**2. The notion of socialization**

Socialization is derived from the Latin word socials (social) understood as the method that endures all through all life and comes from the legacy, learning, and exchange of the mass involvement of mankind information, abilities, standards, values, designs of behavior, etc., which is under the specific conditions of the society to which the person has a place [2, 3]. Stable social order or social cohesion fundamental for the various components of society work together to maintain the status quo, which includes social structures and institutions, social relations, social interactions and behavior, cultural features such as norms, beliefs, and values. This might be also possible general through socialization [4]. This is way socialization become one of the main concerns of sociology to explain how social cohesion or social order is possible [4].

In the socialization processes, individuals and groups are taught the skills, and behavior patterns, values, and motivations are needed for competent functioning in the culture in which they join [5]. There are also the social skills, social understandings, and emotional maturity needed for interaction with other individuals to fit in the functioning of social dyads and larger groups [6, 7]. Socialization accounts for the transmission of culture and the development of an autonomous human being [8]. It is a requirement for the continuity of society and a requirement consistent with our experience as salved beings [5]. Socialization processes include all those whereby culture is transmitted from each generation to the next, including training for specific roles in specific occupations [1]. It is a lifelong process that starts from childhood till the death of a person and a vital process of learning through which society exists [4].

As it is explained in socialization theories of sociology and social psychology, socialization is the process of the individual development of a human personality within a social environment, with specific living conditions [9]. Socialization enables individuals to acquire language, knowledge, social skills, norms, values, and customs that are necessary for participating in and integrating into a group or community [9]. Socialization is a combination of wanted conformity and externally imposed rules, mediated by the expectations of other persons [1]. Thus, socialization influences the sociostructural organization of common existence and simultaneously attains cultural and social continuity. We are made aware of societal values the norms and beliefs of our society and expectations from our earliest family and play experiences [10].

It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society's beliefs, to be aware of societal values, and taught to be proficient members of society [11]. It is not simply interacting with others like with families, friends, and coworkers, but also internalizing through socializing agents and the most basic of human activities [11]. Through socialization, individual learn the culture of the society into which we have been born, learn, and work. Without socialization, the individual had not learned the material culture of our society and nonmaterial cultures such as beliefs, values, and norms [12]. Without socialization, most importantly the individual had not learned to

*Socialization Experiences among Undergraduate Students in Higher Learning Institutions (HLI) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99007*

use the symbols that make up the language through which we learn about who we are, how we fit with other people, and the natural and social worlds in which we live [6]. The critical period of socialization of individuals begins with the initial information and contact between an individual and an organization and continues until sometime after the individual enters the organization [13]. Therefore, from the initial contact up to the level of effective socialization of individual, there are socialization process and types.
