Sociologists (Socialisation, Culture and Identity)

Question 1

Hebdige (1979)

-Subcultures

Answer 1

Argued that because subcultures have their roots in deviance, they are usually made up of working-class cultures and individuals.

• WC individuals do not typically feel that they have a lot of power in society, therefore social groups manage their lack of status by creating a new subculture and establishing new norms that do not conform to the dominant culture’s norms

Question 2

Bourdieu (1984)

• Popular culture

Answer 2

The distiction between high culture and popular culture and how worthy they are lies in the power of the group who support and access them.

Question 3

McLuhan (1964)

-Global culture

Answer 3

Argued that the world had become a smaller place. “A global village” driven by industry (multinational companies).

Question 4

Skelton and Francis (2003)

• Peer group as an agent of socialisation

Answer 4

Looked at peer groups in primary schools. Play was gendered with boys dominating the space while girls took part in separate activities. e.g skipping

Question 5

Lees (1983, 1997)

-Peer group as an agent of socialisation

Answer 5

Looked at the pressure put on teenage girls by their peers. Double standards were applied to guy’s and girl’s sexual behaviour e.g the term “slag” was used to control girl’s behaviour.

Question 6

Harris (1998)

-Peer group as an agent of socialisation

Answer 6

Concluded that the peer group can be more influential in shaping children’s identities than the family.
She points out that an individuals desire to conform is a stronger influence than the peer group’s pressure/ bullying.

Question 7

Bowles and Gintis (1976)

-Education as an agent of socialisation

Answer 7

Argues there was a hidden curriculum in schools. The education system brainwashed children through the hidden curriculum. Pupils are taught to:

• Accept their place in society.
• Believe that they are responsible for their own achievements and failures.
• That everything is fair and based on merit

Question 8

Mulvey (1975)

-Media as an agent of socialisation

Answer 8

Uses the concept of “male gaze” to describe how the camera in films eye up the female characters, so viewers assess their bodies and attractiveness from a male perspective.

Question 9

Jock Young (2007)

-Media as an agent of socialisation
‘Bulimic society’

Answer 9

Argues that the media is partly responsible for criminality.
Media has created a “bulimic society” with constant desire to binge. People worship money, success, wealth and status. It’s a culture to “get rich or die trying”, the alternative then is criminality. Young argues that this can explain criminality among youth from deprived backgrounds.

Question 10

Modood and Berthoud (1997)

-Religion as an agent of socialisation

Answer 10

Surveyed young people and found that 67% of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis saw religion as very important compared with 5% of white British youths.

Question 11

Waddington (1999)

-The Workplace as an agent of socialisation

‘Canteen culture’

Answer 11

Studied the onboarding process that happens in the police force. Waddington called it ‘canteen culture’ to illustrate the norms and values police officers came to hold when they were off-duty together. This culture is very different from the norms and values they are expected to demonstrate when on-duty.

Question 12

Reiner (2000)

-The Workplace as an agent of socialisation

Macho values

Answer 12

Reiner (2000) studied police canteen culture and argued that features of this culture were suspicion, macho values, and racism. This fueled the racism and mistrust of people of colour in the police force.

Question 13

Goffman (1959)

-The Workplace as an agent of socialisation

‘impression management’

Answer 13

Described the ‘impression management’ that we do in order to present a version of ourselves to people. When at work we will perform impression management, we may present a different self to colleagues, bosses, and clients/customers.

Question 14

Ghumann (1999)

-Hybrid identities

(Tradition, religion and family)

Answer 14

Found that tradition, religion and family values played an important part in the upbriging of second generation Asians in the UK and that children tend to be socialised into the extended family.

Question 15

Gilroy (1993)

• Hybrid identities

Answer 15

Looked at the identity of young black people, arguing for the use of the term “Black Atlantic” (an identity that was not specifically rooted in the UK or their country of origin). He argued that the shared experience of racism and powerlessness can transcend differences in background to create a “black identity”

Question 16

Derrington and Kendall (2004)

• Hybrid identities

(ethnic identities in traveller communities)

Answer 16

Researched ethnic identities in the traveller community. It considers the challenge of growing up within a minority ethnic group in the UK and the influences this has on an individual’s identity.

