Sociology Core Definitions

Component 1 - Core

Cultural Transmission

. process of norms and values being passed onto the next generation

. done through socialisation within school, family etc

. each culture will pass on different norms and values eg. eating with knife and fork opposed to eating with chopsticks

Social Roles

. key expectations or norms attached to a social position eg. mother

. performed in relation to other roles and involve mutual expectations

. helps society to be predictable and maintains social order

Nature

. people behave as they do because they are controlled by nature

. humans are compared to animals and act on instinct eg. mothers are protective

. however some behaviour is learnt

Nurture

. people are taught how to behave

. the way you are brought up by firstly family, and secondly by friends and education impacts your learnt behaviour

. for example women look after children because they were taught

Social Change

. shifts in society that brings a transformation to that society and the individuals in it

. an example of a significant period of change are the shift from agricultural to industrial

. aspects may include fundamental and radical changes to behaviour

Primary Socialisation

. individual learns the culture of society

. occurs largely within the family and involves gaining basic skills and values

. most important stage of socialisation

Secondary Socialisation

. individual learns behaviour of society

. occurs outside the family eg. education system, peers, mass media

. influences our norms and values to support integrating into wider society

Role Model

. person or group of people we look up to and aspire to be like

. individuals often copy behaviour of role model wanting to have the same norms and social role

. can be members of public, family or famous individuals

Imitation

. where individuals copy and echo behaviour seen

. children imitate parents behaviour as a way of learning

. imitating others can be both positive and negative eg. sister imitating brothers violence is negative

Sanctions

. consequences of your behaviour

. can be both positive and negative and posed formally and informally

. rewards ands and punishments used as a means of social control

Expectations

. refer to anticipated boundaries people should behave

. a number of agents of socialisation set these boundaries

. boundaries set vary across society