3. Socialisation Flashcards
What sociologist strongly deals with socialisation
Talcott Parsons
What is socialisation
Parsons claims socialisation is when humans learn and internalise their cultures norms and values.
He claims people learn specific beliefs and forms of behaviour appropriate to their cultures and so their society becomes internalised and part of their personality development
What are the three stages of socialisation claimed by Parsons
Primary socialisation
secondary socialisation
Tertiary socialisation
What is primary socialisation
This is the type of socialisation where the child learns the immediate families beliefs and values in the home and learns the expectations that the parents have of the child. This is their first form of socialisation where children are taught how to talk and walk
What is secondary socialisation
This is the type of socialisation where the child learns what wider society expects from its members and wider societal norms and values for example: how to appropriately act, this usually takes place outside the home through schools, religion, peer groups or media
What is Tertiary socialisation
This is the type of socialisation for adults and usually takes place when people need to adapt to new situations such as becoming a parent are getting a job
What is the element of formal socialisation
Formal socialisation is where people are deliberately and consciously manipulated to ensure they learn to follow certain rules. This can happen through education processes where children are taught to obey those in authority.
Functionalists see this as a type of social cohesion
What is the element of informal socialisation
This is where people learn to fit into their culture by watching and learning from others around them. As people learn what they see, they can learn acceptable behaviour and their place in society
What did parsons believe about socialisation
He believed that those who behaved in an unusual way were evident of a lack of socialisation but didnt look at the possibility that people deliberately choose to not follow rules
He believed secondary socialisation helped the individual develop a separate identity in order to deal with social situations.
What are agents of socialisation
These are any social groups that pass on cultural values or norms. Through these agents we learn expected rules of society
What are the aims of primary socialisation
This is usually formal socialisation that teaches
- The ability to do certain things eg: read or swim
- The desire to achieve wants eg: jobs or grades
- The ability to survive the outside world eg: how to avoid threats.
- social roles to support them in adulthood eg: parental skills
- The ability to think about how other people interact with eachother eg: good manners
What sociologist talks about family and habitus
Marxist, Pierre Bourdieu
What does Bourdieu say about the family
He claimed that because members of families tend to belong to the same social backgrounds and ethnic groups, children learn a set of behaviours that mark them out from others with different backgrounds. Eg: Accents, manners and thinking patterns are similar to our family members.
He called this set of similarities Habitus, therefore our habitus is the social situation in which we feel comfortable and at home
How is the family an agent of socialisation
The family teaches basic social attitudes, norms and values of culture and show the children how to acquire a sense of identity eg: gender roles
Children are socialised at home through:
Imitation - Copying their parents social skills
Role models - Copying their role model which is usually encouraged to be their same sex parent
Sanctions - How a child is punished and praised; boys can be pushed to be masculine
Expectations - Boys may develop more spatial skills as their parents expect them to be better at sports than girls
