a group of people chatting with each other, they quickly leave with polite apologies. If this result is repeated several times, then it is obvious that you have the feeling that the group has a bad opinion of you and that they don’t want to communicate with you. Or vice versa, when you appear, the group constantly strives to form a circle around you, its members actively communicate with you. In this case, analyzing their actions will certainly have a positive impact on your self-esteem.

Just as reflection in a mirror gives an image of the physical “I,” so the perception of other people’s reactions to my behavior or appearance gives an image of the social “I.” For example, I know that I am talented in some respects and mediocre in others. This knowledge comes from analyzing the reactions of others to my actions. A young child whose first artistic efforts are criticized will soon think that she lacks artistic talent, while a child whose artistic talent is constantly supported by her parents may believe in her abilities in this area. When the child grows up, other individuals will begin to express their opinions and reveal their reactions, which will differ from the opinions of the parents. As a result, a person's perception of their abilities may change.

Thus, the “social mirror” is constantly operating, it is constantly in front of us and is also constantly changing. These changes are especially visible when in childhood, when assessing his abilities, a person is focused on the opinions of those with whom he is constantly in personal contact, and then, as he grows up, he is already guided by the opinions of individuals who are well versed in the subject of his abilities. Therefore, we can say that upon reaching maturity, a person pays the greatest attention to creating an image of the social “I” based on the assessments of competent specialists.

As a person develops, he not only becomes more strict when choosing a group of individuals who play the role of a social mirror, but also selects images that influence him. A person always pays more attention to some opinions and less to others, he may even completely ignore some opinions and reactions about his behavior. In this case, there is the possibility of misinterpretation of opinions, or a distorted mirror. We, for example, often support pleasant statements about ourselves, which in reality turn out to be simply flattery, or we may attribute the boss’s scolding to inability or inability, while this simply serves as a manifestation of his bad mood.

Thus, the mirror “I” that forms the personality, due to such distortions, never fully corresponds to the actual state of affairs. American researchers E. Kelvin and W. Holtsman published the results of experiments in 1953, from which it follows that there is a very significant difference between an individual’s opinion of his abilities (based on the assessments of other individuals) and the actual level of these abilities. The reason for such differences was, firstly, the selection by individuals of the opinions of others that were favorable to them and, secondly, the difference between how people evaluate others publicly and what they really think about them.

Determining the possibility of forming a personality, an “I” - an image based on the mirror “I,” Ch. Cooley, however, did not take into account the activity of the individual. According to his teaching, personality develops only through the opinions of others, limited to a selective role. In addition, he did not establish the mechanism for a person’s perception of assessments made by other individuals, and did not show how the socialization of an individual in a group is carried out.

University of Chicago professor, philosopher, sociologist and social psychologist J. Mead developed a theory that explains the essence of the process of an individual’s perception of other personalities and developed the concept of a “generalized other,” which to a certain extent complements and develops the theory of the mirror “I.” In accordance with the concept of J. Mead, the “generalized other” represents the universal values and standards of behavior of a certain group, which form an individual “I” image among the members of this group. In the process of communication, an individual, as it were, takes the place of other individuals and sees himself as a different person. He evaluates his actions and appearance in accordance with the presented assessments of his “generalized other.”

Each of us knows the feeling when, after an absurd incident, a person imagines with embarrassment how he looked in the eyes of others. He puts himself in their place and imagines what they think about him.

This awareness of the “generalized other” develops through the processes of “role taking” and “role playing.” Role taking is an attempt to assume the behavior of a person in another situation or in another role. Participants in children's games take on different roles, for example, when playing house (you will be a mother, you will be a dad, you will be a child). Role playing is actions associated with actual role behavior, while role taking only pretends to be a game.

J. Mead distinguished three stages in the process of teaching a child to perform adult roles. The first is the preparatory stage (between the ages of 1 and 3 years), during which the child imitates the behavior of adults without any understanding (for example, a girl punishing a doll). The second stage, called play (at 3-4 years), occurs when children begin to understand the behavior of those they portray, but the performance of the role is still unstable. At one point, the boy pretends to be a builder and stacks toy blocks on top of each other, but a minute later he begins to bombard his buildings, then becomes a policeman, and then an astronaut. The third is the final stage (at 4-5 years of age and beyond), in which role-playing behavior becomes collected and purposeful and the ability to perceive the roles of other actors is manifested. A successful example or analogue of this behavior can be considered the game of football, when the players constantly change roles as they move across the field. To interact with partners, each player needs to put himself in the partner’s place and imagine what he would do in a particular game episode. A team emerges and operates only when everyone learns not only their own role, but also the roles of their partners.

In the course of such a process, the individual, going through successively all the stages of entering other roles, develops the ability to see his own behavior in connection with other individuals and feel their reactions. Through awareness of other roles, as well as the feelings and values of others, a “generalized other” is formed in the consciousness of the individual. It is a rough comparison with the standards and values of society. By repeating the accepted role of the “generalized other”, the individual forms his concept of “I”. Insufficient ability to adapt to another point of view and take on the roles of other individuals can negatively affect personality development. Thus, some groups of young people with noticeable signs of deviant behavior, closed within their group, have an inability to accept other roles, and, consequently, to see themselves in the eyes of others, which negatively affects the development and mental abilities of the individual.

The American sociologist A. Haller, in addition to the theory of J. Mead, developed the concept of a “significant other.” A “significant other” is the person whose approval the individual seeks and whose instructions he accepts. Such personalities have the greatest influence on the attitudes of individuals and the formation of their own “I”. “Significant others” can be parents, wonderful teachers, mentors, some participants in children's games and, possibly, popular personalities. The individual seeks to accept their roles, imitate them and thus carry out the process of socialization through a “significant other.”

The two most commonly used terms that reflect a person’s sense of his own “I” and the degree of socialization of the individual are identity and self-esteem.

Identity refers to the feeling of being a unique individual, separate and distinct from other individuals, or the feeling of being part of a unique group, different from other groups in the use of group values. For example, a representative of a certain nation strives for the cultural patterns of his nation, comparing them with the cultural patterns of other nations. An individual’s sense of identity with a group largely depends on individual or group needs, the satisfaction of which leads to an increase in his prestige in the eyes of the “generalized other.” People often define identity based on race, nationality, religion, or occupation. The presence of these signs in an individual may mean low or high prestige in the eyes of those who matter to the individual and who influence her behavior.

History has witnessed situations where individuals wage a difficult and often futile struggle in some field only because they identify themselves with other individuals and through their behavior strive to earn their approval and increase their prestige. Self-esteem is also socially conditioned. A person's self-respect depends on the perception of how he is evaluated by others, especially those others whose opinions are especially important to him. If this perception is favorable, the person develops a sense of self-esteem. Otherwise, he will consider himself unworthy and incapable.

Unique personalized experience

Why are children raised in the same family so different from each other, even if they have similar group experiences? Because they did not have completely identical group experiences, their experiences were always similar in some ways and different in others. Each child is raised in a family with a different structure. He may be the only one, or he may have a brother or sister, communication with whom gives his personality new features. In addition, children communicate with different groups and perceive the roles of different people. Even twins with the same heredity will always be raised differently, since they cannot constantly meet the same people, hear the same words from their parents, experience the same joys and sorrows. In this regard, we can say that each personal experience is unique because no one can repeat it exactly. It can also be noted that the picture of individual experience is complicated by the fact that the person does not simply summarize this experience, but integrates it. Each person not only adds up the incidents and events that happened to him, like bricks in a wall, but he refracts their meaning through his past experience, as well as the experience of his parents, loved ones, and acquaintances.

