Socialization Theory as an Imagination

Abstract

Socialization Theory as an Imagination: Toward the Sociological Study of Childhood and Society MOTOMORI Eriko This paper analyzes the socialization theory and the repeated criticisms of it. Critics partly believe that the childhood socialization is related to better relations between individuals and society (i.e. the "Hobbesian Problem"), and partly doubt the peculiarity of childhood relationships. Luhmann converted the theory by his original interpretation of socialization, and the concept of "the child as a medium of the education". However, he still remains inside our sociological imagination concerning individual and society. We should rethink why we have tried to question the relation between individual and society, and, on the one hand, analyze "child-hood" as a discourse.