Socialization is the process through which we learn society's norms and values. It's how we learn how to behave in different social situations for example how we learn to greet people how we learn to stand in a queue or how we learn to eat with a knife and fork

These social institutions for example our families the education system media and religion provide us with guidance on how we should act in different social situations or what values we should uphold

Primary socialization is usually performed by the family and this teaches us particularistic norms and values that is the norms and values of a specific group in this case our family

And this is achieved through secondary socialization and is performed by other social institutions for example education the media and religion and these teachers universal norms and values those values that apply to all members of society rather than just a specific group

Gender socialization is the process of learning the norms and values that are appropriate to your gender this is done from an early age with boys being dressed in blue and girls in pink the separation of boys and girls toys and books a process described as canonization to try and shape individuals into their gender appropriate roles

Socialization can also take different forms based upon an individual's ethnic background different ethnic groups will have different cultural norms around food interactions family gatherings celebrations and language

A final form of socialization can be into subcultural norms and values a subculture is a group with its own norms and values that are separate from those of mainstream society when people learn these norms of values from their peer groups

The process of socialization is often the focus of structural theories like functionalism Marxism and feminism that see the role of social institutions and instrumental in the process of socialization