AICE Sociology Paper 1 Socialization & Research Method

What is socialization?

The process which people learn the various forms of behavior that go with membership of a particular culture. Young children, for example, must learn the roles, norms and values they will need to become full members of their society; these are things children do not acquire "naturally"

Socialization is divided into what?

Primary and secondary socialization.

Primary socialization is?

The socialization during the early years of childhood, mainly carried out by the family, which is the main agent of socialization.

Secondary socialization is?

the socialization that takes place outside of the family and is where secondary identities begin to form. Secondary socialization could take place through education, peer groups, workplaces or from the media.

Culture

Is used to describe beliefs, customs and ways of life of a society or group within society

Roles

Expected patterns of behavior expected with each position that we hold, such as being a friend, student or teacher.

Norms

socially acceptable ways of behaving in different norms

Values

Beliefs or ideas that are important to the people who hold them. A value always expresses a belief about how something should be

Beliefs

Important, deep-rooted ideas that shape our values and area, in some respects, shaped by them.

Customs

Are established and accepted cultural practices and behaviors

Ideology

A lens through which a person views the world.

Power

The ability to make others do what you want, even against their will.

Status

Social Construction

The idea that our perception of what is real is created through a variety of historical and cultural processes, rather than something that is fixed and naturally occurring. Different societies, for example, construct male and female identities differently.

Anomie

A situation in which people are unable to predict the behavior of others because the system of norms and value arent being followrd

Is it nature or nurture that determines human behavior

Both.

How is social control experienced and how do people conform to resist it?

Through the process of socialization. People can conform to resist it by not doing it, and can be through to agents of socialization

Social Control

Ways in which members of society are made to conform to norms and values.

Agencies of socialization/social control

The social institutions and groups, such as family and the media, which influence behavior by providing guidance, examples and sanctions.

What is the importance of socialization in influencing human behavior

It teaches the proper norms and values of how to behave which will late shape them into members of society

How does family shape socialization?

*through primary socialization

*Developing the roles of children (E.G - infant, child, teenager, and eventually adult)

*George Mead refers to parents as significant others.

* Mead says families shape basic and moral values. (right or wrong)

*Functionalists see primary socialization as a one-way process that passes from adults to children.

How do peer groups shape socialization?

*We choose our friends and they can have a lasting effect on us.

Hughes says that peer groups are models that we use for appraising and shaping our attitudes, feelings, and actions.

*Behavior may be influenced by things such as the fashions and behavior of people of our own age or status. An example is peer pressure.

*Peer-group sanctions or social sanctions, are generally informal and include things such as disapproving looks and negative comments.

*

How does media shape socailization?

*may try to preserve particular ways of behaving, through campaigns to "save the family", for example, but they may also promote changes in behaving, such as campaigns against religion.

*Advertising aims to make short term changes in behavior by encouraging people to try different consumer products

*Potter suggests that short-term effects include: imitation (copying), desensitization, and learning.

*also suggests that media influence comes about through a process of habituation: the more one experiences something, the more they will add it to their personal value.

*also indirect long-term effects that come to accept as "natural values' or other aspects of social life that are socially constructed.

How does religion shape socialization?

*important moral values can be heavily influenced by religion.

*For example, the 10 commandments in the Christian religion. are reflected in legal systems around the world

*Many religions have been said to promote patriarchy

* Religion can impose sanctions - Hinduism (reincarnation), Christianity (heaven or hell)

Structure

Factors of influence 9such as social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, ability, customs) that determine or limit agents and their decisions

Agency

When people have some control of their lives and can make choices and decisions, rather than their behavior be determined by forces beyond their control.

Structuralists VS Interactionists

Structuralists focus on analyzing society in terms of its institutional relationships and their effect on individual beliefs and behavior while interactionists focus on the behavior of individuals that refer to three related perspectives: phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism) based on the concept of social action.

Structuralism

is concerned with the overall structure of society, and the way social institutions (family) limit and control individual behavior

Interactionism

focus on the behavior of individuals that refer to three related perspectives: phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism) based on the concept of social action.

Sanctions are?

ways of rewarding or punishing acceptable or unacceptable behavior, usually in the sense of punishments.

Consensus

a general agreement across society on a set of values; seen by functionalists as a essential for society to be stable.

Hawthorne effect

Individuals modify or improve an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed

Structured Interview

the interviewer sticks rigidly to a pre-written set of questions. It's effectively an individually-administered questionnaire and could have open or closed questions or a mixture of both.

Ethnomethodology

Is the study of how social order is produced in and through processes of social interaction. It generally seeks to provide an alternative to mainstream sociological approaches. In its most radical form, it poses a challenge to the social sciences as a whole.

Force

Also referred to the coercion - usually intimidation and threats to persuade someone to do something they do not want to do.

Ideology

a set of ideas which explains how society works or should work

Power

the ability to make others do what you want, even against their will

Conformity

behaving in a socially acceptable way

Deviance

behavior that breaks the norms and values of a group.

Marginalization

Displacement of workers, pushing them outside the economic and social mainstream

What are the two types of Structuralism?

Functionalism and Marxism

Functionalism

sees society as working in a similar way to the human body. Both the body and society is made up of interconnected parts with contributing to the running of the body or society as a whole. For example, The heart, lungs, and brain all work to keep your body alive, if one falls, all the others will too. This is the same for society.

Who are our main functionalists

Emile Durkeim and Talcott Parsons

What was Emile Durkheim's big study?

