Sociology Authorities AS

Socialisation and the creation of social identity

The process of learning and socialisation

Culture, roles, norms, values, beliefs, customs, ideology, power and status
as elements in the social construction of society
● Anderson describes societies as ‘imagined communities’, things which exist only in our
minds.
● Merton says an object can serve two functions: a manifest function and a latent function.
● Goffman argues that norms are more often to negotiate than roles and values,this
means that they can quickly adapt to changes in the social environment.

The importance of socialisation in influencing human behaviour, including

the nurture versus nature debate
● Feral children: Saturday Mthiyabe, 5 year old girl who lived with a pack of monkeys and
still has monkey-like mannerisms. Pinie notes that Genie, a 13 year old Californian girl,
had been isolated in a small room and had not been spoken to by her parents since
infancy, she was malnourished, abused and unloved. Pines noted that she couldn't
stand up straight and was unable to speak only able to make whimpers
● Billkopf: Cultural differences in human behaviour can be as trivial as in Russia when a
man peels a banana for a woman it means he has romantic interest in her
● Wojtczak pointed out the treatment of women in Victorian Brtiain as an example of the
historical differences as women were treated like slaves back then.
● Wilson claimed that although human behaviour is not genetically determined, it is
strongly influenced by ‘biological programming’ or ‘biogrammars’.
● Parsons believed that biological traits made each gender more suited for different roles,
they could go against them, but this would just be inefficient and detrimental
● Simon Baron-Cohen (201 2), argue that the female brain is genetically hard-wired for
empathy while the male brain is hard-wired for understanding and building systems.

The I and Me
● Mead believed self-awareness wasn't instinctive, it was learnt. It involves developing our
concept of ‘self’ (which is an awareness of who we are).

Presentation of Self
● Goffman described social life as a series of dramatic episodes, with people as actors
 ● Before Goffman, Cooley suggested that in most social encounters the other people are
used as a looking glass. They are mirrors reflecting how others see us, so we see
reflected an image of the person they think we are

Agencies of socialisation and social control, including family, education,

peer-group, media and religion
● Secondary socialisation is characterised by Berger and Luckman by ‘a sense of
detachment from the ones teaching socialisation’.
● Parsons 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’.
● Berger and Luckman suggest that whilst primary socialisation is characterised by
emotionally charged identification by parents and others whilst secondary socialisation is
characterised by formality and anonymity
● Mead refers to parents as significant others
● Hughes et al call ‘the models we use for appraising and shaping our attitudes, feelings
and actions’.
● Parsons argued that school plays a very significant role in secondary socialisation for
two reasons: firstly, it emancipates the child from primary attachment, secondly, it allows
children to internalise a level of society’s values and norms that is a step higher than
those learnt from the family’.
● Bowles and Ginis argue that there is a correspondence between school and workplace
norms and that school prepares students for adult work by socialising them into the
values and norms suitable for that work.
● Potter suggests that short-term effects of mass media include; imitation, desensitisation
and the learning of new stuff
● Philo et al argue that the media determine how a topic will be debated
● In relation to norms, Durkheim said that the media had a ‘boundary-making function’ itr
promotes acceptable or unacceptable forms of behaviour to strengthen the perceptions
of expected behaviours.
● Swatos argues that religions are going through some changes which are making them
more ‘female-friendly’.So
Social control, conformity and resistance

The role of structure and agency in shaping the relationships between the
individual and society, including an awareness of the differences between
structuralist and interactionist views
● Parsons suggested that every social system consisted of four functional subsystems -
political, economical, cultural and family
● Parsons explained how individuals fit into the overall structure of society on the basis of
functional prerequisites
● For Parsons institutions ensure that individuals conform to the needs of the institution
and society by developing ways to solve the four problems of existence: goal
maintenance, adaptation, integration and latency
● Althusser argued that the ruling class control regressive state apparatuses (RSA) or
ways of getting people to conform by force
● Althusser argued that ownership and control of institutions by the ruling class such as
the media allowed them to influence how others see the world. These institutions are
called ideological state apparatuses (ISA)
● Garfinkel demonstrated the weak nature of our beliefs about social order by disrupting
peoples days and seeing how upset and angrily they reacted
● Schulz argues that subjective meanings give rise to an apparently objective social world
● Wrong criticised what he called the oversocialized concept of man; he rejected the idea
that human behaviour is governed entirely by the effects of socialisation. Wrong believed
people had a certain degree of freedom

