socialisation, culture and identity Flashcards

Question

how does the family socialise people into their gender

Answer 1

Oakley said there are 4 ways the family socialises children: - Manipulation: socially accepted behaviour is encouraged and going against gender norms is met with negative sanctions. - Canalisation: parents channel their child's interests into socially acceptable activities - Verbal appellation: parents talk to children and treat them in a way that reinforces gender expectations - Gendered domestic activities: children encouraged to help with jobs that reinforce gender stereotypes it often goes alongside mimicking their parents too By age 5 most children have a clear gender identity (Statham)

Answer 2

In education Blinkenstaff says that there is a lack of role models in science and maths for girls (formal curriculum.) Also skelton argues that although men and women learn the same subjects but when given the option teachers will encourage gendered subject choices (hidden curriculum)

Answer 3

Peer pressure forces girls to be shy especially when it comes to sex. This is mostly from male peers but some female peers negatively sanction deviant behaviour as well through negative labelling (lees.) Frosh found that boys who worked hard were called gay. Reynold found that they would stress their traditional masculinity and boys who were more academic would play this down in order to avoid homophobic comments.

Answer 4

in work there is horizontal segregation, where some jobs are viewed as more suited to a particular gender eg the women and work commission found women are disproportionately found in the 5 cs: cleaning, caring, cashiering, catering and clerical work also the equal opportunities commission found that 90% of construction workers were male and vertical segregation, where men and women are divided by a glass ceiling eg in 2008 women made up only 11% of directors of the top 100 companies in britain leading to a gender pay gap of 19.2% per hour.

Answer 5

christianity is patriarchal and women are excluded from key roles (armstrong.) in 2012 the c of e voted against allowing women to become bishops which means that there are less role models for women, there is also the belief that god is male and that women were created from a man's body. there is also pressure for women to save sex for marriage and to only have sex for children.

Answer 6

**the media** often represents women through the 'male gaze' (mulvey) which encourages straight men to objectify women and women to view themselves from a straight male perspective. women are encouraged to imitate the concept of 'slimblondeness' (mcrobbie.) films often protray masculinity as based on strength and violence (easthope.) however, (gauntlett) argued that media can also challenge gender norms eg lady gaga singing about financial independence. it is becoming more common for men to be portrayed as comfortable with femininity. david beckham is a footballer but he sometimes wear nail varnish and openly talks about his role as a father showing that he is an example of metrosexual masculinity, influenced by the metropolitan gay scene (whannell.)

Answer 7

mac an ghaill argued that working class men are experiencing a crisis of masculinity due to deindustrialisation and the increased emphasis on women being independent which has lead to a loss of the breadwinner identity. they also found that boys police their own and others sexuality and gender which is based on hyper masculinity and heterosexuality, leading to anti-school subcultures. postmodernists argue that people can pick and mix the way that they express their gender. wilkinson said that the definition of woman has changed so much that it amounts to a 'genderquake' and sharpe found that the priorities of women changed drastically from the 1970s to the 1990s from ‘love marriage husbands and children’ to education and careers. queer theory rejects the gender binary and there is an increased awareness about genderqueer identities in the uk.

Answer 8

weeks argues that people are socialised to see heterosexual sex as natural and gay sex as deviant. rich used the term compulsory heterosexuality to describe the way that women are socialised into a heterosexual role. McIntosh said that the role of being a gay man comes with expected cultural characteristics. weeks found that some people participate in the queer community but don't have gay relationships and vice versa. eg reis found that male prostitutes had sex with men but still viewed themselves as straight. McItosh said that once someone identifies as gay, they live up to cultural expectations for example married men who saw themselves as straight but experienced attraction to men did not have any of the characteristics associated with being gay. plummer said that this was because people who identify as gay will join the subculture where stereotypical characteristics are the norm, he describes developing the identity of gay as a 'homosexual career,' therefore accepting the identity of being gay is what makes someone rather than experiencing attraction to the same gender.

