SUNY Cortland: Socializing Agents Of Socialization

A multitude of socializing agents led me to attend the college at SUNY Cortland. Function, my statuses and roles, and socializing agents are social forces that contributed to my decision of attending SUNY Cortland. The functional perspective states that function is the “contribution a part makes to maintain stability of an existing social order” (Ferrante 21). Clearly, college participates in the function of American society; otherwise many students would not further their education. Positions in society created by humans are statuses (Ferrante 82). The main statuses that I hold are: son, brother, student, friend, teammate, and co-worker. Finally, the agents of socialization are the individual groups or institutions that teach us what

Arnon’s study displays that peer group’s act as a source of behavioral standards (374). Since all of my friends decide to attend colleges away from home, I followed the crowd, or the social norm within my friend group. My status within my friend group is different than the mediocre friend. In my friend group I am usually the leader, and the outspoken person. Therefore, my roles were hosting social gathering, planning activities, and setting trends within my group of friend. Additionally, there was an eerie feeling when it came to talking about college, because I followed what my friend’s decisions instead of being a leader. Furthermore, the American culture ostracizes people who stay home for college or go to community college, because they are perceived as “mama’s boys” or dumbfounded. Accordingly, if one does not attend a college, then an individual receives the master statues of dummy or perceived as a mama’s boy or moronic. Consequently, I decided to go away to college, in order to avoid these master

SUNY Cortland became my first choice once I met Dr. Broyles because I knew that this institution would mold me into a sublime individual. In today’s society, not attending college is a deviant behavior and limits job opportunity. Moreover, by dropping out of college one can acquire a master status that has negative connotations. College serves as a major function in the socialization of the United States and as a useful tool to obtain specialized occupations. After this research, it is transparent, that people who are making the decision are not the only factor altering the outcome. There are copious amounts of social factors that alter every decision a person