UCSP – Quarter 1: Module 4

socialization are those which involves activities where people will behave the
Subject: Understanding Culture, way they do.
Society and Politics Enculturation is a process where one member of the society has to
Topic: Becoming a Member of Society get familiar with one specific culture. This requires people to learn the
culture, values, and behavior of what is around them. This gives limit,
control, and directives to an individual in the way of how he/she should act.
This module was designed and written to help you in defining culture and
society in the perspective of anthropology and sociology.

After finishing this module, you should be able to:

1. explain the context, content, processes, and consequences of

socialization

a. explains the development of one’s self and others as a product of

socialization and enculturation (UCSP11/12BMSIg-15)

b. identifies the context, content, processes, and consequences of

enculturation and socialization (UCSP11/12BMSIg-16)
[Education and religion are significant tools of socialization and
enculturation]

Agents of Socialization and Enculturation

The participants and agents of socialization and enculturation are
Lesson groups of people who interact with each other throughout their lives. It
consists of people, groups, institutions, and organization that may teach an
Socialization and
1 Enculturation
individual on how the will participate and behave in the society.
Family or the basic unit of the society. From infancy up to the present age
of an individual, parents and other family members have an influence to the
growth and development of a person.
Schools that nurture the academic and social activities of an individual.
This agent is one of the sources of acquired behavior, knowledge, beliefs,
Socialization and Enculturation values, character, and attitude.
Peer groups who reinforce the acceptable behavior of an individual.
Socialization is a lifelong social experience by which people interact Examples of these are barkada and organizations. Peer groups are the
with one another to learn culture, acquire their identities, and develop skills people who share the same interest which is formed in informal, forma,
for a survival in the society. It is a general process that takes place in specific spontaneous, and even in a voluntary way.
contexts. Through this, the members of the society is being prepared to hold Mass media includes books, magazines, newspapers, television, radio,
different values, beliefs, norms, culture, and tradition. Practices of social media, and movies. This is a powerful agent because the chosen media
of an individual may speak about his/her choices, character, and behavior.

1
 UCSP – Quarter 1: Module 4

Religion is also considered as an agent of socialization and enculturation Cultural identity reflects how the individuals think about their own
because it molds and educate an individual about his/her spiritual life. group and one’s feeling of identity or affiliation within a group. Likewise,
Religion has a great influence on the views and principles of a person. ethnic identity usually shows the presumed common genealogy or
State is the maker and enforcer of the law where members of it should abide ancestry of an individual. Moreover, national identity is a concept where
and obey to the regulations being reinforced. The state controls how a an individual identifies himself as a member of a certain nation. Lastly,
person behave in a certain community. religious identity where set of beliefs and practices are held for an
individual to study about faith and spiritual experiences.
Identity Formation
Identity formation is the development of an individual’s distinct There may be several identities that can be seen in an individual but there
personality, which is regarded as a persisting entity in a particular stage of is always a dominant identity that manifests within himself. This is called
life by which a person is recognized or known (Contreras, et. al, 2016). This as master identity. It came from a common good and practices among the
defines an individual’s identity to self and to others. Each member of the different identities where it coordinates power to the identity individual.
society has its own uniqueness from the others where he/she builds it
through a process and continuity.

Norm is the acceptable behavior that guides the members of a society or

group. In sociology, norms are forced that may exert good or bad result.
Normal refers to that which follows to norms, it is an act of abiding with
norms. Normative, is a belief that are expressed as value judgment, it
refers to what we identify as normal, regardless of whatever it is.

One example of norm is dressing appropriately according to the

Social identity wheel illustrates the various factors that affects the identity
environment you are in because it shows respect. Understanding norms
of an individual.
is like studying the simple rules of what we should or should not do.
Socialization is guided by norms because it was taught to us by our family,

