THE PROCESS OF SOCIALISATION

WORKBOOK

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Stages of socialisation-Primary socialisation

The main most important component in primary socialisation is the family.

Children learn through imitation, some examples of this are movements, words, the way they walk. We learn this in the early years of our childhood from our parents, family and siblings.

Infants and children also learn rights and wrongs in life and consequences and awards for what they do. Such as we learn to eat with a knife and fork properly and not mess around with food. For doing correct things we may get rewarded with a new toy and for doing something incorrect we may be sent to our bedroom.

Actions made by immediate family, family friends and siblings provide children with guide lines for actions. We may learn play with certain toys, or how to act in a certain place and around certain people.

Close social relationships with other people are important in order for children to learn to interact and communicate. If children do not learn these skills it may be hard for them to grow up in society and therefore may be hard to interact with others.

Children who have been raised by wild animals (known as feral children) have less of a chance at being able to talk and communicate so therefore will not be able to socialise. This minimises the chance of the child being able to talk and sometimes even the chance of the child acting like a human being

Baumeister (1986) notes that family socialisation provides children with an identity. A baby has no life apart from its role in the family, therefore a child will believe that the family will love and care for it as long as it does what it is supposed to do.

Morgan (1996) suggests that a great deal of socialisation is concerned with social control and encouraging conformity (a social influence in behaviour or belief in order to fit in with a group).

Sanctions encourage a conscience in a child which will help them learn what is right and wrong and will help them in growing up. However sanctions and wrong and rights will change as a child gets older and moves into secondary socialisation.

Morgan suggests that the function of toilet training is to teach the child some sense of bodily control. This will help a child develop and understand that they will need this skill in the future to be able to be accepted in society.

Children will also learn what a boy or a girl entails. Culture expectations will regard femininity and masculinity and therefore the children will need to learn the traditional gender roles.

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‘Becoming a human is not just about being born. It’s all about becoming a social

being which happens through interaction between the child and those around it’ George Mead 1863

Primary socialisation

In sociology primary socialisation is the acceptance and learning of a set of norms and values established through the process of socialization. Typically this is initiated by the family.

Close social relationships with other people are essential in order for children to learn how to interact and communicate

These process class us as ‘social beings’ Children learn to function as good and useful citizens in their community

Feral Children

Is the outcome of what happens when a human being neglects a child They have no human contact, interaction or communication with other beings; therefore

they are not classed as a social being. Whilst some have had little contact with humans, others have been raised up by animals They have no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behaviour, and crucially,

of human language

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Stages

Socialisation and identity

Identity refers to the understandings people hold about who they are and what is meaningful to them.

Social identity refers to the characteristics that other people attribute to an individual, and it is our social identity that connects us to the people around us. They are the markers that indicate, at a very basic level, who we are.

Baumeister (1986) says family socialisation provides children with an identity Young children have no life except its family role Social roles are and the significant roles and are played by the parents

Socialisation and social control

Morgan (1996) suggests that a great deal of socialisation is concerned with social control and encouraging conformity.

The most common and basic form of primary socialisation is praise and punishment. Parents will reward ‘good’ behaviour with treats and ‘bad’ behaviour with sanctions.

These treats can be physical or emotional; often children will accept the treat on the basis of the task that has been provided. Sanctions will vary according to the severity of the deviance. This will teach a child the right from wrongs

Sanctions shape a person’s moral beings more than any other type of primary socialisation. The implements of sanctions show a child how to treat people in different situations Treats and praise will show a child that’s just as they are rewarded for doing right by them,

society will also reward them for positive behaviour

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Primary socialisation from a Functionalist and Marxist perspective.

Functionalists Like Parsons see the family as a personality factor The child is seen as a blank slate at birth. The function of parents is to train and mould the passive child in the image of society. The child should be filled with shared cultural values, so that it assumes that cultural

values are naturally its own values This would make sure the child is part of value consensus, and so feels like they

belong in society

The Marxist Theory of Education as an agent of Secondary Socialization

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FUNCTIONALISTS AND PRIMARY

MARXISTS AND PRIMARY SOCIALISATION

Marxists are critical of the functionalist view that children are socialised into shared and cultural values and norms.

