The next most important agency of socialization is the peer group. The peer group consists of his age mates, Play mates and status mates, those who form the inner circle of friends, class mates, and workmates etc., who share almost the status with the child. They serve an important function in defining appropriate behavior, acquiring appropriate roles, setting standards of conduct, arriving at a level of personal independence and inculcating goals.
The child acquires something from his friends and playmates which he cannot acquires cooperative morality and some of the informal aspects-of culture like fashions, fads, crazes, modes of gratification etc. the peer group also provides opportunities to explore tabooed topics. For instance, most of the sex knowledge in early stage, rightly or wrongly, comes from one’s peer group.
The family: Family is the first agency of socialization of the child. Physical nearness, close xelationship, passiveness of the child, authority of parents over the child etc., all have greater influence in molding the personality of the child.
In family, parental influence, particularly of the mother, is very great. From the parents the child learns language. It is taught number of civic virtues. The child gets his first lessons in cooperation, tolerance self-sacrifice, love and affection, etc., in the family.
The earliest and the closet ties of an individual are with his parents and siblings. There have authority over the child. Possessiveness of the child and its emotional attachment with parents and siblings make socialization an easy and smooth process. Cultural heritage is passed from one generation to the other in family.
