Personality Development in Socialization Process: Theoretical Background

Socialization is a continuous process that embraces the whole life. Socialization helps every individual to develop, fulfil potential, improve, thus becoming a full-fledged member in interrelationship with society. Socialization is also a phenomenon as, in spite of numerous scientific researches carried out, scientists have not succeeded in reaching its very core. The goal of the research is to study the theoretical background of socialization putting an emphasis on its relation to the course of personality development. The objectives of the research are to study the views of psychologists and sociologists on socialization of individuals. The method applied in the research is an analysis of scientific literature. The paper is part of the research related to socialization problems of vocational education students. Socialization is based on the natural progression of human life history and its development which sets the establishment of his/her skills and character already at the first years of his/her life. An example for successful socialization can be a peer group in educational establishment. The children who have obtained authority among their peers set behaviour patterns. All the rest either behave in the same way or they are willing to do so. Through socialization the individual 'takes' a social role and learns to perform it correctly. In fact, socialization enables the individual to take an active part in social environment, besides individuals realize and accept their social roles in the continuous process of social interaction. The earlier the individual takes over the view of his/her group, the sooner it becomes his/her global reference point. Socialization is closely connected with the individual developing into personality and mastering skills to develop independent judgements and contribute to society.