Zaretsky (1976) argues that the family is used by the capitalist class to instil values that are useful to the ruling class such as obedience and respect for authority.

These values ensure that individuals can be exploited later in life by the ruling class. For example they are taught that power authority and inequality should be viewed as

normal and natural. Marxists believe that primary socialisation in the family depends on which class the

family is in.

The Marxist Theory of Education as an agent of Secondary Socialization

Contrasting perspective on Marxist view of Education (functionalism)

Louis Althusser (1971) as well as other Marxists state:Education is another way in which the ruling class ideology produces a hidden curriculum- (the invisible ways in which schools encourage conformity) and make people submit to the organization of capitalism.

Functionalists see education as passing on shared values in order to produce conformity and consensus.Education links an individual to society by past and present in human history, exposing them to historical and religious achievements within their society. This reinforces the essence of belonging to society.

He believed that education socialises working class children into accepting their subordinate status to the middle class.

Durkheim views education as an entity creating social solidarity.

Connor and Dewson (2001) -Only one in five higher education students came from a working class background. This partly reflects their low grades at GCSE and 'A' Level, but also that there are a number of students from working class backgrounds who have the necessary qualifications but opt not to continue to higher education. This supports Marxist ideas that the education system is elitist (the belief that society should be governed by a select group of gifted and highly educated individuals).

Davis and Moore- They believed that education selects talented

individuals and allocates them to the most important roles in society. Higher rewards for jobs such as GP’s and pilots encourage competition. Davis and Moore believe that education sifts and sorts according to ability

In a capitalist society, he sees education taking over as the main agency of social control. Education reproduces the attitudes and behaviour for divisions of labour. It teaches students how to accept their position, to be exploited, and to show the rulers how to control the workforce.

Education helps maintain society by socialising young people into values of achievement, competition and equality of opportunity. Skills provision is also important: education teaches the skills for the economy. For example, literacy, numeracy and IT for particular occupations. Role allocation is all part of this: education allocates people to the most appropriate jobs for their talents, using examinations and qualifications.

The national curriculum (introduced in 1988) apparently cut off Sociology, Politics and Economics from mainstream education because the ruling class believed students would become too critical about class inequality as they build understanding into these subjects.

Subjects such as history, language and religious education are applauded in the idea that an individual has understanding of what their society has achieved.

Functionalists Theory of Religion as an agent of Secondary Socialisation

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Main sociologist associated Durkheim (1912) Major function of Religion is to socialise society’s members into value

consensus teaching certain values with sacred quality. He states that this is done by infusing them with religious symbolism. These values them become “moral codes”– beliefs that society agrees to

socialise children into, the codes regulate our social behaviour. The Ten Commandments are an example of moral codes . The Ten commandments influence both; Formal Controls - Laws; “thou shalt not commit murder” Informal Controls - Moral Disapproval; “thou shalt not commit adultery”

Marxists Theory of Religion as an agent of Secondary Socialisation

Marxists describe religion as an Ideological State Apparatus (ISA)that serves to reflect ruling class ideas and interests.

According to Marxists religion socialises the working class into three sets of false idea’s;

Material success is a sign of God’s favour compared to poverty being interpreted as being caused by wickedness, sin and immorality.

Religious teachings and the emphasis on blind faith serve to distract the poor and powerless from the true extent of their exploitationby the ruling class.

Religion makesexploitation , poverty and inequality bearable by promising a reward in the afterlife for the ones who accept suffering or poverty.

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The Mass Media as an Agent of Secondary Socialization

SHORT

QUIZ

What is MASS MEDIA?

Mass media is a form of communication this includes:

News papers Magazines Television Internet

What is the PURPOSEof mass media?

It is used as a guide to make sense of the world around them

It provides us with role models and designs that we use to fashion our identity

It is used to structure how and what we feel

The Marxist theory is critical of mass media because they believe it’s responsible for mass culture.