Psychoanalysts argue that some incidents that occur during personal experience can be critical, since they give a certain color to all subsequent reactions of the person to the environment. For example, there is a known case of a small episode with traumatic significance, when a stranger’s uncle took away and threw away her favorite doll from a five-year-old girl. Subsequently, this episode influenced the communication of the now adult woman with men. Thus, while the group experience may be similar or even the same among different individuals, the individual experience is always unique. That is why there cannot be completely identical personalities.

The problem of social maturity of the individual

Any person in his development as a person goes through such stages as childhood, adolescence, adolescence, adulthood, aging. This is the line of his life, the content of which, in addition to common features with the lives of other people, contains many that are unique to this person. Both constitute a system of social properties of this individual.

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How to understand what human social behavior is?

Social behavior is explained in one phrase as a person’s actions within the norms of the entire society. A person adapts to the world around him by following the customs and rules accepted in this environment.

In general, human behavior is a complex thing. Psychologists know that it is impossible to understand a person’s inner world if one studies it without referring to other people. In the same way, it is impossible to understand one bee if its hive is not nearby.

Now let's look at the types of behavior. But first of all, behavior is either adequate or not.

Adequate behavior, in turn, happens:

Conformal behavior – corresponds to generally accepted norms;

Responsible behavior – fulfillment of obligations;

Helping behavior;

Correct behavior;

Syntonic behavior is harmonious behavior.

Types of inappropriate behavior include:

Victim - provoking others through their actions;

Deviant – immoral behavior; behavior that contradicts the mentality of society;

Delinquent – criminal, requiring punishment;

Demonstrative – behavior that attracts attention;

Conflict behavior

Erroneous behavior is the opposite of conformable behavior.

When does the process of personal socialization occur?

Socialization of personality is an individual process of a person’s entry into society, taking place under the watchful gaze of the collective. The main task of social control is to maintain social stability and move towards progress.

Personality socialization occurs along two mutually intertwining lines:

1.Assimilation of cultural values and norms of society.

2. Finding your place in society.

The socialization of each of us begins in early childhood and does not stop until old age. In other words, the stages of the socialization process coincide with life cycles.

From an early age we learn to play together. We learn to determine what is good and what is bad; what can be done and what cannot be done; in the future, this skill will be useful to us in the work team.

When we reach the age of 6, we go to school, then some of us go to university, and some to college, in a word, we study. Read more: .

After school graduation, we reconsider our life path, prioritizing our desires and prospects. We master the profession we like, start a family and children. Later, in adulthood, we communicate confidently, earn respect and authority in society. Our life is the components of socialization.

Socialization of personality It is also interesting because a person’s views change throughout his life. In childhood and adolescence, people are more mobile, active and energetic; their views are more flexible. In maturity and old age, people become more conservative, they no longer like change so much, and become capricious.

The concept of “behavior” came to sociology from psychology. The meaning of the term “behavior” is different, different from the meaning of such traditional philosophical concepts as action and activity. If action is understood as a rationally justified act that has a clear goal, strategy, and is carried out using specific conscious methods and means, then behavior is just the reaction of a living being to external and internal changes. Such a reaction can be both conscious and unconscious. Thus, purely emotional reactions - laughter, crying - are also behavior.

Social behavior - is a set of human behavioral processes associated with the satisfaction of physical and social needs and arising as a reaction to the surrounding social environment. The subject of social behavior can be an individual or a group.

If we abstract from purely psychological factors and think at the social level, then the behavior of an individual is determined primarily by socialization. The minimum of innate instincts that a person possesses as a biological being is the same for all people. Behavioral differences depend on qualities acquired during the process of socialization and, to some extent, on congenital and acquired psychological individual characteristics.

In addition, the social behavior of individuals is regulated by the social structure, in particular the role structure of society.

Social norm of behavior- this is behavior that fully corresponds to status expectations. Thanks to the existence of status expectations, society can predict the actions of an individual in advance with sufficient probability, and the individual himself can coordinate his behavior with the ideal model or model accepted by society. Social behavior that corresponds to status expectations is defined by the American sociologist R. Linton as social role. This interpretation of social behavior is closest to functionalism, since it explains behavior as a phenomenon determined by social structure. R. Merton introduced the category of “role complex” - a system of role expectations determined by a given status, as well as the concept of role conflict that arises when the role expectations of the statuses occupied by a subject are incompatible and cannot be realized in any single socially acceptable behavior.

The functionalist understanding of social behavior was subjected to fierce criticism from, first of all, representatives of social behaviorism, who believed that it was necessary to build the study of behavioral processes on the basis of the achievements of modern psychology. The extent to which the psychological aspects were really overlooked by the role interpretation of the command follows from the fact that N. Cameron tried to substantiate the idea of the role determination of mental disorders, believing that mental illness is the incorrect execution of one’s social roles and the result of the patient’s inability to perform them in the way society needs. Behaviorists argued that in the time of E. Durkheim, the successes of psychology were insignificant and therefore the functionality of the expiring paradigm met the requirements of the time, but in the 20th century, when psychology reached a high level of development, its data cannot be ignored when considering human behavior.

Forms of human social behavior

People behave differently in one or another social situation, in one or another social environment. For example, some demonstrators peacefully march along the declared route, others seek to organize unrest, and others provoke mass clashes. These various actions of social interaction actors can be defined as social behavior. Hence, social behavior is the form and method of manifestation by social actors of their preferences and attitudes, capabilities and abilities in social action or interaction. Therefore, social behavior can be considered as a qualitative characteristic of social action and interaction.

In sociology, social behavior is interpreted as: o behavior expressed in the totality of actions and actions of an individual or group in society and depending on socio-economic factors and prevailing norms; o external manifestation of activity, a form of transformation of activity into real actions in relation to socially significant objects; o a person’s adaptation to the social conditions of his existence.

To achieve life goals and in the implementation of individual tasks, a person can use two types of social behavior - natural and ritual, the differences between which are fundamental.

"Natural" behavior, individually significant and egocentric, is always aimed at achieving individual goals and is adequate to these goals. Therefore, the individual does not face the question of the correspondence between the goals and means of social behavior: the goal can and should be achieved by any means. The “natural” behavior of an individual is not socially regulated, therefore it is, as a rule, immoral or “unceremonious.” Such social behavior is “natural”, natural in nature, since it is aimed at ensuring organic needs. In society, “natural” egocentric behavior is “forbidden”, therefore it is always based on social conventions and mutual concessions on the part of all individuals.

Ritual behavior(“ceremonious”) - individually unnatural behavior; It is thanks to this behavior that society exists and reproduces. Ritual in all its diversity of forms - from etiquette to ceremony - permeates all social life so deeply that people do not notice that they live in a field of ritual interactions. Ritual social behavior is a means of ensuring the stability of the social system, and an individual who implements various forms of such behavior participates in ensuring the social stability of social structures and interactions. Thanks to ritual behavior, a person achieves social well-being, constantly being convinced of the inviolability of his social status and the preservation of the usual set of social roles.

Society is interested in ensuring that the social behavior of individuals is of a ritual nature, but society cannot abolish “natural” egocentric social behavior, which, being adequate in goals and unscrupulous in means, always turns out to be more beneficial for the individual than “ritual” behavior. Therefore, society strives to transform forms of “natural” social behavior into various forms of ritual social behavior, including through socialization mechanisms using social support, control and punishment.