The mechanisms through which order is maintained, including power,

ideology, force and consensus
● Adorno and Horkheimer argued that ruling class ideology was passed through the
culture industry through the creation of pop culture which are consumed uncritically and
passively by the people
● Dugan defines power actively involving ‘the capacity to bring about change’
● Lukes defines power passively involves the power to do nothing and convincing others
that nothing has to change

Social identity and change

Social class, gender, ethnicity and age as elements in the social

construction of reality

Class identities
● Crompton (2003) suggests that occupation is a good general measure that allows us to
define simple class groupings.
 ● Goldthorpe et al. (1968) argued that the new working class (which emerged from
changes to the nature of work) developed new forms of identity - privatised and
instrumental.
● Devine (1992) suggests that there were still important differences between the new
working class and the middle classes.
● Brooks (2006) suggests that managerial identities combine career progression, decision-
making, power, and control over others and the organisation of work routines.
● Self and Zealey (2007) note that 21% of the UK’s total wealth is owned by the wealthiest
1% of the population; and, 7% of the nation's wealth is owned by the least wealthy 50%.
● On a global scale, Davies et al. (2008) note that the world’s richest 1% own 40% of the
total global wealth.

Gender identities
● Conell et al. (1987) argued that we are not born a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’, we become ‘men’
and ‘women’ through the social construction of gender identities.
● Lips (1993) argued that differences in male and female identities do not occur naturally
from biological differences.
● Connell (1995) suggested that there are two forms of dominant gender identities;
hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity.
● Kitchen (2006) calls Connell’s emphasised femininity a ‘complicit femininity’ because it is
defined by male needs and desires.
● Schauer (2004) suggests 4 types of masculinity: subordinate, subversive, complicit and
marginalised.
● Connell (1995) argued that as women have become more powerful, male identities have
begun to change. (complicit masculinity)
● Willott and Griffin (1996) noted that marginalised masculinites developed among the
long-term unemployed working class as traditional working-class occupations
disappeared.

Female identities
● Oakley (1972) suggested that female identities were shaped in childhood.
● Oakley suggested 4 main ways in which children are socialised into gender roles: by
manipulation, canalisation, verbal appellation and by different activities.
● Oakley suggests 3 main forms of feminine identity in contemporary societies: contingent,
assertive, and autonomous.
● Chambers et al. (2003) argue that contingent femininities struggle with the problem of
‘producing a femininity that will secure male approval’.
● Froyum (2005) suggests that assertive femininities are adopted to ‘resist male power
without actually threatening to overthrow such power’.
● Hollows (2000) suggests that ‘girl power’ identities (sub-identity of assertive identities)
emphasise ‘sex as fun’ and the importance of female friendship.
● McRobbie (1996)
● Evans (2006) points to female individualism as part of a new gender regime that frees
women from traditional constraints such as pregnancy and childcare.
Ethnic identities
● Ossorio (2003) argues that the simple biological notion of race is wrong as there is no
scientific evidence of genetically different ‘racial groups’.
● The Centre for Social Wefare Research (1999) stated “For all of us, identity is in some
sense ‘ethnic’ in that we have diverse origins… related to how we are perceived and
treated by others”.
● Winston (2005) suggests that ethnic identities develop when people see themselves as
being distinctive in some way from others because of a shared cultural background and
history.
● Song (2003) suggests that ethnic identities are often expressed in terms of distinctive
markers such as common ancestry and memories of a shared past.
● Wimmer (2008) argues that an important aspect of ethnic identites is how they are
defined in relation to other ethnic groups by constructing a sense of difference , which
establishes boundaries for a particular identity.

Age identities
● Aries (1962) argued that childhood in the modern sense did not exist in the Middle Ages.
● Hood-Williams (1990) proposed 3 types of adult control of children: spaces, time, and
bodies.
● Postman (1994) argued that childhood changed again with the growth of television,
computers and videos.

Methods of Research
Types of data, methods and research design

The differences between primary and secondary sources of data and

between quantitative and qualitative data.
● Venkatesh (2009) used quantitative data to study a young gang from the viewpoint of its
members.
● Goffman (1961) examined the experiences of patients in a mental institution.

