Topic 2 - Secondary Socialisation

Durkheim

• Students learn that working hard is a norm through sanctions and rewards.

• Participation in sports teaches values of teamwork.

• Represent informal social control - unwritten rules that people follow.

Davis and Moore

• Education teaches the value of meritocracy.

• Promotes the idea that students who work hard get the best jobs and better pay.

• The Functionalist perspective argues that those successful in employment have earned their success through hard work and talent.

Bowles and Gintis

• Define education system as “giant myth-making machine”.

• The myth is that everyone can succeed if they put the work in; Marxists argue that this isn’t true.

The Sutton Trust

• Offers educational opportunities to people from non-privileged backgrounds.

• Found that people in top jobs are 5x more likely to be privately educated than the average population.

• Upper class use their money to buy a better education.

Becker

• Believes that education teaches us about the labeling theory.

• Teachers apply labels on their pupils in terms of ability, potential, and behaviour.

• These labels can be positive or negative and can result in self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mead and Goffman

• Humans act and perform infront of others because they might be judged or labelled on their behaviour.

• Education teaches us to be very aware of our behaviours and how others will interpret our actions.

Hey

• Her study shows how peers control each other using informal sanctions.

• She found that teenage girls excluded, insulted peers when they weren’t following expectations.

• Peer groups control each other informally - the sanctions are subtle.

Poole

• She compared two groups - multicultural peer groups and a group who knew no Muslims themselves.

• Poole found that group 1 were more likely to reject Islamophobia newspaper reports, whilst group 2 were more likely to believe the links made between Islam and terrorism.

• Poole concludes that peer influence is more influential than media influence.

Smith et al

• Shows that peer group influence is not always positive.

• They studied cyberbullying.

• Some victims didn’t tell anyone about it which shows how vulnerable youth are.

Turkle

• Believes that the time we spend on social media is having a negative effect.

• “Alone Together”

• Fails to see the positive side to maintaining relationships over long distances.

Walter

• Focuses on the negative impact of the media on women.

• Concerned by the pressure on young women to “look good” which can lead to eating disorders.

Sewell

• Media is influential in shaping the identity of African-Caribbean youth.

• Rap stars are often seen as role models to this group.

• Encourage them to subscribe to consumer culture, as well as being hypersexual, homophobic, misogynistic.

Burchill

• Critical of the practice of head covering for Muslim women - “mobile prison”.

• The Qur’an says their attractiveness may lead men astray - misinterpreted by men with the patriarchal motive of controlling women.

Watson

• Suggests the veil is a symbol of freedom.

• Muslim women choose to wear it to liberate themselves.

Ghuman

• Children of Asian parents brought up to be obedient, loyal, respectful to their elders.

• Choice of marriage partner was left to the parents.

• Children tend to be bi-lingual.

Bruce

• Believes religion can be used as a cultural defence.

• Older people may use religion to hold onto traditions from their past in a world changing too quickly.

Gannon

• Believes older women are discriminated against by age and gender.

• Women’ status reduces after menopause.

• Informal social control.