theory

Question 1

what is primary socialisation?

Answer 1

occurs when a child learns the attitudes, values and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture.

Question 2

what is secondary socialisation?

Answer 2

the process of learning what is the appropriate behaviour as a member of a smaller group within the larger society.

Question 3

what is a society?

Answer 3

a society is a group of people who love in a definable community and share the same culture.
society consists of the people and institutions around us, our shared beliefs and cultural ideas.

Question 4

what is a social institution?

Answer 4

social institutions are mechanisms or patters of social order, focused on meeting social needs, such as Governments, economy, education, family, healthcare and religion.

Question 5

what is democracy?

Answer 5

rule by the people. an egalitarian form of government in which citizens determine public policy, the laws and the actions of their state together.
all citizens have an equal opportunity to express their opinion.

Question 6

what is a nanny state?

Answer 6

a government that tries to give too much advice or make too many laws about how people should live their lives.
e.g. eating, smoking, drinking alcohol.

Question 7

what is an infrastructure?

Answer 7

the infrastructure is the economic system, the way that society produces goods.
this is divided into two parts means of production (materials) and relations of production (human labour).

Question 8

what is a superstructure?

Answer 8

the ideology and culture that are built upon means of production.

Question 9

what is capitalism?

Answer 9

an economic system based on market competition and the pursuit for profit, in which the means of production or capital are privately owned by individuals or corporations.

Question 10

what Is meant by the term patriarchy?

Answer 10

a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property.

Question 11

what is structuralism?

Answer 11

the thought that human behaviour must be understood in the context of the social system (or structure) in which they exist.
people are not independent actors making independent decisions, they are controlled and the product of the system in which they live.

Question 12

what is an interactionist?

Answer 12

they see society as the product of human interaction, and the meanings that individuals place on those interactions.
they look at human behaviour on a smaller scale, acknowledging that humans have agency and are not swept away by forces outside of their control.

Question 13

what is a consensus theories?

Answer 13

they believe society works by everyone working towards a shared goal.
society functions on the premise of there being shared agreement on norms and values.

Question 14

what is a functionalist?

Answer 14

functionalists are both consensus and structural, this means there is a social structure that shapes individual behaviour through the process of socialisation.
power is exerted through out.

Question 15

what do functionalists believe?

Answer 15

a successful society has a stable social structure, in which different institutions perform unique functions hat contribute to the maintenance of the whole.
the organismic/ organic analogy.

Question 16

who used the organic analogy?

Answer 16

Spencer and Parsons

Question 17

who is Durkheim?

Answer 17

the ‘founder’ of sociology. he believed that sociology is a science, and made sociology respected.

Question 18

how does Durkheim say that society shapes individuals?

Answer 18

all humans have a level of autonomy but this is highly restrained by the social construct or social facts of society.

Question 19

what is a social fact?

Answer 19

ways of acting, thinking and feeling which are external to the individual and endowed with a power of coercion, by reason of which they control him’.

Question 20

what are classed as social facts?

Answer 20

beliefs, moral codes and basic norms/values which are passed from one generation to the next and shared by individuals who make up society.
it is not the consciousness of the individual that directs human behaviour but common beliefs ad sentiments which share his or her consciousness.

Question 21

what is social solidarity, socialisation and anomie?

Answer 21

Durkheim believes when people have too much freedom it causes individuals to suffer from uncertainty, fear, lack of morality and confusion about their place in the world.
Durkheim calls this anomie.

Question 22

how does Durkheim suggest to prevent anomie?

Answer 22

create social solidarity.

Question 23

how can social solidarity prevent anomie?

Answer 23

it makes individuals feel part of something bigger, teaches them acceptable behaviour.

Question 24

what is the organic analogy?

Answer 24

society is like an organism in the human body, all parts need to be functioning correctly in order to be healthy.
created by Parsons and Spencer.

Question 25

what is another of Parsons key principles?

Answer 25

value consensus - everyone share the same values.

Question 26

what is social action theory?

Answer 26

instead of society shaping individuals, individuals have autonomy and navigate the social world without complete regulation and can make changes from the bottom.
individuals aren’t passive to social norms and institutions.
they may reject or accept certain norms and values

Question 27

do social action theories believe that we should be biased?

Answer 27

yes, they argue that we should be empathetic and even biased when doing research
we should focus on individual realities and not social facts.

Question 28

why doe social action theory criticises structuralism social theory?

Answer 28

because most people learn what norms are appropriate and ‘act them out’ when they are in particular social roles, returning to their more complicit ‘true selves’ when by themselves or with their friends/families.

Question 29

what is Goffmans theory?

Answer 29

he says that we we can’t understand individuals without understanding how they see themselves, their identities.
unravelling the complexity of how people construct their identities is one of the main things symbolic interactionist contributed to modern sociology.

Question 30

what is the labelling theory?

Answer 30

existing power-structures that constrain people, and that these power structures are kept. going by people in power labelling themselves as superior and people not like them as inferior.
Backer argued that agents of control often work in narrow stereotypes and label people like them as being good, and people not like them as being bad.

Question 31

what is the ideal pupil?

Answer 31

Becker argued that white middle class teachers have an idea of the ‘ideal pupil’ as being middle class, well spoke, quiet, respectful of authority, polite and well dressed.

Question 32

what is not the ideal pupil?

Answer 32

working class/underclass children, scruffier and more energetic. they are seen as inferior.

Question 33

what was Rosenthal and Jacobsens study?

Answer 33

self-fulfilling prophecy - the process where an individual acts the label given to them, and acts accordingly.