3.2.4

Theories of Socialisation

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Structural Approaches

Theories of socialisation include structural approaches, social action approaches, structuration theory, and postmodernists approaches.

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Structural approaches

  • Structural approaches adopt a macro-approach, in which individuals are passive victims of social forces that are beyond their control.
  • Structuralists include functionalists, some feminists, and Marxists.
  • Structural approaches see culture and identities as created and manipulated by the agencies of primary and secondary socialisation, making up the social structure of society.
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Identity formation

  • According to structuralism, individuals have little choice or control over their identity formation and they are compelled to conform to factors such as class and gender by various positive and negative sanctions.
  • Functionalists see socialisation as a benevolent process, acting as a kind of social glue, with shared values and norms bonding people together; this integrates people into society and generates social stability.
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Marxists

  • Marxists see socialisation as a form of social control in unequal societies based on inequality and conflict; socialisation is, therefore, about persuading people into accepting and conforming to the ruling class ideology.
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Feminists

  • Feminists emphasise how the agencies of socialisation reinforce and reproduce patriarchy, often encouraging males and females to conform to traditional gender roles.
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Criticisms

  • Individuals are seen as, what Garfinkel called ‘cultural dopes’, passively consuming and accepting norms and values handed down through socialisation.
  • Structural approaches don’t recognise the existence of free will and that individuals can actively take initiatives, make choices, challenge and disobey social rules, and have a role in carving out their identities in interaction with others.

Social Action (Interpretivist/Interactionist) Approaches

Theories of socialisation include structural approaches, social action approaches, structuration theory, and postmodernists approaches.

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Social action approaches

  • Social action approaches adopt a micro-approach, focussing on the individual and everyday behaviour rather than on the overall structure of society.
  • According to social action theory, people have free will and play an active role in creating culture, and defining their identities as they interact with other individuals and groups in the socialisation process.
  • Rather than having identities imposed on them (as structuralists believe) people create and choose their own identities.
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The Looking Glass self

  • The Looking Glass self is a concept developed by Charles Cooley in the early twentieth century, which states that our image of ourselves is formed by the way other people’s views and reactions are reflected back to us, changing the view with have of ourselves and our identity.
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Dramaturgy

  • Goffman views society as a stage, and people as actors playing a role.
  • Therefore people try to assert their identity by giving particular impressions of themselves, an approach known as dramaturgy or dramaturgical analysis.
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‘The presentation of self’

  • Goffman calls this process ‘the presentation of self’.
  • It consists of individuals putting on a dramatic performance in order to manage the impressions they give to other people (impression management).
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Impression management

  • Impression management isn’t always successful.
  • For example, a person who is physically disabled might not want to be seen by others as disabled, but other people may still see them as such.
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Criticisms

  • Social action approaches stress the notion of free will; people have control and choice over their identity formation.
  • This is not always the case, for example, power inequalities within society restrict the identities that individuals adopt (the structuralist argument).
  • Individuals might be able to choose some aspects of their identity, but their choices are limited.

Structuration Theory and Postmodernism

This is a theory proposed by Giddens, that acts as a middle way between structure and social action approaches. Postmodernists argue that identity isn’t imposed by social structures and the socialisation process.

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Structuration theory

  • Structuration theory proposes that the structure of society and socialisation provide some predictability in social life via an understanding of basic social norms and values and a common language.
  • These enable people to establish their identities and make sense of society.
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Cultural frameworks

  • People do have the freedom to make choices and have opportunities to form and change their identities (as in social action approaches) but only within the cultural framework of their society.
  • The identity of individuals remains reflexive, in that identity forms, develops and changes as people continually reflect, work on and re-work their identities as they go through life and interact with other individuals and agencies of socialisation.
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Social structure and social action

  • Social structure and social action are seen as interdependent or reciprocal.
  • People are not simply passive receivers of identities handed down by agencies of socialisation, but neither are they completely free to establish any identity they choose.
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Postmodernist approaches

  • Postmodernist approaches include those associated with sociologists such as Bauman, Baudrillard and Lyotard.
  • Postmodernists argue that identity isn’t imposed by social structures and the socialisation process.
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Metanarratives

  • Identities once they are fixed and stable and arising from broad categories such as social class, gender, nationality and ethnicity (what Lyotard calls ‘metanarratives’) have become more fluid, unstable, fragmented and changeable.
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‘Pick n mix’

  • Due to the rise in influence of the mass media and its global reach, people are now exposed to a diversity of cultures, allowing them to ‘pick n mix’ as they choose.
  • Identity becomes freely chosen according to different tastes and lifestyle choices.

