Understanding The Aspect of Socialization in The Market Context Today

The lifestyle of human beings and the texture of their social life necessitate aspects of learning, copying, relating, interacting and conforming to the norms and values agreed upon in any social setting. The aspect of interdependence in any society is indispensable amongst human beings. The article treats markets as social structures embedded with diverse relationships, mutual interactions, connectivity and networks, that open up avenues for socialization to occur through its process of learning and internalization. It is undeniable that every social setting exhibits some norms and values that regulate its members. Markets too as public spheres contain norms, rules and values, which market actors learn, copy, and internalize. The article seeks to unveil the fact that market actors hail from diverse cultural backgrounds. As they enter into markets, they interact, learn, internalize and adopt some behavioral components that in one way or the other reshape and mould their patterns of behaviors. Learning and adapting new behaviors however, may depend from one individual to the other. Some people may develop instrumentally rational behaviors (actions pursued for their own sake), and others may develop ego-centered behaviors, some may be economically or socially oriented towards value commitment. The article considers how the above mentioned and many other aspects of behaviors are moulded, and nurtured in markets through various aspects of mutual interactions, relations, and learning. It studies the above from an outlook of socialization as a process that helps to mould them. The article reviews the nature of markets today in Tanzania, and some factors that influence the buying and selling behaviors. It makes use of both empirical and theoretical sources of data, and it uses a conceptual framework that embodies the two approaches. The conceptual framework adapted is based on Pickton & Broderick model of consumer behaviors (2005), which explains the relations among various aspects of consumer behaviors. It makes use of qualitative approach towards its data collection and thematic analysis of the data presented.