Culture, Identity and Socialisation

Agents of Social Control/ Socialisation

• Religion

  • The threat of hell and the promise of eternal life in heaven ensure that believers conform to religious norms and rules

  • Marxists believe religion is an ideology that makes believers passive and conform to their ascribed status

  • Religion has formal and informal rewards and sanctions that are enacted by the community to ensure that members conform

    • Informal - ostracism and isolation by peer groups

    • Formal - ex-communication from church may be given to individuals who are perceived to bring the faith into serious disrepute or who advocate heretical views

    • In some Islamic traditions, a ‘fatawah’ or death sentence may be issued for deviant acts such as insulting the prophet

  • Codes of ethics e.g. 10 commandments in Christianity, guide and channel behaviors and social interactions

  • Reinforce and preserve cultural norms about food (Kosher and halal systems) and dress (wearing veils, hijab, kippah)

  • Imitation of religious leaders (role models) and ensures norms and values are followed across generations and different cultures

  • Religious leaders may praise induviduals within their community for their actions and this may bring higher status and social recognition

  • The concept of izzat (honour) effectively control induvidual’s behaviour, particularly, women’s and may lead to sanctions if family honour is violated

• Education

  • Uses sanctions and rewards effectively for secondary socialization of norms and values needed in the workplace and wider society. Acceptable boundaries of social behavior beyond the family.

  • Uses both formal (detention) and informal (disapproving looks) sanctions and rewards

  • Hidden curriculum - deference to authority, brainwashing students into accepting capitalist norms, acceptance of boredom, acceptance of naturalness of competition and hierarchy

  • Marxism - Althusser’s ideological state apparatus theory suggests social order is maintained by ideological state apparatus (school and media) that spread bourgeoisie ideologies in different ways. e.g. consumerism and materialism as the routes to happiness and fulfillment

  • Marxism - Controls the level of aspiration and inculcates false consciousness/ fatalistic attitude in working-class students e.g. Willis’ working-class lads

  • Marxism - Schools ensure the dominance of the middle class and maintain the status quo as the working class doesn’t have the cultural and social capital required for private schools

  • Feminism - Gendered curriculum, and teacher expectations limit girl’s aspirations

• Peer Groups

  • People feel the need to belong in/ fit into groups and have the fear of being socially rejected/ ostracised (negative peer pressure)

  • Informal social control - sarcasm, ridicule, shame, and criticism

  • Youth peers are a more powerful socializing agent than family and education because youth spend a lot more time with peers (e.g. in school) so their impact is magnified

  • Peer groups influence what is ideal in an identity by setting out what is normal for particular roles. e.g. gender roles (hegemonic masculinity)

  • Give positive sanction like compliments and praises which reinforces conformity to group norms and values

• Media

  • Media-saturated society - children and adults interact with multiple media with increasing frequency e.g. TV, and social media. Media is the agent we are exposed to the longest as the influence extends throughout life.

  • Influence how we see ourselves and others via manipulation of representations of different groups e.g. women are represented in very stereotypical ways according to feminists and these images can affect social interactions in a way other secondary agencies cannot

  • Post-modernism - media is highly effective in influencing culture, creating a consumer culture where we are encouraged to buy products on the basis of celebrity endorsements or association with a particular lifestyle

  • New form of social control - likes, dislikes, and defriending are ways of society accepting or rejecting someone. There is evidence this has a big effect on young people, as media can frame self-identity and social interactions unlike other agencies of socialization

  • Encourages social conformity by broadcasting the effects and consequences of deviance e.g. news stories of crime and court trials.

  • Celebrity role models influence youngsters’ appearance and behavior by observing them through media platforms

  • Promotes stereotypes and demonization of some social groups (Trowler)

  • Labeling theory - Cohen argues that the media can provoke a moral panic through the creation of folk devils, thus influencing the way the audience views certain social groups

• Family

  • The most important agency of primary socialization as family bonds strengthen the influence family has over children. They help children internalize the basic norms and values of society.

  • Parents are role models for children for IMITATION of behavior and are usually of the same sex to have a greater influence

  • Verbal appellations - according to Oakley the way parents address their children in gender-specific ways such as naughty boy or pretty girl will help shape the gender identities of children

  • Different activities - e.g. girls helping their mothers cook and boys helping their dads in the garden will help to shape the gender identities of children according to Oakley

  • Canalisation - Ways in which parents channel the child’s interests in activities or toys in conjunction with gender as deemed appropriate according to Oakley

  • Manipulation - Ways in which parents deter or encourage behaviors

  • Emotional gratification, acceptance, and approval from family are important to a child so family norms and values will be followed even though adolescence

  • Many continue to live with family into adulthood both in traditional societies as part of an extended family and increasingly in MIS as a boomerang generation so continued contact with family remains throughout a lifetime

• Workplace

  • Effective agent of social control as it impacts economic well-being and future life chances of individual and family

  • Threat of sanctions such as demotions and firing, ensures people adhere to workplace norms

  • Promise of rewards such as higher pay, and promotion encourages people to obey workplace norms

  • People's sense of self and social identity are bound by their profession and to move up the social hierarchy/ for upward social mobility people will obey workplace norms and values, and try to impress authority with exceptional behavior

  • Workers are expected to obey higher authority or else sanctions will be practiced

  • Some people highly value work, so an agent with such a high priority can naturally be a more effective form of social control

  • Feminists argue that the home is the workplace for many women and that their lives are tightly controlled by the burden of unpaid labor. It is traditionally expected by her family and husband of women to conform to their emotional and housewife roles.