Agencies of socialisation and social control

Question 1

What is primary socialisation

Answer 1

• It occurs mainly within the family and is the first stage of socialisation

-This type of socialisation is essential for the development of behaviours we recognise as fundamentally human e,g learning language.

-Primary socialisation is necessary because human infants need other people in order to develop both as human beings and as members of a particular culture

Question 2

What is secondary socialisation

Answer 2

-It involves secondary groups and is characterised according to Berger and Luckmann (1967) ‘by a sense of detachment from ones teaching socialisation’.

• Parsons (1959a) argued that one of the main purposes of secondary socialisation is to ‘liberate the individual from a dependence on the primary attachments and relationships formed within the family group’

Question 3

what is social control

Answer 3

• These are ways in which members of society are made to conform to norms and values
  -The process of socialisation brings on order , stability and predictability.
  -If a child is socialised into the right way of doing something , there must also be a perceived wrong or deviant way which should be discouraged. Therefor socialisation is also a form of social control.

Question 4

Primary socialisation - the family

Answer 4

-Mead refers to parents as significant others. They shape our basic values e.g how to address adults and our moral values e.g understanding what is right and wrong

-Through positive and negative sanctions
- Children copy behaviour (often that of the parent)

Question 5

What are the roles found in the family

Answer 5

husband , wife , step-parent , parent
baby , infant , child , teenager , son , daughter

Question 6

How does the family socialise children into gender roles

Answer 6

Anne Oakley take on how gender socialization takes place in the first years within the family. ( Anne oakley argued that children learn the social expectations that go with their sex roles ( behaviour expected of their sex) in four main ways)

• manipulation: parents encourage and praise some activities and discourage others. for eg a boy may be praised for taking part in a hazardous physical activity while a girl might be discouraged from even trying.

-canalisation: Parents channel their children towards activities they consider appropriate. boys may be encouraged to play football, girls to take up ballet and dancing. girls may be encouraged to take greater care over their appearance than boys.

• verbal appellations: These are the ways parents address their children. for eg the word naughty may be used often with boys than girls; pretty may be used for a girl and handsome for a boy
• through different activities: these are the different activities that boys and girls take part in for example girls helping their mother with cooking while boys help their fathers with do-it-yourself tasks around the home.

Question 7

give examples of positive and negative sanctions displayed by the family

Answer 7

Positive ;
- Facial expressions e.g smiling
-Verbal approval e.g good boy/girl
-Physical rewards e.g gifts

Negative;
-Showing disapproval through language e.g shouting
-Physical punishment

Question 8

What are peer groups

Answer 8

-Peer groups are made up of people of similar age and can be considered as both a primary and secondary agency of socialisation.

Question 9

What are the roles found in peer groups and norms

Answer 9

roles - friend , colleague
norms - often relate to ideas about age appropriate behaviours.
e.g young people are not allowed to drink or smoke
it is not age appropriate for elderly to wear young people clothes or participate in extreme sports

Question 10

Negative sanctions of peer groups

Answer 10

-Peer pressure

-Ostracism/exclusion - members of peer groups are often excluded from the group/its “events” as a from of punishment

-Disapproving looks and negative comments

Question 11

How do peer groups influence/shape behavior

Answer 11

-Peer groups influence how individuals talk . dress , act and things they like/dislike

• Approval or disapproval in respect of style, taste, attitude, etc.

Question 12

Explain the hidden curriculum

Answer 12

This are the things we learn from the experience of attending school , such as how to deal with strangers , listen to adult authority etc

Question 13

what are the agencies of secondary socialisation

Answer 13

-Schools
-Peer groups
-Workplace
-Religion

Question 14

Schools as an agent of secondary socialisation (Parsons 1959a)

Answer 14

Parsons (1959a) argued that school plays a particularly significant role in secondary socialisation for two reasons:

1) It ‘emancipates the child from primary attachment to the family’. It moves children away from the affective relationships found in the family and introduces them to the instrumental relationships they will meet in adult life. It is a bridge between the family home and the wider social world

2)It allows children to ‘internalise the level of society’s values and norms that is a step higher than those learnt in learnt within families’.
-Through interaction with ‘strangers’ in school , a child begins to adopt wider social values into their personal value system.This process lossens the hold of primary groups and allows children to gradually mix into adult society.