2
 UCSP – Quarter 1: Module 4

persons in authority, law, popular culture, and even in school. We learn We learn values from the agents of socialization and enculturation
them through observing the people around us. Most likely, we cannot and we acquire it because we believe that it is a certain truth. Filipinos for
really see the process of learning norms visibly with our eyes. We usually instance are believing in lots of values like having close family ties, being
abide them because we know that they exist in our society. Norms govern hospitable to visitors, put the elders' hands on our foreheads to show
our behavior subconsciously. respect, resiliency in calamities, having the longest celebration of
Christmas season, etc.
On the other hand, there are norms that lead into social problems. There
are norms which are acceptable for many centuries until certain groups Status and Roles
break it by considering a “new acceptable” norm. For instance, According to sociologists, status describes the position a person occupies
heterosexuality has been considered both norm and normative for the
in a particular setting while role is the set of norms, values, behaviors
members of the society and it was still believed as true until today. The
and personality characteristics attached to a status.
belief cause troubling consequences as LGBTQA+ people labeled
homosexuality as an acceptable norm in today’s generation. Those who EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL
SOCIAL ROLES SET
subscribe to this norm face various restrictions from different agents of STATUS
socialization and enculturation and other factors which includes political leaders govern the people in the society
discrimination, being classified as psychologically ill, and unequal access students learn new knowledge
to rights.
teachers facilitate students’ learning
Generally speaking, norms are rules of behavior that are part of the guide their members in
religious leaders
ideology and belief of a certain group in the society. It reflects the values deepening their spiritual life
of the group where they conclude a certain behavior as acceptable or not. policemen law enforcers
The American Social Scientist William Graham Sumner devised the two Max Weber defined the concept of status as the esteem or “social honor”
terms in categorizing norms: (1) mores which refer to norms with moral given to a certain individual or groups. Status and roles gives an individual
connotations; and (2) folkways which refers to norms for routine and a certain task or responsibility that one should do as a member of the
casual interaction which may be violated without serious consequences. society. A person’s status can be either ascribed or achieved. For example,
In the Philippine setting, mores and folkways are intriguing ideas because political leaders in the Philippines are elected by the people so the status
our country is rich with cultural traits that are guided by mores and some is achieved. Meanwhile, being a son or a daughter, gender, a wife or a
are from folkways. husband are examples of status which is ascribed.

In addition, values are shared ideas, norms, and principles where people Ascribed status is a social position typically given at birth and take on
use to define standards of what is right or wrong. There are four aspects involuntarily. Achieved status refers to social position earned through
of the sociologically concept of values according to Contreras, et.al (2016): hard work or achievement.
(1) values exist at different levels of generality or abstraction; (2) values
tend to be hierarchically arranged; (3) values are explicit and implicit in A person who holds a status performs a role and since an individual holds
varying degrees; and (4) values often are in conflict with one another. many statuses, we also perform multiple roles set before us. Sociologists
said that people may experience role strain or having a conflict among the
roles connected to two or more statuses because there is a competing
demands of two or more roles that require our time and effort. The figure
below shows how role strain and role conflict can happen to an individual:

3
 UCSP – Quarter 1: Module 4

8. Religion is the set of beliefs and practices about faith and

spiritual experiences.
9. People have several identities but there is only one identity
that manifests within himself which is called as master identity.
10. Socialization is guided by norms because we commonly learn
them through observing the behavior of the people around us.
11. There are norms that can into serious social problems
because there are people who believed that it cannot be changed.
12. Norms, mores, and folkways can give all the people an equal
However, the concept of role in symbolic interactionism theory views access to rights.
individual and group behavior and social interactions as defining features
13. Values are explicit and implicit in varying degrees and often
of society where it affects the roles of a certain individual. George Herbert
are in conflict with one another.
Mead (1863-1931), the proponent of this theory, hypothesized role as not
ascribed or prescribed but it is something that is constantly negotiated 14. The concept of status as the esteem or “social honor” given to
between individuals in a various way. a certain individual or groups.
15. Symbolic interactionism theory defines features of society as
an effect to the roles of a certain individual.
ASSESSMENT: TRUE OR FALSE. Assess whether the statements in the
column A are correct or not. In the column B, write C if the statement is
correct and I if the statement is incorrect.
II. There is a list of agents of socialization and enculturation. Using the
table below, arrange the most important to the least important
A B agents in your life. In the second column, write an example of influence
1. Practices of socialization are those which involves activities that it gave you.
where people will behave the way they do.
Agents of socialization and enculturation: family, school, religion, state,
2. Enculturation gives limit to an individual in the way of how
mass media, peer groups
he/she should act and behave.
AGENTS OF SOCIALIZATION AND
3. Socialization is a process that takes place only during the later EXAMPLE OF INFLUENCE
ENCULTURATION
years of our life as a member of the society.
1.
4. The agents of socialization and enculturation do not affect the
participation and behavior of an individual in the society. 2.

5. An individual’s identity formation may define who he is to 3.

himself and to other people. 4.
6. The genealogy of Jesus Christ narrated in New Testament is 5.
the lineage of His ethnic identity. 6.
7. Identifying ourselves as a Filipino citizen is an example of
cultural identity.