Answer 9

gorman-murray argues that the family is the primary sight of heteronormative socialisation, especially in nuclear families where queer kids may be made to feel like they don't fit in. heineman argues that straight parents assume and want their children to be straight becacuse they want theur children to identify with and be similar to them. However in a yougov poll in 2015 88% of people said that they would support a gay child.

Answer 10

stonewall found that in schools 53% of LGB pupils were never taught about queer issues and history despite it being on the curriculum and of those that were, only 34% said it was done in a positive way. they also found that 60% of gay pupils who experience homophobic bullying say teachers who witness it never intervene.

Answer 11

People are taught to conform to heterosexual norms through peer pressure. stonewall found that 96% of gay pupils hear homophobic language and that 55% of young people experience homophobic bullying in schools and a third of gay students have been ignored, isolated or have been gossiped about.

Answer 12

queer people are underrepresented in the media. stonewall found that in 126 hrs of youth television lgb people were portrayed in 4.5% of the total programming and 36% of those representations were negative. craig identified common stereotypes such as: camp, exaggerated masculinity, evil and responsible for hiv/aids. however the pink pound refers to money spent by lgb people and businesses now target this consumer group eg subaru marketing towards lesbians.

Answer 13

yougov polls show that 2.4 million people have witnessed verbal homophobic bulling at work in the past five years and 800,000 have witnessed physical homophobic bullying. stonewall found that gay women dont want to 'put their hand up twice' and so there is a lack of role models

Answer 14

however progress has been made: section 28 was abolished in 2003, ireland was the first country to legalise gay marriage via referendum by 62%, the equality act makes it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, there are many role models such as nicola adams and sir ian mckellan.

Answer 15

The chronological approach is the most common approach - your age is associated with biological development and so shapes laws. sociologists argue that age identity is socially constructed and so we should take the life course approach which combines culture and biology to create key stages.

Answer 16

Childhood in the UK is seen as a period of innocence. Aries said that childhood has changed over the last 500 years since children used to be treated as mini adults. Postman argues that the spread of the media has lead to a decline of childhood.

Answer 17

Youth is considered a transition period between adulthood and childhood. polemus argues youth is a time for experimenting with new styles and fashion, youths can pick and mix identities from the supermarket of style.

Answer 18

Young adulthood is not considered a stage in the life course but some argue for it. According to Jones and Wallace, it is characterised by public and private first times.

Answer 19

Middle age is associated with people in their 40s and 50s. Bradley argues that middle age people have a higher status than others since they hold the power at work and in wider society. However it also has negative connotations such as a mid-life crisis and a loss of youth.

Answer 20

In some tribal societies elders gain statues but in the uk associates ageing with ugliness and dependency. corner found that older people tended to use negative language to describe their own identity reflecting media stereotypes. Hockey and James use the phrase infantilisation. However Clarke and Warren found that most 60-96 year olds saw aging as active and positive.

Answer 21

in the family, children are restricted by parents who are concerned about risks which gives children a clear sense of being different from adults (Furedi.) young adults are given more freedom and this transition also reflects their transition into adulthood (hockey and james.) changing family roles such as being a grandparent provides a sense of identity.

Answer 22

peer groups have a very strong influence during youth and there is a lot of pressure to fit in which can lead to big changes in behaviour. cohen said that young people experience status frustration because youth is considered to be a transition stage. the search for status in a peer group can lead to minor acts of deviance. this is often felt more strongly by working class people because they are less likely to do well in school and so the transition to adulthood will be more difficult and a deviant subculture may be a more appealing way of gaining status

Answer 23

the media can greatly influence the perceptions of key stages for example in the early 2000s there was a moral panic around 'hoodies' and it was said that youth wearing hoodies were more likely to break the law and this even led to the suggestion that people caught doing a crime should have longer sentence if they are wearing hoodies by sir john stevens. an IPPR study found that adults were afraid of teenagers as a result of this. there is a lack of representation of middle aged and elderly people but especially women because ageing is seen as ugly and the main aspect of women in the eyes of the media is how they look. featherstone and hepworth used the term 'mask of ageing' to describe the way that adverts of anti ageing cream etc target older women, creating more insecurity and therefore more demand.