Question 17

Cashmore and Troyna (1990)

• Identity

Answer 17

Argue that there will be a tendency for ethnic minorities to “turn inwards” to seek support from within their own community as a response to racism they experience. Therefore religion and culture may be strengthened, as they become sources of identity and support.

Question 18

Winston James (1993)

• Identity

Answer 18

The experience of racism unifies the culture and identity of African- Caribbeans in the UK. Black people from the Caribbean have cultural differences based on the darkness of their skin or what island of origin. However, in the UK, the common experience of racism brings them together.

Question 19

Jacobson (1997)

• Identity

Answer 19

Argues that many young Pakistanis are adopting strong Islamic identity as a response to social exclusion from white British society. Adopting a strong Islamic identity gives them stability and security as it is a form of defence and resistance to marginalisation and racism.

Question 20

Modood (1997)

• Changing ethnic identities

Answer 20

Found that a number of generational differences over the issue of identity, suggesting that second generation ethnic minorities felt more British than their parents, while still seeing their ethnic origin as a key part of their identity.

Question 21

Back (1996)

Answer 21

Conducted an ethnographic study of two council estates in London. It wasn’t only black youths who developed hybrid identities. White youths were attracted to aspects of of black culture. Local youths from all backgrounds developed a shared identity, a mix between ethnicity and “neighbourhood nationalism”.

Question 22

Sardar (2002)

• Changing national identities

Answer 22

Suggests that the world is in the middle of a global identity crisis, in which the old divides, by which we identified ourselves have broken down. Britain lost it’s empire feels very small in the global world. “Englishness” is based on traditions that are meaningless to the vast majority living there today, so there is a struggle to find an “English” identity.

Question 23

Stuart Hall (1991)

• Response to globalisation

Answer 23

Suggested three reaction to globalisation in countries:

• “Cultural homogenisation” - Acceptance of global culture, everyone will become similar.
• “Cultural hybridity” - They may take some parts of global culture alongside their traditional culture, developing a new culture.
• “Cultural resistance” - They might protect their cultural heritage, becoming traditional and nationalistic.

Question 24

Mackintosh & Moonie (2004)

Invisibility and social closure in the upper class

(Study)

Answer 24

Pointed out that a key feature of the
upper class is their invisibility. The upper class operate ‘social closure’, meaning that their education leisure time and daily lives are separated from and partially invisible to the rest of the population.

• May send their children to boarding socials
• Socialise in exclusive clubs
• participate in leisure activities that are largely unknown and inaccessible to the majority

Question 25

Fox (2004) The English Class system

Answer 25

Discusses ‘upper middles’, ‘middle middles’ and ‘lower middles’ to highlight the differences within the middle class.

Question 26

Isabel the “chicken girl”

• Primary socialisation

Answer 26

Isabel’s mother used to leave her in a chicken coop with hens from a young age. She could not speak, was not toilet trained and expressed emotions by beating her arms and drumming her feet.

Question 27

Genie

• Primary socialisation

Answer 27

Genie received to contact with humans until she was 13. She was strapped to a “potty chair” by her father, her father said that it was for her own protection because she had mental problems but no one knows if it was a result of the deprivation of human contact or if she was born like that.
She was studied for years but she still struggled to speak or maintain human attachmets.

Question 28

Arapesh vs Mundungmor tribes by Margaret Mead

• Norms and values

Answer 28

Arapesh- Both males and females were gentle and cooperative

Question 29

Sullivan (2007)

• Primary socialisation

Answer 29

Argued that parents transmit educational advantage to their children through cultural rather than economic means.

Question 30

Parsons(1951)

• Primary socialisation + Stabilisation of adult personalities

Answer 30

Primary socialisation- Families teach children values associated with their families and/or community. Other institutions teach universal norms and values.

Stabilisation of adult personalities- Families prevent adults from behaving in disruptive ways by providing emotional support.

