Socialization of Boys and Girls in Natural Contexts

Abstract

Socialization is the general process by which the members of a cultural community or society pass on their language, rules, roles, and customary ways of thinking and behaving to the next generation. Sex role socialization is one important aspect of this general process. In common language, socialization means something like “learning to function in a social setting,” as in “socialization of children in child care.” This usage implies that the young children acquire social competence through the concerted efforts of adults, who carefully train and mold them to behave appropriately (thus we also speak of “puppy socialization”). In the social sciences, however, the meaning of “socialization” is more complex and does not carry the implication that children are simply the passive recipients or objects of the socialization process. Rather, in recent years, concepts of socialization in general, and sex role socialization in particular, have been transformed along both theoretical...