A sociologist known as Marcuse theorised popular culture has a negative effect on culture, also Marsh and Keating (2006) stated ‘popular culture is a false culture devised a packaged by capitalism to keep the masses content’. Popular culture in the view of Marxism is perceived as a lie as it encourages false needs of an individual, as they are torn between wants and needs, as they feel they need materialistic things. Therefore emphasising how we are under false class consciousness, created by the organisation of capitalism.

What do the MARXISTS say?

Steve Barnett argued that media output in the UK that contained quality drama, documentaries and serious news coverage have gone into decline and have been replaced with a dumb down content. Creating light entertainment such as reality TV

shows. He believes were being socialized into not being able to think for ourselves

STEVE BARNETT

The Functionalist perspective of the Mass Media

The functionalist perspective emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain stability (Schaefer, 2009). Mass media plays important roles in our everyday life. In addition to providing entertainment, news, and education, media products are also used to socialize and market. As a daily routine, many people today make use of mass media tools for various reasons such as socializing, gathering data, sharing information,

Lasswell claimed that the media performed four basic functions for society: surveying the environment to provide news and information; correlating response to this information (editorial function); entertaining (diversion function); and transmitting culture to future generations (socialisation function) (Lull, 2000, p. 111). American sociologist Charles R. Wright (1959) took Lasswell’s view of media functions further by outlining manifest and latent (not apparent or unintended) functions as well as dysfunctions of mass media communication. Wright proposed that when the media alerted the public to a health risk, for instance, it was serving its news and information function, but if a public panic was created, this was a dysfunction. Macnamara, J. R. (2003).

The media have other important functions. They also socialize us, enforce social norms, confer status, and promote consumption. An important dysfunction of the mass media is that they may act as a narcotic, desensitizing us to distressing events (Lazarsfeld and Merton 1948; C. Wright 1986).The media operate in the public interest by reflecting the interests of the audience. It portrays public opinion. The media understands that society has a wide diversity of culture and this is shown by the different amounts of stories it covers.

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What do the FUNCTIONALIST say?

THE PEER GROUP Peer groups are people of similar status who regularly have contact with each other

whether its social related or work related, therefore peer groups consist of friendships, networks, school subcultures and occupational subcultures such as work mates.

The majority of adolescent behaviour and attitudes are influenced by peer groups. Teenagers will have a desire to be more independent, this will cause a conflict with their parents. Usually these conflicts will be regarding choices of friendships and partners.

PEER PRESSURE

Radical changes in adolescents in terms of behaviours and image may be a result of peer pressure to fit in with fellow peers. Some teenagers may feel like they need to involve themselves in deviant behaviour like taking drugs and having underage sexing order to be accepted by other teenagers.

Negative sanctions such as gossiping, Chinese rumours and bullying may be taken upon those adolescents whom do not participate in socially rejected behaviour, leading them to act in a delinquent manner.

PEER GROUP AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD

Some sociologists specifically sue heath (2004); suggest that friendship network have become increasingly important as factors of socialisation in the period known as ‘young adult hood’.

Cote(2000) suggest that in young adult hood peer groups or friendship networks eventually become more important than relationships with parents as a source of knowledge about how to live one’s life.

OCCUPATIONAL PEER GROUPS

Work places are important sources of peer group relationships. An individuals experiences at work teaches us not only skills and work discipline but also informal rules that underpin work i.e. the tricks of the trade.

They may also be influenced by our membership of more formal work based organisations to behave in particular ways.

For example, membership of a trade union may produce a collectivist outlook, in which the person puts the interests of the group before their individual interests,

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whereas membership of a professional organisation such as the Law Society or the British Medical Association will make clear how a professional person should behave in practise.

CRITICISMS OF THE CONCEPT OF SOCIALISATION

Socialisation may not be as straightforward or positive as some accounts have suggested.

Not all adults acquire the skills that are required to nurture children towards adulthood; as a result, such poor parenting may unfortunately result in neglect or child abuse.

Other commentators have suggested that childhood socialisation is not as effective as it was in the past. Postman (1982) suggests that childhood is a much shorter period today compared with 50 years ago and bemoans children’s loss of innocence, which he sees as the result of overexposure to sex and violence in the media.

