Religion, human beings’ relation tothat which they regard as holy, sacred, absolute, spiritual, divine, or worthyof especial reverence. I also commonly regarded as consisting of the way peopledeal with ultimate concerns about their lives and their fate after death. Inmany traditions, this relation and these concerns are expressed in terms of one’srelationship with or attitude toward gods or spirits; in more humanistic ornaturalistic forms of religion, they expressed in terms of one’s relationshipor attitude toward the broader human community or the natural world. Believersand worshippers participate in and are often enjoined to perform devotional orcontemplative practices such as prayer, meditation, or particular rituals.Worship, moral conduct, right belief, and participation in religiousinstitutions are among the constituent elements of the religious life (TheEditors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)Religioussocialization may be broadly described as a process that encompasses thevarying dynamics of religious group membership and the patterns of commitmentwhich such membership can engender (Roberts 1984:133–148).
It is a processpotentially life-long in scope, and until quite recently it was a processthought virtually inevitable in churches and traditional religious groups, asthe latter could assume both ongoing commitments in an unchanged society andthe gradual incorporation of individuals into the religious group, whether frombirth onward (as was the case of Roman Catholics and many mainline Protestants)or from the point of a conversion experience with its strong emotional power(the case of many sects and evangelical traditions). However, as churches andother social groups have been touched by increased levels of social andinstitutional change (Roof and McKinney 1987), and as cults and newer religiousgroups have become prominent in American society (Chalfont, Beckley and Palmer1987:191–220), commitment patterns have become tenuous, and religioussocialization has become a subject of specific and—on the part of churches—self-consciousconcern (see the discussions by Westerhoff 1974; Groome 1980; Marthaler 1980;Phillibert and O’Connor 1982; Princeton Research Center 1986).We begin the process of socialization within the context ofour family. The family has primary importance in shapinga child’s attitudes and behavior because it provides the context in which thefirst and most long-lasting intimate socialrelationships are formed. In addition to representing the child’sentire social world, the family also determines the child’s initial socialstatus and identity in terms of race, religion, social class, and gender. Whilethe family offers the child intimate social relationships, the school offersmore objective socialrelationships. School is a social institution, and as such, hasdirect responsibility for instilling in,or teaching, the individual the information, skills, and values that societyconsiders important for social life. In school, children learn theskills of interpersonal interaction.
Theylearn to share, to take turns, and to compromise with their peers. The peergroup exerts amost powerful social influence on the child. The peer group iscomposed of status equals;that is, all children within a given peer group are the same age and come fromthe same social status. A child must earn his/her social positionwithin the peer group; this position does not come naturally, as it does in thefamily. Interaction with a peer group loosens the child’s bonds tothe family; it provides both an alternative model for behavior and new socialnorms and values. To become fully socialized, children must learnhow to deal with the conflicting viewsand values of all of the people who are important in theirlives.
These people are called “significant others.” The massmedia includes television, newspapers, magazines; in fact, all meansof communication which are directed toward a vast audience in society. The mass media,especially television, have considerable influence on the process ofsocialization. Children spend a great deal of their time watchingtelevision, and the violent content of many television programs is believed tobe a contributing factor in aggressive behavior.Culture Socializationhelps to shape and define our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and it providesus with a model for our behavior. As children becomesocialized, they learn how to fit into and to function as productive members ofhuman society.
Socialization teaches us the cultural values andnorms that provide the guidelines for our everyday life. Culture may be defined as thebeliefs, values, behavior, and material objects shared by a particular group ofpeople. Culture is a way of life that a number of people have incommon.
Our culture is reflected in what we wear to work, when andwhat we eat, and how we spend our leisure time. Culture providesthe framework withinwhich our lives become meaningful, based on standards of success, beauty, andgoodness. Some cultures value competition, while others emphasizecooperation.
Our culture affects virtually every aspect of ourlives. Culture is not innate; human beings createculture. Culture consists of a set of principles and traditionstransmitted from generation to generation, yet because human beings havecreated it, culture is flexible and subject to change. Humanculture is linked to the biological evolution of human beings. Thecreation of culture became possible only after the brain size of our earlyancestors increased, enabling humans to construct their natural environment forthemselves. Because human beings are creative by nature, they havedeveloped diverse, ordifferent, ways of life. Culturaldiversity is the result of geographical location, religious beliefs, andlifestyles. Culture is based on symbols, attaching significance toobjects and patterns of behavior (Loretta F.
Kasper Ph. D.) Children learn moralvalues and social conventions through a process of socialization, much of whichinvolves parenting. The process is bidirectional and involves a complexinterplay between evolutionary predispositions and genetic and socio-culturalfactors. Children’s perception of, or assignment of meaning to, parentinginterventions is central. Socialization occurs in different domains marked by differentaspects of the parent-child relationship and different underlying mechanisms.Each domain requires different parenting actions that must be matched to thedomain in which the child is operating and that result in different outcomesfor the child. The domains include protection, mutual reciprocity, control,guided learning, and group participation, and are assumed to be operative inall cultures.
The review concludes that children need to experience theirparents as supportive and understanding, that they need structure, and thatthey need to feel they have some degree of control over their own actions (Grusec, Joan E. 2011:243-269) In thecontextualization of the study, I have found out these three factors thataffects on the socialization of the students. Religion could be a great factorin socialization in different ways. Either socialization can affect towardsreligion, or religion affects towards socialization. Family orientation, culturalbeliefs, and religious beliefs did also the same.
These three factors couldaffect religion and socialization.