Such forms of social behavior as:

cooperative behavior, which includes all forms of altruistic behavior - helping each other during natural disasters and technological disasters, helping young children and the elderly, helping subsequent generations through the transfer of knowledge and experience;
parental behavior - the behavior of parents towards their offspring.

Aggressive behavior is presented in all its manifestations, both group and individual - ranging from verbal insults of another person to mass extermination during wars.

Human Behavior Concepts

Human behavior is studied in many areas of psychology - in behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, etc. The term “behavior” is one of the key ones in existential philosophy and is used in the study of a person’s relationship to the world. The methodological capabilities of this concept are due to the fact that it allows us to identify unconscious stable structures of personality or human existence in the world. Among the psychological concepts of human behavior that have had a great influence on sociology and social psychology, we should mention, first of all, the psychoanalytic directions developed by Z. Freud, C. G. Jung, A. Adler.

Freud's ideas are based on the fact that an individual’s behavior is formed as a result of a complex interaction between the levels of his personality. Freud identifies three such levels: the lowest level is formed by unconscious impulses and drives determined by innate biological needs and complexes formed under the influence of the individual history of the subject. Freud calls this level the Id (Id) to show its separation from the individual’s conscious self, which forms the second level of his psyche. The conscious self includes rational goal setting and responsibility for one's actions. The highest level is the super-ego - what we would call the result of socialization. This is a set of social norms and values internalized by the individual, exerting internal pressure on him in order to displace from the consciousness unwanted (forbidden) impulses and drives for society and prevent them from being realized. According to Freud, the personality of any person is an ongoing struggle between the id and the super-ego, which undermines the psyche and leads to neuroses. Individual behavior is entirely conditioned by this struggle and is completely explained by it, since it is merely a symbolic reflection of it. Such symbols can be dream images, slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, obsessive states and fears.

Concept of C. G. Jung expands and modifies Freud's teachings, including in the sphere of the unconscious not only individual complexes and drives, but also the collective unconscious - the level of key images - archetypes - common to all people and nations. Archetypes record archaic fears and value concepts, the interaction of which determines the behavior and attitude of an individual. Archetypal images appear in the basic narratives - folk tales and legends, mythology, epic - of historically specific societies. The social regulatory role of such narratives in traditional societies is very great. They contain ideal models of behavior that form role expectations. For example, a male warrior should behave like Achilles or Hector, a wife like Penelope, etc. Regular recitations (ritual reenactments) of archetytic narratives constantly remind members of society of these ideal models of behavior.

Adler's psychoanalytic concept is based on an unconscious will to power, which, in his opinion, is an innate personality structure and determines behavior. It is especially strong among those who, for one reason or another, suffer from an inferiority complex. In an effort to compensate for their inferiority, they are able to achieve great success.

Further splitting of the psychoanalytic direction led to the emergence of many schools, disciplinary terms occupying a borderline position between psychology, social philosophy, and sociology. Let us dwell in detail on the work of E. Fromm.

Fromm's positions - a representative of neo-Freudianism in and - more precisely, can be defined as Freilo-Marxism, since, along with the influence of Freud, he was no less strongly influenced by the social philosophy of Marx. The uniqueness of neo-Freudianism in comparison with orthodox Freudianism is due to the fact that, strictly speaking, neo-Freudianism is rather sociology, while Freud, of course, is a pure psychologist. If Freud explains the behavior of an individual by complexes and impulses hidden in the individual unconscious, in short, by internal biopsychic factors, then for Fromm and Freilo-Marxism in general, the behavior of an individual is determined by the surrounding social environment. This is his similarity with Marx, who explained the social behavior of individuals ultimately by their class origin. Nevertheless, Fromm strives to find a place for the psychological in social processes. According to the Freudian tradition, turning to the unconscious, he introduces the term “social unconscious,” meaning mental experience that is common to all members of a given society, but for most of them does not reach the level of consciousness, because it is repressed by a special mechanism that is social in nature, belonging not to the individual, but to society. Thanks to this mechanism of repression, society maintains a stable existence. The mechanism of social repression includes language, the logic of everyday thinking, a system of social prohibitions and taboos. The structures of language and thinking are formed under the influence of society and act as a weapon of social pressure on the individual’s psyche. For example, coarse, anti-aesthetic, ridiculous abbreviations and abbreviations of “Newspeak” from Orwell’s dystopia actively distort the consciousness of the people who use them. To one degree or another, the monstrous logic of formulas like: “The dictatorship of the proletariat is the most democratic form of power” became the property of everyone in Soviet society.

The main component of the mechanism of social repression is social taboos, which act like Freudian censorship. That in the social experience of individuals that threatens the preservation of the existing society, if realized, is not allowed into consciousness with the help of a “social filter.” Society manipulates the consciousness of its members by introducing ideological clichés, which, due to frequent use, become inaccessible to critical analysis, withholding certain information, exerting direct pressure and causing fear of social isolation. Therefore, everything that contradicts socially approved ideological clichés is excluded from consciousness.

These kinds of taboos, ideologemes, logical and linguistic experiments form, according to Fromm, the “social character” of a person. People belonging to the same society, against their will, are, as it were, marked with the seal of a “common incubator”. For example, we unmistakably recognize foreigners on the street, even if we do not hear their speech, by their behavior, appearance, attitude towards each other; These are people from another society, and when they find themselves in a mass environment that is alien to them, they stand out sharply from it due to their similarities with each other. Social character - This is a style of behavior brought up by society and unconscious by the individual - from social to everyday. For example, Soviet and former Soviet people are distinguished by collectivism and responsiveness, social passivity and undemandingness, submission to power, personified in the person of the “leader,” a developed fear of being different from everyone else, and gullibility.

Fromm directed his criticism against modern capitalist society, although he also paid a lot of attention to describing the social character generated by totalitarian societies. Like Freud, he developed a program for restoring individuals' undistorted social behavior through awareness of what had been repressed. “By transforming the unconscious into consciousness, we thereby transform the simple concept of the universality of man into the vital reality of such universality. This is nothing more than the practical implementation of humanism.” The process of derepression—the liberation of socially oppressed consciousness—consists of eliminating the fear of awareness of the forbidden, developing the ability for critical thinking, and humanizing social life as a whole.

A different interpretation is offered by behaviorism (B. Skinner, J. Homans), which considers behavior as a system of reactions to various stimuli.

Skinner's concept is essentially biologizing, since it completely eliminates the differences between the behavior of humans and animals. Skinner distinguishes three types of behavior: unconditioned reflex, conditioned reflex and operant. The first two types of reactions are caused by exposure to appropriate stimuli, and operant reactions are a form of adaptation of the organism to the environment. They are active and voluntary. The body, as if by trial and error, finds the most acceptable method of adaptation, and if successful, the find is consolidated in the form of a stable reaction. Thus, the main factor in the formation of behavior is reinforcement, and learning turns into “guidance to the desired reaction.”

In Skinner's concept, a person appears as a creature whose entire inner life comes down to reactions to external circumstances. Changes in reinforcement mechanically cause changes in behavior. Thinking, the highest mental functions of a person, all culture, morality, art turn into a complex system of reinforcements designed to evoke certain behavioral reactions. This leads to the conclusion that it is possible to manipulate people’s behavior through a carefully developed “technology of behavior.” With this term, Skinner refers to the purposeful manipulative control of some groups of people over others, associated with the establishment of an optimal reinforcement regime for certain social goals.