Palmer (2007) also notes the negative influence of TV and computer games, and argues that parents all too often use these as a substitute for spending quality time interacting with their children. As a result of this children today are less likely to be socialised into important moral codes of behaviour.

Phillips (1997) argues that children have too many rights today and claims that they have used these to resist parental power, so undermining socialisation. She suggests that the antisocial behaviour associated with young people today is a direct result of parents being too content not to take responsibility for their children’s upbringing.

Many accounts of socialisation portray it as a one-way process – the child being a vessel waiting to be filled up with the wisdom of its parents. However

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interpretivist sociologists point out that socialisation is a two-way process and that parenting itself is a learning process.

KEY CONCEPTS

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT FERAL CHILDREN SOCIALISATION GENDER SOCIALISATION

The entire human environment including direct contact with others

Children assumed to have been raised by animals in the wilderness isolated from humans

The process by which someone learns the culture, norms, laws and values of society

The ways in which society sets children into different courses in life because they are male or female

PEER GROUP MASS MEDIA GENDER ROLE SOCIAL INEQUALITY

A group of individuals of roughly the same age who are linked by common interests

Forms of communication, such as radio, newspapers and TV that are directed to mass audiences

A socially agreed way of behaving according to your biological sex

A social condition which privileges andObligations are given to some but denied to others

AGENTS OF SOCIALISATION

PRIMARY SOCIALISATION SECONDARY SOCIALISATION

ANTICIPATORY SOCIALISATION

People or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, behaviours or other orientations towards life

The process whereby the people make a child learn the attitudes, values and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture

The process of learning what is appropriate behaviour as a member of a smaller group within the larger society.

The processes in which a person ‘rehearses’ for future positions, occupations and social relationships

RESOCIALISATION TOTAL INSTITUTION NORMS VALUES

The process of discarding former behaviour patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life.

A place in which people are cut off from the rest of society and are almost totally controlled by the people that run the place

Informal rules that govern appropriate behaviour

Ideas and beliefs that people have about what is desirable and worth striving for

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MORES SANCTIONS FORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

INFORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

Internalised attitudes towards behaviours considered taboo or morally unacceptable

Rewards or punishments for accepting or breaking social norms

When the rule of society are expressed in law or rules and backed up by official agencies

Showing disapproval when unwritten expectations of behaviour are broken

SOCIETY SOCIAL CONTROL INSTINCT

People acting in a particular set of social roles who share a set of common ideas about the world

People who don't learn the expectations and values of society are punished in some way

Action which is genetically programmed into our behaviour

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STUDY – EXAM QUESTIONS

1) Explain what sociologists mean by ‘primary socialisation’ (Item A) (2 marks)2) Give one example of a positive sanction and one example of a negative sanction

(4 marks)3) Identify three agents of socialisation other than those mentioned in Item A (6 marks)4) Using information from Item B and elsewhere, assess sociological theories of

socialisation (24 marks)

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Item A

Socialisation is a process of learning how society expects us to behave. It begins in the family with primary socialisation, but other agencies of socialisation become more important later. Socialisation is an on-going process that continues throughout our entire lives as our circumstances and social position change. For example, when we start a new job, we may need to learn new skills, rules and routines. Socialisation teaches us how to fit in and enables us to interact with others by equipping us with the norms and values shared by those with whom we have to cooperate.

However, socialisation is not the only factor ensuring that we ‘fit in’. Social control, in the form of positive and negative sanctions, also plays a part in keeping us on the path of conformity.

Item B

The primary agency of socialisation has always been the family, but pressures on parenting may be reducing the effectiveness of this particular child-rearing institution. Although the first few years of a person’s life are crucial to learning how to behave, it is important to understand that socialisation is a life-long process. This is because humans are social animals who live in complex and sophisticated societies based on detailed values, norms, rules and traditions. Sociologists also note the existence of a range of secondary agents of socialisation that build on what has been learned during primary socialisation in order to help the child take their place in wider society.