Socialisation and the creation

of social identity

Culture, roles, norms,

values, beliefs,
The process of learning customs, ideology,
and socialisation power and status as
elements in the social
construction of reality.

The importance of
Agencies of
socialisation in
socialisation and social
influencing human
control, including family,
behaviour, including the
education, peer group,
nurture versus nature
media and religion.
debate.

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 • There are many definitions

• Linton (1945)
• ‘The culture of a society is the
way of life of its members; the
What is collection of ideas and habits,
norms and values, which they
Culture? learn, share and transmit from
generation to generation’
• http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=WcEfzHB08QE&feature=p
layer_embedded#
!
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 Social Construction

A social construction is something

which is not biological or natural
occurring. It is something which is
created through culture and therefore
changes across time, place and
situation.

Examples of socially constructed

ideas include culture itself, gender
roles, crime and deviance.

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 Culture
• The first few slides show
pictures of what a lot of people
think of when they think of
cultures
• You need to reflect on the
culture of your family
• Think about the things you do
as a family
• What does your family value
• You will be creating a spider
diagram of your families
culture

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Religion?

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Do you eat together every evening?
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Going to the pub?

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Music?

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Library and books?
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Politics?
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Picnics ? Walking ? Outdoor
activity?

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Museums?

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Watching T.V. as a family?

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Talking?
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Travel?

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 A way of life characteristic of a particular
society
(British culture, French culture…)

Ways of making sense of our daily lives:

A set of practices.
Culture • Clothes we wear.

Food we eat.

Work we do.

Friends we have

A set of beliefs.

what is culture

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• Norms
• All social groups create norms to
enforce the cultural values.
• Norms are the shared rules of
conduct given a particular situation
within a society.
• Norms are not laws but expectations
of the people within a society.
• Norms that are important to a society
are formalized into laws.
• A law is a written rule of conduct that
is enacted and enforced by the
government.
• Examining Culture
• Culture is dynamic, which means it is
constantly changing instead of being
static, which means unchanging.

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• Deviance
• The breaking of the normative codes of society is
seen as deviance.
• Deviant behavior is usually defined as being ‘mad’ or
‘bad’
•  
• Cultural Universals
• Cultural Universals are general culture traits, thought
to exist in all known cultures.
• The anthropologist, George Murdock, attempted to
identify the common denominators of cultures and
developed a list of over 70 cultural universals
• Cultural universals include sports, cooking,
courtship, division of labor, education, etiquette,
funeral rites, family, language, etc.

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• Countercultures
• Some subcultures are in conflict with the larger group while
others just appear different.
• Language and jargon can play an important part to this
theory.
• Subcultures provide people with a feeling of belonging and
allow for cultural adaptation to occur gradually within a
society.
• Subcultures can however, erode society’s consensus.
• If a subculture is too different form the larger culture,
conflict may occur.

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• Mainstream culture
• This is the culture of the majority of a society which is shared by most
people e.g in the UK this would be common aspects of life such as going to
work, eating with a knife and fork, getting married. People who belong to
sub-cultures still behave in ways consistent with mainstream culture
most of the time.
• Popular Culture
• Everyone in each society takes part in popular culture. This might include
popular television programmes, soaps, reality tv, magazines, radio, This is
said to be liked and enjoyed more by ordinary and working-class people
• High Culture
• All aspects of culture related to classics such as literature, opera, classical
music, antiques, broadsheet newspapers, fine art, and modern art, ballet
etc., this is mostly enjoyed more by middle class people and is said to be
more worthy. Knowledge of high culture gives people cultural power.
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 Durkheim (1963) Functionalist

Culture from Believed that a shared culture is

necessary to society to run smoothly.
different Having shared patterns of behaviour
perspectives helps everyone play their part.

Karl Marx (Marxist) believed that

culture is really just the ideology of
the ruling-class which gives a false-
class consciousness (convincing us
that life is fair so that we accept
exploitation)

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 Post-Modernists
• They believe that culture is more fluid and people
can take up different aspects of it through choice
e.g we can eat curry, wear a kilt and go line
dancing !!
• Strinati – Post Modernist - says that now people
have more leisure time and less solid identity from
class, community and religion culture is more
about lifestyles and tastes.

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 Understanding
Culture personally
Culture, Values, and Beliefs

Humans are social creatures. Since the dawn of Homo

sapiens nearly 250,000 years ago, people have grouped
together into communities in order to survive. Living
together, people form common habits and behaviors—from
specific methods of childrearing to preferred techniques for
obtaining food.
In modern-day Paris, many people shop daily at outdoor
markets to pick up what they need for their evening meal,
buying cheese, meat, and vegetables from different
specialty stalls.

