Case Studies (Culture, Socialisation and Identity)

Question 1

COHEN (Social Class)

Answer 1

Working class boys are 'culturally deprived'. They don't understand what is being taught at school because they have 'low levels of cultural capital'.
Thus suffering 'status frustration' - anti-social behaviours and rebellious attitude - and turn to delinquency to gain status from their peer group. Our peer group ultimately socialise us into our class identities.

Question 2

KEDDIE (Social Class)

Answer 2

The education system reinforces social classes that children are socialised into by their parents through primary socialisation by placing pupils into ability sets. 
Middle class children are more likely to fit a teachers ideal of a perfect pupil.
Working class children are more likely to be in lower sets, where high grade knowledge is withheld from them.

Question 3

BUTLER (Gender as a Social Construct)

Answer 3

Young British Asian women are keen to move beyond the traditional stereotypes associated with them. Religion remains important but now more emphasis is placed on education and their careers, which will help them challenge cultural gender expectations.

Question 4

GAUNTLETT (Sexual Identity)

Answer 4

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people are still under-represented in much of mainstream media, which is slowly changing for the better as tolerance of sexual diversity is slowly growing. Positive media coverage may encourage people to be open about their sexual identity.

Question 5

WEEKS (Sexual Identity)

Answer 5

Sexual identity is complicated; homosexual activity does not necessarily lead to identification as being gay. There are people who identify themselves as ‘gay’ and participate in the gay community but do not participate in same-sex sexual activity. There are also people who do have same-sex sexual encounters but do not identify themselves as gay. In Reiss’s 1961 study he found that ‘rent boys’ (young male prostitutes) actively despised the men as a way of neutralising their behaviour.