The strengths and limitations of different secondary sources of data,

including official statistics, personal documents, digital content and media
sources.
● Durkheim (1897) identified distinct patterns to sucidal behaviour based on a comparative
analysis of official suicide statistic across a range of different societies.
● Pearson (1983) used media accounts going back over 100 years to demonstrate that
violent ‘hooligan’ or ‘yobbish’ behaviour is not a recent phenomenon in the UK.
The strengths and limitations of different quantitative research methods,
including questionnaires, structured interviews, experiments and content
analysis.
● The Hawthorne (or observer effect), named after a study by Mayo (1933) at the
Hawthorne factory factory in Chicago refers to the changes in people’s behaviour directly
resulting from their knowledge of being studied.

The strengths and limitations of different qualitative research methods,

including overt and covert participant and non-participant observation,
unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews and group interviews.
● Weber (1922) termed verstehen - ‘to understand by experiencing’ or, as Mead (1934)
described it, the researcher’s ability to take the part of the other and see things from their
viewpoint (empathy)
● Lofland and Stark (1965) secretly studied the behaviour of a religious sect because this
was the only way to gain access.
● Ray (1987) covertly studied Australian environmental groups who would have been
suspicious of his motives if he had tried to study them openly.

Stages of research design, including deciding on research strategy,

formulating research questions and hypotheses, sampling frames,
sampling techniques, pilot studies, operationalisation, conducting research
and interpreting results.
● Oberg (1999) suggests that there are four linked stages of research design: planning,
information gathering, information processing, evaluation.

Approaches to sociological research

The mixed methods approach to research, including triangulation and

methodological pluralism.
● Denzin (1970) suggests that methodological triangulation allows the research to offset
the weakness of one method with the strengths of another.
● Barker (1984) used overt participant observation, questionnaires and semi-structured
interviews in her research on the Unification Church.
● Hey (1997) studied girls’ friendships in two London schools using a combination of
participant observation and personal documentation.
Research Issues

The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing the choice

of topic, choice of method(s) and conduct of research.
● Ackroyd and Hughes (1992) argued that we should not see these methods as ‘tools’ that
are somehow appropriate or inappropriate for particular tasks.
● Dunican (2005) suggests, fitness for purpose reflects how well the chosen research
method is suited to the context of study.
● Kessler’s (2000) study of the relationship between sponsorship and small business
performance, where the main aim was to test whether ‘those who are sponsored are
more successful than non-sponsored individuals.’

Theories of the family and social change

Perspectives on the role of the family

Functionalist accounts of how the family benefits its members and society
and how the functions of families have changed over time, including the
‘loss of functions’ debate.
● George Peter Murdock (1949) developed a definition of a family based on analysing data
from 250 different societies. He concluded that the family was universal (that is, it exists
in all societies). Murdock further argues that it is the nuclear family that is the universal
social unit. No society had an adequate alternative to the family. His definition involves
the family having four characteristics: common residence (live in the same home),
economic co-operation and reproduction, adults of both sexes, at least two ofwhom
maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and, one or more children, own or
adopted.
● According to Giddens (2006), families are defined through people directly linked by kin
connections, where adult members take responsibility for childcare.
● Parsons and Bales (1956) argued that whereas in the past the family was multi-
functional (performing different functions), it has become increasingly specialised in
modern societies
● Fletcher (1973) drew these strands together by arguing that contemporary families
performed two types of function. Core functions cannot be performed by either
individuals working alone or by any other institution. Peripheral functions are things that,
 while still performed by some families at some times, have been largely taken over by
other institutions.
● Horwitz (2005), for example, argues that the family functions as a bridge connecting the
‘micro world’ of the individual with the ‘macro world’ of wider economic society.
● Functionalists argue that although the nuclear family is found in all societies, the exact
forms that families take will depend on the nature of the society.
● The ‘fit’ thesis was put forward by functionalist sociologists, such as Parsons (1959b)
and Goode (1963). These sociologists claimed that extended family structures were the
norm in pre-industrial society because families and households were: multi-functional,
kinship-based, economically productive.
● Finch (1989) examined the idea that before the Industrial Revolution family obligations
were much stronger and family members provided greater support for each other than in
the industrial and post-industrial eras
● Anderson (1995) argued that no single family or household structure was dominant
during the industrialisation process.
● Anderson suggests that during the process of industrialisation, the working class
developed a broadly extended family structure, mainly as a consequence of urbanisation

