Learning the rules of behaviour in which you are born and grow up is called socialization. To live with other people, a child has to learn what is considered acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. This is not easy as it sounds. Some social rules are clear and inflexible. Other social rules leave room for individual decisions, so that sometimes there seems to be a gray area between right and wrong. Some rules change from situation to situation. Some apply to certain categories of people. For example, some rules for boys in our society are different from the rules for girls.
Learning what the rules are – and when to apply or bend them – is, however, only one dimension of socialization. Every society has ideas about what is meaningful, valuable, worth striving for, and beautiful. Every society classifies people according to their family, sex, age, skills, personality characteristics, and other criteria. Every culture has notions about what makes individuals behave as they do. In absorbing these notions, a child acquires an identity as an individual member of a society, a member of different social categories, and a member of a family. Acquiring these identities is the second dimension of socialization.
Finally, socialization involves learning to live with other people and yourself. Anyone who has seen the shock of a 2-year-old’s face when another child his age takes a toy he wants, knows how painful it can be to discover that other people have rights and that you have limitations.