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CHAPTER SIX A Sociological Perspective on Social Development
Dimitra Hartas
Socialization is conceptualized as a contextual, interwoven process, in which children grow up within dynamic social contexts. Children’s socialization, as a process of “becoming social,” is shaped by the social conditions and structures that surround their life. Socialization is related to child development, learning, and well‐being. A sociological approach to the study of children’s socialization typically focuses on the social interactions between children, parents, peers, and significant others within their social milieu. Social interactions are defined by relationships, institutional arrangements, and access to various forms of capital in children’s life. Social structures produce and reproduce child’s status and life chances in stratified societies, ultimately shaping what Sen (1999) called “flourishing,” or achieving a life we value. As such, child socialization cannot (and should not) be discussed in the abstract, but situated within children’s social context and examined through the prism of social change. In this chapter, I offer a sociological critique on the ways in which the neoliberal restructuring of society and its resulting inequality interfere with and influence agents of socialization (e.g., parents, schools) and also imprint on child development and socialization.
By neoliberal restructuring of society, I mean social changes triggered by a political–economic paradigm that calls for unregulated markets, nationally and globally. Human organization, relationships, and decision making are shaped by the free‐market ideology whose core values are self‐interest, competition, and the creation of entrepreneurial citizens who are responsible for maximizing opportunities and life chances. The powers of the state to redistribute wealth and regulate the market for the common good are diminished and public institutions and services are expected to become privatized. The social conditions that surround people’s life are perceived as individual concerns, with the onus for resolving structural problems such as poverty being placed on individuals and families. Since the governments of UK Prime Minister Thatcher and US President Reagan, the free‐market ideology has ushered in the 21st century marked by financial crises, deep recession and austerity, and increasing inequality in the United States, United Kingdom and other European countries. My aim is to discuss child socialization in light of structural inequality and family policy changes, primarily focusing on social interactions within family and between families and schools, and also on child well‐being. In this, I consider children to be social actors who construct meaning in a variety of contexts and who also mirror and reproduce social conditions.
Child socialization is seen through social, economic, and policy changes, mostly triggered by the neoliberal restructuring of society, by looking into social interactions between parents and children in the social milieu of intensive parenting but also interactions with schools and the shifting boundaries between teacher and parent roles. Changes in child‐socialization processes are also considered through the reduction of their physical geographies and the social and political spaces they offer and, with them, opportunities for social interactions with peers and the community. Childhoods are unequal and socialization patterns reflect inequality in families’ access to various forms of capital and resources. Children’s socialization and well‐being are shaped by social class. The neoliberal organization of society and the transactional nature of human relationships have permeated every aspect of children’s socialization creating new templates of how we relate to them.
Child Socialization through Social Change
Socialization is a dynamic process with institutions, as social formations, and agents of socialization being in constant flux. Children’s interactions with parents, schools, and friends shape and are shaped by significant social changes, locally and globally, whose rate has been accelerating over the last decades through globalization, inequality, and multiple crises (e.g., financial, mass migration, Covid‐19). Crises used to be points of rupture, deviations from the norm, but now they have become the “new norm.” External changes are reflected in the role of families in modern societies and the socialization process inside the family environment. From the 1950s to nowadays, the family’s functions and forms have been modified; despite (or because of) these changes, the family continues to play a fundamental role in children's socialization (Höppner, 2017; Rollins & Hunter, 2013).
Global social changes have affected child socialization patterns in a multitude of ways. Family structures have become more egalitarian over time where children are encouraged to take plural perspectives with an emphasis on child voice and centeredness. Learning has also moved from being socially guided to independent learning. Children are socialized to be more experimental and curious, more into self‐expression and independent thinking, interacting via technology, and spending more time indoors than outdoors. An increasing emphasis is placed on parents and children developing emotional bonds articulated in attachment discourses, with parents being actively encouraged to be attuned and responsive to children’s feelings (Chen et al., 2010) and raise their self‐esteem and self‐confidence (Harkness et al., 2000). Furthermore, changes in the ethics of care are seen in shifts from expectations of family obligation to expectations of individual development and achievement (Kagitcibasi & Ataca, 2005); and from in‐person social interaction to technologically mediated social interaction (Hartas, 2020). These general patterns in child socialization find different manifestations in diverse social and cultural contexts.
Political and economic changes in the last decades of the 20th century have challenged the state as the arbiter of social and economic rights and public services to families and schools with parents and teachers being increasingly viewed as consumers and investors. The neoliberal organization of society is reflected in discourses of individual freedom, personal responsibility, privatization, and outsourcing of public services and care, and a free market that escapes political regulation. It is also reflected in the commodification of care and the creation of new markets (e.g., parenting experts, family intervention programs) that permeate aspects of life that were thought to be non‐marketable. This restructuring has led to public sector reduction and social policy reforms that have implications for institutions (e.g., family, schools) and agents of child socialization by giving rise to the politicization of parents and new forms of accountability for schools and teachers.
Global
