unit 1A - socialisation, culture and identity glossary terms

Question 1

Norms

Answer 1

Rules, standards, and patterns of behaviour commonly shared and expected in a certain society e.g. saying thank you to bus driver

Question 2

Values

Answer 2

Qualities and beliefs that are commonly held within a society e.g. it is wrong to take human life

Question 3

Socialisation

Answer 3

Process of learning norms and values and how to fit into society

Question 4

Primary socialisation

Answer 4

Socialisation carried out in the first five years of life by the family

Question 5

Secondary socialisation

Answer 5

Ongoing socialisation in later life from agents of socialisation outside of the family e.g. school, religion

Question 6

Nature

Answer 6

What we inherit at birth of biological characteristics and DNA

Question 7

Nurture

Answer 7

What we learn after birth as opposed to innate traits upbringing and culture impacting our identity and personality

Question 8

Resocialisation

Answer 8

Process of socialising an individual again caused by a change in situation (e.g. new workplace) teaching them new norms and values

Question 9

Feral children

Answer 9

Children who have been raised in isolation from human contact from a very young age for extended periods of time

Question 10

Sanctions

Answer 10

Reactions and consequences showing approval or disapproval of certain behaviour e.g. detention promotion pay rise

Question 11

Underclass

Answer 11

Lowest class in a social hierarchy made up of extremely poor an unemployed people (developed by Murray)

Question 12

Hidden curriculum

Answer 12

Unwritten on official and often unintentional lessons values and prospective students learn in school (not part of official curriculum and timetabled lessons)

Question 13

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 13

A person taking on an identity and patterns of behaviour the others label them as expected to be as a result of those expectations

Question 14

Hypersexual culture

Answer 14

A culture involving excessive interest in sexual activity e.g. over sexualisation of women

Question 15

Secularisation

Answer 15

A societies long-term move away from religious beliefs and practices towards non-religious values and secular institutions

Question 16

Occupational socialisation

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Canteen culture

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Formal socialisation

Answer 18

Organised, intentional teaching of norms and values in a given setting e.g. timetabled lessons like PSHE in school

Question 19

Informal socialisation

Answer 19

Unorganised often unintentional assimilation of the societies norms and values via informal agents of socialisation, personal experience, peer groups etc

Question 20

Structuralism

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Organic analogy

Answer 21

Functionalist comparison of society to the human body: each institution contributes to the smooth functions of wider society like organs in a body

Question 22

Value consensus

Answer 22

A shared agreement in society of what is right and wrong

Question 23

Anomie

Answer 23

A breakdown of norms and values that are typically expected in an individual/group of individuals

Question 24

Bourgeoisie

Answer 24

The ruling class that own the means of production and can exploit the proletariat due to their financial (and therefore ideological) power

Question 25

Proletariat

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Ruling class ideology

Answer 26

Ideas, norms and values promoted by and benefitting the ruling class that maintain capitalism by preventing lower classes from gaining class consciousness

Question 27

False class consciousness

Answer 27

Illusion held by lower classes that they aren’t being exploited; the misconception of injustice and power imbalances in society

Question 28

Patriarchy

Answer 28

Social system in which men dominate and women are systematically exploited

Question 29

Modernism

Answer 29

Branch of sociological theory concerning the social change arising from after the industrial revolution (1750s) and onwards

Question 30

Postmodernism

Answer 30

Branch of sociological theory arguing that modernism doesn’t sufficiently acknowledge the rapid social and cultural changes happening in the late 20th century onwards

Question 31

Culture

Answer 31

A shared and learned way of life, and the common set of norms, values, traditions, customs and expectations of a society

Question 32

High culture

Answer 32

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)

Question 33

Popular culture

Answer 33

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)

Question 34

Consumer culture

Answer 34

Culture in which our way of life is focused on expressing identity through the things we buy and use, usually in wealthy societies

Question 35

Subculture

Answer 35

Smaller groups within a larger society/culture with distinctive norms and values e.g. Hebdige’s punk youth

Question 36

Globalisation

Answer 36

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)

Question 37

Global village

Answer 37

the world linked together as one big community via telecommunication (e.g. young people game online together like children playing on a village green)

Question 38

McDonaldisation

Answer 38

Ritzer (1993) argues that local cultures are disappearing under pressure from fast food restaurants, culture is becoming ‘Americanised’

Question 39

Homogenisation

Answer 39

the process of making things uniform or similar, e.g. cultural homogenisation where local cultures disappear because of globalisation

Question 40

Cultural hybridity

Answer 40

new cultures emerging from the combination of elements of different cultures, e.g. ‘emo’ culture combining punk, goth + new wave (Bennet’s neotribes)

Question 41

Hybrid identities

Answer 41

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)

Question 42

Cultural diversity

Answer 42

variation between different types of culture - intracultural (within) and intercultural (between)

Question 43

formal social control

Answer 43

institutions directly and explicitly controlling the behaviour of populations, using organised methods to minimise deviance and ensure people comply with rules and regulations

Question 44

informal social control

Answer 44

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)

Question 45

Reaffirming social boundaries

Answer 45

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)

Question 46

Institutional racism

Answer 46

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)

Question 47

Selective law enforcement

Answer 47

(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

Question 48

Total institutions

Answer 48

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

Question 49

Reciprocity

Answer 49

Process of giving back in social situations where we receive; an exchange for mutual benefit

Question 50

Personal identity

Answer 50

The way we see ourselves in relation to others: what makes a similar or different to others and how they see us

Question 51

Social identity

Answer 51

Based on our membership of your identification with certain social groups, may be ascribed birth or achieved over a lifetime

Question 52

Social construction

Answer 52

Something that is invented by society, rather than a natural / biological occurrence

Question 53

Operationalising

Answer 53

Turning abstract concepts into measurable observations or definitions

Question 54

Social mobility

Answer 54

An individuals movement up or down as societies hierarchical strata: maybe intra or intergenerational, vertical or horizontal

Question 55

Cultural capital

Answer 55

None economic social and cultural assets an individual has (education, connections, speech styles etc) that promote social mobility in a stratified society

Question 56

Underclass

Answer 56

Lowest social strata in a stratified society consisting of the extremely poor and unemployed

Question 57

Digital capital

Answer 57

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