Marxist accounts of how the family benefits capitalism, including ideological

control, reproduction of labour and consumption.
● Althusser (1970), for example, argued that the family is an ideological state apparatus
(ISA) through which children learn norms and values broadly supportive of the economic
and political situation.
● Zaretsky (1976) argued that socialisation involves the passing on of a ruling-class
ideology. This encourages a largely unquestioning acceptance of the capitalist system
and the rights of the ruling class through beliefs about competition, the importance of the
work ethic and needing to obey authority.
● Althusser also argued that the family has a consumption role in modern societies. In the
past it was a unit of production. Creating the things people needed to survive; now it
buys most of what it needs.
● Zaretsky also argued that families are important targets for advertisers; by encouraging
consumption, the family has progressively become a major source of profit.
● Zaretsky argued that the growth of the privatised nuclear family encourages family
members to focus on private problems rather than wider social concerns such as social
inequality.
● Zaretsky, like the functionalists, sees the family as, to some extent, a refuge from the
world of work in a capitalist society
● Bourdieu (1986) uses the concept of cultural capital - non-economic resources that can
be ‘spent’ to give some families advantages over others - to argue that parents are
differently positioned to invest in their children: some have more cultural capital than
others.
● Silva and Edwards (2005) argue that middle and upper-class parents are better able to
equip their children with the knowledge and skills necessary for an easy change
(transition) to the workplace than working class parents
 ● Bourdieu argues that cultural capital operates through the family to give some children a
'head start’ in education, because parents can motivate their children by passing on the
attitudes and knowledge needed to succeed educationally.
● Putnam (2000) calls ‘norms of reciprocity’ - what people do for each other

Feminist responses to functionalist and Marxist accounts ofthe role ofthe

family
● Bruegel (1979) argued that women are a ‘reserve army of labour’ - women are called
into the workforce when there is a shortage of (male) labour and forced back into the
family when there is a surplus.

Diversity and social change

The causes and consequences of changing patterns of marriage,

cohabitation, divorce and separation
● Beck (1992) argued that people in postmodern societies increasingly assess the likely
risks and consequences of their actions. The likelihood of divorce, with its emotional and
economic consequences, can lead to the avoidance of risk by not marrying.
● Gillis (1985) argued that common-law marriage, where a couple live together ‘as if
married’, was extensively practised in the past, cohabitation is not legally recorded in the
UK and so statistics are not very reliable.
● Hughes and Church (2010) identified a broad increase in cohabitation, from 10% of
couples in 1986 to 25% in 2006.
● Smart and Stevens (2000) suggest four main reasons for recent upward trends in
cohabitation: changing attitudes to marriage, cohabitation represents a test for their
partner to prove they can settle down, cohabiting parents are either unwilling to enter
into a legal relationship, or philosophical resistance to marriage.

Different family and household forms, including nuclear, extended, lone-

parent, reconstituted, same-sex families, families of choice and single-
person households
● Roseneil (2006) suggests that an additional category in this type of household is
'couples who live apart’.
● The term families of choice has been used particularly for situations where people freely
choose to create a family-like relationship with others. It was first used by Weston (1991)
to describe how gay, lesbian and bisexual people were using theterm ‘family’ fortheir
social networks.
Dimensions of family diversity, including organisational, cultural and class
diversity
● DeVault (1994) argues that ‘the family is a falsely monolithic concept’
● Adult relationships in middle-class families are more likely than in working-class families
to be symmetrical - an idea developed by Willmott and Young (1973) to describe
relationships characterised by joint conjugal roles.
● A study by Pahl and Vogler (1994) found that men make the most important financial
decisions in middle-class families, whereas women make decisions about everyday
domestic spending, such as food and clothing.
● Lareau (2003) suggests that parents of different classes interact with their children in
different ways.
● Reay et at. (2004) argue that middle-class women are much more actively involved in
their children’s education through monitoring school progress and questioning teachers
about their children’s school performance.
● Dale et al. (2004) found clear differences between ethnic groups in relation to female
paid employment, family roles and responsibilities.
● Berthoud (2000) found that features of Afro-Caribbean families in the UK were low rates
of marriage and high rates of single parenthood.

The New Right and postmodernist perspectives on family diversity

● Morgan’s (2000) argument against cohabitation, for example, illustrates this
interpretation of family diversity as a source of social problems by suggesting that
cohabitation suffers from important flaws when compared to marriage
● As Stacey (2002) puts it: ‘Every family is an alternative family.’

The state and social policy as influences on the family

● Eichner (2010) argues for a 'supportive state’ model, where political institutions act to
'support families in performing their caretaking and human development functions’
● Neale (2000) notes that this involves stable family relationships created within married,
heterosexual, dualparent nuclear families.
● Althusser argues that families are an ideological state apparatus. Through primary
socialisation children learn values, such as the importance of the work ethic, and norms,
such as work itself, both paid and unpaid, that blend them into capitalist society.

