unit 1A - socialisation, culture and identity glossary terms Flashcards
Norms
Rules, standards, and patterns of behaviour commonly shared and expected in a certain society e.g. saying thank you to bus driver
Values
Qualities and beliefs that are commonly held within a society e.g. it is wrong to take human life
Socialisation
Process of learning norms and values and how to fit into society
Primary socialisation
Socialisation carried out in the first five years of life by the family
Secondary socialisation
Ongoing socialisation in later life from agents of socialisation outside of the family e.g. school, religion
Nature
What we inherit at birth of biological characteristics and DNA
Nurture
What we learn after birth as opposed to innate traits upbringing and culture impacting our identity and personality
Resocialisation
Process of socialising an individual again caused by a change in situation (e.g. new workplace) teaching them new norms and values
Feral children
Children who have been raised in isolation from human contact from a very young age for extended periods of time
Sanctions
Reactions and consequences showing approval or disapproval of certain behaviour e.g. detention promotion pay rise
Underclass
Lowest class in a social hierarchy made up of extremely poor an unemployed people (developed by Murray)
Hidden curriculum
Unwritten on official and often unintentional lessons values and prospective students learn in school (not part of official curriculum and timetabled lessons)
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A person taking on an identity and patterns of behaviour the others label them as expected to be as a result of those expectations
Hypersexual culture
A culture involving excessive interest in sexual activity e.g. over sexualisation of women
Secularisation
A societies long-term move away from religious beliefs and practices towards non-religious values and secular institutions
Occupational socialisation
A form of secondary socialisation where employees learn a new set of norms and values in order to fit in and be recognised as competent within a new workplace
Canteen culture
Informal culture developed amongst police officers as they hang around the station / spend off-duty hours together may have positive (boosts occupational self-esteem) and negative (promotes discrimination) effects
Formal socialisation
Organised, intentional teaching of norms and values in a given setting e.g. timetabled lessons like PSHE in school
Informal socialisation
Unorganised often unintentional assimilation of the societies norms and values via informal agents of socialisation, personal experience, peer groups etc
Structuralism
Branch of sociological theory concerning the impact of social structures and institutions on society and individuals arguing that these structures hold the biggest influence over us
Organic analogy
Functionalist comparison of society to the human body: each institution contributes to the smooth functions of wider society like organs in a body
Value consensus
A shared agreement in society of what is right and wrong
Anomie
A breakdown of norms and values that are typically expected in an individual/group of individuals
Bourgeoisie
The ruling class that own the means of production and can exploit the proletariat due to their financial (and therefore ideological) power
Proletariat
The poorer working class that work the means of production and are exploited by the bourgeoisie due to their lack of financial power and false class consciousness
Ruling class ideology
Ideas, norms and values promoted by and benefitting the ruling class that maintain capitalism by preventing lower classes from gaining class consciousness
False class consciousness
Illusion held by lower classes that they aren’t being exploited; the misconception of injustice and power imbalances in society
Patriarchy
Social system in which men dominate and women are systematically exploited
Modernism
Branch of sociological theory concerning the social change arising from after the industrial revolution (1750s) and onwards
Postmodernism
Branch of sociological theory arguing that modernism doesn’t sufficiently acknowledge the rapid social and cultural changes happening in the late 20th century onwards
Culture
A shared and learned way of life, and the common set of norms, values, traditions, customs and expectations of a society
High culture
Culture regarded as high quality, expensive, sophisticated and difficult to understand, often associated with upper class due to its elite and exclusive nature (e.g. opera, Shakespeare, polo, classical music)
Popular culture
Cultural products and activities enjoyed by the majority. Usually cheap, easy to understand, and designed to make money (e.g. magazines, tabloid newspapers, reality tv)
Consumer culture
Culture in which our way of life is focused on expressing identity through the things we buy and use, usually in wealthy societies
Subculture
Smaller groups within a larger society/culture with distinctive norms and values e.g. Hebdige’s punk youth
Globalisation
the process by which the world seems to be ‘shrinking’ as nations become more and more connected and aspects of culture become more universal (due to tech, travel and trade)
Global village
the world linked together as one big community via telecommunication (e.g. young people game online together like children playing on a village green)
McDonaldisation
Ritzer (1993) argues that local cultures are disappearing under pressure from fast food restaurants, culture is becoming ‘Americanised’
Homogenisation
the process of making things uniform or similar, e.g. cultural homogenisation where local cultures disappear because of globalisation
Cultural hybridity
new cultures emerging from the combination of elements of different cultures, e.g. ‘emo’ culture combining punk, goth + new wave (Bennet’s neotribes)
Hybrid identities
identities that have taken elements from different areas to make a new type of identity (e.g. Les Back’s cultural borrowing in London council estate youths)
Cultural diversity
variation between different types of culture - intracultural (within) and intercultural (between)
formal social control
institutions directly and explicitly controlling the behaviour of populations, using organised methods to minimise deviance and ensure people comply with rules and regulations
informal social control
Society and individuals inexplicitly and indirectly using positive and negative sanctions (often unintentionally) to encourage or discourage the behaviour of other individuals, controlling their actions (e.g. welcoming smiles, social exclusion)
Reaffirming social boundaries
one positive function of crime and punishment is that it serves as a reminder of the consequences of crime, providing an example that deters others from committing that crime. Court ceremonies and media coverage reaffirm existing values (functionalism)
Institutional racism
the collective failure of an organisation to provide professional and appropriate service to people because of their race, culture or ethnic background (e.g. Derek Chauvin policeman killing George Floyd)
Selective law enforcement
(Gordon, 1976) the idea that the law is not equally applied to all: e.g. upper/middle class criminals rarely get convicted whilst working class are used as a scapegoat to cover up the true cause: capitalism
Total institutions
institutions where all areas of life are regimented and controlled in the same place: one activity leads to another at a prearranged time e.g. prisons, army, psychiatric hospitals, boarding schools
Reciprocity
Process of giving back in social situations where we receive; an exchange for mutual benefit
Personal identity
The way we see ourselves in relation to others: what makes a similar or different to others and how they see us
Social identity
Based on our membership of your identification with certain social groups, may be ascribed birth or achieved over a lifetime
Social construction
Something that is invented by society, rather than a natural / biological occurrence
Operationalising
Turning abstract concepts into measurable observations or definitions
Social mobility
An individuals movement up or down as societies hierarchical strata: maybe intra or intergenerational, vertical or horizontal
Cultural capital
None economic social and cultural assets an individual has (education, connections, speech styles etc) that promote social mobility in a stratified society
Underclass
Lowest social strata in a stratified society consisting of the extremely poor and unemployed
Digital capital
Competency and aptitude for digital technology as well as digital resources owned by an individual that provide assets and accessibility to otherwise inaccessible aspects of life
