Primary Socialization Theory Essay, Research Paper

Traditional sociological analyses tie secondary socialization sources to

behavior, usually using linkage through stress. Situations, personal traits,

etc. lead to stress, and drugs relieve them. According to Oetting and

Donnermeyer, these secondary socialization sources operate only via their

effects on primary socializations sources. "Unless a personality trait, a

community characteristic, stress, or any other factor influences bonding with

the primary socialization sources or alters the communication of norms through

those sources, the theory proposes that there will be little or no effect on

deviant behaviors. (Oetting and Donnermeyer, 1998) Thus far (there is to be a

series of three articles, only one of which has been published) the major

analysis has been of adolescents. Three primary sources of socialization are

proposed: family, school and peer groups. While any of these groups are capable

of transmitting both prosocial and deviant norms, family and school are seen as

being primarily prosocial and peer groups carrying the main risk of trasmitting

deviant norms. Family socialization contains two components which impact an

adolescent’s risk for deviance: the strength of the family bond, and the use of

those bonds to transmit prosocial norms. Dysfunctional families may either

alienate their children and/or provide deviant normative information to them.

The family bond of concern in these cases is not just a matter of support of

love. It is more specifically limited to the level to which an individual is

willing to accept and adopt values and norms from the family, and thus to behave

accordingly. Society currently assigns schools the responsibility of

transmitting certain cultural and behavioral norms. In the same way that there

are dysfunctional families, there are also dysfunctional schools which have

parallel weaknesses. The typical image of a dysfunctional school, of the

resignation to chaos and deviance is only one type. Even in the best schools,

there will be alienated peer groups. Poor grades, disciplinary problems etc.

tend to erode the bond between an adolescent and school, and thus erode the

ability of the school to transmit prosocial norms. These students are forced

outside the circle in which other peers may be receiving normative

socialization. Studies of these disaffected groups have shown that students

experiencing alienation, lack of success within the school framework, and other

problems with deriving rewards from school have a greater tendency toward drug

use and deviancy in general. Peer groups form the last primary socialization

group, and have the greatest impact on those alienated from the first two

groups. These groups may be formed on the basis of, among other things,

ethnicity or activity – including drug use. An individual’s choice of peer group

has been shown to correlate with their risk of drug use/abuse (Oetting and

Donnermeyer, 1998). Primary socialization theory thus provides a powerful tool

in analyzing the sources of risk for subtance abuse. It integrates many other

theories, and thus it’s applicability is extremely wide. In terms of policy

implications, it points to the importance of maintaining social ties between

family, school and adolescents. Moreover, it can reveal certain alienating

aspects of punishment as counterproductive in the school’s role as transmitter

of prosocial norms. Finally, it suggests that a certain emphasis in creating

social bonding among recovering addicts is uniquely important in successfully

treating addiction. As an overall theme, there are two components to all of

these instances. First, there must be a strong social bond of a very unique

sort. It is one among people who draw upon each other when making normative

judgements intimate to their lives, or more specifically, the course of action

with respect to drugs. Identification with this group with respect to the

judgement at hand is essential for the adoption of similar norms. The second

component is that these bonds must become used to transmit that normative

information. Strong bonds do not prevent drug use if that identity does not in

some way involve a consideration of drug use as deviant. Finally, the

limitations of this theory must also be considered. That is, in some cases, drug

use stems from a perception that all social bonds have been severed. Thus the

behavior is not learned from an intimate peer group, but from the environment in

general. In this case, the old-fashioned analysis of stress relief has more

effect, and the prescription for treatment may differ

Oetting, E.R. and Donnermeyer, J.F. Primary Socialization Theory: The

Etiology of Drug Use and Deviance. I. Substance Use and Misuse 33 (4): 995-1026

(1991)