In the United States, the majority of people shop once a

week at supermarkets, filling large carts to the brim. How
would a Parisian perceive U.S. shopping behaviors that
suburban Americans take for granted?

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 A few Videos
• Culture Unites
• Cultures, subcultures
• difference between japanese and British c
ulture
• HSDC culture ads

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 Define the term culture
giving examples

List some elements of

culture
Questions
What is the difference
between norms and values?

Give an examples of
cultural diversity

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 Socialisation

• The process whereby people learn:

• How to be human…
• How to become members of the society
in which they live.
• The norms (rules, regulations,
customs…) and values of that society.
• Explains why we behave the way we
do…

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 Socialization
• Importance of socialization
• Development of self identity
and social interaction
• Agents of socialization
• Resocialization
• Socialization and social change

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 Importance of socialization
• Essential for individual survival
– lifelong process
– nature vs. nurture
• Essential for a society’s survival
– transmission of values, norms, culture
– effects of inadequate socialization

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• Biosociology maintains that human behavior in
primarily the result of genetic influences and
physiology. For example, male aggression has been
linked to higher levels of the hormone testosterone.
• Therefore, bio sociologists would say that males are
inherently more aggressive than females and that this is
a positive trait from an evolutionary standpoint
because the more aggressive males would have been
most likely to survive and acquire mates thus passing
their aggressive genes along to their descendants.
• I suppose the gentle males all got wiped out….
• Well, that’s the nature viewpoint in a nutshell- the
nurture viewpoint would not deny the impact of
biology on behavior but proposes that human behavior
is much more complex than can be explained by raging
hormones and that the influence of socialization far
outweighs the impact of biology.
• Males may have testosterone, but they learn to be
aggressive, and they can also learn to be compassionate.
• Humans are social primates. You have read about
Harlow’s experiments with monkeys and about the
effects of social isolation on children.
• The socialization process transmits society’s values,
norms, and culture to the young. Without this society
itself would cease.

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 Socialization is
needed and occurs
because humans:
– have no instincts and so must learn everything
– have a long period of infant dependency
– have a need for social contact
– have the ability to learn and
the capacity for language.
Most social scientists agree that, while biology does
influence some portions of our personalities,
human beings have no instincts.
They bear altricial young- the newborns are
incapable of caring for themselves. In the case
of humans this dependency lasts up to 20 years
(socially anyhow), perhaps longer.
Sociologists therefore maintain that the self we
develop is a result mainly of our social
circumstances.

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 Development of Self

• The development of
self takes place within
social contexts.

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 Interactionist Perspective:
George Herbert Mead
• First two Stages of development:
1. preparatory =
imitate
2. play =

pretend
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“I” is the subjective self; “Me” is the objective self.

We are born with the I & acquire the Me.

The generalized other: awareness of society’s and group’s

norms and values.

Mead is not specific about ages when each stage takes

place. His schemata is more open than those of Erickson,
Piaget, Kholberg. However, by elementary school, children
have begun to be able to place themselves in the shoes of
others, a skill which then develops in organized, supervised
activities.

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 Stage 3: Learn to Role Take with The
Generalized Other

3.Game stage=
organized activities
& games in a
group
context

Role taking with the

generalized
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other
 Role Taking
• Essential to learn to role take with the
generalized other in order to be fully
socialized.
– Role taking is an empathetic
process of putting oneself in the
place of others.
– What if the person cannot role take
with the generalized other or other
people?

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 Agents of Socialization

SCHOOLS

PEERS
FAMILY

MEDIA
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 Family
• Most important agent
• Primary group
• Infancy to 5 or 6
• Provides:
– social position
– emotional support
– physical support
– role models

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 Socialization and Social Class: Melvin
Kohn Study:

Blue Collar Working Class White Collar “Middle” Class

material rewards &
punishments
communication as command
child figures out what parents
want
stress on obedience
symbolic rewards &
punishments
communication as interaction
parents figure out what child
wants
stress on autonomy

