Socialization and Social Order

Societies are largely constituted by systems of classification and related social roles and behavioral practices. All societies are made up of categories that distinguish between who is included and who is excluded, and, in addition, categories that distinguish different social classes or social positions within the group. Sometimes these classes are implicit and informal; for instance, friendship circles tend not to have rigid insider/outsider boundaries. Sometimes these things are explicit and very formal; an assistant professor of religious studies at a college has a strict set of privileges, duties, etc., unique to that position—as opposed to an “associate professor” or a full “professor”—and written down in an official contract protected under law.

For the most part, we inherit rather than create these social systems. For instance, we are born into a world in which certain expectations are placed on men and women. In North America, most of us are taught that when a man wants to marry a woman he needs to buy a diamond ring and propose to her. There is nothing natural about this—diamond rings have not always existed, and there have been societies in which a woman (or her family) does the proposing. We as individuals did not create the diamond ring practice; rather, a long time ago others created it by altering existing engagement practices.