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1Theory & Methods

1.1Sociological Theories

1.1.1Marxism

1.1.2Feminism

1.1.3Social Action Theories

1.2Sociological Methods

1.2.1Types of Data

1.2.2Positivism & Interpretivism

1.2.3Research Design

1.2.4Research Considerations

1.2.5Values in Research

1.2.6Modernity & Post-Modernity

1.2.7Sociology as a Science

1.2.8Sociology & Social Policy

1.2.9End of Topic Test - Sociology Methods & Theories

1.3Sources of Data

1.3.1Introduction

1.3.2Experiments

1.3.3Surveys

1.3.4Longitudinal Studies

1.3.5Questionnaires

1.3.6Types of Questionnaires

1.3.7Interviews

1.3.8Observation

1.3.9Case Studies

1.3.10Documents

1.3.11Official Statistics

1.3.12End of Topic Test - Sources of Data

2Education with Methods in Context

2.1Role & Function of the Education System

2.1.1Introduction

2.1.2Functionalist Theories

2.1.3Marxist & Feminist Theories

2.1.4The New Right

2.2Educational Achievement

2.2.1Social Class: Internal Factors

2.2.2Social Class: External Factors

2.2.3Social Class: Attitudes to Education

2.2.4Social Class: Difference in Achievement

2.2.5Gender

2.2.6Ethnicity

2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools

2.3.1Processes

2.3.2Labelling

2.3.3Categorisations

2.3.4Student Experience

2.3.5End of Topic Test -Education with Methods

2.4Educational Policies

2.4.1Equality

2.4.2Privatisation

2.4.3Marketisation

2.4.4Government Policies by Party

2.4.5Globalisation

2.4.6End of Topic Test- Educational Policies

2.4.7Practice Exam Question - Social Policies

3Option 1: Culture & Identity

3.1Conceptions of Culture

3.1.1Culture

3.1.2Mass Culture

3.1.3Popular Culture

3.1.4Global Culture

3.1.5End of Topic Test - Culture and Identity

3.2Identity & Socialisation

3.2.1Identities

3.2.2Socialisation

3.2.3Secondary Socialisation

3.2.4Theories of Socialisation

3.2.5End of Topic Test - Identity

3.2.6Practice Exam Question - Socialisation & Equality

3.3Social Identity

3.3.1Social Class

3.3.2Upper & Middle Class

3.3.3Working & Underclass

3.3.4Social Class Evaluation

3.3.5Gender

3.3.6Changing Gender Identities

3.3.7Ethnicity

3.3.8Age

3.3.9Disability

3.3.10Nationality

3.3.11End of Topic Test - Social Identity

3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation

3.4.1Production & Consumption

3.4.2Globalisation

3.4.3Evaluation

3.4.4End of Topic Test - Production

4Option 1: Families & Households

4.1Families & Households

4.1.1Definitions

4.1.2Functionalist & New Right Perspectives

4.1.3Marxist & Feminist Perspectives

4.1.4Postmodernist Perspective

4.1.5End of Topic Test - Families & Households

4.1.6Practice Exam Question - Function of Family

4.2Changing Patterns

4.2.1Marriage

4.2.2Divorce

4.2.3LAT Relationships

4.2.4Child-Bearing

4.2.5Lone Parenthood

4.2.6Diversity

4.2.7The Sociology of Personal Life

4.2.8Government Policies Post-WW2

4.2.9End of Topic Test - Changing Patterns

4.3The Symmetrical Family

4.3.1The Symmetrical Family

4.3.2Evaluation

4.4Children & Childhood

4.4.1Childhood

4.4.2Childhood in the UK

4.4.3Childhood as a Social Construct

4.4.4The Disappearance of Childhood

4.4.5Child Abuse

4.4.6Domestic Violence

4.4.7End of Topic Test - Family & Childhood

4.5Demographic Trends UK

4.5.1Introduction

4.5.2Birth Rates

4.5.3Death Rates

4.5.4The Ageing Population

4.5.5Studies on the Ageing Population

4.5.6Migration

4.5.7Globalisation

4.5.8End of Topic Test - Demographics UK

5Option 1: Health

5.1Social Constructions

5.1.1The Body

5.1.2Health, Illness & Disease

5.1.3Disability

5.1.4Models of Health & Illness

5.1.5End of Topic Test - Social Constructions

