My Childhood Ronald and Shirley raced to the hospital. The labor pains were coming every few minutes now. Shirley was wheeled directly into the birthing room after they reached the hospital as her husband paced back and forth outside. Then, at 6:30 A.M., the couple's son entered the world. The child was me. I can remember hearing that story thousands of times during my childhood. I often wondered how I managed to get to where I am now, i.e., how did I learn the things that I know? The answer to that question is socialization. Socialization is defined as the process through which individuals learn skills, values, knowledge, motives, and roles appropriate to their positions in a grou