Why is socialization important?

We say that man is a social being. What is this word "social"? 

If we look at the dictionary, like many words that have been added to our language later, this word came from French, and like many French words, they took it from Latin. Latin means common, allied. But unlike many other words, its real root is Indo-European. There is another word that comes from the same root, the word "sequence". The Indo-European root "sek", which means to follow each other in Indo-European language, is the main connection of these two words in the depths of history. 

To be social means to be together in society, to do something in common, to be comrades. So it is a very old word, dating back to the times when human beings started to become a society.

I checked the TDK dictionary to see if there was a word that could be an exact equivalent for us, and they wrote "social". We say social issues, but we can also say social issues, it makes sense. In fact, since "society" is a Turkish word, why do we use the word "social" then, I think we should forget the word "social", let's use our own unique word in our mother tongue, "toplumsal".

But "social" is almost everywhere, there is social studies, numerical-social, social sciences, social justice, social anthropology, social structure, social democrat, even social drinker, you name it. Would it be okay to replace all of them with social?

There is also socialization. Can we say socialization instead of socialization? 

It sounds a bit strange, I feel like it doesn't give the full meaning for some reason. Socialization? 

When we think of socializing, we think of getting involved in society, coming together with people, being together, doing things together. 

No, socialization is none of these. Socialization means making an effort to become a member of society, sometimes doing what everyone else is doing in society, thus gaining a place for ourselves in society. Socialization does not seem to me to be the equivalent of all these concepts in the totality of meaning, but when I say socialization, all these things become understandable. I don't know what you think, I believe that we should Turkishize the foreign words we use, but I think we need to think a little more about the word we can use instead of socialize, we need to find a word that gives the right meaning. I don't think the word "socialize" in the TDK dictionary fits. 

Anyway, let's leave the meaning of the word and focus on the meaning of the concept.

We all feel a sense of belonging to a community in some way, out of an innate need to belong. There may be some of us who want to be alone for a while, some of us may even not want to see anyone or be in a relationship with anyone for a while. 

But total solitude? That's something else. I don't think anybody can bear to be completely alone. In any case, we all feel the need to belong to a community, a society, and even if we are not in direct contact with other people, we know that there is a society to which we belong and that we belong to that society. We have been living collectively for centuries.

This is why we say that man is a social being. 

The concept of socialization deserves a little more detailed consideration. 

Sometimes the society in which we socialize can also affect our personal character. 

For example, a person who goes to the stadium to watch a football match, with the enthusiasm of the fans surrounding him at that moment and the psychology of being a fan himself, can swear unspeakably during the match. It is as if he puts his own mind aside and acts with the mind of the society, he gets carried away by the reactions of the society at that moment, and sometimes he can even shout slogans to anger the opposing fans. 

An example of this happened recently at the Fenerbahçe match against the Ukrainian team. I think it was a ridiculous slogan, and it probably sounded ridiculous to many of the fans who shouted that slogan in the turbines after the match.

Or people can adapt to their circle of friends and, in a sense, fall for their friends and engage in criminal behavior. Sometimes they can even commit crimes directly.

I once watched a movie about the psychology of someone who felt ashamed all his life because of a crime he committed with his friends in his youth. The protagonist of the movie was having a reckoning with himself over his behavior that day. I think they had caused the death of one of their friends in an accident. 

It was a movie, and the script made it a criminal story. But aren't there real incidents like this, who among us doesn't have some small traumas from our childhood? 

For example, I still remember the pain of a rock hitting me in the head during a street fight with the next neighborhood when I was little. Who knows what else many of us have experienced when we were little. 

The topic is socializing and we usually use this word in a slightly different sense when we say socializing when we reach a certain age. Going out for dinner one evening with our spouse or a friend or doing something somewhere, going to a movie, for example, we call such activities socializing. 

Therefore, we define ourselves as a social drinker if we occasionally drink something alcoholic to fit in with the environment. Social drinker maybe means that I fit in with the environment, that I adapt to what everyone else is doing. I don't know if anyone becomes an alcoholic because they want to socialize, but since this article is open to everyone, I guess I should say "alcohol is harmful to health" here. 

And then there are social events. Activities that are useful for everyone. These kinds of events are very useful for socializing. Especially for our elders who have reached a certain age, for example, they can be very nice events. 

I said in one of my articles that I like all kinds of music. But classical Turkish music would be a bit more dominant if you had to choose. 

I think Turkish art music choirs organized by municipalities are a great activity. I think it's a really useful way of socializing for women who stay at home and follow the ridiculous TV series on TV, except for getting together with neighbors and gossiping, if they are interested in music.

In addition to these, there are a lot of charity organizations, and these organizations also organize some events. But you have to be careful, yoga activities in parks and such can be objectionable to some authorities, so it's good to inform the authorities in advance of such events. If they allow it, let's do yoga, if not, let's ask them what to do. They will probably tell us an activity, since they know everything, they should know about these issues too!

Look, another question has come to my mind. So, is socializing only a need for us human beings? 

Are there socialization activities in the animal kingdom, for example?

I recently came across a news report that said that macaque monkeys in Japan had started attacking humans for some reason. Especially babies. 

Then I heard the same news somewhere else.  In fact, at first it was thought that they were really attacking. But the truth came out later. 

A group of macaque monkeys were thrown out by the others for some reason. Those who were expelled from this group started to look for a new society where they could socialize. For this purpose, they set their eyes on humans. 

While the macaque monkeys were socializing, they used methods such as pinching each other, pulling each other's tails, and taking care of each other's offspring. In the same way, complaints started to come from the Japanese society that the monkeys were going crazy and attacking humans because they were pinching them, pulling their hair, and especially turning towards babies, as if they were attacking them. 

When the reason for this behavior was investigated by experts, the situation was understood. 

It turned out that the goals of the monkeys, who were actually ostracized from their own society, were quite innocent. 

There was no information about what they did to the monkeys afterwards, but I guess they somehow dissuaded them from their desire to socialize with humans.

Apparently, socializing is not unique to us human beings. There are social activities in the animal kingdom too. Some animal species already engage in activities together, at least many wild species hunt together. Just like human beings did at the beginning of history. Who knows, one day some species may even reach the stage of building a civilization like humans. Some of them have already started using tools. Who knows what will happen in the future.

Let's go back to us humans. I think socialization is very important, one of the primary concepts of social cohesion.

If we want society to consist of individuals who respect and love each other, let's socialize. 

But let's not limit ourselves to Fridays, let's socialize at every possible opportunity. This way we will get to know each other better and we will become a healthier society.

Respect and love to everyone from Moscow.