Primary Socialisation

Socialisation

The process of learning the norms and values of your culture.

Happens often when we are young, but we never stop being socialised.

Agents of Socialisation

The institutions which teach you the norms and values of your culture

The Family

The first and most important institution which teaches you the norms and values of your culture

Secondary agents of socialisation

The agents of socialisation that come later and are less important than the primary agents of socialisation. These institutions teach you the norms and values of your culture later in life.

Role Models

People who are generally admired and perhaps imitated (if positive). They can be negative in which case people learn what NOT to do by watching these people.

Sanctions

Rewards and punishments that can be formal and informal. Positive or negative reinforcements.

Ideology (belief system)

A set of beliefs and ideas that explains the world. A coherent way of thinking which can be applied to any situation and which may appear to be ‘common sense’. Usually have norms attatched

Interactionism

The ideal that socialisation is not a one-way process with people always accepting the message presented. People interact differently and some may accept whilst others reject the messages from the agents of socialisation.

Ann Oakley (1982)
Primary Socialisation

2 processes central to the construction of gender identity in the family:

• Manipulation: encouraging stereotypical behaviour (for the child’s gender) and discouraging the behaviour that is not considered norm

  • e.g encouraging adventurous behaviour for boys, terms of endearment like ‘my little princess’

• Canalisation: how parents channel children’s interests into toys and activities ‘normal’ for that gender

  • e.g boys: action figures, girls: dolls & toy ovens (boys = domestic, girls = active)

PROBLEM W/ THIS STUDY: Focuses on negativities related to domesticity - some women may want to be housewives

Val Gillies (2005)
Primary Socialisation

Gillies focused on the big differences between middle and working class parenting

• Middle Class: used a range of resources

  • Focused on social skills and education

  • Positive sanctions if well-behaved (good at school) which reinforced importance of education

• Working Class: provided children with strategies to cope with poverty, low social status & vulnerability

  • Focused on emotional strength & strategies to cope with injustice and hardship

  • WC parents less likely to teach kids importance of education

PROBLEM W/ THIS STUDY: Huge generalisation - parenting differs from family to family

Paul Ghuman (1999)
Primary Socialisation

Ghuman outlines socialisation practises of 1st gen Asian parents

• Children brought up to be OBEDIENT, LOYAL & RESPECTFUL to elders and community

• Social conformity is demanded - children learned to be inter-dependent rather than individualistic (threat to society)

• Sanctions & Role Modelling used to teach children these values (child seeing how much respect parent gives to grandparents)

• Values: drawbacks of dating/courting, dangers of pre-marital sex, disadvantages of love marriage

• Religious training v. important - reinforced values and stressed humility rather than assertiveness

PROBLEM W/ THIS STUDY: Huge generalisation of Asian parents

What is the Nature v. Nurture debate?

What influences our behaviour more, ‘nature’ (biology, hormones) or ‘nurture’ (parents, school, peers, media)?

THE NATURE ARGUMENT

• Some (generally not sociologists) believe the answer is nature

  • Our biology instinctively tells us what we should do, we are born with instincts, e.g Animal behaviour: ducks, birds

Evidence in favour of NATURE: Parsons’ argument

• PARSONS (a functionalist) used nature to explain career choices in men and women. His argument:

  • Men: instrumental roles (competition, aggression, achievement). More suited to payed employment.

  • Women: expressive roles (caring, emotional) suited to domesticity.

• These differences are INNATE and BIOLOGICAL

THE NURTURE ARGUMENT

• Sociologists believe that human behaviour is too complex to be explained with biology and genetics

  • Actions are a result of social and cultural environments - how we are nurtured.

  • Behaviour is learnt. Our culture teaches us how to behave

• Some sociologists view nature as important, however we can see how important nurture (socialisation) is by observing what happens when children are not nurtured/ socialised within a culture

Evidence in favour of NURTURE: Feral Children

• Those raised in the wilds

• Famous cases: Oxana, Genie, Kamala + Amala

• Feral children may seem stupid, unresponsive and animal-like due to deprivation of basic skills (ie learning the language)

• They are barely recognisable as human.

• This demonstrates importance of nurture - if it was biological instinct to laugh/smile these children would do it.

• Nurture is CLEARLY more influential

Norms

• Social expectations/ unwritten rules about how people should/ shouldn’t behave

• e.g standing in a queue, waiting your turn in a shop

• Norms differ depending on where you are, who you are and what the situation is

• If we do not adhere to norms, we may be sanctioned/ punished

Research by Simpson

• Demonstrates that norms differ depending on place:

  • Studied gay men in Manchester - described ‘de-gaying’ themselves in ‘heterospaces’ (e.g shop/pub) and behaving more flamboyantly in ‘homospaces’ (gay bars)

  • Normal behaviour changed depending on situation

Norms changing over time

• e.g In the past, it was normal for men to ‘look after’ women (caring for them financially etc) but our culture has changed and embraced feminism

• COVID-19 changed norms - socialising, public transport, shopping etc

  • Became normal to distance from other people, wear masks etc

  • How long will these changes last?

Values

• Beliefs/ ideas we regard as important in our society

  • e.g in British culture - honesty, respect, justice and education are important

• Most norms stem from values, and values differ depending on culture

Ghuman

• British-Asian parents tend to have different values to most white parents

  • Children in the study were taught to value respect for elders, loyalty, and humility more than most average british-white children

Sharpe

• 1970’s young women: valued marriage, love and children

• 1990’s: careers, money and travel

• These studies demonstrate nurture development further

• Culture (+ norms and values) differ by time and place

• Cultural diversity tells us that our culture is more influential than our biological makeup

Primary Socialisation

• Learning norms and values in early life from our family

• During first years, children spend most of time with parents/ family and are highly dependent on them

  • Children learn about norms by imitation

  • In a process of trial and error, they learn what is socially acceptable

• As they get older, they use parents as role models. We assume this is good, but in reality it may not be.

Secondary Socialisation

Learning norms + values in later life from institutions such as education, media, peer groups and religion.

Resocialisation

• Learning new ways of doing things when our roles change

  • May be gradual (e.g growing into adulthood) or dramatic & short (army recruits experiencing the shock of basic training)

  • Resocialisation most commonly occurs in the workplace, as seen in Sheggs’ study.

Charles Murray (1990)

• Argues that single-parent families are ‘inadequate socialisers’ because they do not have 2 role models

  • Lack of father is destructive for children as women can’t discipline children as well as men

• Argues that single parents who live on state benefits are part of a so-called underclass that appeared in inner-city & socialises children into a culture revolving around crime and delinquency

• There is a linked view that teenage girls are getting pregnant deliberately to obtain state benefits

• Children in these families may lack self discipline due to not being sanctioned properly

• Linked to this: view that teenage girls are deliberately getting pregnant to obtain state benefits or council flats

• Murray argues that these groups become ‘welfare-dependent’ relying on government benefits