WE
ARE SOCIAL BEINGS
A
new born baby finds in her mother or in the people that look after
her, everything that she needs to survive; later she will develop
the ability to speak and movements which will allow her to learn how
to walk. She will learn the majority of these things from other people.
This social influence will be constant throughout her life cycle.
Socialization
is defined in a ample sense as "the process of transformation
that we endure as a result of interaction with other people with whom
we relate to in some way".
Through
communicating and observing the social group that surrounds us, we
can learn visible behaviour, but also we internalize thoughts and
beliefs about ourselves and the world around us.
We
understand social agents to be a group of "actors" who in
some way effect an individual. The main social agents are:
•
Family : the learning process starts
with the family. Family members usually provide deep and persistant
relationships. However, think about the influence that family experiences
have on people: for example, there are studies that show that many
individuals that witnessed violence during their upbringing are now
violent themselves. Another example shows how the family interests
have an effect on a person's academic performance. In short, the list
of facts are interminable.
•
School :this not only has the job of
transmitting knowledge and skills, but also teaches people values
and attitudes.
•
Group of the same : with your school
friends, work colleagues, friends and neighbours you establish relationships
at an equal level. Some experts think that equal friendships have
a greater influence than the family.
•
Mass Media : the capacity of the mass
media (newspapers, publicity, television, Internet...) influences
behaviour, values, beliefs...it is very powerful, and it is due to
its wide radius of influence.
Through
our relationship with these social agents we form different social
networks throughout life. We understand a social network to be a group
of people and the relationship an individual has with them (financial
relationships, relationship with friends, with work colleagues..)
A particular type is the social support network, defined as a group
of family members, friends, neighbours and members of the community
who can offer psycological, physical or financial help.
Fordyce,
as a conclusion to various experimental studies, proposes various
conditions that usually give people happiness:
•
Being more attractive and keeping occupied
•
Spending more time carrying out social activities
•
Being productive in a rewarding job
•
Organizing yourself better
•
Not worrying
•
Decreasing expectations and aspirations
•
Developing positive and optimistic thoughts
•
Concentrating on the present
•
Knowledge, acceptance and positive image.
•
Developing a sociable and extrovert personality
•
Being yourself
•
Eliminating negative stress
•
Having satisfactory intimate relationships
•
Being positive and trying to be happy
There
is no doubt that the majority of these conditions are related to our
capacity to relate to others in a satisfactory way, that is to say,
with the quality of our social networks.
We
can probably add to this list more "Conditions for Happiness"
and all will be conditioned on our relationship with others. Think
about having a job; having a job, in many cases, is a requirement
for contentment, as working provides us with money and other advantages
include integration and social recognition.
The
next part of the course will demonstrate how social competence has
converted in many cases into a requirement to access the employment
market.
