Virtual communities

In his best-selling book, Bowling Alone (2000), political scientist Robert Putnam deplores the loss of American community. For Putnam, the decline in American participation in bowling leagues symbolizes the increasing disconnection between people as they retreat from all sorts of civic and community participation and engage in more isolated activities, such as passive television watching. Indeed, data regarding membership in associations, political participation, and volunteering show a decline. Putnam deplores such a state of affairs as such community activities were essential to civic-minded socialization where social norms were transmitted.

However, if participation in traditionally household-based activities, such as bowling leagues and PTAs, show a marked decline, other forms of sociability have increased. New communication technologies allow for new and different forms of sociability. For instance, virtual or online communities are on the rise. The best example of a rising online communities are Facebook, MySpace or Flickr. Such communities are different in that they are not household-based but individualized. They provide a different type of socialization than traditional communities.

Virtual or online communities show that far from disappearing, communities are changing. Traditional communities are neighborhood or village-based. In the age of globalization, disappearing borders and unprecedented movements of population around the globe, communities are not disappearing but reconfiguring into geographically dispersed networks. According to Jeffrey Boase and al (2006), such geographically dispersed communities are facilitated by new electronic communication technologies, such as emails and the Internet. Moreover, research shows that new communications technologies extend our social connections but deepen them as well. People who interact face-to-face also tend to call each on the phone and exchange messages via emails or instant messages or text messages. This phenomenon of using multiple media to communicate is called media multiplexity.

Through the above explanation, you will understand, that agents of socialization play an important role in an individual's life. The different positive attributes fed by these agents create harmony in an individual that makes him feel confident and respect social etiquette. Without the norms and rules of a society, humans would have nothing to differentiate themselves from animal groups. I hope this article has help to shed some light on the concept of socialization.

6. Influence of workplace as an agent of socialization

Learning to behave appropriately within an occupation is a fundamental aspect of human socialization. Working full-time confirms adult status; it is an indication to all that one has passed out of adolescence [7, p. 862].

Occupational socialization starts with socialization experiences during childhood and adolescence. We get our first and fullest exposure to occupational roles through observing the work of our parents, of people whom we meet while they are performing their duties (doctors or firefighters, for example), and of people portrayed in the media (presidents, professional athletes, and so forth). These observations, along with the subtle messages we receive within a culture, help to shape – and often limit – the type of work we may consider.

Wilbert Moore has divided occupational socialization into four phases. The first phase is career choice, which involves selection of academic or vocational training appropriate for the desired job. Someone who hopes to become a physician, for example, must take certain courses, such as biology and chemistry. The second phase, anticipatory socialization, may last only a few months or extend for a period of years. The third phase of occupational socialization – conditioning and commitment – occurs in the work-related role. Conditioning consists of reluctantly adjusting to the more unpleasant aspects of one's job. Most people find that the novelty of a new daily schedule quickly wears off and then realize that parts of the work experience are rather tedious. Commitment refers to the enthusiastic acceptance of pleasurable duties that comes with recognition of the positive tasks of an occupation [7, p. 871-880].

In Moore's view, if a job proves to be satisfactory, the person will enter a fourth stage of socialization, which he calls continuous commitment. At this point, the job becomes an indistinguishable part of the person's self-identity.

Occupational socialization can be most intense during the transition from school to job, but it continues through one's work history. Technological advances may alter the requirements of the position and necessitate some degree of resocialization [8, p. 346-359].