Gender equality and experiences of family time

Different feminist perspectives on equality and power in the family,

including liberal, radical and Marxist feminist
● Firestone (1970) argued that biology is the essential gender difference from which all
cultural differences flow.
● Friedan (1963) and Millett (1969) see the patriarchal structures and practices of the
family itself as the source of female oppression.
Conjugal roles and debates about gender equality in the family, including
housework, childcare, power and emotion work
● Gershuny et al. (2006) observe that women of all ages, ethnicities and classes do more
domestic labour than men.
● Kan (2001) found that levels of housework that women did were slightly reduced by paid
employment.
● Ramos (2003) notes that domestic labour is more likely to be equally distributed when
the male is unemployed and his partner works full time.
● Willmott (2000), however, argues there is less dependence on ‘traditional roles when
dividing up tasks in the home’.
● Pilcher (1988) found that older people, unlike their younger peers (counterparts), did not
talk about ‘equality’ but instead thought about gender roles, responsibilities and
relationships in traditional ways.
● Sullivan et al. (2008) suggest that industrial societies have experienced a ‘quiet
revolution’ in conjugal roles based on a general acceptance of gender equality
● Morgan (2001) illustrates this through three 'family economies’, political, moral and
emotional: political, moral, and emotional economy.
● The emotional economy relates to interpersonal relationships and what Dallos et al.
(1997) call ‘affective power’. If someone ‘loves you’ this gives you power.
● Kirkwood (1993) notes that there are several possible reasons for this: victim’s low
confidence, economic or psychological dependence, fear of further consequences.

Debates about whether the experiences of family life is positive or negative

for family members.
● Parsons (1959b) argues that contemporary families play an important stabilising role for
both the individual and society; postmodernists focus on individual psychological
stability.
● People receive from their family what Becker (1991) calls ‘psychic income’- the
psychological pleasures gained from a relationship involving a sense of personal
commitment, love and affection.
● according to the UK National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse
(1996), is someone known to the child, particularly a male parent or step-parent.

Age and family life

The social construction of childhood, and changes in the role and social
position of children in the family
● Archard (2004) argues that every human society has developed a concept of childhood,
but societies differ in their definitions of childhood and, by extension, adulthood.
● Philippe Aries argues that 'childhood’ as a distinctive phase in social development only
came into existence around three centuries ago.
 ● Malinowski’s (1922) study of the Trobriand Islanders of Papua New Guinea found that
pre-industrial tribal societies differed from their industrial counterparts in three main
ways: more responsibility, closer, less strict, and encouraged to explore their sexuality.
● Hecht’s (1998) ethnographic study of the ‘unconventional childhood’ of Brazilian street
children shows that, while many children find themselves living and working on the
streets from an early age, they still maintain links with parents and wider family.
● Postman argues that a major reason for this is thedevelopment of'open admission
technologies’ that expose children to images of adulthood (sex, violence, news) that
make it more difficult to define where childhood ends and adulthood begins.
● Robertson (2001) suggests that a further factor in the disappearance of childhood is that
children are encouraged to be consumers, using goods and services that were formerly
available only to adults (for example, mobile phones).

The role and social position of grandparents in the family, including cross-
cultural comparisons and the impact of changing life expectancy upon the
family
● Victor (1987) suggested that the status of older people depends upon a number of
factors. These include the nature of social organisation.
● In Kagan’s (1980) study of a Colombian village, the older people remained socially and
economically active, as far as physically possible.

Social class, gender and ethnicity as factors affecting the experiences of

children in the family
● Hecht’s study of Brazilian street children (1998) highlighted this by making a distinction
between the ‘nurtured’ and the ‘nurturing’ child.
● Parents often assume boys are psychologically and emotionally different from girls and
treat them in different ways. Will etal. (1976) demonstrated this by observing young
mothers interacting with a baby called Beth.
● Martin and Ruble (2004) suggest that children are ‘gender detectives’.
● Brannen and Oakley (1994), for example, found that Asian parents in the UK placed
greater restrictions on their children’s freedom of movement and association, particularly
with their daughters, than their British counterparts. Song (1999) also noted the
significance of ‘the family as workplace’ for some ethnic minority children in the UK,
particularly Chinese ethnicities, but also extending into Italian and Asian identities.

Changes in the concepts of motherhood and fatherhood

● Feminism has questioned traditional ideas about masculinity, suggesting that it is
responsible for abuse of power, war and damage to the environment.