Key sociologists and their theories

OAKLEY (1982)

OAKLEY (1982)

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• Another person example is using sanctions - for example telling a boy of for crying and using an outdated phrase such as man up or praising a young girl simply because she is wearing a pretty dress.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

CRITICAL EVALUATION : Despite the family and particularly the idea of canalisation having a large influence on the gender stereotypes young children are lead to believe in , the family only have a partial role. While children are you their family is all they know so it is easier for parents to control children’s activities , toys , attire - however as children get older and make their own judgement about the society we live in it is ultimately up to them who they are influenced by and which activities , jobs etc work for them . Furthermore children can also be influenced by secondary agents of socialisation such as friends and social media

GILLIES (2005)

• Gillies explored the idea that family 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.

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

Although Gillies has a strong argument as we are aware that children will respond well to positive sanctions and will also ultimately listen to the advice of their parents as they know and trust them , simply because someone is working or middle class should not define there parenting style when it comes to education. For example a middle class parent may have had a negative experience in the education system and be more concerned with their child’s happiness than how well they are doing at school or a working class parents might have aspirations for their child to achieve top grades and get an excellent job.

GHUMAN (1999)

• Paul Ghuman suggested that primary socialisation may differ due to ethnicity

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

• 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.

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

Ghuman outlines how the primary socialisation of children from first generation Asians is very different to the typical western approach when it comes to upbringing. However even if the majority of Asian parents brought there children up to believe these things , we can not generalise as the way in which you choose to bring up your children is subjective.

BECKER (1963)

• secondary socialisation: labelling theory

• at school you can be labelled and this sets an expectation for how we should behave and how we should be treated.

• self-fulfilling prophecy: if a child is labelled clever by a teacher they will start to behave as such and prove to the teacher that the label was correct all along therefore fulfilling their prophecy.

• However there are negative sides as if a teacher has low expectations of a child , the child may believe this themself and underachieve

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

The students may not always believe this and sometimes have self belief. Therefore working harder to prove the teacher wrong.

Smith et al

• Smith et al researched the effects of cyber bullying on children during the period of secondary socialisation

• At a period where peers have an extreme impact on a young persons life , cyber bullying and negative sanctioning (bitchy comments for example) can have detrimental effects

• Children may change what they wear and how to behave simply because they don’t fit into societal norms

• Smith et al did a study which showed that 20% of the 100 children that were interviewed had experienced cyber bullying with it being more common in girls.

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

Smith et al’s study of cyber bullying highlights the harmful effects of cyber bullying .

TURKLE

• Sherry turckle explores the negative impacts social media has on our lives

• She does this by exploring her theory ‘Alone together’ which explores the idea of people being in the same space but being entirely alone as we are all on different devices.

• Turkle believes that overuse of social media will cause families and relationships to break down

• Furthermore Turkle is critical of parents that role model behaviours such as constantly checking phones and tablets as she believes it creates a bad influence on young children.

  CRITICAL EVALUATION:

  Despite the use of social media creating unrealistic beauty standards and not always showing the realities of real life , some people use forms of social media such as Snapchat or WhatsApp to connect to friends and family that maybe they haven’t seen in a long time or live far away .

BURCHILL (2000)

• Julie Burchill , explored the idea of how religion can have negative impact and create unhelpful norms for young children

• Burchill was particularly critical of the religion of Islam and the idea that women must perpetuate religious modesty/ wear a hijab.

• Burchill went as far as to say “ such women carry round with them a mobile prison”

CRITICAL EVALUATION:

Despite the idea of religious modesty solely for women being somewhat outdated , it is important to bear in mind that hijab is also part of Islam culture and has been for a long time - it is a large part of Islam society and young girls and women who have grown up in that society will more than likely find in normal as this is how most women in their community present themselves

WADDINGTON (1999)

• Waddington explores the impact of socialisation in the work place through the police force and the idea of canteen culture.

• Canteen culture is the idea of how police officers interact during their breaks and hours off together

• Waddington found that often police officers would comfort each other by telling each other their ‘war stories’ helping other officers who had been in the same situation.

• Waddington also found that often older , more experienced police officers would act as role models to younger , less experienced ones who modelled themselves upon their elders.

• Although Waddington also found that these relationships had a more sinister side such as allowing more low level rascism and homophobia to develop.

CRITICAL EVALUATION :

Waddington briefly mentions the more sinister side of these relationships , and how there are things such as low level racism and homophobia going on however it is important to remember sometimes these sort of low level ‘BANTA’ can escalate as officers become accustomed to this behaviour and think it is acceptable. For example the killing of George Floyd by an American police officer