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• Kohn’s study indicated that working class parents and middle class
to upper middle-class white-collar families raised their children with
different emphases.
• These are ideal types, of course, and no one family will have all of
either of these lists of characteristics. Rather, most families will be a
“mix’ of both. However, working class families and middle-class
white-collar families do exhibit different patterns.
• The blue-collar parents are accustomed to taking orders at work.
Therefore, they stress commands, obedience, etc. They are raising
their children to go into a workplace where, to be successful and
keep a job, their children will have to take orders.
• The white-collar parents, on the other hand, work in an environment
KOHN that stresses communications, creativity, and values autonomy; they
may have to talk back to the boss to benefit the business.
•
STUDY
So, their children are raised to be more independent. This will then
benefit those children when they grow up and enter a white-collar
workplace.
• In a society in which technical competence and higher education
results in better jobs, more and more parents are beginning to
emphasize autonomy.
• This is functional for a Post-Industrial society which needs workers
ready to take risks such as changing professions several times, going
back to college to be re-educated, starting their own businesses,
learning new technologies.
• Please remember to read about: Conflict theory maintains
socialization “reproduces the class system.”
• In other words, ascribed status, education and occupation, networks,
role expectations, endogamy interact such that people create new
families very similar to the family in which they were raised.
 Mass Media & Socialization
• Types of mass media:
– movies, television
– print- magazines and
newspapers, books, etc.
– music
– electronic communications

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• Functions to socialize:
– provides information
– contact with others
– viewpoints on issues
– access to consumer culture
– entertainment
– education?
• Positive and negative aspects

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The Process
of
Socialization
Giddens (2006) Socialisation
is the process through which
culture is passed from
generation to generation.

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Socialization prepares people to participate in a social group by

teaching them its norms and expectations.

Socialization has three primary goals: teaching impulse control and

developing a conscience, preparing people to perform certain social
roles, and cultivating shared sources of meaning and value.

Socialization is culturally specific, but this does not mean certain

Key cultures are better or worse than others.

Points Key Terms

socialization: The process of learning one’s culture and how to live

within it.

Jeffrey J. Arnett: In his 1995 paper, “Broad and Narrow Socialization:

The Family in the Context of a Cultural Theory,” sociologist Jeffrey J.
Arnett outlined his interpretation of the three primary goals of
socialization.
norm: A rule that is enforced by members of a community.
 Nature/Nurture debate - Feral
Children

What does this

tell us about the John Bowlby’s At
nature/nurture tachment Theory
argument? Feral children

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 Agents of socialization

• These are the people or groups that play a part in our socialization.
Sometimes they play an important part without us realising it.

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 Agents of socialisation

Primary Secondary
Media
Family Education

Peer
Religion Workplace
group

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 Primary socialization-
• The early years of life are important in the learning process. This
is the stage of primary socialization when we are normally in
intimate and prolonged contact with our parents.
• We learn :-
• Rules of general behaviour – Norms and values e.g queuing for
a bus
• Norms and values associated with gender, ethnicity, social class.

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Our parents are our “significant others”. They
have a great influence on us and we care
about their judgements of us. They play a key
part in teaching us basic norms and values.

Parents and family ROLE MODEL behaviour

We IMITATE

They use SANCTIONS (Positive and

negative)

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 Family
and
Parents
The majority of children still
grow up in a family headed by
both natural parents.

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 • Over the last 30 years there
has been an increase in the
number of lone-parent and
step-famliies.
• Family life has therefore
become more DIVERSE.
• Whatever the particular
family set-up, parental
figures remain the main
agents of primary
socialization.
• A sense of security during
the earliest years has been
identified as being crucial to
developing a stable
personality later on.

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 Learning from
parents-
• One way children learn from
their parents is through
IMITATION. They may copy
the way their parents’ talk or
their table-manners for
example.

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• By a process of trial and error and
with the application of formal and
informal sanctions (social control)
children learn what is unacceptable
and unacceptable.

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• As children get older they use their parents as role-models.

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• The experience of growing up in a
family also varies according to its
social and cultural values.
• A Muslim family may ensure that
religion plays a strong part in a
child’s upbringing.

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 To be able to describe ways
that gender roles develop
through primary socialisation

Develop a deep understanding

of how gender socialisation
Objectives affects people’s behaviour

Consider how other agents of

socialisation transmit gender
roles.

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 Gender roles are about:- attributes,
character, roles, jobs, and
expectations of society.
• Are people’s lives determined by
their gender?
• How does this lesson relate to
Develop deep the nature/nurture debate in
understanding Sociology?
• Why has gender role
socialisation changed since the
1950s?
• Which particular expectations of
males or females are still going
strong in 2014?
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 Jot down ways we
learn to be feminine
and masculine.

Gender Roles

will you slap her????

?