The ideas of behaviorism in sociology were developed by J. and J. Baldwin, J. Homans.

Concept by J. andJ. Baldwin is based on the concept of reinforcement, borrowed from psychological behaviorism. Reinforcement in the social sense is a reward whose value is determined by subjective needs. For example, for a hungry person, food acts as a reinforcer, but if the person is full, it is not a reinforcer.

The effectiveness of reward depends on the degree of deprivation in a given individual. Subdeprivation is understood as the deprivation of something for which an individual feels a constant need. To the extent that a subject is deprived in any respect, his behavior depends on this reinforcement. So-called generalized reinforcers (for example, money), which act on all individuals without exception, do not depend on deprivation due to the fact that they concentrate access to many types of reinforcers at once.

Reinforcers are divided into positive and negative. Positive reinforcers are anything that is perceived by the subject as a reward. For example, if a particular encounter with the environment brings a reward, it is likely that the subject will strive to repeat this experience. Negative reinforcers are factors that determine behavior through the refusal of some experience. For example, if a subject denies himself some pleasure and saves money on it, and subsequently benefits from this saving, then this experience can serve as a negative reinforcer and the subject will always act that way.

The effect of punishment is the opposite of reinforcement. Punishment is an experience that causes a desire not to repeat it again. Punishment can also be positive or negative, but here everything is reversed compared to reinforcement. Positive punishment is punishment using a suppressive stimulus, such as hitting. Negative punishment influences behavior through the deprivation of something valuable. For example, depriving a child of sweets at lunch is a typical negative punishment.

The formation of operant reactions is probabilistic in nature. Unambiguousness is characteristic of reactions at the simplest level, for example, a child cries, demanding the attention of his parents, because parents always come to him in such cases. Adult reactions are much more complex. For example, a person selling newspapers in train cars does not find a buyer in every car, but he knows from experience that a buyer will eventually be found, and this makes him persistently walk from car to car. In the last decade, the receipt of wages at some Russian enterprises has assumed the same probabilistic nature, but nevertheless, people continue to go to work, hoping to receive it.

Homans' behaviorist concept of exchange appeared in the middle of the 20th century. Arguing with representatives of many areas of sociology, Homans argued that a sociological explanation of behavior must necessarily be based on a psychological approach. The interpretation of historical facts should also be based on a psychological approach. Homans motivates this by the fact that behavior is always individual, while sociology operates with categories applicable to groups and societies, therefore the study of behavior is the prerogative of psychology, and sociology in this matter should follow it.

According to Homans, when studying behavioral reactions, one should abstract from the nature of the factors that caused these reactions: they are caused by the influence of the surrounding physical environment or other people. Social behavior is simply the exchange of activities of some social value between people. Homans believes that social behavior can be interpreted using Skinner's behavioral paradigm, if supplemented with the idea of the mutual nature of stimulation in relationships between people. The relationships between individuals always represent a mutually beneficial exchange of activities, services, in short, this is the mutual use of reinforcements.

Homans briefly formulated the exchange theory in several postulates:

postulate of success - those actions that most often meet social approval are most likely to be reproduced;
incentive postulate - similar incentives associated with reward are likely to cause similar behavior;
postulate of value - the probability of reproducing an action depends on how valuable the result of this action seems to a person;
postulate of deprivation - the more regularly a person’s action is rewarded, the less he values subsequent rewards;
the double postulate of aggression-approval - the absence of an expected reward or unexpected punishment makes aggressive behavior probable, and an unexpected reward or the absence of an expected punishment leads to an increase in the value of the rewarded act and makes it more likely to be reproduced.

The most important concepts of exchange theory are:

the cost of behavior is what this or that action costs an individual - the negative consequences caused by past actions. In everyday terms, this is retribution for the past;
benefit - occurs when the quality and size of the reward exceed the price that the action costs.

Thus, exchange theory portrays human social behavior as a rational search for gain. This concept seems simplistic, and it is not surprising that it has attracted criticism from a variety of sociological directions. For example, Parsons, who defended the fundamental difference between the mechanisms of behavior of humans and animals, criticized Homans for the inability of his theory to provide an explanation of social facts on the basis of psychological mechanisms.

In his exchange theory I. Blau attempted a unique synthesis of social behaviorism and sociologism. Realizing the limitations of a purely behaviorist interpretation of social behavior, he set the goal of moving from the level of psychology to explaining on this basis the existence of social structures as a special reality that is not reducible to psychology. Blau's concept is an enriched theory of exchange, which identifies four successive stages of transition from individual exchange to social structures: 1) the stage of interpersonal exchange; 2) level of power-status differentiation; 3) stage of legitimation and organization; 4) stage of opposition and change.

Blau shows that starting from the level of interpersonal exchange, exchange may not always be equal. In cases where individuals cannot offer each other sufficient rewards, the social ties formed between them tend to disintegrate. In such situations, attempts arise to strengthen disintegrating ties in other ways - through coercion, through the search for another source of reward, through subordinating oneself to the exchange partner in the order of generalized credit. The last path means a transition to the stage of status differentiation, when a group of people capable of providing the required reward becomes more privileged in terms of status than other groups. Subsequently, the situation is legitimized and consolidated and opposition groups are identified. By analyzing complex social structures, Blau goes far beyond the behavioral paradigm. He argues that the complex structures of society are organized around social values and norms, which serve as a kind of mediating link between individuals in the process of social exchange. Thanks to this link, it is possible to exchange rewards not only between individuals, but also between an individual and a group. For example, considering the phenomenon of organized charity, Blau determines what distinguishes charity as a social institution from simple help from a rich individual to a poorer one. The difference is that organized charity is socially oriented behavior, which is based on the desire of a wealthy individual to conform to the norms of the wealthy class and share social values; through norms and values, an exchange relationship is established between the sacrificing individual and the social group to which he belongs.

Blau identifies four categories of social values on the basis of which exchange is possible:

particularistic values that unite individuals on the basis of interpersonal relationships;
universalist values, which act as a yardstick for assessing individual merits;
legitimate authority is a value system that provides power and privileges to a certain category of people compared to all others:
oppositional values are ideas about the need for social change that allow the opposition to exist at the level of social facts, and not just at the level of interpersonal relations of individual oppositionists.

It can be said that Blau's exchange theory is a compromise option that combines elements of Homans' theory and sociology in the interpretation of reward exchange.

J. Mead's role concept is a symbolic interactionist approach to the study of social behavior. Its name is reminiscent of the functionalist approach: it is also called role-playing. Mead views role behavior as the activity of individuals interacting with each other in freely accepted and played roles. According to Mead, the role interaction of individuals requires them to be able to put themselves in the place of another, to evaluate themselves from the position of another.

Synthesis of exchange theory with symbolic interactionism P. Zingelman also tried to implement it. Symbolic interactionism has a number of intersections with social behaviorism and exchange theories. Both of these concepts emphasize the active interaction of individuals and view their subject matter from a microsociological perspective. According to Singelman, interpersonal exchange relationships require the ability to put oneself in the position of another in order to better understand his needs and desires. Therefore, he believes that there are grounds for merging both directions into one. However, social behaviorists were critical of the emergence of the new theory.

