Section A Overview: Socialisation & Culture Flashcards

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1
Q

What is culture?

A

A whole system of behaviour and beliefs of a society or group. This could include language, faith, fashion, morals, laws, traditions and lifestyle. There is a variety of cultures across the world.

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2
Q

What is high culture?

A

Products/activities that are seen as very high status and represent high achievements. E.g. theatre, classical music, opera and ballet. Seen as superior to other forms of culture and is often enjoyed by those of a higher social class.

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3
Q

What is popular culture?

A

Products/activities that are enjoyed by the majority of a population. E.g. watching TV, going to the cinema, playing football and reading magazines. Also be known as ‘mass culture’. Some argue that popular culture and high culture are becoming more similar as people can now gain access to activities which they didn’t have before.

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4
Q

What is global culture?

A

Products/activities become universal. Brands, food, films and other cultural products are identical across many different countries. This is linked to globalisation. Examples of global brands are Microsoft, Nike and Coca-Cola and they are easily recognisable across the world. This happens because of the media and internet in particular.

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5
Q

What is consumer culture?

A

Revolves round the consumption of goods and activities. Shopping is the main focus of this consumption. The debt associated with getting these goods are accepted as ‘normal’. People are obsessed with branded goods to try and gain status in the eyes as others. This is all encouraged by the media (adverts and celebrities).

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6
Q

What is cultural hybridity?

A

When cultures merge together. It can be best seen in aspects such as music, fashion and food.

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7
Q

What are subcultures?

A

A culture within a culture. A smaller group who usually have their own norms and values.

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8
Q

What is cultural diversity?

A

This refers to the differences and variety found in societies.

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9
Q

What is intercultural diversity?

A

Diversity that is seen between cultures.

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10
Q

What is intracultural diversity?

A

Diversity that is seen within cultures.

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11
Q

What is primary socialisation?

A

Early years of life (0-5) are very important in the learning process. Intimate and prolonged contact with our family. Family teach us basic norms and values through imitation, trail and error, rewards and sanctions.

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12
Q

What are agencies of secondary socialisation?

A

What happens after the first five years of our life. This socialisation is a prolonged process that happen throughout our lives. Agents are education, religion, peer groups, workplace, media

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13
Q

What is formal social control?

A

Police, courts , criminal justice system, government, military. Through law, they directly control behaviour of the population. In the UK it is rare the military is used to control UK citizens, but it is common in other countries. Police can use military style tactics to control people however in times of unrest. Sanctions include warnings from the police, sentences in court, dismissal from work, exclusion from school. Formal social control is explicit and obvious- people know it is happening.

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14
Q

What is informal social control?

A

These control our behaviour much more subtly- they would include peer groups, education, religion, family, workplace, media. Different types of sanctions used may include socially excluding a person from a peer/friendship group, being pushed out of a religion group, disappointed reactions from parents, being passed over for promotion at work, celebrities being criticised in magazines. Informal control may be less obvious, but it is just as powerful in influencing our behaviour as formal control, even more so in some cases.

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15
Q

Who are the working class?

A

Used to form the majority of the population, but it is shrinking. Traditionally made up of manual workers and those with trades. Often seen as a hard-working, ‘salt-of-the-earth’ identity, which many, who are clearly middle class in terms of education, career or income, still try to claim as their identity.

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16
Q

Who are the underclass?

A

Those at the very bottom of society, the ones who lacked opportunities in terms of education, health and earning good money. The term is now often used in a negative way to describe those who rely on benefits and are blamed for their own situation due to the choices they have made. Associated with Murray who argues that over-generous benefits encourage some people to develop a culture, in which they do not take responsibility for their own actions and have an expectation that they will be ‘looked after by the state’.

17
Q

Who are the upper class?

A

Those with inherited wealth, often in the form of land. Mackintosh and Mooney (2004) have pointed out that a key feature of the upper class is their invisibility. The upper class function on ‘social closure’, meaning that their education, leisure time and daily lives are separated from and partially invisible to the rest of the population. They may send their children to boarding schools, socialise in exclusive clubs and participate in leisure activities that are largely unfamiliar or unreachable to the majority, such as hunting, polo and opera. However, it could be argued that this group is declining in numbers and power, and that the new “super-rich”, based on achieved rather than ascribed (inherited) status, are now much more significant.

18
Q

Who are the middle class?

A

Seen as the majority of the population. Traditionally, the middle class is associated with those who have professional or managerial careers. They are likely to have been university-educated and to own their own homes. However, these features now apply to more and more of the population as access to home ownership and education has spread, more people are self-employed, and there are fewer people working in manual jobs or trades. Because of this, the middle class are a very diverse group, containing a wide variety of people with different incomes, attitudes and lifestyles. Fox discusses ‘upper middles’, ‘middle middles’ and ‘lower middles’ to show these differences within the middle class

19
Q

What does Gilroy say?

A

Young black people and said that they shared experience of racism and powerlessness. He said this means they can create their own identity which links to this known as ‘Black Atlantic’ showing it is not rooted in the UK.

20
Q

What does Spencer say?

A

Found many ethnic minorities are white, with ethnic origins from Eastern Europe. There is evidence they face similar issues of resentment and racism, so they spend little time socialising with British people because ‘they do not let others in their circles’. Eastern European people tend to stick together and form their own identity.

21
Q

What do Cashmore and Tronya say?

A

Argue that ethnic minorities ‘turn inwards’ to support each other as a form of protection, therefore identity, culture and religion are strengthened.
Winston James supports this by saying that experience of racism unifies cultures.

22
Q

What does Jacobson say?

A

Supports Cashmore & Tronya by saying that young Muslims form a strong identity as a response to the exclusion they feel from the rest of society. They tend to form a completely different identity to others in UK society. This then leads to British removing themselves even further away from the ethnic minority group, as they do not see that they have anything in common with them.

23
Q

What does Modood say?

A

Believes that generations feel differently about identity. Second generation ethnic minorities feel they have more of a British identity than their parents, this could be due to the fact they have been integrated into British society from a younger age in schools and therefore follow British norms and values much easier, as it has always been part of their everyday life. Also, they will have learnt the British language from birth so used it more frequently than their parents or grandparents.