Question 31

Currie (1999)

-Media as an agent of socialisation

Answer 31

Analysed the content for teenage girls magazines spanning a period of 40 years and found a dramatic increase in beautification in recent years.

Question 32

Sullivan(2013)

• Media as an agent of socialisation

Answer 32

Children who watched 3 or more hours of TV a day were likely to be 3 months ahead of those who watch TV for less than an hour.
Sullivan’s research can suggest that the media can increase children’s vocabulary and provide a broad and usefu+l education.

Question 33

The Anne Casey foundation report

• Media as an agent of socialisation

Answer 33

Young black girls are considered to be less in need of support as they are seen as more knowledgeable so they are seen as more malicious and therefore punished more harshly than white children. This adultification is usually portrayed in the media.

Question 34

Bradley (1996)

• Age identities

Answer 34

Identified 5 major generational stages of age identity in the UK:

• Childhood
• Youth
• Young adulthood
• Middle age
• Old age

Question 35

Postman (1982)

• Childhood

Answer 35

-Argues that the period of adulthood in the UK has significantly shortened because children are being exposed to adult influences via the digital media. He suggests that this may lead to the disappearance of childhood.

Question 36

Postman (1982)

• Childhood part 2

Answer 36

• Children have been given the same rights as adults.
• Childhood came about because of mass literacy, there used to be a separation between those who could read (adults) and those who couldn’t (children).
• Disappearance of childhood - Growth in new technology, children are used to interview teachers, adults becoming more like children.

Question 37

Jenks - Critic of Postman

-Childhood

Answer 37

The growth in new technology is making parents protect children and childhood, suggesting that childhood is not disappearing.

Question 38

Hockey and James

• Youth

Answer 38

• Argued that in pre-industrial societies children were less likely to lead a life of privilege so they were more likely to do productive activities.
• Industrialization excluded children, women and the elderly from paid work, which was the result of a desire for status that started in the middle class and moved to the working class (it became desirable for a person to show that they didn’t need to work).
• Trade unions started asking for a family wage for men, this succeeded so instead of sending children to work the children went to school.

Question 39

Hockey and James

-Infantalisation

Answer 39

Argue that the young and the old are infantilised - perceived as dependent. At the same time children were romanticized, they are seen as innocent and their sexuality denied.

Question 40

Wallace

Young adulthood

Answer 40

Argued that modern societies like the UK have private and public markers symbolising the beginning of adult identity.
Private markers - first sexual encounter, first cigarette. Public encounters - right to vote, bank loan approval.

Question 41

Hockey and James

Young adulthood

Answer 41

Saw young adulthood as having freedom and independence from parents and increased control over responsibilites.

Question 42

Bradley (1996)

Middle age

Answer 42

The middle aged have higher status than teenagers and the elderly, because this age group makes up the majority of those in wealth and power.

Question 43

Roberts

Old age

Answer 43

UK culture admires youthful bodies and see ageing bodies as ugly. Older people have been socialised into this view as well and feel ashamed of growing old. In contrast in many indigenous cultures being old brings respect by the youths as older people are seen as more experienced and wise.

Question 44

Corner (1999)

Old age

Answer 44

Older people describe themselves in a negative way with language used by the media and popular culture. Many describe themselves as burdens to the younger population creating the stereotype of being ill and dependent later in life.

Question 45

Bradley

Old age

Answer 45

Old people may be seen as less suitable for jobs because they are assumed as slow, not adaptable to change and lack dynamism.

Question 46

Pilcher

Old age

Answer 46

Old people are often described in derogatory ways, especially in the media. Ads reinforce that ageing should be resisted e.g anti ageing creme.

Question 47

Fetherstone and Hepworth (2005)

Changing age identities

Answer 47

Media images of ageing are changing and are less likely to be derogatory towards the elderly. This could suggest that age identities are becoming more fluid and less significant.

Question 48

Pickard (2019)

Answer 48

Mainstream media promotes an age war in which the old take a disproportionate amount of resources at the expense of young people. Promoting this idea benefits capitalism so both age groups suffer because of capitalism.