TEST

Socialization of personality

Introduction

socialization society personality individual

All his life a person searches for his place in the world. He cannot exist without society, and it, in turn, cannot exist without him. When a person is just born, he is small and helpless. And society meets it with norms, rules, restrictions, a well-functioning system by which it functions, and thousands of years of accumulated experience. Now the little man needs to accept the rules and learn to live in a huge society.

What is the process of a person’s entry into society, how does it go, what does it consist of, what stages is it divided into - these questions will be relevant as long as the world exists.

The individual and society interact in the process of socialization: society transmits socio-historical experience, norms, symbols, and the individual assimilates the norms, symbols and socio-historical experience that society transmits.

The main problems of the sociological theory of personality are related to the process of personality formation and the development of its needs in inextricable connection with the functioning and development of social communities, the study of the natural connection between the individual and society, the individual and the group, the regulation and self-regulation of the social behavior of the individual. Sociology in general contains many theories of personality, which differ from each other in fundamental methodological settings.

The most traditional in sociology is the study of socialization. In its most general form, socialization is understood as the process of transferring to a person social information, experience, and culture accumulated in society. The concept of “socialization” is used more widely in the sociology of education than any other. Within the process of socialization, it is proposed to take into account two vectors of development, each of which can become the object of primary attention in one or another concept: the direction of information from society, the activity of society and the transformation of society in connection with the inclusion of a new “unit” in the social whole, as well as the range of problems associated with the “embedding” of the proposed information by society, the inclusion of the norms of the existence of society in the structure of the individual’s worldview. Peculiar approaches to the role of society and the individual lead to the formation of divergent concepts of socialization.

The topic of my test is: “Socialization of the individual.”

Object of study is the individual as a social being.

Subject of study: socialization of the individual, main stages and features.

Purpose This work is to study the socialization of personality:

Based on the purpose of the work, we will set and solve a number of the following tasks:

)Let's study the concept of personality and the main factors of its development;

)Let's consider the content of the concept of personality socialization,

)We explore the essence and features of socialization, its stages, as well as the role of culture in the socialization of the individual.

1. Personality and the main factors of its development

Personality is one of those phenomena that is rarely interpreted in the same way by two different authors. All definitions of personality, one way or another, are determined by two opposing views on its development.

From the point of view of some, each personality is formed and develops in accordance with its innate qualities and abilities, and the social environment plays a very insignificant role. Representatives of another point of view completely reject the innate internal traits and abilities of the individual, believing that personality is a certain product, completely formed in the course of social experience.

These are extreme points of view on the process of personality formation. The analysis must take into account both the biological characteristics of the individual and his social experience. At the same time, practice shows that social factors in personality formation are more significant.

The definition of personality given by V. Yadov seems satisfactory: “Personality is the integrity of a person’s social properties, a product of social development and the inclusion of the individual in the system of social relations through active activity and communication.” According to this view, personality develops from a biological organism solely through various types of social and cultural experiences. At the same time, it is not denied that she has innate abilities, temperament and predisposition, which significantly influence the process of formation of personality traits.

In sociology, it is customary to distinguish between the concepts of “man,” “individual,” and “personality.” "Human" means that a living being belongs to the human race. "Individual" includes unique, unique properties of a person that distinguish him from another person. Concept "personality" is introduced to highlight and emphasize the non-natural essence of man and the individual, that is, the emphasis is on the social principle.

In sociology personality defined as:

ü the systemic quality of an individual, determined by his involvement in social relations and manifested in joint activities and communication;

ü subject of social relations and conscious activity.

The formation of personality is influenced to a certain extent by biological factors, as well as factors of the physical environment and general cultural patterns of behavior in a particular social group. However, the main factors determining the process of personality formation are certainly group experience and subjective, unique personal experience. These factors are fully manifested in the process of socialization of the individual.

2. The essence of the process of personal socialization

In sociology, personality is considered as the result of the development of the individual, the most complete embodiment of all human qualities. Individual - this is a single representative of the human race, a specific bearer of all the social and psychological traits of humanity: reason, will, needs, interests, etc.

The mechanism and process of personality formation are revealed in sociology on the basis of the concept of “socialization”.

Socialization - this is the process through which an individual assimilates the basic elements of culture: symbols, meanings, values, norms. On the basis of this assimilation in the course of socialization, the formation of social qualities, properties, actions and skills occurs, thanks to which a person becomes a capable participant in social interaction.

Socialization - this is the process of formation of the social “I”. The individual and society interact in the process of socialization: society transmits socio-historical experience, norms, symbols, and the individual assimilates them depending on his qualities.

The meaning of the socialization process in its early stages is the search for one’s social place.

Socialization is the process of personality formation, its gradual assimilation of the requirements of society, the acquisition of socially significant characteristics of consciousness and behavior that regulate its relationship with society. Sociologists use this term to describe the process by which and by which people learn to adapt to social norms, that is, the process that makes possible the continuation of society and the transmission of its culture from generation to generation. This process is conceptualized in two ways.

Socialization can be understood as the internalization of social norms: social norms become mandatory for the individual in the sense that they are established by him for himself, rather than imposed on him by means of external regulation and are thus part of the individual’s own individuality. Thanks to this, the individual feels an internal need to adapt to the social environment around him.

Socialization can be conceptualized as an essential element of social interaction based on the assumption that people wish to increase the value of their own self-image by seeking approval and increased status in the eyes of others; in this case, individuals are socialized to the extent that they direct their actions in accordance with the expectations of others.

Socialization of the individual begins from the first years of life and ends by the period of civil maturity of a person, although the powers, rights and responsibilities acquired by him do not indicate that the socialization process is completely completed: in some aspects it continues throughout life. It is in this sense that we talk about the need to improve the pedagogical culture of parents, about the fulfillment of civic responsibilities by a person, and about observing the rules of interpersonal communication. Otherwise, socialization means the process of constant cognition, consolidation and creative development by a person of the rules and norms of behavior dictated to him by society.

Socialization is usually divided into three stages. At each of these levels there are various agents and institutions of socialization.

Agents of Socialization - these are specific people responsible for the transmission of cultural experience.

Socialization institutions - these are institutions that influence and direct the process of socialization.

Primary socialization occurs in the sphere of interpersonal relationships in small groups: at the primary stage (socialization of the infant), the main agent of socialization is the family. The primary agents of socialization are the individual’s immediate environment: parents, close and distant relatives, family friends, peers, doctors, coaches, etc. These people, communicating with the individual, influence the formation of his personality.

Secondary stage covers the period of formal education; and the third stage is the socialization of an adult, when social factors enter roles for which primary and secondary socialization cannot fully prepare them (for example, becoming an employee, husband, wife, parent). Secondary socialization occurs at the level of large social groups and institutions. Secondary agents are formal organizations, official institutions: representatives of the school administration, army, state, etc.

The introduction of individual intelligence to social intelligence occurs in the process of socialization and is an important part of it.

A person receives his first elementary information in the family, which lays the foundations of both consciousness and behavior. In sociology, attention is drawn to the fact that the value of the family as a social institution has not been sufficiently taken into account for a long time. The downplaying of the role of the family brought great losses, mainly of a moral nature, which subsequently turned into major costs in working and socio-political life.

