Abstract
This article presents a case for the usefulness of the concept of autonomous socialization when analyzing personality formation and youth education. It is fruitful to make a distinction between “sociality” which is conditional over the normal socialization process by the functional requisites of the social system and “autonomous or selfsocializing” “competence” which is aquired through social interaction and spontaneous actions.
The author also re-examines the changing meanings of role-moratorium and proposes the hypothesis that participating in the boundarymaintaining group as voluntary association gives a frame of reference for establishing the identity formation because the identity formation is the “problem of locating oneself in the system”. Secondly the proper institutionalization of social solidarity and reorganization of informal education are essential to the recent prolonged period of moratorium under the over-conforming and stereotyped pressure toward youth.