Answer 24

minimum wage legislation creates age categories within work. work reinforces age identity because middle aged people are likely to have the most powerful position while older people are expected to retire. functionalist disengagement theory argues that the old disengages from social roles to make way for the young which is important for a smooth running society.

Answer 25

bradley argues that age identity isn't very important because it changes and bytheway found that people dont tend to view themselves as middle or old aged, those labels are put on them.

Answer 26

19% of the uk population are disabled and only 17% of these are born with a disability (DWP.) the medical model argues that the impairment causes limitations and prevents the person from leading a ‘normal’ life whereas the social models views society as the disabling factor eg lack of wheelchair ramps, this suggests that disability is socially constructed because it is based on assumptions of what is normal or not

Answer 27

shakespeare argues that disabled people are socialised to see themselves as inferior. carol gill states ‘when you become a member of the group that you have previously felt fear or pity for, you cant help but turn those feelings on yourself.’ a scope survey found that two out of three people feel uncomfortable talking to a disabled person. goffman argues that an impairment is treated as something that undermines the identity of the person as a normal member of society and signifies a spoiled identity which creates a master status where the disabled identity overrides all other identities. they also said that people try to manage their spoiled identity through passing (pass as able bodied,) covering (underplay use of aids,) withdrawal (choosing to live in segregated communities or in isolation.) however olney and kim did a study and found that many disabled people rejected medical labelling and had very positive self images, also some rejected the label of disabled eg people in the deaf community viewing themselves as a language minority.

Answer 28

Shakespeare said that disabled people are unlikely to grow up in families with role models. Hussain et al found that young South Asian disabled people said that their families were supportive but had low expectations of their abilities and were overprotective especially women since their reputations are seen as more easily damaged.

Answer 29

nabuzoka found that disabled children have fewer peers than non-disabled people do. The anti bullying alliance found that 70% of teachers had heard words such as spaz used - half as general insults and half directed at someone with a disability.

Answer 30

the disability discrimination act (2005) meant that schools had to promote disability equality however the children society found that over half of 11-16 year olds said that they had not learned about disabled people in the last year. kenny found that some teachers of disabled people had low expectations and demonstrated pity for them. the EHRC found that 71% of permanent school exclusions in england are of pupils with some form of sen (special educational needs).

Answer 31

a labour force survey found that 46% of working age disabled people were in employment in comparison to 76% of working age able-bodied people being in employment. the EHRC found that people with a disability or long-term illness are over twice as likely to report bullying or harassment.

Answer 32

ofcom found that despite 19% of the population having a disability only 2.3% of the media workforce is disabled and on terrestrial tv only 12% of programmes had a disabled character. shakespeare argues that the few representations of disabled people are often demeaning and stereotypical eg actors with restricted growth conditions being cast as oompa loompas.

Answer 33

blanks and smith argue that within religion islam is more inclusive of disabled people than judaism and christianity where disability is shown to be a punishment for sins and an opportunity for others to demonstrate goodness whereas muslims believe that everyone is born into the body that allah intended and so to dishonour or exclude disabled people is to disrespect the will of allah. they also found that some people view disability as a test of faith and others believe that using services or intervention interferes with god or allahs plan.

Answer 34

however things have improved slowly. the disability discrimination act in 1995 gave rights to disabled people an protected them from discrimination and the equality act 2010 added to this. the popularisation of the social model also changed the way people view identity. the dwp found that 70% of the british public feel attitudes towards disabled people have improved since the 2012 paralympic games. shakespeare points to positive representations and role models in the media eg peter dinklage and lisa hammond. the british toy manufacturer makies saw the social media campaign ‘toy like me’ and created a line of diasbled dolls

Answer 35

social class refers to a group sharing a similar economic and social situation.