The school takes over the baton of individual socialization. As a young person grows older and prepares to fulfill his civic duty, the body of knowledge acquired by a young person becomes more complex. However, not all of them acquire the character of consistency and completeness. Thus, in childhood, a child receives his first ideas about his homeland, and in general terms begins to form his idea of the society in which he lives, of the principles of building his life. But sociologists are still concerned with the question: why is the initial process of personal socialization so different, why does school produce young people who differ not just in their ideas, but also in their set of values, which sometimes directly oppose each other?

The socialization of that part of the youth who comes to work after graduating from educational institutions (secondary, vocational, higher) continues in the specific conditions that have developed in production under the influence not only of social relations, but also of the specific features inherent in a given social institution.

A powerful tool for the socialization of the individual is the media - print, radio, television. They carry out intensive processing of public opinion and its formation. At the same time, the implementation of both creative and destructive tasks is equally possible.

The socialization of the individual organically includes the transfer of the social experience of mankind, therefore continuity, preservation and assimilation of traditions are inseparable from the everyday life of people. Through them, new generations are involved in solving economic, social, political and spiritual problems of society.

And finally, the socialization of the individual is associated with the labor, socio-political and cognitive activities of a person. It is not enough to simply have knowledge; it must be transformed into beliefs, which are represented in the actions of the individual. It is the combination of knowledge, beliefs and practical actions that forms the characteristic features and qualities characteristic of certain personality types.

Thus, the socialization of the individual represents, in essence, a specific form of a person’s appropriation of those civil relations that exist in all spheres of public life.

3. Stages of socialization

Socialization - the process by which an individual assimilates the norms of his group in such a way that through the formation of his own “I” the uniqueness of this individual as a person is manifested, the process of assimilation by the individual of patterns of behavior, social norms and values necessary for his successful functioning in a given society.

The following stages of socialization are distinguished:

Primary socialization , or adaptation stage (from birth to adolescence, the child assimilates social experience uncritically, adapts, adapts, imitates). During the period of primary (children's) socialization, the possibility of acquiring information from social memory is still largely determined by the capabilities and parameters of biological intelligence: the quality of “sensory sensors,” reaction time, concentration, and memory. However, the further a person moves away from the moment of his birth, the less role biological instinct plays in this process and the more important factors of social order become. From the moment he is born, the world of a baby is populated by other people. Moreover, very soon he becomes able to distinguish them from each other, and some of them acquire dominant significance for his life. From the very beginning, the child interacts not only with his own body and physical environment, but also with other human beings. The biography of an individual from the moment of his birth is the history of his relationships with others.

The typical social situation “inequality of opportunity - unequal start” manifests itself already in the first years of a child’s life. In some families, they are involved in the upbringing and development of the baby’s intellect almost from the moment of his birth, while in others they are not involved at all. By the time they enter school or kindergarten - that is, by the beginning of the stage of secondary socialization - children already differ quite noticeably in their level of development, ability to read and write, in their literary and general cultural background, and in their motivation to perceive new information.

It is clear that in the family of a professional intellectual, children undergo a significantly different socialization than in the families of parents of a lower intellectual level. Mental abilities and intelligence should not be confused: the former are indeed, to a large extent, determined genetically, the latter, of course, is developed. One could list a huge number of outstanding personalities who received a decisive intellectual start precisely from the conditions of their childhood - from their parents and that circle of family friends who played the most important role as agents of primary socialization (the youth of Mozart, Bach).

By the time primary socialization is completed, parents (and their immediate environment) convey to their children not only a significant amount of information about the world in which they will live, but also the norms, values and goals of their groups and their social class.

Content, character and quality secondary socialization , coinciding in time (and content) with the period of receiving formal education, are already determined by the level of training of teachers, the quality of pedagogical methods, and the conditions in which the educational process takes place. And this cannot but be influenced by social origin, and therefore the cultural and material level of the family. This level determines which school the child will go to, what books and how much he will read, what his daily social circle will be, whether he will have personal mentors and tutors, a computer, etc.

It is at school that the true formation of intelligence begins, that is, its introduction to the world of scientific, systematized knowledge. However, the school pursues more than just this goal. One of the main functions of the stage of secondary socialization is the general preparation of the individual for his future life activities in social institutions operating within the framework of formal organizations. For these reasons, the school, in addition to forming a stable set of certain knowledge in its students, always sets itself the task of instilling in them the ideological and moral values dominant in a given society in a given historical period.

Stage individualization (there is a desire to distinguish oneself from others, a critical attitude towards social norms of behavior). In adolescence, the stage of individualization, self-determination “the world and I” is characterized as intermediate socialization, since everything is still unstable in the worldview and character of the teenager.

Adolescence (18-25 years) is characterized as stable conceptual socialization, when stable personality traits are developed.

Stage integration (there is a desire to find one’s place in society, to “fit in” with society). Integration proceeds successfully if a person’s characteristics are accepted by the group, by society. If not accepted, the following outcomes are possible: maintaining one’s otherness and the emergence of aggressive interactions (relationships) with people and society; changing oneself, “becoming like everyone else”; conformism, external agreement, adaptation.

In the third period - socialization of an adult - the development of individual intelligence and the possibility of its “feeding” from social intelligence, as well as all other abilities of the individual, are almost completely determined by his social status. The labor stage of socialization covers the entire period of a person’s maturity, the entire period of his working activity, when a person not only assimilates social experience, but also reproduces it due to the person’s active influence on the environment through his activities.

Post-work the stage of socialization considers old age as an age that makes a significant contribution to the reproduction of social experience, to the process of transmitting it to new generations.

On stages of infancy The main role in the child’s life is played by the mother, she feeds, cares, gives affection, care, as a result of which the child develops basic trust in the world. Basic trust is manifested in the ease of feeding, the child’s good sleep, normal bowel function, the child’s ability to calmly wait for the mother (does not scream or call, the child seems confident that the mother will come and do what is needed). The dynamics of trust development depend on the mother. A severe deficit in emotional communication with the baby leads to a sharp slowdown in the child’s mental development.

2nd stage early childhood is associated with the formation of autonomy and independence, the child begins to walk, learns to control himself when performing acts of defecation; Society and parents teach the child to be neat and tidy, and begin to shame him for “wet pants.”

At the age of 3-5 years, at 3rd stage , the child is already convinced that he is a person, since he runs, knows how to speak, expands the area of mastery of the world, the child develops a sense of enterprise and initiative, which is embedded in the game. Play is very important for the development of a child, i.e. it forms initiative, creativity, the child masters relationships between people through play, develops his psychological capabilities: will, memory, thinking, etc. But if the parents strongly suppress the child and do not pay attention to his games, this has a negative impact on the child’s development and contributes to the consolidation of passivity, uncertainty, and feelings of guilt.

At primary school age (4th stage) the child has already exhausted the possibilities of development within the family, and now the school introduces the child to knowledge about future activities and transmits the technological egos of culture. If a child successfully masters knowledge and new skills, he believes in himself, is confident, and calm, but failures at school lead to the emergence, and sometimes to the consolidation, of feelings of inferiority, lack of faith in one’s abilities, despair, and loss of interest in learning.

During adolescence (5th stage) a central form of ego-identity is formed. Rapid physiological growth, puberty, concern about how he looks in front of others, the need to find his professional calling, abilities, skills - these are the questions that arise before a teenager, and these are already society’s demands on a teenager about self-determination.

On 6th stage (youth) for a person, it becomes relevant to search for a life partner, close cooperation with people, strengthening ties with the entire social group, a person is not afraid of depersonalization, he mixes his identity with other people, a feeling of closeness, unity, cooperation, intimacy with certain people appears. However, if the diffusion of identity extends to this age, the person becomes isolated, isolation and loneliness become entrenched.