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 Research the
work of Anne Write up keywords
Oakley in your glossary
Anne Oakley

Discuss examples
Manipulation
of:-
Home
Work Verbal
Canalization
Appellations

Different activities
for boys and girls

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 From your own knowledge
think about ways that
gender roles are displayed
in the media, TV, films,
magazines.

Extension Write down specific

examples

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 Gender roles are about:- attributes,
character, roles, jobs, and
expectations of society.
• Are people’s lives determined
Plenary – by their gender?
• How does this lesson relate to
develop deep the nature/nurture debate in
Sociology?
understanding • Why has gender role
socialisation changed since the
1950s?
• Which particular expectations
of males or females that are still
going strong in2014?

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 Secondary socialisation

• Education
• From the age of 5 in the Uk the family continues to be important for
socialisation but Education also plays a big role. We are taught in
two ways:-
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 Activity
Use your textbook to make
your own notes on the
following:-

Formal Curriculum

Formal Social Control in

schools

Informal (hidden)
Curriculum

Informal Social Control in

schools.

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 How do you think Functionalists might
view the ‘hidden curriculum’?

How do you think Marxists might view

the use of the ‘hidden curriculum’

Plenary How do you think Feminists might

view the ‘hidden curriculum’
questions
Give an example of a formal sanction
used by a school

Give an example of informal sanction

used by peer groups.

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 The two kinds of social control

Agent of primary socialisation

Two agents of secondary socialisation

Recap One way that parents ensure

appropriate gender behaviour is learned.

Phrase used to describe the teaching of

social skills in school.

Name for teaching of knowledge like

maths and English

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 To be able to
describe ways that
the media influences
socialisation
Objectives To answer and peer
assess a real exam
question.

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 The Mass
Media
• The media has an impact on the
development of gender roles,
ethnic identity and social class
identities.

• Media includes?

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 How does it
happen?
• What were the three ways that
children learn norms and values
and ways of behaving from their
parents?

• Can these be applied to the media?

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 Research into
influence of media
• McRobbie – 1970s found that girls
magazines tended to encourage
romance and ‘keeping a man’ often
through domesticity.
Currie (1999) found dramatic
increase in emphasis on
beautification. Concept of
‘slimblondeness’
Rutherford 2000 onwards - Growth of
male magazines FHM, Loaded
etc.and focus on body image.

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 Religion can have a profound
effect on socialisation.

Recent TV program about Amish

teenagers!

Religion The UK has been changing and

becoming more ‘Secularised’

BSA (2006) found that in 1964

26% did not identify with any
religion. By 2006 this rose to 69%.
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Describe the norms and values of:

Geeks Boffs Plastics

??????? Any
Emo kids Lads
others

What would you

have to do to
become a member
of their culture?
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 These are generally American
thinkers.

They say that the purpose of

socialisation is to unite society in a set
of shared norms and values.

This is a ‘consensus’ sociology.

Functionalists

Talcott Parsons said that all societies

have functional prerequisites which
must be met and shared culture
provides for these needs.
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 These people say that the purpose of
socialisation is to control the weak and
defenceless and to give them the ideas that
the powerful promote.
Marxists
People are taught an ideology

This is known as ‘conflict’ sociology.

Socialisation is conditioning which prepares

the masses for exploitation

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 Oakley (1974) Socialisation
perpetuates gender inequality.
Gender differences are due to
Feminism culture not biology.
and
Socialisation Thorne (1993) School systems
also reinforce gender differences.

Socialisation is preparing us for

differentiated gender roles and to
accept patriarchy.

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 Resocialization

• Process of learning new and

different norms and values.
• Can be voluntary- enter a new
status on our own.
– marriage
– military
– job
• Involuntary Resocialization
occurs in a total institution
(Erving Goffman, Asylums.)
 • Characteristics of a total
Resocialization institution:
– isolation from the outside
world
– entry involves “processing”
– control by institution and
expectations of unquestioning
obedience
– “mortification” of the self
– de-humanization
 Total Institutions
• Total institutions can be typified on a
continuum from little control to absolute
control:

h ool n
ng sc tu tio
o n
di sti s
boa
r
n t a l in pri
me

little control absolute

control
 Socialization & Social Change
• Families will remain vital to socialization.
• Society’s other institutions also will play an
increasingly important role in socialization.
• The media has and will continue to have
more and more influence on childhood
socialization.
• Technological innovations will
influence children at
home, in school, and in
the workplace.
 Computers & Socialization: In
the Home

TH 


43% of American homes
have a PC.
18% have online
connection.
 17.7 million households
online in 1997 and 40
million online by 2001,
according to
International Data Corporat
ion
.
 Computers & Socialization:
Education
Computers have unrealized potential.
The classroom
Schools will train
will become less
students to the
dependent
new workplace
upon physical
environment. Skills
location. Estimates
in computer
are that as many
applications will be
as 27% of computer
essential for
owners intend to take courses online.
employment.