Answer 36

the traditional upper class inherit wealth giving them an ascribed status. marxists argue that they have economic capital giving them power over others, a high value is placed on this power so the operate social closure making it difficult for others to gain entry. however it could be argued that this group is shrinking and the new super rich with achieved wealth and status is more significant.

Answer 37

the traditional middle class includes white collar jobs, they own their own home and have been to university. however due to the widening of the middle class fox argues that it makes more sense to split the middle class into three since the whole middle class is unlikely to share a common identity.

Answer 38

the traditional working class is made up of blue collar workers, they are associated with left wing politics, union membership and an us vs them attitude to bosses at work. hutton argues the decline in trade union membership and the manufacturing sector has eroded the working class identity.

Answer 39

the underclass is commonly used by functionalists in a negative way towards people on benefits and are blamed for their situation due to their choices. murray argues over generous benefits encourages some people into a work shy and welfare dependant deviant culture which they then socialise their children into. however jordan found that the poor and long term unemployed share the same ideas about work and family as everyone else. they wanted to work and felt guilty their children had to go without.

Answer 40

marxists would argue that class still matters and is the main influence on identity. marx argued that capitalism splits the population into the bourgeoisie who own the means of production and the proletariat who only have their labour power which they sell to the bourgeoisie for a wage. however the value of the labour done is more than this wage which creates a surplus value the bourgeoisie takes as profit, the proletariat are therefore treated as wage slaves. if the proletariat realised they were being exploited they could unit and overthrow the capitalist system however socialisation is an ideological process by which people are socialised into the norms and values of capitalism creating a false class consciousness within the proletariat. neo marxists such a bourdieu recognise that while the middle class doesnt have the power to shape which attributes are valued, they still have more access to economic, social and cultural capital than then working class. marshall et al’s survey found 60% of people saw themselves as belonging to a social class and 75% agreed that it is difficult to change.

Answer 41

savage et al found that class identity has weakened since most people viewed themselves as outside of the class system even while being aware of it. pakulski and waters argue that class is dead and identity is now about consumption and how money is spent. dunleavy argues that sociologists should no longer research class groups and should now research consumption cleavages. however marshall argues that consumption of certain items requires money and so is shaped by social class.

Answer 42

chapman argues that upper class **families** socialise children in ways that helps to maintain social closure eg into high culture. they can afford to send their children to public schools which also socialise them into upper class norms and values. parents also encourage children to marry people from an upper class family. parents act as role models and most children follow their parents into a similar class position (crompton.) for example willis found that working class boys followed their dads into similar jobs often even the same factory. berstein found that the working class tend to be socialised into only the restricted code while middle and upper class children are socialised into the restricted and elaborated code which is useful in education.

Answer 43

bourdieu argues education is based on the culture of the upper class so they have cultural capital. becker found teachers share an image of an ideal pupil which they use as a benchmark to judge other pupils by. while ideal pupils are judged to be more able this judgement is made within the first five minutes and so is based on appearance. middle and upper class students were viewed as closer to the ideal pupil meaning that lower class students were labelled as unmotivated and less able, likely leading to a self fulfilling prophecy.

Answer 44

scott argues that old boy networks of peers formed in public schools provide higher social classes with social capital. the boys in willis’ study had an anti school subculture since they viewed schoolwork as feminine and unnecessary for the manual jobs they expected to go into. mac an ghail also found that the crisis of masculinity was encouraged by peers leading to working class boys exaggerating their masculinity and rejecting schoolwork.

Answer 45

the glasgow university media group found that the media often depicts the working class as being unreasonably on strike or fighting with the police. curran and seaton argue tabloids aimed at the working class assume they are uninterested in political or social matters and are more likely to have celebrity gossip. neo marxists argue that this popular culture acts as an opium of the masses to prevent them from gaining class consciousness.

Answer 46

marx argued that class position is defined by your relationship to the means of production however class is often viewed as being formed by the type of occupation someone has eg the government uses the NS-SEC scale which includes 8 social classes. woodward argues that since one of the first questions asked when meeting someone new is what is their job, work is strongly linked to identity. sugarman found middle class jobs encourage deferred gratification and planning for the future since they require education and training whereas working class jobs encourage immediate gratification.

