24: Socialization

Socialization seems, on the surface, to be an immersion in the world - as a person seeks to become more convivial, participate in social gatherings, attend public events, and so on in order to increase their network of friends and acquaintances.

However, socialization may become an escape from oneself, in which a person lives according to their social role or the expectation of others, and thereby avoids making decisions based on his personal desires, but instead conforms to the desires of others.

A person who becomes socialized often suffers from loneliness and isolation in spite of their broad network of connections of others - but his connections are shallow rather than intimate.

Socialization can also be a means of escape, by engaging in one relationship as a means of avoiding another. The husband who spends most of his time with friends or at the office may be avoiding contact with his wife. And in this sense his relationships "other people" in his life are merely a means of escaping rather than an end unto themselves.