There is a need for environmental values in primary socialization to foster a greener future

Every year on June 05, the world celebrates Environment Day. On this day, schools, colleges, universities, and research institutions organize programs regarding its importance. In these programs, students, teachers, scholars, professors, and even experts in the concerned field deliver lectures about environmental significance. Overall, these programs create consciousness among all those who are connected with these institutions. This year, the program was celebrated under the theme of “Land Restoration, Desertification, and Drought Resilience,” hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The biggest challenge and problem in this present era is “Saving the Environment,” as identified by scientists and experts in the concerned field. In general, this issue emerges as a problem for the whole society and needs a solution at the community level as well.
From a sociological perspective, any problem in society cannot be eliminated but can be minimized to a significant level. Problems can be addressed at two levels: structural and individual. At the structural level, policymakers play an important role. They frame policies, programs, and laws to legally restrict behaviours that contribute to societal problems. In this regard, our country has done a lot to minimize this problem. India has adopted many international programs like UNDP and UNEP and created its own environmental policies, such as the Indian constitutional provisions towards the environment, the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981, the New Environmental Policy of India in 2006, research and development initiatives, the Environmental Research Program, forest and wildlife research, environmental education, awareness and training, National Green Crops, the National Museum of Natural History, and more. Institutions at this level are involved in minimizing the problem and are doing their work efficiently. However, what we lack as a society is individual-level work, which in sociology is called socialization.
At the individual level, our society is lagging. Our total socialization process is still the same as it was before the 19th century. Our society has changed, but its process of socialization has not. Socialization of our upcoming generation still happens without environmental values. Some countries have progressed more in saving the environment and have incorporated environmental studies into various disciplines. Yes, there has been some change among people, but the main area where progress can be achieved more is environmental socialization.
Socialization is a process that cultivates thinking processes and intellectual development for the upcoming generation. Environmental socialization means the transfer of environmental culture from one generation to another. This is the area where we can instill environmental thinking in the new generation, which I believe is a functional prerequisite for this post-modern era. When anything becomes a prerequisite for society, it needs institutionalization, like marriage, family, kinship, and so on. The time has come to institutionalize environmental values. Policymakers can create a separate institution at the local level to work on this process of environmental socialization, transferring environmental values and norms among the common masses. As August Comte said, “Change comes when people change intellectually.”
Society has evolved from simple to complex, ancient to modern, uniform to multiform, and homogeneous to heterogeneous. When society changes, its components and institutions also change to meet its demands. One of the main components of society is socialization, which changes as society progresses from simple to complex. This component fulfills the main demands of society in terms of learning, speaking, and developing habits and thoughts about what is right and wrong. It creates the norms, customs, folkways, sanctions, and values of society. In a sociological sense, it is the main nerve or base that decides the path for the development of society. This base or nerve also determines the structure of society, which we are presently witnessing in comparison to different societies. The imbalance between different societies in terms of saving the environment is due to differences in environmental socialization and environmental programs.
Children in countries like Denmark, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Sweden learn from their parents and families to save the environment and manage waste from the very beginning of their lives. They get knowledge about the environment from family members and then through schools, colleges, and universities, which collectively have a lasting impact on their commitment to saving the environment. In comparison, children in our society primarily learn about the environment in schools, colleges, and universities. This stage of socialization is not as strong as primary socialization. Primary socialization creates a more lasting impression on individuals compared to secondary socialization, as most habits are developed during this phase. As sociologist Talcott Parsons said, “The early process of primary socialization not only prepares children for their roles in society as adults but also has a strong influence on their personality and emotional security.”
At the societal level, we are not socialized to save our environment. Our socialization often trains us against environmental values, such as disposing of household waste on roads or in open spaces. Those who engage in these activities are not entirely responsible, as they have learned these behaviours from their parents or observed them from childhood. In our Kashmiri society, these practices are also considered normal. On every road, we find household waste and other materials that are hazardous to the environment. What we need is to change our socialization process and transfer environmental values to the new generation so that our future generations will learn environmental values as developed countries have.
The writer teaches sociology for competitive exams. He can be reached at [email protected]

Adil Hussain Bhat