Final answer:
Infants begin the process of enculturation by interacting with their caregivers and absorbing the cultural norms around them, which is crucial for maintaining and transmitting culture from one generation to the next. Both formal education and informal social interactions contribute to cultural transmission, with the family serving as a primary agent in this process.
Step-by-step explanation:
Infants begin the process of enculturation through continuous interaction with their caregivers and the environment around them. This form of cultural transmission is critical in understanding how cultural values, beliefs, and norms are passed down from generation to generation. From the earliest stages of infancy, children are immersed in a cultural milieu through both deliberate teaching — such as through language acquisition — and through more subtle, informal ways such as observing and mimicking social interactions.
For example, while a student formally learns about cultural aspects of history in a classroom, they also informally learn the cultural norm of social interactions like asking a classmate out on a date.
Family plays a pivotal role in enculturation, being the primary agent of socialization. Parents transmit societal norms and values to their children in day-to-day life, which is essential for the perseverance and evolution of culture. Without this process of enculturation, distinctive cultural characteristics would fade, and society's continuity would be at stake. Therefore, understanding how infants commence this process is instrumental in grasping the broader concept of cultural continuity and change.