When learning our culture, the
most important agency of
socialisation if the family, We
interact with members of our
family everyday.
-An agency of socialisation is a person or
group of people who finfluence the socialisation
of children, and later adults.
-Nuclear families are those
consisting of two parents and
dependent children.
-Primary relationships are relationships where a
person has ongoing, intimate, personal, face-to-face
contact with those who are responsible for the
primary socialisation process.
-Role modelling is when an
individual observes another
person's behaviour and
modifies their own behaviour to
replicate theirs.
-Symmetrical family is a
family in which men and
women are equal; they may
do some tasks seperately
but there is a balance of
responsibility between
partners.
We begin to learn appropriate
behaviour for our gender in our
family. FEMINISTS claim that
the traditional nuclear family is
a patriarchal institution in which
men dominate.
-There is a debate in sociology about
whether nuclear families are
symmetrical. The way roles are allocated
are likely to influence the gender identity
of boys and girls as they observe the
tasks of their parents in their family and
model their own behaviour on those.
Talcott Parsons (1961)-FUNCTIONALIST
-Claims that in families children are
taught particularistic values. Each family
may have slightly different norms and
values, meaning that some children may
that some children may be allowed to do
things others aren't. Parsons claims that
education is the only place where
children are all socialised in the same
way.
-Parsons also claims that children
learn that success at school is
based on ability, so that those who
get the best results in tests are
suited for successful careers. The
hidden curriculum is good as it
teaches children what they will
need to keep society functioning
well.
Haralambos and Holborn (2000)
-Claim that research shows that
compared to working-class families,
middle-class parents emphasise
high achievement at school and
reward success.
-These differences in
primary socialisation may
help to explain why
middle-class children tend
to achieve better
examination results than
working-class children.
Young and Wilmott (1973)
-Claim that families are
becoming increasingly
summetrical, but
OAKLEY'S (1974)
research disputes this.
Bowles and Gintis (1976) - MARXIST
-Marxist sociologists claim
that although schools teach
children that the most
intelligent get the best results
in tests, this is not what
actually happens.
-Bowles and Gintis claim
that through the hidden
curriculum children are taught
to respect authority and
accept boredom. Those who
do best in tests are not the
most intelligent but are those
who behave in the way
middle-class teachers
expect.
-For MARXISTS, schools socialise children to accept
the way society is organised as FAIR. This is good for
the ruling class in order to prevent working-class
rebellion. Therefore, secondary socialisation at school
is teaching working-class children to acceot the culture
of the ruling class, and an unfair society.