Answer 47

national identity is a sense of belonging in or connection to a country or nation. anderson argues ‘nation’ is an imagined community because millions of people who will never actually meet eachother in person see themselves as belonging to a community. national identity is socially constructed through symbols eg the flag and rituals eg national holidays. institutions like the state, monarchy and church of england form the core of most british rituals that create the british national identity eg remembrance sunday. customs include sunday roast and british sports and symbols include the union jack and the anthem.

Answer 48

there have been changes to british national identity. for example nationalism has increased in the countries other than england due to people demanding more control over their affairs. whatscotlandthinks.org found that 25% of scots described their identity as more scottish than british. another change is that the uk voted to leave the eu in 2016 due to fears that membership will result in britain losing its national identity and the power to make its own political and economic decisions. dowds and young found that some people had inclusive nationalism where they include immigrants and ethnic minorities in the british identity whereas others had exclusive nationalism where people view immigrants as foreigners and dislike european interference.

Answer 49

names that the family choose can reinforce national identity eg harry willian and george (royal names) were all in the top 10 baby names for england and wales in 2013. black and ethnic minority parents may socialise children into a dual nationality eg modood found nearly all asians share a community language however the extent of dual nationality socialisation depends on the generation.

Answer 50

school socialises children into national culture and identity. green argues that education socialise people due to a shared curriculum based on a common language, teaching national history, literature and religion. in wales, welsh is compulsory up to year eleven and there is a welsh dimension to all subjects. the hidden curriculum includes school celebrations of holidays such as the queens jubilee.

Answer 51

the media socialises people into national identity by broadcasting national reituals eg royal marriages, briths and funerals. billig describes banal nationalism where people are constantly reminded of their national identity in lots of subtle less visible ways that are so familiar they are easily overlooked eg the weather only covers the uk and politicians often say ‘us’ or ‘the nation’ and reference a sense of ‘britishness.’ evans argues that the 2012 olympics show that the most common kind of nationalism is inclusive nationalism due to popular athletes including jessica ennis whos father is an immigrant and mo farah who immigrated from somalia when he was 9. however fox argues migration is represented as a problem eg words like floods, invasion and hordes are common. representations frequently link eastern europeans with crime and benefits, portraying them as dangerous social parasites preying on their well meaning hosts.

Answer 52

sewell’s concept of cultural comfort zones could be relevant to the formation of peer groups in terms of perceived britishness. the british council found first generation migrant children are 25% more likely to be bullied in secondary school than non migrant children which could hinder the development of a positive british national identity. however it could reinforce national identity of british born members of peer groups through the emphasis on difference.

Answer 53

ethnicity is related to shared cultural characteristics whereas race is usually associated with visible biological differenced (although this is still socially constructed in the way that sex is.) ethnic and national identity overlap for some individuals but gender, social class etc also intersect making everyones experience difference and the relative importance of ethnic identity different.

Answer 54

some ethnic minorities may react to racism with resistance. cashmore and troyna argue ethnic minorities tend to turn inwards to seek support from within their own ethnic community in response to racism. therefore religion and culture may be strengthened as it becomes a key source of identity and support. winston james suggest the experience of racism unified the culture and identity of african caribbeans in the uk. black people from the caribbean had cultural differences based on their island and skin colour (imposed by colonialism.) however in the uk the common experience of racism had the effect of drawing them together. a shared oppositional culture grew organised around the label black as a resistance to racism. modood found african caribbeans response was to celebrate black and identity and prise and therefore skin colour was important to their identity.

Answer 55

johal found young british asians adopted hybrid identities which is sometimes referred to as brasian. some choose to behave differently depending on who they are with eg at school but then also emphasise their cultural differences when they feel it necessary adopting a hyper ethnicity. therefore many asians have hybrid identities selecting aspects of british asian and global culture. les back found hybrid identities in two london council estates he studied. friendship groups included white british, black and asian young people who would try out new cultural masks and styles experimenting with a range of music, dress and language ‘culturally borrowing’ from eachother.

