Kohlberg
When it comes to socialization, circles of friends, peer groups and so forth, it is clear that there is what is considered healthy and what is considered less than optimal. Beyond there, there will always tend to be subgroups and subcultures that emerge from within and from under a more dominant culture. This brief report shall describe the importance of peer groups, how subcultures can emerge and the significance of those subgroups emerging. Further, the way in which friendship circles are created and changed throughout the school years, how problems are associated with children that are rejected, bullying and their victims and beyond will be mentioned. Finally, there shall be the specific bits of advice offered by Kohlberg when it comes to moral development, growth of vocabulary and the seasoning of reasoning ability with kids will be part of what is discussed. While not all children and peer groups develop in the same way, there are good signs and bad signs and the former is always better than the latter.
Analysis
Far and away the most important reason that peer groups are a good thing to have, not to mention circles of friends in general, is that human are social creatures and forced (or self-imposed) isolation is almost never healthy or good for a person. Even with that tendency and fact, there is always going to be the more prevalent and dominant cultures that exist and there will be people within the area of that dominant culture that will not sign on to or assimilate into the bigger culture, at least not fully. This is what leads to subcultures forming and blossoming within the broader context of the dominant culture. For example, Muslims are a very stark minority within the United States. Despite this, they find it important to assemble with and otherwise socialize with people such as themselves, whether that be in a religious setting or outside of it. Some people decry this as Muslims separating themselves from society and not becoming a working part of the whole. Others say that Muslims...
Something else to consider is that Muslims themselves, even within the United States, can further separate into smaller groups. For example, Arab Muslims will tend to follow similar circles while black Muslims will be in their own circles (MV Media, 2016)
Subcultures are significant in that they are smaller groups that people can feel "at home" within but they can also be a bad thing, on the whole. For example,
gangs and other delinquent subcultures work and move against the larger culture and this often manifests in the form of deviancy and
crime. This concept is by no means new and has been heavily studied and assessed as far back as the 1970's and beyond. What has been found in the years since is that there are some strong correlations and divergences when it comes to dominant cultures and subcultures and they are quite often along racial, gender and/or
socioeconomic lines. Beyond that, the socioeconomic and racial lines are often one and the same given that
minorities are much more likely to be economically deprived than white people, just as one example. Even with all of that, there are plenty of subcultures that are not violent and that are not, in and of itself, a sign of bad
socialization or a bad part of society in general. Even so, the reasons that people peel off of and/or separate themselves from a broader and more dominant culture is always something that should be studied and assessed. Some degree of specialization and separation is normal while other forms are borne of things that are not the least bit positive such as xenophobia, religious tensions,
racism or other negative things (Kreager & Moody, 2011).
As far as friendship circles change and evolve as a child ages, the big thing to look at and keep track of is complexity. While there are basic norms and trends that emerge as a child ages, the scope, depth and breadth of what a child does and clings to gets…
