Socialization

Culture is passed on through socialisationn from generation to generation (Norms and values are internalised)

Laws oftern reflect norms, but sometimes law-breaking is the norm

Culture, values and norms are not fixed. They vary according to the time and place

Brisish culture is diffrenture to American culture

There are two kinds of socialisation, primary and secondary

Primary socialization comes first

Early childhood (0-5), individuals lean the skills, knowledge, norms and values of society

Happens through; 

1) children internalise norms and balues by imitaing their parents / guardianss 

2) children are rewarded for socially acceptable behaviour 

3) children are punished for socially deviant behaviour

Education system aims to pass on knowledge and skills. Learning these skills is a part of socialisation

Functionalists, like Durkheim, belive thats chool promotes consenus by teaching norms and values. They also say children learn to balue belonging to a larger group through thingsn like school uniform and assembly.

Marxists, such as Bowles and Gintis, reckon there are two sort of curriculum at school  and the hidden curriculum. They believe that the hidden curriculum socialises pupils into ruling-class and encourages them to accept exploitations.

Peer groups are made up of simialr sociak staus. The peer group can influence norms and values. This can be towards conformity or deviance. Youth subclutures sometimes encourage deviant behaviour

REligion oftern provides social norms and values. Most religion promotr charitable giving and teach respect for elders.

Media, they are powerful in shaping norms and values in the audience. Some sociologists argue that media have now replaced religion in secondary socialisation

Workplace, workplace socialisation involves learning the norms and values that enable people to fit into the world of work, such as being on time and obeying the boss. 

According to some sociological perspectives, an important result of socialisation is that each individual ends up with a number of roles (associated to status)

1) Your status is your position in a hireachy. You can have low status or high status. It is the respect and recognise others give to your position. Being the monarch of the UK is a status.

2) Your roles are the behaviour and actions you take on because of your status. In sociological terms, a role is set of norms that go with a status. The UK monarch has to meet the public and show an intrest, they have to speak to the nation on TV on Christmas dat, and they have to travel and meet leaders of other countries 

Staus can be ascribed or achieved, ascribed is when status is fixed at birth (Inherit the status) 

Achived status means that they have earned the status, such as headteacher

Socia constructs are ideans and behaviours that are invented by society reather than being dictated by the paws of nature. Everyone adops social constructs and sees them as normal parts of the way society works. 

Social class (Perceived diffrences between members of the lower, missle and upper classes are related to things like money, family connections and the kind of jobs people have. These categories are social rather than biological.

Sexuality, sexual identities are ifluenced by socially constructed ideas about what kind of sexual behaviour is normal.

Gender, gender identities are based on social expectations about masculine or femanine traits and behavioyr, rather than on biological diffrences between men and women

Disability, society oftern underestimates people with disabilities. Socially constructed expectations of disabulity can be a bigger limiting force than the actual impairment.

National identities, involve the realtionship betweeb people and the nation they belong to. They are constructed around social expectations like being loyal to your company.

Ethnicity, ethnic identities can either complement or compete with national identitoes and are constructed around things like shared languages and cultures.

Age Diffrent societies construct childhood and old age diffierently - for example, some cultures have more age-based restrictions than others.

Socialisation puts limits on people's behaviour. Functionalist Durkheim called this constraint. (Was not for internalised norms and values people would do what they like)

Functionalists say that socialisation creates a consensus, where everyone has the same norms and values

It is important for people to conform to the norms and values of society. When people conform to the expectations they are rewared, When people dont conform they are punished (sanctions) 

Parsons argues that the nuclear family is keyy to primary socialisation of children. Parents shape a child's persoanlity - Parsons calls the family a personality factory. As a result, children feel like they belong in society and subscribe to its cultural consensus. Children want to be like their parents of the same sex, which influence their behaviour. 

Functionalists belive that education and religion function as key agents of secondary socialisation

Durkheim thought that insitutionalised education is a link between the family and society as a whole. Parsons argues that education teaches children about values such as fair competition, striving for success, and honest conduct.

Marxist beleive that the insitutins of the family, education and religion are used to socialise the working class into acceptanve of their own explotation in capitalist society. They see the process of socialisation as a form of indoctrimation 

1) Marixist agree with functionalist that education promotes conformity. However, they think that the values transmitted by education, like obedience to authority figures and acceptanvve of failure, are designed to oppress the working class. 

2) The kind of socialiation is good for the ruling class because it prevents aspiration and teaches the working class that obedience to authority is normal.

3) Religion is used socialise the working class into accepting poverty and their own expolitation. Religion distracys people from their social inferiority by promoting the idea that suffering will be worth the reward of the afterlife

1) Feminsits belive that the socialisation of childreb is designed to pass on the ideals of the patriarchy. Socialisation in the family and in wider society promotes conformity to social expectations about gender roles and acceptable behaviour.

Oakley argued that parents socialise their children to conform to patriarchal ideals by praising them for behaving in supposedly gender-approciate ways. For exampple, they might direct children towards toys traditionally associated with their gender. 

Liberal feminsits argue that to create gender equality society needs to change the way children are socialised. They belive that confronting gender steryotypes wil change attitudes to gender equity and create more equal opportunities for men and women.

Radical feminists think that patriarchal ideals are more deep-seated im society. They argue that revouitionary changes to society's structure are needed to combat patriarchal indoctrination.

Postmodernist are big on the idea of personal choice. They say that in today's society people have a large amount of choice in their actions and behaviour - and in the values that theu belive in.

Lyotard are lots of comepting versions of knowldge and truth in postmodernist society - people can choose who to listen to and what values to believe in. 

Lyotard belived that even the most powerless person in society has some control over the kind of knowledge thay are exposed to. No single insitution has a monopoly on knowledge, so it is harder to convince peop;e that theu should stick to one way of living.

This weakens the effcect of secondary socialisation in educational and religious insitutions. There is no single, accepted verison of the truth and various cultural value and norms exist - this helps to resist socialisation.