Agents of Socialisation

From the moment we are born, we all go through a process of socialisation. During this time we learn the norms and values of our society. There is some debate as to how much of what makes us different as individuals is due to the influence of society or whether we are in some way biologically programmed. The nature or nurture debate is important to consider when studying the nature of socialisation as the roles played by social influence and biological influence are both relevant. When studying socialisation sociologists are more interested in looking at social influence and nurture factors.

Primary socialisation begins as soon as we are born, and usually continues until a child begins primary school. This time period is when parents play the most significant role and is the reason why family is seen as the most important agent of primary socialisation. As more mothers go back to work after maternity leave and place their children with childminders or in nurseries, they can also be seen as primary agents of socialisation. It could be argued that the media has an influence also as there are television programmes designed for small children, such as CITV and CBeebies.

When children become more independent they start to spend less time with their parents and more time in school or with their friends. This is when Secondary socialisation begins. These social influences become more significant in a child’s life as time goes on. The agents of secondary socialisation are education, peer groups, religion and the media (in later life the workplace is also included in this list. ) All these agents, including family, are significant in the process of learning the norms, values and culture of society.

Functionalists believe that each part of the social structure has a function or use, which allows society to run smoothly. Society is based on consensus and agreement about the way things should be in society, what is right and what is important. Socialisation is a lifelong process by which we keep learning and developing as human beings. The most important primary agent of socialisation is family, playing an important role in shaping the life and behaviour of individuals within society by teaching the basic norms and values.

Children copy the behaviour of family members and use them as role models and by imitating them they learn the correct way of behaving. Basic norms as what time to eat, where they sleep, when to wash, etc are passed on naturally. These norms can also reflect the importance of mealtimes in maintaining good family relations. Other ways in which the family can influence socialisation is by rewarding good behaviour with praise or treats and discourage unwanted behaviour by withdrawal of pocket money or using a ‘time-out’.

Ballard was a major researcher in the Asian community and found that Asian families worked hard to preserve traditional family ways in spite of difficulties like finding houses big enough for extended families. He saw there was the potential for successful ‘cultural navigation’, where someone navigates successfully between cultures helping to avoid a ‘generational culture clash’ with parents and grandparents, although there may still be disagreements about appropriate dress, arranged marriage, etc. Gender roles are learned from an early age.

A child who sees his father go out to work while his mother stays at home will have an effect of how a child sees gender roles. Father = breadwinner, mother = carer, cleaner, cook, etc. There is no guarantee that the child will grow up and fall into the same role but they may influence choices they make in later life. Feminists believe that our gender determines our life chances, and that because of hegemonic ideas of masculinity this usually favours men. Liberal feminists, such as Oakley argue that girls and boys are socialised in different ways.

For example girls are encouraged to take on caring roles, which could lead to them having jobs such as nurses in the future. Oakley believes that in the home there is manipulation and canalisation. Manipulation is when boys and girls are encouraged to play with gender specific toys. Canalisation is when specific behaviour is encouraged or discouraged. For example if a boy falls over and hurts himself, he is encouraged not to cry but if the same thing happens to a girl, she is given sympathy.

Oakley argues that there is still an expectation for women to take on the role of housewife and mother and because of this, it is more difficult for women to pursue careers in the same way men do Anticipatory socialization occurs when we start learning new norms and values in anticipation of a role we’ll occupy in the future. By making the necessary adjustments in advance, the transition into the new role is made easier and by providing an experience of the role they have yet to assume.

For example, children may anticipate parenthood by observing their parents as role models. Education socialises individuals into the culture of school. This involves being taught new norms, values and social roles. Alongside the academic curriculum there is a hidden curriculum as defined by Jackson as when students pick up messages about attitudes and approaches to life through the experience of being in school, not just from things that they are explicitly taught. Different agents of socialization often teach children conflicting lessons.

For example, in the family, children learn to respect their elders but among their friends they may learn that respecting adults makes them unpopular. When they start school it may be the first time some children encounter children from different ethnic backgrounds. Peer groups are seen to be most influential between the years of 5 and 18 as during this time children are seen as growing up and becoming adults. Peers exert huge pressure on each other to conform and will alienate or deliberately exclude individuals who do not conform to the norms and values of the group.

Young black male Asians have developed a “white mask” which they use when socialising with young white males. They drink, smoke and watch pornography so they can be seen to fit in. However, when they were with their family members, they observed the rules of their religion and family. Ballard found that even as far back as the 1970’s young, Asian men adopted this dual-identity as they “devised a variety of ways to negotiate between the culture of their community and the values of a wider society, producing their own synthesis of Asian and British values. Marxists believe the ideology of the ruling classes is conveyed by institutions such as the mass media and that our social class determines our life chances. It could be argued that the mass media is the most dominant agent of socialisation for young people, comprising of television, radio, film, DVD, internet, social networks, advertising, etc, and is responsible for socialising individuals in a number of ways. The mass media introduced worldwide cultures and norms that young people would otherwise not become aware of.

The other agents of socialization, family, peer groups, and school are most commonly a part of one society and one culture, but the mass media enlarges their exposure to the social world. Religion is seen to be losing its influence in society but it can be argued that it is changing rather than declining in popularity and has become more a personal choice. The way religion acts as a process of socialisation is that it lays down rules of how to behave and encourages certain behaviour by encouraging the adherence of moral codes.

Some Muslim women are socialised into the norm of wearing a hijab to hide their bodies from men whereas others are not and decide whether to wear it out of personal choice. Shabina Begum, a teenage girl of Bangladeshi origin, was a 3rd year high school pupil who, after the death of her parents, fell under the influence of her brother, who was a supporter of a radical Islamist group. She refused to attend school unless she was allowed to wear the jilbab, which covers the entire body, except for hands, face and head with the head and neck are then being covered by a scarf.

The school argued that if Begum was allowed to attend classes wearing jilbab, other pupils would feel under pressure to wear more extreme form of Islamic dress. Anwar found that 9 out of 10 Pakistani teenagers believe in strong sense of obligation and duty to their parents and relatives and that Muslim families more likely to segregate the sexes and that girls had more social controls than boys. Respect for religion was very important in socialization, including beliefs, customs, discipline and authority.

Inter-racial breeding has blurred the cultural divides between races. Modood points out that 2 out of 5 children born to an African- Caribbean parent also has a white parent. Nearly 20% of British men, and 10% of women with Indian or African Asian origins, live with white partners. Even when there are ethnic divisions in society young people don’t socialise strictly within their own ethnic groups. Johal makes the point that 2nd and 3rd generation British Asians have learned to ‘code switch’ between cultures.

This ‘code switching’ has produced a new, powerful identity. The behaviour that they display when they are in a group of their peers, made up of mostly whites is different to the way they behave when they are with their families. Post Modernists believe we live in a mass media saturated society and have developed a ‘pick and mix’ approach to selecting elements of different ethnicities and cultures that appeal to us, showing the potential for our society to become a cultural hybrid. Children become aware of diversity through the media.

Listening to different kinds of music and seeing different coloured people help children develop their racial and cultural awareness. They are encouraged to accept and celebrate their differences while developing a positive self-image. There has been an emergence of new identities of hybridity where communities take on different cultural elements and images and fuse them together. British culture is seen to be undergoing change as it adapts to the cultures of minority ethnic groups and this all has an impact on the process of socialisation.