7th - central stage - adult stage of personality development. Identity development continues throughout your life; there is influence from other people, especially children: they confirm that they need you. Positive symptoms of this stage: the individual invests himself in good, beloved work and care for children, is satisfied with himself and life.

After 50 years (8th stage) a completed form of self-identity is created on the basis of the entire path of personal development, a person rethinks his entire life, realizes his “I” in spiritual thoughts about the years he has lived. A person must understand that his life is a unique destiny that does not need to be crossed, a person “accepts” himself and his life, realizes the need for a logical conclusion to life, shows wisdom, a detached interest in life in the face of death.

For successful socialization, according to D. Smelser , the action of three facts is necessary: expectations, behavior changes and the desire to meet these expectations. The process of personality formation, in his opinion, occurs in three different stages:

1)stages of imitation and copying of adult behavior by children;

2)the play stage, when children recognize behavior as playing a role;

)stage of group games, in which children learn to understand what is expected of them by a whole group of people.

One of the first to identify the elements of child socialization Z. Freud . According to Freud, personality includes three elements: the “id” - a source of energy stimulated by the desire for pleasure; “ego” - exercising control over the personality, based on the principle of reality, and “superego”, or the moral evaluative element.

Socialization is represented by Freud as a process of unfolding the innate properties of a person, as a result of which the formation of these three constituent elements of personality occurs. In this process, Freud identifies four stages, each of which is associated with certain areas of the body, the so-called erogenous zones: oral, anal, phallic and puberty.

French psychologist J. Piaget , while maintaining the idea of various stages in personality development, emphasizes the development of the individual’s cognitive structures and their subsequent restructuring depending on experience and social interaction. These stages replace one another in a certain sequence: sensory-motor (from birth to 2 years), operational (from 2 to 7), the stage of specific operations (from 7 to 11), the stage of formal operations (from 12 to 15).

Many psychologists and sociologists emphasize that the process of socialization continues throughout a person's life, and argue that the socialization of adults differs from the socialization of children in several ways. The socialization of adults rather changes external behavior, while the socialization of children shapes value orientations. Socialization in adults is designed to help a person acquire certain skills; socialization in childhood deals more with the motivation of behavior. Psychologist R. Harold proposed a theory in which the socialization of adults is viewed not as a continuation of childhood socialization, but as a process in which the psychological signs of childhood are eliminated: the rejection of childhood myths (such as the omnipotence of authority or the idea that our demands should be a law for others).

Socialization goes through stages that coincide with the so-called life cycles, each stage of which is accompanied by two complementary processes: desocialization and resocialization.

Desocialization is a process of unlearning old values, norms, roles and rules of behavior.

Resocialization is the process of learning new values, norms, roles and rules of behavior to replace the old ones.

Freud identified a number of psychological mechanisms of socialization: imitation, identification, feelings of shame and guilt.

Imitation is called a conscious attempt by a child to copy a certain model of behavior. Identification - This is a way of realizing belonging to a particular community. The main influence here is exerted by the child’s immediate environment.

Imitation and identification are positive mechanisms because they are aimed at mastering a certain type of behavior. Shame and guilt represent negative mechanisms because they suppress or prohibit certain patterns of behavior.

Feelings shame and guilt They are closely related to each other and almost indistinguishable, but there are certain differences between them. Shame is usually associated with the feeling of being exposed and disgraced. This feeling is focused on the perception of an individual’s actions by other people. The feeling of guilt is associated with internal experiences, with a person’s self-assessment of his actions. Punishment here is carried out by oneself, the controlling form is conscience.

4. Group Experience

Thus, a gradual creation of a personality is carried out with unique internal qualities and, at the same time, with perceived qualities common to its social environment, which are comprehended through group communication, group experience.

Famous American psychologist and sociologist C. Cooley set himself the task of exploring the process of a person’s gradual understanding of the difference between his “I” and other personalities. As a result of numerous studies, he determined that the development of the concept of one’s own “I” occurs during a long, contradictory and confusing process and cannot be carried out without the participation of other individuals, that is, without the social environment.

Each person, according to C. Cooley, builds his “I” based on the reactions he perceives of other people with whom he comes into contact. For example, a girl’s parents and friends tell her that she is pretty and looks great. If these statements are repeated often enough, more or less constantly and by different people, then the girl eventually feels pretty and acts like a beautiful creature. But even a pretty girl will feel like an ugly duckling if from an early age her parents or acquaintances disappoint her and treat her as ugly. A.I. Kuprin, in his story “The Blue Star,” perfectly described a situation when a girl who was considered the ugliest in her country began to be considered the first beauty after moving to another country.

Such reasoning led C. Cooley to the idea that the personal “I” - the image is not born only in connection with objective facts. The most ordinary child, whose efforts are appreciated and rewarded, will feel a sense of confidence in his abilities and his own talent, while a truly capable and talented child, whose efforts are perceived by those closest to him as unsuccessful, will feel a painful sense of incompetence, and his abilities may be practically paralyzed. It is through relationships with others, through their assessments, that each person determines whether he is smart or stupid, attractive or ugly, worthy or worthless.

This human self, revealed through the reactions of others, became known as the mirror self by Charles Cooley, who first analyzed the process of self discovery. C. Cooley determined three stages in construction mirror "I":

1)our perception of how we view others;

2)our perception of their opinion about how we look;

)our feelings about this opinion.

The “social mirror” is constantly operating, it is constantly in front of us and is also constantly changing. These changes are especially visible when in childhood, when assessing his abilities, a person is focused on the opinions of those with whom he is constantly in personal contact, and then, as he grows up, he is already guided by the opinions of individuals who are well versed in the subject of his abilities. Therefore, we can say that upon reaching maturity, a person pays the greatest attention to creating an image of the social “I” based on the assessments of competent specialists.

University of Chicago professor, philosopher, sociologist and social psychologist J. Mead developed a theory that explains the essence of the process of an individual’s perception of other personalities and developed the concept "generalized other" , to a certain extent complementing and developing the theory of the mirror “I”. In accordance with the concept of J. Mead "generalized other" represents the universal values and standards of behavior of a certain group, which form an individual “I” image among the members of this group. In the process of communication, an individual, as it were, takes the place of other individuals and sees himself as a different person. He evaluates his actions and appearance in accordance with the presented assessments of his “generalized other.”

This awareness of the “generalized other” develops through the processes of “role taking” and “role playing.” Role Acceptance - this is an attempt to take on the behavior of an individual in a different situation or in a different role.

J. Mead distinguished three stages in the process of teaching a child to perform adult roles. The first is the preparatory stage(ages 1 to 3 years), during which the child imitates the behavior of adults without any understanding (for example, a girl punishing a doll). Second stage, called game(at 3-4 years), occurs when children begin to understand the behavior of those they portray, but the performance of the role is still unstable. At one point, the boy pretends to be a builder and stacks toy blocks on top of each other, but a minute later he begins to bombard his buildings, then becomes a policeman, and then an astronaut. Third - final stage(at 4-5 years old and beyond), in which role behavior becomes collected and purposeful and the ability to perceive the roles of other actors is manifested. A successful example or analogue of this behavior can be considered the game of football, when the players constantly change roles as they move across the field. To interact with partners, each player needs to put himself in the partner’s place and imagine what he would do in a particular game episode. A team emerges and operates only when everyone learns not only their own role, but also the roles of their partners.