5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare

5.2.1Social Class

5.2.2Gender

5.2.3Ethnicity

5.2.4Regional

5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare

5.3.1The NHS

5.3.2Inequalities in Provision

5.3.3Sociological Explanations

5.3.4Inequalities in Access

5.3.5Inequalities in Access 2

5.3.6End of Topic Test - Distribution Health

5.4Mental Health

5.4.1The Biomedical Approach

5.4.2Social Patterns

5.4.3Social Constructionist Approach

5.5The Globalised Health Industry

5.5.1The Functionalist Approach

5.5.2The Postmodernist Approach

5.5.3The Globalised Health Industry

5.5.4End of Topic Test - Mental Health & Globalisation

6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare

6.1Poverty & Wealth

6.1.1Types of Poverty

6.1.2Types of Poverty 2

6.1.3Distribution of Wealth UK

6.1.4Sociological Theories

6.1.5Sociological Theories 2

6.1.6Distribution of Poverty UK

6.1.7End of Topic Test - Poverty & Wealth

6.2Welfare

6.2.1The Welfare State

6.2.2Theoretical Approaches to Welfare

6.3Labour Process

6.3.1Nature of Work

6.3.2Technology & Control

6.3.3Work & Life

6.3.4The Effects of Globalisation

6.3.5Globalisation & Worklessness

6.3.6End of Topic Test - Welfare & Labour

7Option 2: Beliefs in Society

7.1Ideology, Science & Religion

7.1.1Types of Religion

7.1.2Ideology & Belief Systems

7.1.3Social Stability & Religion

7.1.4Social Change & Religion

7.1.5End of Topic Test - Ideology, Science & Religion

7.2Religious Movements

7.2.1Religious Organisations

7.2.2New Religious Movements

7.2.3New Age Movements

7.2.4Practice Exam Question - Growth of NRMs

7.3Society & Religion

7.3.1Social Groups & Religion

7.3.2Gender & Religion

7.3.3End of Topic Test- Religious Movements & Society

7.4Contemporary Religion

7.4.1Secularisation UK

7.4.2Against Secularisation

7.4.3Secularisation US

7.4.4Fundamentalism

7.4.5Economic Development & Religion

7.4.6End of Topic - Contemporary Religion

8Option 2: Global Development

8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality

8.1.1Development

8.1.2Underdevelopment & Global Inequality

8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations

8.2.1Globalisation

8.2.2Transnational Corporations & International Agency

8.2.3Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation

8.3.1Development: Aid & Trade

8.3.2Development: Industrialisation & Urbanisation

8.3.3Development: Environment & War

9Option 2: The Media

9.1Contemporary Media

9.1.1New Media

9.1.2Control of the Media

9.1.3Sociological Approaches: New Media

9.1.4Globalisation

9.1.5News Selection

9.1.6Moral Panics

9.1.7End of Topic Test - Contemporary Media

9.2Media Representations

9.2.1Age

9.2.2Social Class & Ethnicity

9.2.3Gender

9.2.4Sexuality & Disability

9.2.5Practice Exam Questions - Presentation of Women

9.3Audiences

9.3.1Media Theories

9.3.2Media Theories 2

9.3.3Media Representations & Audiences

10Crime & Deviance

10.1Crime & Society

10.1.1Functionalism

10.1.2Subcultural Theory

10.1.3Marxism

10.1.4Realism

10.1.5Other Approaches

10.1.6End of Topic Test - Crime & Society

10.1.7Practice Exam Questions - Social Construction

10.2Social Distribution of Crime

10.2.1Ethnicity

10.2.2Gender

10.2.3Globalisation & Crime

10.2.4Media & Crime

10.2.5Types of Crimes

10.2.6End of Topic Test - Social Distribution of Crime

10.3Prevention & Punishment

10.3.1Surveillance

10.3.2Prevention

10.3.3Punishment

10.3.4Victimology

10.3.5End of Topic Test - Prevention & Punishment

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Secondary Socialisation

End of Topic Test - Identity