The influence of social conditioning ties into the ongoing debate between free will and determinism. Are we simply products of our environment or do we exert some autonomy over our own lives?

The closing stanza of William Ernest Henley's "Invictus" argues strongly for the latter:

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

But as you allude to, any perceived control may in fact be illusory.