Post #6: Socialization

Good afternoon. It's Justin again, and today I wanted to talk a little bit about the topic of socialization. My definition of socialization is how individuals learn through interaction with other individuals. As seen within some of the class work, there are certain aspects, or agents of socialization, that can influence how these people react. When these agents are missing, it may have drastic effects. I think the example in class that stood out the most to me was the video on Danielle. Danielle was a girl who was kept locked in a closet for her entire childhood, and had little to no interaction with other humans. As a result, she was found at 7 years old, but had the mind of an infant. It is cases like these that make me realize how important it is to be social, especially at a young age. I think of my own childhood. When I was growing up, my parents made sure I always had plenty of things to do and activities to keep my mind busy. I never really thought about it before, but, seeing kids like Danielle made me realize how crucial that type of play and interaction was. There must be a separation between nature and nurture. While I agree that it is important to allow one's nature to influence them, there must also be an outside sense of nurturing as well. This has been my favorite unit so far in sociology class, and hopefully there can be more to come!!