American sociologist A. Haller in addition to the theory of J. Mead, he developed the concept "significant other" . A “significant other” is the person whose approval the individual seeks and whose instructions he accepts. Such personalities have the greatest influence on the attitudes of individuals and the formation of their own “I”. Parents, wonderful teachers, mentors, and popular personalities can act as “significant others.” The individual seeks to accept their roles, imitate them and thus carry out the process of socialization through a “significant other.”

The two most commonly used terms that reflect a person’s sense of his own “I” and the degree of socialization of the individual are identity and self-esteem.

5. Unique personalized experience

Each child is raised in a family with a different structure. He may be the only one, or he may have a brother or sister, communication with whom gives his personality new features. In addition, children communicate with different groups and perceive the roles of different people. Even twins with the same heredity will always be raised differently, since they cannot constantly meet the same people, hear the same words from their parents, experience the same joys and sorrows.

In this regard, we can say that each personal experience is unique because no one can repeat it exactly. It can also be noted that the picture of individual experience is complicated by the fact that the person does not simply summarize this experience, but integrates it. Each person not only adds up the incidents and events that happened to him, like bricks in a wall, but he refracts their meaning through his past experience, as well as the experience of his parents, loved ones, and acquaintances.

Thus, while the group experience may be similar or even the same among different individuals, the individual experience is always unique. That is why there cannot be completely identical personalities.

6. The role of culture in the socialization of the individual

In modern conditions, the process of socialization makes new demands on the spiritual appearance, beliefs and actions of people. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the implementation of socio-economic, political and spiritual changes can be feasible for highly educated, highly qualified people who consciously participate in their implementation. Only a person deeply convinced of the necessity of the planned transformations can be an active, effective force in the historical process.

Culture plays the role of social memory of society: it ensures the connection of times and continuity between generations. Each generation mastered the experience accumulated by previous generations and multiplied this experience, bringing something of its own to it. Every individual born must learn the experience accumulated by the people who lived before him in order to be able to live in society. The assimilation of this experience occurs in the process of socialization. This invaluable experience, without which the life of an individual in society and the integrity of society itself is impossible, is imprinted in the values, norms, rules and patterns of behavior, in the traditions and customs that make up the content of culture. The individual’s mastery of this experience begins with the parents teaching the child to eat with a spoon, drink from a cup, “behave correctly,” and observe behavioral norms.

Socialization of the individual occurs in conditions of interaction between world and national cultures. And although universal human motives are recognized as leading in the structure of social consciousness and behavior, the influence of national characteristics often turns out to be the decisive factor that largely determines the appearance of a person. The phenomenon of the national in the process of socialization, although it raised the question for sociology of finding new reserves for its combination with universal human values, led to the need for a deeper understanding of the socio-psychological mechanisms of recognition of the special place in the social life of each people, each nation and nationality and each of their individual representatives.

Socialization of personality presupposes that the object of research becomes not one or several, but the entire complex of socially significant qualities of a person in their close unity and interaction. They cover the entire set of traits of consciousness and behavior: knowledge, conviction, hard work, culture, good manners, the desire to live according to the laws of beauty, etc. Overcoming stereotypes and atavisms in the consciousness and behavior of people is important.

At the same time, no matter what sphere a person acts in, the spiritual moment always accompanies his activity in everything. Moreover, a person does not passively reproduce what society dictates to him. He has the ability to demonstrate his creative power and influence the phenomena around him.

The spiritual component is decisive in the socialization of a person, which allows us to consider this branch of sociological science in close connection with the problems of culture, education, science, and art literature. This in no way underestimates the role and importance of economic, social and political relations. But a person is elevated only by the level of culture, wealth and depth of his spiritual world, the degree of development of humanism, mercy and respect for other people.

Every society values certain personality traits above others, and children learn these values through socialization. Methods of socialization depend on which personality traits are valued most highly, and they can be very different in different cultures. For example, in American society, qualities such as self-confidence, self-control, and aggressiveness are highly valued; while in India traditionally opposite values have developed: contemplation, passivity and mysticism. Therefore, Americans usually treat famous athletes and astronauts with respect. Indians tend to respect religious or political figures who oppose violent methods (for example, Mahatma Gandhi).

These cultural values underlie social norms. Norms are the expectations and standards that govern how people interact. Some norms are represented by laws that prohibit theft, assaulting another person, breaking a contract, etc. Such laws are social norms, and those who violate them are punished. Certain norms are considered more important than others: breaking the law prohibiting murder is more dangerous to society than exceeding the speed limit. However, most norms are not reflected in laws at all. Our behavior in everyday life is influenced by many expectations and norms: we should be polite to other people; when we are visiting a friend's house, we should give a gift for his family; On the bus you must give up your seats to the elderly or disabled. We set these expectations for our children as well.

It's not just norms that influence people's behavior. The cultural ideals of a given society have a huge impact on their actions and aspirations. Moreover, since these ideals are formed on the basis of many values, society avoids overall uniformity. For example, we value science, which is why the name Albert Einstein is honored and respected. We also highly value sports, giving famous athletes a high social status. Conflicting ideals to coexist: Americans place importance on mastering knowledge in the name of advancing science and support organizations such as the National Science Foundation; at the same time, they believe that knowledge should be of practical use, so they applaud when the Senate awards the Order of the Golden Fleece to scientists who study subjects it considers uninteresting or useless.

The lack of uniformity in behavior shows that, in essence, socialization is a two-way, multidirectional process. There is mutual influence between biological factors and culture, as well as between those who carry out socialization and those who are socialized.

Conclusion

A special role in the formation and development of personality and its individual structures is played by communication and other types of human interaction with the immediate environment and activities, first through communication with parents, and then through various types of joint activities with them, a person learns social experience, masters norms, rules, ways of behavior and activity, individual actions - the socialization of the individual occurs, its subjectivity is formed and developed.

Personality socialization is the process of a person mastering social and socio-psychological norms, rules, functions, values, and social experience in general. This is a continuous process of formation and development of material and spiritual culture, social and personal relationships characteristic of the specific conditions of his life and activity.

Socialization of the individual is carried out through its interaction with the environment, during which a person not only masters social experience, but also increases it, makes appropriate changes in the social and natural environment. The process of personal socialization has two interconnected sides. On the one hand, a person appropriates social experience. On the other hand, the individuality of a person is manifested, the exteriorization and objectification of subjectivity is carried out in his affairs, actions, and their results.

A personality is formed and develops under the influence of the totality of all factors and circumstances of its life and activities, as well as with its direct participation in this. The socialization of personality, its formation, the formation of a person as a bearer of spiritual and material values, norms, rules, relationships, the emergence and development of subjectivity occur under the influence of social circumstances. The process of socialization of the individual is the main, leading and determining process in the emergence, formation and development of the individual.

It is in the process of socialization that the individual develops appropriate attitudes towards social facts and, in general, to the surrounding world, selectivity in the perception and assessment of facts and events, subjectivity develops: a person begins to actively, selectively and purposefully interact with the environment, express himself, his spiritual and physical potential .

In the process of socialization, a person masters social experience, begins to understand the meaning of the world around him, and becomes aware of himself in it: systems of semantic formations of the individual are formed. This process begins in the family and then continues in preschool institutions, schools, universities, in production, through the media, and self-education.

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