TRANSMISSION OF CULTURAL RULES

Because human being are not preprogrammed to follow social rules,each generation must be taught the basic practises of it culture.The term for this socialization and individuals and groups that perform this function are known as socialization agents.Socialization agent in our culture include:a family,peers,schools,churches,and the mass media.The socialization process are involves the use of symbolic communication.This because,as far as we know,no human being is directly able to experience the consciousness of another.We are each trapped inside our own biology and awareness,and it is through signs and symbols that we reach out to others.This signs and symbols include language,gestures,body language and facial experession.A sign something that stands for something else.For example,in the classic example of conditioning,pavlov`s dogs learned to associated the sound of a bell with the fact that food would soon be available.When the dogs heard the bell,they began to salivate in anticipation of the food they expected would follow.Of course,the dogs did not create the sign;their brains automatically associated the two events and they had no control over it.Human being can be conditioned to respond the signs as well.But,unlike Pavlov`s dogs,human being have capacity to create signs.Language is a system of signs that actually created by human being.Signs are arbitary.That is,there is no inherent connection between the signified (an object for example,)and the signifier(a word).For example,a table(the signified)can be represented by such signifier as the words table in english and `mesa`in spanish.Both of this word refer to the same object,but in different languages.The sound is arbitrary.What is important is that we agree on the object the sound stands for.