What Is Socialisation?

Question 1

What do functionalists like Parsons say is the role of primary socialisation?

Answer 1

Families are human personality factories; internalisation of society’s culture

Question 2

What do Marxists say is the role of primary socialisation?

Answer 2

Family used by capitalist class to instil values of obedience and respect for authority; exploitation later in life seen as normal

Question 3

What do feminists like Oakley say is the role of primary socialisation?

Answer 3

•Canalisation=channeling kids into playing w/ particular toys+games
•Manipulation=encouragement of behaviour seen as acceptable and discourage otherwise
•Different activities=getting them involved w/ certain activities e.g ballet for girls and football for boys
•Verbal appellations= nicknames e.g little princess or brave boy

Question 4

What do functionalists say is the role of secondary socialisation?

Answer 4

School produces conformity and consensus; learn values like competition, achievement and individualism; acts as a social bridge between family and wider society

Question 5

What do Marxists say is the role of secondary socialisation?

Answer 5

School is dominated by:
•hidden curriculum=ruling class ideology encourages conformity and consensus and unquestioning acceptance of organisation of capitalist system and hierarchy
•capitalist relations of production= relationship of those in power and not e.g owner and worker, teacher and student
•myth of meritocracy=taught to believe that those who have talent and work hard will reach the top positions in society

Question 6

What does Morgan say the role of socialisation is?

Answer 6

Social control and encouraging conformity, using sanctions to develop a child’s conscience

Question 7

What did Brannen and Heptinstall’s research discover about socialisation?

Answer 7

Children saw unconditional love and care as more important than family structure; children emerged as active contributors to family dynamics- understanding feelings and reciprocating them

Question 8

What do Postman, Palmer and Philips say about the effectiveness of socialisation?

Answer 8

•Postman=disappearance of childhood and loss of innocence from premature exposure to sex/violence in the media
•Palmer=negative influence of TV as a substitute for spending quality family time
•Philips=children have too many rights and claims that resist parental power

Question 9

Why is family the main agency of primary socialisation?

Answer 9

Close proximity to family during childhood years means they first learn norms/values from them

Question 10

How do peer groups act as an agency of secondary socialisation?

Answer 10

Peer pressure and informal sanctions to ensure conformity e.g gossip/bullying

Question 11

What does Sue Lee’s study of peer pressure and teenage girls tell us?

Answer 11

Double standards are applied to girls and boys sexual behaviour: girls’ reputations destroyed by insinuation of sexual immorality but boys’ are enhanced

Question 12

How does education act as an agency of secondary socialisation?

Answer 12

Formal and hidden curriculum
(formal=subject lessons, hidden=norms and values taught unknowingly e.g respect for authority)

Question 13

What does Skelton and Francis tell us about peer pressure and socialisation?

Answer 13

During school, boys dominate girls in several ways, teaching girls in adolescence that boys have more power and reinforces patriarchal ideology:
•verbal behaviour=ridicule girls contributions, speak loud
•physical behaviour=take up space in hallways
•classroom behaviour=girls support boys but rarely vice versa

Question 14

What impact does Bowles and Gintis say education has on the socialisation process?

Answer 14

Education reproduces:
•capitalist relations of production= relationship of those in power and not e.g boss and worker, teacher and student
•correspondence theory= is the idea that the norms and values pupils learn in school correspond to the norms and values which will make it easy for future capitalist employers to exploit them at work.
•myth of meritocracy=taught to believe that those who have talent and work hard will reach the top positions in society; later in life blame themselves and not the system for inequality- seen as fair

Question 15

How does the media act as an agency of secondary socialisation?

Answer 15

Representations of different social groups shape how we view people before we meet them; copycat acts of violence; advertisements encouraging consumer culture

Question 16

What does Young say about the media and how it affects society?

Answer 16

Bulimic society=media manipulates us to think we need to consume products in order to fit in with trends and this can lead to crime fuelled by economic insecurity just to indulge goods featured in mainstream media

Question 17

What does Mulvey say about the media?

Answer 17

The ‘male gaze’ describes how cameras eye up female characters in films for male pleasure and assessment of their bodies

Question 18

How does religion act as an agency of secondary socialisation?

Answer 18

Shapes laws, morals, customs and attitudes based on particular faiths

Question 19

What positive functions for society does Durkheim say religion has?

Answer 19

Socialises members of society into value consensus, investing certain values w/ sacred quality-infusing them w/ religious symbolism and special significance e.g The Ten Commandments

Question 20

What does Marx say about the role of religion in the socialisation process?

Answer 20

Gave sense of security and salvation of something yet to come, acting like a drug cushioning workers from the misery of being exploited by capitalist society

Question 21

What does Modood say about religion?

Answer 21

Young Asians place a lot more importance on religion compared to white British youths, seeing it as a large influence on norms/values

Question 22

How does Work act as an agency of secondary socialisation?

Answer 22

Resocialisation- learning and adapting to a new set of values and norms e.g dress code that are enforced by formal and informal sanctions

Question 23

What does Waddington say about work as an agency of secondary socialisation?

Answer 23

Canteen culture= the way in which people working in a particular workplace can develop a shared set of values and prejudices via resocialisation

Question 24

What is the nature vs nurture debate?

Answer 24

Debate over what influences our behaviour: genes/ innate or upbringing/ learnt?

Question 25

What did Bouchard’s twin study entail and tell us about the debate?

Answer 25

Identical twins separated at birth and raised separately but despite this they had many similarities: behaviours, likes and dislikes, personalities e.g mannerisms, temperament, fav foods - supports the nature theory

Question 26

What does the case of the Reimer twins entail and tell us about the debate?

Answer 26

Male twins, one had genitals damaged and sociologist saw as opportunity to be brought up as opposite gender: changed name, brought up to be feminine but lead to suicide reaching older age- supports nature theory as it proved theory wrong that gender identity is a product of nurture

Question 27

Give 2 examples of feral children and what they tell us about the debate

Answer 27

•Genie Wiley=shut in room, strapped to potty chair, no human interaction-ended up living in institutional care and never spoke
•Oxana Malaya=put in kennel w/ family dogs-ended up barking and running on all fours
-both support nurture theory as they were both deprived of typical human interaction and linguistic inputs early on in life

Question 28

What is formal social control? Name examples of agencies and sanctions used.

Answer 28

Based on written rules and laws- bodies in society that make and enforce laws
e.g police, government, military; controlled by sanctions e.g warnings from police, sentences from court, exclusion from school

Question 29

What is informal social control? Name examples of agencies and sanctions used.

Answer 29

Based on unwritten rules and processes controlled by approval or disapproval of other people e.g family, education, peer group; controlled by sanctions e.g gossip, naughty step, tutting, eye roll

Question 30

What is primary socialisation?

Answer 30

When we first learn society’s norms/ values from our family

Question 31

What is secondary socialisation?

Answer 31

When we learn society’s norm and values from other agencies of socialisation to help fit in to wider society e.g education, work, religion, peer groups, media