Socialization

During my time at UT I have taken a lot of sociology and social work courses and therefore I have spent a lot of time thinking about the concept of socialization. How socialization occurs, how it affects individuals throughout their lives, and how socialized individuals then structure the world. When thinking of this concept I can never come up with any concrete answers. To me it seems that even though we can study and theorize socialization, we can never truly know exactly how much socialization works to shape individuals and or if we can ever truly be liberated from being socialized. I don’t question the existence or relevance of the cycle of liberation, I simply question whether some effects of socialization remain even after reaching liberation.

          When introducing socialization this week the Black Lives Matter movement was used to illustrate inequities and how we are socialized to think about those inequities. This example has been relevant in my life as my opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement changed through the cycles of socialization and liberation. This movement began when I was in high school and still living in a small town in west Texas. I feel that I was raised to think in very binary terms, those who agreed with our way of life (the right side) and those who lived alternative lifestyles (the wrong side). As a result when I viewed social issues such as Black Lives Matter I was ignorant, confused, and oblivious (Adams, 2013). I could not even begin to think outside of myself or my experience because I was not taught to do so. I have to be honest and admit that I could only see the movement at face value, yes black lives did matter but didn’t everyone’s? I wasn’t awake yet, I had not been educated on black issues and the weight of what Black Lives Matter is really fighting for.

          When I moved to Austin I was immersed in diverse surroundings and more importantly I took courses that educated me about race, gender, sexuality, and most importantly the difference between equality and equity. This is when I was ready to wake up, reach out, create change, etc. (Adams, 2013). It was only through different life experiences and critical change and relationships with others that I was ever able to be liberated from the socialized view I had formed of the Black Lives Matter movement (Adams, 2013). Now I understand that yes all lives matter, but it is not all lives that are being put at risk every day or all lives that are denied opportunities, it is black lives.

          The inequity still being experienced by African Americans was also illustrated in the PBS film this week that compared Park Avenue and the Bronx. As was shown with the Monopoly experiment, everyone is not starting with the same amount of resources. The rich player, also seen as a resident on Park Avenue, has more money and is able to use two dice therefore he is much more likely to succeed from the beginning. The poor player, or a resident of the Bronx, has less resources and is more likely to fail from the beginning. This is before the game starts before talent, skill, or hard work ever have a chance to impact the final outcome. This is the system that America has put in place for anyone who is not an upper class white male.

References

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Castaneda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., & Zuniga, X. (2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (3rd ed.). New York City, NY: Routledge.

Gibney, A. (Director). (2012, November 12). Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/park-
avenue/