Professor Shang Lei

Home Institution : China University of Political Science and Law

Visiting Period: October to December 2013

Research Project: Comparative study about the differentiation of the sociocultural factors in the socialization

Comparative study about the differentiation of the sociocultural factors in the socialization

Socialization is the process which one learns the beliefs, values, norms and social roles in the society. The shape of one’s behavior depends on the continuous interaction between the genetic factors and the acquired environment. Compared with the biological factors, the sociocultural environment one lives in plays a more important role in the process of one’s socialization, which includes culture, family, school, peer group and the mass media. Among these factors, culture exerts a fatal influence in the process of socialization in one’s whole life. Culture is a system of values and senses commonly recognized by a society or part of people. It also includes the material entity objectifying these values and senses. The direct manifestation of the effects of culture on people can be summed up as three aspects: first, one can learn the predecessors' experience of life through the cultural heritage; second, the conduct codes of the group or nation can be transmitted to the individuals by culture; third, culture enables the individuals to establish social bonds with others and groups successfully. The results of the socialization means we will treat and comprehend the world as the way we live in our society. On the other hand, we will entrust a certain sense to the world we live in. We comprehend our world with the sense we learned in the social interaction rather than reflecting to the world through conditioned reflex.

Chinese society is entering a special period of transformation. As a system, the whole society has been undergoing a severe, comprehensive and systemic change. The cultural change happening in a transitional society will lead to the conflict between the old and new ideas, resulting in the diversity and fuzziness of values. From the point of behavior choice, it will give rise to such an inclination that people won’t know what to do or just follow their inclinations. As a transitional society, the Chinese society has appeared some prominent issues, such as the dilemma of socialization in the early stage, social anomie, juvenile delinquency and generation gap. The adults’ continuing socialization and re-socialization, the rethinking about the relationship between socialization and humans’ freedom are also the problems Chinese society faced.

China is a country which has a large population. It has fierce competition and complex national conditions. New Zealand, standing in sharp contrast to China, shows huge difference in many aspects, such as political system, cultural background, mode of life, religion composition and national state. Professor Shang is interested in the difference of influence of the socialized sociocultural factors between the two countries. The distinction of socialized approach, which plays an important role in cultural inheritance, such as family education, school education, mass media and so on, also deserves some attention. Besides, there are a series of relevant issues, which includes the life goal of the adolescence, the inclination of job selection, the mode of life, the happiness index and the physical and psychological health, are worth our concern too.