both information and exposure to areas of experience distant from one’s own. There is a sizeable audience for Indian television serials and films in countries like Nigeria, Afghanistan and among émigrés from Tibet. The televised Mahabharat was aired after dubbing in Tashkent, but even without dubbing was watched in London by children who spoke only English! Other Socialising Agencies Besides the socialising agencies mentioned, there are other groups, or social contexts, in which individuals spend large parts of their lives.
Work is, in all cultures, an important setting within which socialisation processes operate, although it is only in industrial societies that large numbers of people “go out to work” — that is, go each day to places of work quite separate from the home. In traditional communities many people tilled the land close to where they lived or had Look at the report and discuss how mass media influences children Activity You might want to explore how people relate to serials set in surroundings unlike their own. Or if children are watching television with their grandparents, are there disagreements about which programmes are worth watching, and if so, what differences in viewpoint emerge? Are these differences gradually modified?
The Shaktimaan serial telecast a few years ago had children trying to dive down buildings resulting in fatal accidents. “Learning by imitation is a method followed frequently by people and children are no different,” says clinical psychologist. workshops in their dwellings (see visuals on page ). Socialisation and Individual Freedom It is perhaps evident that socialisation in normal circumstances can never completely reduce people to conformity.
Many factors encourage conflict. There may be conflicts between socialising agencies, between school and home, between home and peer groups. However, since the cultural settings in which we are born and come to maturity so influence our behaviour, it might appear that we are robbed of any individuality or free will. Such a view is fundamentally mistaken.
The fact that from birth to death we are involved in interaction with others certainly conditions our personalities, the values we hold, and the behaviour in which