Computers and technology will change the

way we think!
 Parts I & II Summary
• The family is the most important agent.
• Socialization involves learning to internalize the
norms and values of one’s culture.
• Socialization is a life long process; people can
become resocialized.
• People’s socialization experiences vary.
• The media is playing an increasing role.
• In the future, socialization must anticipate the
consequences of social changes.
How is
Culture • Objectives:
transmitted • To be able to describe three ways
to the next that society ensures people conform
generation? to norms and values.
• 1. Role Modelling and Imitation
• 2. Informal and Formal Social
Control
• 3. Positive and Negative Sanctions
Role
Modelling • Behaviour in certain
situations e.g table
manners
and • Gender Roles e.g how
to be
Imitation feminine/masculine
• Cultural Identity e.g
How to dress

• THIS IS NOT ALWAYS

POSITIVE FOR
SOCIETY
 • Family
Informal • Peers
• The media
Social • People who deviate from the norms
control and values of their culture may be
subject to informal social control like
being grounded, parents getting
cross, peers ignoring them or
leaving them out. The media
influences how approving or
disapproving we are of certain
behaviours.
 Police Courts

Formal
Social Managers in the
School staff
Control workplace

Any agent who has

Religious institutions
authorisation

If people break written

rules or codes such as
the law they will be
subject to formal
controls such as arrest,
prison, discipline etc
 Thinking !

• What or who would you be most afraid of if you were

caught stealing a DVD from a shop ?
 SANCTIONS

• Positive Sanctions are used to reward behaviour which is

desirable
• How might you be rewarded formally or informally for
• Being a good student
• Saving someone who is drowning
• Doing well at sports
• Getting a cool outfit
 • Negative sanctions are used to
punish behaviour which is
undesirable
Sanctions • How might someone be punished
formally or informally for the
following:-
• Starting up a brothel in a quiet
neighbourhood
• Dropping the ball in a game of
cricket
• Taking drugs
• Wearing unfashionable clothes
 • Know all the agents of socialisation
and be able to give examples
Objectives • Complete a peer assessed timed
essay

• Socialisation through education and

the media – what would the
perspectives say about this?

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 Part b) 10 marks = 10 minutes
This will ask you
about:-
Processes involved
in socialisation
(formal and informal
social control) e.g
AO2 - At least 3 of those
points will be explained with
examples or reference to the
item.
Agents of
Culture transmission Socialisation (primary
and secondary)
Using material from the
AO1 - There should be 4
item and your own
points made showing
knowledge, describe and
knowledge and accurate and
explain the ways in which
any two agents of
appropriate use of
sociological terms should be
socialisation can influence
evident for full marks.
behaviour. [15]
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 • Explain the meaning of

Assessed the term ‘Socialisation’

and describe the ways in
which children may be
Activity •
socialised. (15 Marks)

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 P – What is Socialisation – (Giddens,2006)
and distinguish between primary and
secondary. Include the HOW – Imitation,
Role Modelling and Sanctions
E – Give an example of both e.g Oakley
A – Therefore Culture is transmitted via
ongoing process of socialisation.

Timed Essay E – Functionalists argue this is a good thing

for social solidarity however what would
Marxists say?
Plan P – Describe one agent of socialisation –
education + example, evaluation, and
analysis (use perspectives)
P – Describe another agent – Media +
example, evaluation and analysis (mention
gender roles - McRobbie)
Short conclusion summarising/analysing

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 3 marks - They have described HOW the
family/media/education influences socialisation
through imitation, role modelling and sanctions.

2 marks – They have included examples of the

above?

2 marks – They have included one piece of

research evidence/name of theorist

Assessment
2 marks – they have included a second piece of
research evidence/name of theorist

1 marks – The explanation is clearly

communicated.

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 Queuing at a bus stop

Washing your hands after using the toilet

-
Offenders are rehabilitated to make a
contribution to society
Putting rubbish in the bin -
What’s the
value? Buying new clothes

Not being late for work/school

Smoking.swearing and wearing jog

bottoms
Buying a new sports car

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 Using two examples, explain the
meaning of the term “values”
(5marks)

You need to make three clear

Timed points
essay plan 1. Define the term

2. Give examples using the item

and others and use key terms
3. Refer to theory or research.

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