Suicide

What was talcott parsons big study?

the family

Marxism (a.k.a. conflict structuralism)

A theory where Karl Marx sees society as based on conflict/disagreement, particularly between different social classes.

What are societies 2 pain parts, according to Marxists.

The base/infrastructure and the superstructure

The base/infrastructure

Includes the means of productio (land, factories), and the relations of production(owners and employees)

The superstructure

This includes social institutions, the family's and education, which Marx saw as influenced by the economy.

What are the two main classes, according to Marxists.

The Bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

The Bourgeoisie

Own the means of production

The Proletariat

dont own the means of production and work for the bourgeoisie or a wage.

True or false: In a capitalist society, the proletariat work for the bourgeoisie and produce surplus value.

True

True or false: Marx thought that one day the proletariat would gain class consciousness and there would be a proletarian revolution, resulting in a communist society

True

What was the importance of the economy, according to Karl Marx?

The economy was the driving force in society, and it was this that influenced the nature of social isntitutions in peoples lives.

Interpretivism

concerned with discovering and understanding interactions between people

Interactionism pt2

Concerned with understanding behavior in a face to face situation and how individuals and situations come to be defines in particular ways (labeling)

Who is the main theorist in Structuration?

Anthony Giddens

Structuration

Social institutions limit and control behavior and have influences on the formation of identity.

Feminism

Argue that a lot of sociology is malestream. This means male sociologists only focus on the men in society.

What are the 3 types of feminism?

Marxist, Radical and Liberal feminism

Marxist Feminism

emphasizes how women are exploted both as workers and women and this benefits capitalism

Radical Feminism

Focuses on the problem of patriarchy, which is the system where males dominate every part of society

Liberal Feminism

Focuses on removing all forms of discrimination to establish equal opportunity for women. this accepts the system as it is but seeks to ensure women have equal opportunities with men, whereas Marxist and Radical want to change the system.

Postmodernism

Stresses that society is changing so rapidly and constantly that it is marked by uncertainty and risk. It also argues that society is fragmented into many different groups, interests and lifestyles.

What are the main methods of research?

Surveys, questionarres, experiments, field experiments, secondary data.

What methods of research are favored by positivists?

Quantitative methods such as social surveys, structured questionnaires and official statistics bc it offers good reliability and representativeness.

Correlation

when research shows a relationship or connection between two or more variables.

Causation

The idea that one action occurs, another always follows because the latter is caused by the former.

Quantitative data

Data that is numerical

Qualitative data

Non-numerical data, news reports, photographs, diaries

Primary Data

Data collected by the researcher

Secondary Data

Data from a source toher than the researcher he/she can access, statistics, websites, socail trends.

Covert observation

This is where the researcher does not inform the respondents that rhey are being studied

Overt observation

This is where the respondents are aware that they are being studied

Methodological pluralism

Using two or more different methods to collect data in order to gain a better and more comprehensive picture to social life

Closed questions

Questions that have categorize questions - MCE.

Open questions

Questions that allow an unrestricted response eg. What is your opinion to the justice system?

Semi-structured interviews

Interviews that have some sort of set questions but that are not restricted to those questions.

Theoretical Considerations

Refer to some of the preferences that the researcher display toward researching society

Theoretical considerations from a positivist perspective

*Take a scientific approach

*Prefer quantitative data

*seek to discover social facts

*Look for correlations

*Use methods that will produce statistical data - questionares with closed questions.

Theoretical considerations from an interpretivist perspective

*Do not conduct research in a traditional scientific way

*Prefer qualitative data

*Seek to discover meanings and reasons

*Interpret the data

*Use methods that will give detailed data - unstructured interviews.

Ethical considerations

The moral and ethical conduct of researchers and potential participants

What are some of the ethical considerations

*the topic

*The group

*Effects upon the respondents

*Effects upon others in society

*Illegal/immortal situations

Practical considerations

The logistics of conducting research

What are some of the practical considerations

*funding bodies

*access to partcipants

*Impact of the research

*opportunity to conduct research

*time

*cost

*participants

Advantages to Experiments (lab)

*Variables can be controlled

*comparisons can be made easily

*Correlations can be identified

Disadvantages to Experiments (lab)

*Not a natural human environment, therefore not usually used by sociologists

*Unethical

Advantages to field experiments

*Takes place in a natural everyday environment for human beings

Disadvantages to field experiments

*More difficult to control variables.

*Unethical

*Hawthorne effect

Advantages to questionnaires

*Time/cost effective

*Can access large numbers of people over a wide area

*Quantitative data - comparisons

*Correlations.

Disadvantages to questionnaires

*Lack of qualitative data

*Postal questionnaires = not always cost/time effective

Advantages to overt participation

*Respondents are aware they are being researched, thus making it more ethical

Disadvantages to overt participation

*Respondents are more likely to alter their behavior

*May be difficult to get respondents permission

Advantages to covert participation

*Respondents are less likely to change their behavior as they are unaware that they are being researched

Disadvantages to covert participation

*Unethical

*Danger of being exposed

*Danger of 'going native' actually becoming part of the social scene under study

Advantages to structured interviews

*Set questions, therefore answers can be compared

*Respondents will not stray from the information that is required by the researcher

Disadvantages to structured interviews

*Does not allow respondents to give additional information

*Time-consuming

Advantages to unstructured interviews

*Respondent is free do add information

*Because the questions are not set, the researcher can ask questions that derive from the response to another question

Disadvantages to unstructured interviews

*The respondent may end up leading the interview, giving information that is not relevant

*Time-consuming