“vegetable” or “cereal” and agreed upon by people at large. Such concepts are transmitted, both directly and indirectly, and are learned very well because they are an integral part of the life of a cultural group, and are never questioned. All such examples of learning are called “enculturation”. Thus, enculturation refers to all learning that occurs in human life because of its availability in our socio-cultural context.
The key element of enculturation is learning by observation. Whenever we learn any content of our society by observation, enculturation is in evidence. These contents are culturally shaped by our preceding generations. In this sense, enculturation always refers to learning something that is already available.
A major part of our behaviour is the product of enculturation. In Indian families, many complex activities, like cooking, are learned by observation. There is no prescribed curriculum and no textbook for such activities, and there is also no deliberate instruction for cooking. Although the effects of enculturation are obvious, people are generally not aware of these effects.
They are also generally not aware of what is not available in the society to be learned. This leads to an apparent paradox that people who are most thoroughly enculturated are often the least aware of their culture’s role in modeling them. S OCIALISATION Socialisation is a process by which individuals acquire knowledge, skills and dispositions, which enable them to participate as effective members of groups and society. It is a process that continues over the entire life-span, and through which one learns and develops ways of effective functioning at any stage of development.
Socialisation forms the basis of social and cultural transmission from one generation to the next. Its failure in any society may endanger the very existence of that society. The concept of socialisation suggests that all human beings are capable of a far greater repertoire of behaviours than they ever exhibit. We begin life in a particular social context, and there we learn to make certain responses and not others.
The most clear example is our linguistic behaviour. Although we can speak any language that exists in