Answer 56

ghumann found that within families the first generation of asian parents in the uk in the 1950s and 60s were concerned to socialise children into key values eg respect for elders and community. they found that these socialisation practises are still the norm among asian families and going against those norms can bring shame of the family honour (izzat) which is a powerful sanction preventing deviance especially within muslim communities. francis and archer found education is highly valued in british chinese families. parents invest time and money to support their childs education and their success is seen as a family success. british chinese children are the most successful ethnic group in gcse achievement.

Answer 57

there are links between ethnicity and religion. some religions form the dominant factor within ethnic groups while other religions are followed by a number of ethnic groups. modood found for muslim communities the mosque is the centre for religious, educational and political activities. 67% of young pakistani’s and bangladeshi’s valued the importance of religion in their lives. butler found young muslim girls were committed to their religion and used religious texts to challenge some cultural norms associated with being asian which they argued their parents were confusing with being muslim eg that they should be able to dress in a way that is both western and islamic. they therefore constructed a culturally hybrid identity.

Answer 58

soloms and back argue the media stereotyped black people as welfare scrounger in the 1960s mugger in the 70s and rioter in the 80s. the emphasis was always on supposed problems presented by black people rather than their contributions to the culture or problems british society created for them. gilroy found that young african caribbeans often adopt identities based on influential media role models eg rap and hip hop artists. parker and song found websites targeted at south asian and chinese users provide opportunities to organise social events and discussion formus strengthening their ethnic identity.

Answer 59

mason argues the formal curriculum within education is ethnocentric. history focuses on britains positive contribution to the rest of the world and ignores the negative and ethnic minority languages have a lower status than european languages in the curriculum. tickly et al found african caribbean pupils felt invisible en the curriculum and frustrated that when black history was acknowledged it tended to focus on slavery. wright found teachers treated ethnic minority children differently and expected african caribbean boys to be badly behaved and so were often singled out for criticism while the same behaviour was ignored in other pupils. strand found teachers hold stereotypes of african caribbean students which results in them being negatively labelled as disruptive and lacking ability. they are less likely to be entered for higher tier test and this has a knock on effect on what gcses they are entered for. this is seen as evidence that schools are institutionally racist.

Answer 60

structural theories have a macro perspective and provide a complete theory of society. social action theories have a micro perspective and argue that people are not puppets. consensus theories have a positive view of how society works whereas conflict theories have a negative view.

Answer 61

durkheim and parsons argue society is structured by value consensus and agents socialise people to value consensus so people have a good idea of how to behave in most situations and can predict how others will behave. value consensus gives people a common identity and a sense of belonging creating social solidarity and a harmonious society. durkheim said that without value consensus there would be moral confusion and anxiety (anomie.)

Answer 62

althusser focused on the way cultural institutions act as ideological state apparatus which socialises the proletariat into accepting inequalities and their inferior position creating false class consciousness. neo marxist bourdieu argues the ruling class establishes their culture as high culture, giving them cultural capital.

Answer 63

they argue society is shaped by at the macro level by patriarchy which creates gender conflict and inequality however they tend to research at the micro level. men have the power to shape the culture of society in a way that suits their interests and women are socialised into accepting gender inequality by agents of socialisation. oakley argued differences between men and women are socially constructed.

Answer 64

they argue society is shaped by at the macro level by patriarchy which creates gender conflict and inequality however they tend to research at the micro level. men have the power to shape the culture of society in a way that suits their interests and women are socialised into accepting gender inequality by agents of socialisation. oakley argued differences between men and women are socially constructed.

Answer 65

they argue explanations for behaviour will not always be structural or the result of social action. they argue society is media saturated which provides a wider range of styles, tastes and beliefs that people can pick and mix from a global cafateria. groups will not be made up of a diversity of individuals with increasingly hybrid forms of culture and identities. postmodernists have also been keep to point out the intersections between identities.