Theories of Socialisation
Sociology: AQA A Level, topic 3.2.4
Structural Approaches
Theories of socialisation include structural approaches, social action approaches, structuration theory, and postmodernists approaches.
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.
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.
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.
Feminists
- Feminists emphasise how the agencies of socialisation reinforce and reproduce patriarchy, often encouraging males and females to conform to traditional gender roles.
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.
Social action approaches
- Social action approaches adopt a micro-approach, focusing 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.
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 we have of ourselves and our identity.
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.
‘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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
Test yourself on Theories of Socialisation
Who developed the 'Looking Glass' self concept?
Which of the following sociologists is NOT associated with postmodernism?