Oversocialization can lead to low self-esteem, a sense of powerlessness, defeatism, guilt,etc. One of the most important means by which our society socializes children is by making themfeel ashamed of behavior or speech that is contrary to society’s expectations. If this is overdone,or if a particular child is especially susceptible to such feelings, he ends by feeling ashamed ofhimself. Moreover the thought and the behavior of the oversocialized person are more restrictedby society’s expectations than are those of the lightly socialized person. The majority of peopleengage in a significant amount of naughty behavior. They lie, they commit petty thefts, they breaktraffic laws, they goof off at work, they hate someone, they say spiteful things or they use someunderhanded trick to get ahead of the other guy. The oversocialized person cannot do these things,or if he does do them he generates in himself a sense of shame and self-hatred. The oversocializedperson cannot even experience, without guilt, thoughts or feelings that are contrary to the acceptedmorality; he cannot think “unclean” thoughts. And socialization is not just a matter of morality;we are socialized to conform to many norms of behavior that do not fall under the heading ofmorality. Thus the oversocialized person is kept on a psychological leash and spends his liferunning on rails that society has laid down for him. In many oversocialized people this results in6a sense of constraint and powerlessness that can be a severe hardship. We suggest thatoversocialization is among the more serious cruelties that human being inflict on one another.