Question 15

Peer groups as an agency of secondary socialisation.

Answer 15

peer groups have a particularly strong influence over adolescent behaviour and attitudes.

-Teenagers may feel a tension between parental controls and their desire for more responsibility and independence and so come into conflict with their parents.

• A common site for this conflict may be a teenagers choice of friendships especially with members of the opposite sex.

-Adolescence may make teenagers feel a great deal of peer pressure to fit in with their friends and this may lead to radical changes in their identity during their teenage years in terms of image and behaviour.

-some teenagers may be bullied for example so that they can engage in deviant or risky behaviour in order to be accepted by their peers.

-James cote (2000) suggests that in young adulthood, peer group or friendship networks eventually become more important than relationships with parents as a source of knowing about how to live one’s life.

Question 16

workplace as an agent of secondary socialisation

Answer 16

James Suzman (2018) observes that work is the social glue that holds societies together. It determines what, where and with whom we spend most of our time; shapes our sense of dignity, self worth and identity; moulds our political beliefs and defines our status or social standing.

-The experience of paid work and the workplace teaches young people specific occupational skills and work discipline as well as informal norms that underpin working processes.

• The behaviour and attitudes of workers may be shaped by the nature of their work and the size of the workplace and workforce.

Question 17

religion as an agent of secondary socialisation

Answer 17

Léger (2000) claims that western societies have experienced a religious decline or secularization.

Adrian Wooldridge and John Micklethwait (2010) argue that in non-Western societies religion is probably the most influential source of socialization.

Religions teach children and young people humanitarianism and compassion for others.

Question 18

media as an agency of secondary socialisation

Answer 18

Neil postman (1985) claim that in western societies the media replaced the family in the 20th century as the main source of socialisation, especially
for children and young people. it is argued that the media in all its varied form has a significant influence on the type of social values and norms acquired by both children and adults.

-Tunstall (1983) argues that the media presents females with questionable role models to emulate, in that women are over-represented as ‘busy housewives as contented mothers and as eager consumers’.

Potter (2003) suggests that short-term effects of media include:

imitation, such as copying behaviour seen on television

desensitisation - the idea that constant and repeated experience of something, such as violence or poverty,
gradually lowers our emotional reaction

learning, in which we are introduced to new ideas and places.

long term effects:

consumerism - advertising, and much other media content, takes as natural the active and ever-increasing pursuit of goods and services that define lifestyles and identities in contemporary capitalist societies

fear - experience of negative and violent media leads some people to overestimate things such as the extent of crime or their chances of being a victim of terrorism or of a disaster

religion as an agency of secondary socialisation.
-until the late 20th century played a key role

Question 19

Describe two ways the peer group may influence behaviourh

Answer 19

• Approval or disapproval in respect of style, taste, attitude, etc.
• Ostracism / exclusion from the group.
• Gendered play in formal and informal settings.
• Use of language.
• Any other relevant argument.

Question 20

How does the media influence behavior (short term effects)

Answer 20

The media has short term effects on behavior

Evidence : Potter suggests that the short term effects of the media are

• Imitation -> copying behavior seen on television
• ## Desensitization -> the idea that constant and repeated experience of something e.g violence or poverty gradually lowers our emotional reaction

Question 21

How does the media influence behavior (long term effects)

Answer 21

The media promotes acceptable and unacceptable forms of behavior to strengthen perceptions of expected behavior
This is the “boundary marking function “ by Durkheim

e.g it may promote changes in behavior for example campaigns against racism.

Question 22

Norms found in religion

Answer 22

-The avoidance of immoral, shameful and evil actions
- To do good and respect one’s parents and elders
- To be generous and help the needy