becoming a member of a society

We are social animals, we live our lives surrounded by other human beings. We live our lives as members of a human society.

But we are not members of our society as soon as we are born. We are born with capabilities of becoming part of a society: with the capability of learning a language, expressing and recognizing emotions and cooperating intelligently. As we put those capabilities into use, we progressively become members of the society we are born into.

First our family, then our friends, classmates, teachers and workmates help us to become adult citizens of our society.

Family

Our family is our first and most important contact with our society. Families play important functions in any human society:

• • Reproductive function. We are born defenseless, we can not survive as babies without the protection and nourishment that our families give us.

  • Educative function. Our family teaches us our first language and the most basic habits: how to behave, to dress, to eat, etc.

  • Affective function. Within our family we develop our affections. Later on, these feelings will be the basis of new social relationships with friends and with our own, future family.

The case of Victor of Aveyron shows us the importance of growing up in a family that protects, educates and loves us. Without the protection, education and love of a family, a child can't become a member of a society.

Friendship

During adolescence and later on in our adult life, we form new relations outside the limits of our family. Apart from our family, our friends are our most important social relations. They help us to integrate ourselves in the school, at work, in the neighborhood. They help us to make new friends. Therefore, our friends are an important link with the rest of the society.