Before answering the question of who are the agents of socialization, one should understand the question of what is a phenomenon in itself - socialization. The origins of this concept go back to the works of Auguste Comte, although the word itself was used before him. But it was Comte who gave this term a truly scientific explanation. Being the founder of sociology as a scientific field, he explained the procedural nature of the formation of man as a person. It is precisely from these positions that it is necessary to consider all institutional and non-institutional formations operating in the space of society.
The procedural nature of socialization lies in the fact that it represents the development, in social time and social space, of a person’s established value systems and criteria of behavior, his patterns and stereotypes, as well as knowledge and skills. All this together helps a person to adapt effectively to dynamic changes in the social environment and perform certain functions in it.
Why are there categories of social time and social space? The answer is that these parameters differ from their counterparts in the physical sense of time and space. If physical time is unidirectional, uniformly flowing, irreversible, then social time can have a reverse course, it is uneven in its course. The space of society is also different from the physical, there is no spatial unambiguity "far, close", "high-low" and so on. It is these features that determine the approach within which we can define the concept of “socialization agents”.
In the simplest view, these are the subjects that help a person to assimilate the above-mentioned values of being. In physical terms, socialization agents are specific people, organizations, institutions and environments that determine the nature and content of the process of assimilation of the values (or antivalues) of human society. It should be borne in mind that agents that may not have physical characteristics can act as agents. These are laws, norms, traditions, that is, that in itself acts as an object of socialization. Thus, socialization in a certain sense is closed in nature: a person assimilates something using the criteria that this something contains. So, for example, in order to make a person a law-abiding citizen, he must initially live within the space regulated by law. And only then can he learn the criteria and particular behavior in this space.
This phenomenon of socialization lies in the fact that in its course the primary and secondary stages are distinguished.
At the initial stage, a person, as a rule, assimilates the principles and norms of social life, which are basic for anyone, and acquires the simplest social interaction skills. At this stage, the most important role is played by such socialization agents as parents, the kindergarten staff and educators, the school and teachers, the environment of a small person on the street, etc.
At the stage of secondary socialization, a further development of the socialization process takes place, which is characterized by a complication of the content of acquired values and norms and the inclusion of a mechanism of social identification and social adaptation. This process is more associated with the formation of personality, the acquisition of socially significant qualities by a person. Here, socialization agents of the individual come to the forefront, such as educational and labor collectives, the social environment that arises on the basis of a commonality of interests, values, and other factors.
An important difference between the stages is that in the primary stage, socialization proceeds mainly in the framework of interpersonal contacts and institutionalized forms, then in the secondary stage its course is somewhat different. The number of non-institutional agents is rapidly increasing here, and often their influence is no less than that of institutional agents.
Therefore, it is appropriate to consider the difference between them. As a rule, agents and institutions of socialization, as its factors, act together, and this or that institution is not always an agent. The institution of socialization is a system of stable, long-term, fairly stable in time and space formations, within which the formation of man as a person. The main institutions characteristic of most types of societies are the institute of education, upbringing, social security, protection of mothers and families, citizenship, and others.