Topic 1 - primary socialisation , key sociologists.

What does Parsons believe about the nature vs nurture debate and what does he think we can use it to explain ?

• Uses nature to explain why we might see differences between :

• Career choices and other differences between men and women.

What roles does Parsons believe that women are more well suited too ?

• Expressive roles

• Roles that emphasise caring and emotion

What roles does Parsons believe men are more well suited too ?

• Instrumental roles

• Those that require qualities of competition , aggression and achievement.

From Parsons viewpoint , how are the differences between men and women created ?

• A result of innate biological differences

• Not the difference in the socialisation of the two genders.

What other sociologists support the nature argument and what do they use it to explain ?

• Murray and Hernnstein

• Use it to explain criminal behaviour among some groups.

What perspective do Murray and Hernnstein argue from ?

• New Right

What did Murray and Hernnstein argue in their book the Bell Curve ?

• Some people are born with a predisposition to aggression , argumentativeness , temper and impulsiveness

• Also , some are born with a low IQ so they aren’t able to foresee the consequences.

What do Murray and Hernnstein argue that these people are more likely to do and what needs to happen to them in order to prevent this ?

• These people are more likely to commit crime ( if they are not socialised into acceptable behaviours)

• By socialising them into acceptable behaviours , behaviours such as argumentativeness and aggression can be prevented.

What do Murray and Hernnstein conclude ?

• Nature has an influence in whether a person commits crime or not

• But nurture can help reduce its likelihood

Define Feral children .

• Those children raised in the wild or in long periods of isolation from socialisation.

Describe the cases of Genie , Camala , Amala and Oxana - In terms of feral children .

• Feral children may seem stupid , unresponsive or animal like.

• They were :

  • Deprived of the stimulation of human company

  • Stripped of the opportunity to accquire human language early in life

  • These children were barely recognisable as ‘human’.

What do the cases of the feral children allow sociologists to see ?

• Allows sociologists to observe what happens to human development when starved of normal human contact

• Emphasises the importance of nurture

What does the case of the Feral children , mean for the nature v nurture debate ?

• If it was biological instinct that taught to walk , speak or smile than the feral children would’ve done it regardless of how they have been brought up

• However the feral children’s development is stunted

• This shows us that therefore in the case of nature v nurture , nurture is clearly more influential.

• These feral children did not end up with normal human norms and values , this suggests that they are clearly learned rather than inherited.

What did Simpson demonstrate about Norms ?

• Norms differ depending on place

How does Simpson demonstrate that Norms differ depending on place ?

• Sample of gay men ‘de-gaying’ their identity in heterospaces

• However they dressed and behaved more flamboyantly in ‘homospaces’ such as Gay-Bars.

How did Ghuman suggest that primary socialisaton may differ?

Ghuman suggested that primary socialisation may differ due to ethnicity

What particular ethnic group did Ghuman focus on ?

• He did this by looking at how Asian parents brought up their children.

What did Ghuman find about Asian Parenting styles ?

• He found that the children were brought up to be : Obediant , Loyal and Respectful to their elders.

• They in-forced this through sanctions and role modelling and treating their own elderly parents with the same qualities.

• The children were expected to conform to social ideals and were not encouraged to be individualistic as this quality was seen as a threat to the head of the family

• Children were also taught about expectations of future marriage and relationships - taught about the disadvantages of dating and of premarital and promiscuous sex , furthermore they were discouraged from marrying out of love.

What does Sharpe demonstrate ?

• Values may change over time

What did Sharpe find in her study ?

• She resaerched women in the 1990’s and women in the 1970’s

• Sharpe found the women she researched in the 70’s valued - Marriage , love and children

• WHEREAS

• Women in the 90’s valued -Careers, Money and Travel.

What is Okaley’s key message ?

• The family plays a key role in reinforcing gender stereotypes

How does Oakley show that the family plays a key role in reinforcing gender stereotypes ?

• For example using manipulation to encourage certain behaviours which are deemed suitable for that gender ( terms of endearment are a key example)

• Another person example is using sanctions - for example telling a boy of for crying and using an outdated phrase such as man up or praising a young girl simply because she is wearing a pretty dress.

• The final example of how parents can enforce gender stereotypes on their children is by canalisation (channeling the child’s interests into toys and activities) for example - boys playing with dinosaurs or blue toys and boys playing football or Rugby or young girls playing with dolls or going shopping.

What idea did Gillies explore in terms of primary socialisation ?

• Gillies explored the idea that family socialisation can differ due to class.

How does Gillies outline that primary socialisation can differ due to class ?

• Gillies outlines that different classes value different skills.

• For example Gillies suggests that middle class parents value social skills and education highly - for example Gillies suggests that middle class children were given positive sanctions for doing well at school , there parents are extrinsically motivating them to work hard at school.

• In contrast Gillies suggests that working class parents do not value education as highly

• Gillies proves this by suggesting that working class parents teach there children , strategies to cope with poverty , low social status etc.

What does Murray argue about single parent households when it comes to primary socialisation ?

• Single parent houselholds are inadequate socialisers - This is because they dont have two role models.

• 90% of single parent households are female headed.

  • Murray would argue that this is destructive as he believes that women can’t discipline their children as well as men.

What does Murray argue about single parent families whom live off State benefits

• He believes that these people are at the heart of the so called ‘Underclass’

• The underclass is supposedly socialising it’s children into a culture of

  • Crime and deliquency

  • Anti-authority

  • Anti-work

  • Anti-family life

What else does Murray argue about teenage girls becoming pregnant ?

• Teenage girls deliberately becoming pregnant

• In order to obtain state benefits or council flats

• Murray argues these groups become welfare dependent and rely on the government as their soul source of income.