SocializationandIdentity

Socialization is a learning process, a process that is taught by our parents and the people
that we surround ourselves with. When someone is socialized, they are taking part in the process
of adapting and learning certain behaviors and norms of a culture, either willingly or
unwillingly. First socialization is when someone is socialized into either an agent group or into a
target group. They would be considered lucky if an agent, and unlucky to be a in a target group.
Agents are shown to have more power and control, targets have less power or no power or
control at all. Examples of people in agent groups are men, white people, middle-and upper
class-people, abled people, middle-aged people, heterosexuals, and gentiles. Target groups
include; women, racially oppressed groups, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,
disabled people, jews, elders, youth, and people living in poverty. I consider myself to be both an
agent as well as a target. Agent and target groups are all part of the identity categories which is a
big part of socialization; gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, economic class, and
ability. Socialization is important because from the start it teaches people how to interact, talk,
read/write, and just how to know what is right from wrong. I was taught from society how to act
and look as a woman, and how being a teenager I am irresponsible and I shouldnt have a voice,
and also how as a white woman I am oblivious to my race.
Are we all really who we want to be? Or does who we are currently have to do with the
identities that we are ascribed to at birth? How we are socialized and everything we are taught is
through no choice of our own. As a woman, I have learned who I should be from all of these
different fabricated stereotypes. I have been shown as dumb and powerless. I saw a movie at a
pretty young age called Mean Girls, one thing that I remember one of the girls saying was,
Thats just like the rules of feminism, so they are telling me that we have rules? A group of
three girls are talking about these certain rules that they have to follow, why is it not a group of
boys? In the article The Cycle of Socialization, the author Bobbie Harrow states, We might
learn at school that girls shouldnt be interested in woodworking shop class, but why is this?
Again in the article it claims, We are exposed to rules, roles, and assumptions that are not fair
to everyone. At a very young age one of the very first things I learned about how to be a girl was
that we wear pink and the boys wear blue. Another one that I learned is that girls should have
long hair and boys should have short hair. At a young age, I was taught these different so called
rules without even asking why. Now think about this, how many movies have you seen where

woman are shown as objects wearing little clothing and serving the men? Movies and shows like
that have such a negative effect on women and people dont even notice! This is because woman
will watch these movies and believe that this is the way they should be and that they would only
be like if they were like the woman in the movies. The media has a huge influence on woman as
well. I dont know about all woman but for me I am sick of hearing all these stereotypes. Things I
hear like, all women are angry because they have there period, or you need to cook and clean
because you are the girl. A study was found recently about how 75% of people think of men
whenever they hear words like business, profession and work. When people think woman they
hear words like family, household, and caregiver.
I am just an immature, moody, selfish, and irresponsible teenager right? Not all teens are
the same, I think that I personally have my moments of course, but so does everyone else. I dont
believe that it matters what age you may be, anybody can be moody or immature, and selfish at
times. The stereotypes come from the media, a ton of teenagers spend time on social media.
Teenagers have a great amount of pressure put on them and this can affect the way they act. I rt
been told all of these different stereotypes and sometimes I start to believe them. There are so
many effects of teenage stereotypes, all of these different so called cliques and labels that we
have; jocks, nerds, stoners, fakes, and so on. Stereotyping can be done in many different ways,
through peers, teachers, parent, and media. This can lead to discriminating behavior, as well as
missed opportunities and generalizations. When we are stereotyped and when we are told things
that could be false it becomes hard to become who we want to be and with no room to grow into
the person that we truly want to be. I strongly believe that teenagers are smart interesting people
who deserve to be heard and have a voice in our world, we need to take charge and stop the
discrimination against each other. In the article, Helping Adults Understand Teens Today,
author Dave Rozman states, I do want to challenge those adults that work and interact with
teens today to not assume that all teens fit into one category or description. Imagine if an adult
did that to you when you were a teen? I am guessing we all had moments we are not so proud of
when we were teens that could have caused us to be labeled disrespectful, lazy, or a
troublemaker. I strongly agree with this and it is exactly how we can help to fix these
stereotypes.
As a white woman in america I am almost oblivious to my race. I have been socialized to
believe that I have many opportunities and things are handed to me and life is easy. In the
article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, author Peggy McIntosh claims, I
was taught to see racism as only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems

conferring dominance on my group, I can not even attempt to explain to you what it is like to
me another race because its simple I am white. I believe that as a white woman I am an agent. I
was stereotyped to see myself as an immensely advantaged person. I have been taught to see
their lives as average and normal. It is a pattern we encounter, white privilege is a pattern, we
have our ways. Why do we have all of these different groups we are all just people and we
should just be be one huge group. How do we end these problems? I have found that people
think that we can end some of these issues by have whites change their attitude and try to look
from different perspectives, but I am not sure if this can work. All we need is equal opportunity
and to become one. White privilege is an invisible knapsack and white woman and men are
oblivious to their race privileges.
How can we find direction for change? How can we break these stereotypes? Who I am
supposed to be as a woman, how I can not have a voice as a teenager, and how I am unaware of
my own race, as well as other peoples race. As a woman I will stand up for my rights and never
let someone treat me the wrong way. As a teenager if I am not being heard I will keep trying and
help out the rest if my peers and other teenagers as well. As a white woman I will keep the norm
I was taught and never ever discriminate against a different race. I think that I as an individual
could break these different cycles by being who I truly am and ty to encourage others to be who
they are. We are all human beings, so why dont we start acting like it!

MaskParagraph:
My mask shows my identity through my gender and how I was socialized as a white 15
year at old. I painted my mask both blue and pink to show that I am a woman but that I do have
male ways about myself as well, that I am an athlete and like to play sports, and that I dont
really like to cook and clean. Also the obvious one that I like both pink and blue. My mask also
has cutouts from magazines things like; makeup and words that are supposed to describe who I
am taught to be. I decided to use things from magazines because magazines are media and I
have been socialized through media. I wanted to show through my mask who I am today, which
I think that I am myself in many ways but I am also not. I show that I have male qualities but I
also go with who my parents, peers, and media are telling me to be.