Internalization (social sciences)
As internalization is known in the social sciences , particularly in sociology , the appropriation and internalization of social values , customs , norms and social roles in the context of socialization and education .
These include B. as norms: " greeting customs ", the physical "cleanliness" in public or the duration of looking at strangers in public transport, which is still considered unobtrusive, up to legal norms . Values can be: “ democracy ”, “ free elections ”, ethical values such as “ justice ”, “ solidarity ” up to “free competition ”, “inviolability of property ”. In society, norms and values are sometimes a heterogeneous and contradicting conglomerate that makes internalization difficult.
In political science , internalization is the integration of values and norms into a system .
In psychoanalysis , internalization is the term used to describe the processes in which the subject transforms real or fantasized interactions with its environment into internal regulations and characteristics. These processes are the counterpart of the externalization processes and are therefore to be regarded as complementary to them.
Cultural values
Values in a society represent an important orientation in every society. They are an external guideline to which every individual must orient himself if he wants to be accepted within a society. Values and norms represent the demands of society on the individual. In society, cultural values are presented as something “self-evident” and universal. The analysis or even questioning of values is often punished (eg: “lack of stable smell”). Correct adherence to values and norms is rewarded (eg: "This is one of us").
In the primary socialization within the family the individual learns to recognize values and norms (a) (which values and norms are to be followed?), (B) to accept emotionally and (c) to act accordingly. The successful internalization of values and norms is achieved in secondary socialization by the individual learning to deal with values and norms in a reflective way: (a) The scope of values and norms is limited in space and time and (b) the demands of society can be met are in contradiction to ethical principles as claims of conscience on the individual.
solidarity
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) was one of the first sociologists to the question of how the integration of the division of labor is carried out individuals. His answer was: There is a "solidarity-based cooperation", a common awareness that not only includes values and norms, but also beliefs and knowledge about the world. These ideas are internalized (internalized) by the individual. The word “internalization” itself was later coined by Talcott Parsons in his structural-functional systems theory , where it aims at the same issue as with Durkheim: integration of individuals through internalization of values and norms.
Critical distance
Jürgen Habermas pointed out as early as the 1960s that internalization is not only the learning of existing values and norms - which can change - but also has to be learned in socialization how to deal with them reflexively: the "reflective judgment" of Individuals must be developed in the socialization process in order to (a) guarantee the autonomy of the individual within society and (b) to take account of changes in society .
Research today
Today we will examine in detail how the mechanisms of internalization work in family , school , mass media and work. Different communication of values and norms not only in the institutions just mentioned, but also in different social classes and strata , with migrants of different origins and religious beliefs (Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.) must be taken into account. Finally, the results are not yet to be assessed.
Despite all the differences between individuals, a society must manage to integrate the individuals (Durkheim) and achieve a consensus that is shared by all . Falling voter turnout , increasing crime and vandalism are social indicators of a declining consensus in society.
Various opinion research institutes regularly publish hierarchies of values that seem important to the citizens: These range from “fighting crime” to “unemployment” and “environment”, “climate protection” to “securing peace” and “education”. The rapid change to which these hierarchies are subject is always clear.
literature
- Dieter Claessens : Family and Value System , Berlin 1972
- Jürgen Habermas : On the development of interaction skills , 1975
- Jürgen Habermas: Theses on the theory of socialization , 1968
- Dieter Geulen: Socialization , in: Hans Joas (ed.): Textbook of Sociology , 2007 (there also further literature)
- Émile Durkheim : On the social division of labor , 1893