European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

WHAT MAKES US EUROPEAN? IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION IN THE ... 187supranational. We think that, from a stricter and more operative pointof view, the following two areas should be worked on in the field ofeducation: the relationship between the formation of schemes that aremore related to the social world and the ability to have socialidentification and, on the other hand, the relationship between thedifferentiation and distinctiveness between the concepts “I —we—Others” and the willingness to separate oneself from the others tosocially reject them and discriminate them.Learning how to be in charge of one´s own socializationand not only a product of itFrom an identity perspective, education offers a model of analysisand appropriation of problems and situations as well as a way oflearning about the being, especially on the social and relational fronts.From this standpoint, culture is not defined in terms of an ensemble ofqualities attributed to it but as a communication phenomenon. Thecommunicative and relational aspects are not only the object of specificand structured learning. Thus, we regard spontaneous behaviour(which is often overlooked in education ) as very relevant.Socialization is the process through which individuals learn how toperform in their social environment. Socialization agents are peopleand institutions an individual is related to and from which he or shelearns about values and rules of conduct. The socialization process lastsa lifetime, although three types of socialization are usually distinguished:—Primary socialization, associated with childhood, when the mostimportant elements for living in society, such as language, areinternalized.—Secondary socialization, associated with adolescence and maturity,when more abstract values, such as political ideology, areinternalized.—Tertiary socialization, associated with adulthood, when individualsquestion what was previously learnt and incorporate new values.Present-day social dynamics are characterised by their rushed paceand their precariousness. Every individual is led to experience one ormore successive and sometimes synchronic processes of culture lossand this does not only happen at the professional and geographicallevel. Learning how to cope with change and complexity in socialreality, in technological deficits, in educational games, etc. constitutesan educational challenge in which culture is only one variable thatought to be taken into consideration.