Socialisation, Culture and Identity

What Socialisation, Culture and Identity covers

Socialisation, Culture and Identity is examined in Component 1, Understanding Social Processes. It covers Key sociological concepts, nature, nurture and feral children and agents of socialisation and social control.

The 3 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Key sociological conceptsCulture, norms and values, roles and role conflict, ascribed and achieved status, identity, positive and negative, formal and informal sanctions, and cultural diversity.Open →
• Nature, nurture and feral childrenThe nature–nurture debate, sex and gender, the feral children Genie, Oxana Malaya, and Kamala and Amala, and Margaret Mead's three New Guinea societies.Open →
• Agents of socialisation and social controlPrimary and secondary socialisation through family, school, media and peers, Oakley's canalisation and manipulation, class and ethnic identity, the four perspectives, and formal and informal social control.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Socialisation, Culture and Identity further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Norms vs Values

  Norms: unwritten rules that guide how people behave in particular situations. Values: broad beliefs about what is important and worth striving for in a society.

• Ascribed status vs Achieved status

  Ascribed status: a social position fixed at birth, such as a royal title. Achieved status: a social position earned through effort or ability, such as a job.

• Primary socialisation vs Secondary socialisation

  Primary socialisation: learning the basic norms and values of a culture from the family in early childhood. Secondary socialisation: learning later in life from schools, peers, the media and the workplace.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What do sociologists mean by culture?

   Model answer

   Culture is the whole way of life of a group or society, including its language, beliefs, customs and knowledge. Culture is learned and passed from one generation to the next.

2. 2

   What are norms?

   Model answer

   Norms are unwritten rules that guide how people are expected to behave in particular situations. Queuing in a shop is a norm in the UK.

3. 3

   How do norms differ from laws?

   Model answer

   Norms are informal expectations enforced by other people's approval or disapproval. Laws are formal rules made by Parliament and enforced by the police and courts.

4. 4

   What are values?

   Model answer

   Values are broad beliefs about what is important and worth striving for in a society. Many people in the UK value individual freedom and fairness.

5. 5

   How are norms linked to values?

   Model answer

   Norms usually put a society's values into practice in everyday behaviour. A value of respect for privacy is expressed in the norm of knocking before entering a room.

6. 6

   What is a social role?

   Model answer

   A role is the set of expected behaviours attached to a position in society. A teacher is expected to prepare lessons and treat pupils fairly.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Socialisation, Culture and Identity revision questions

What does Socialisation, Culture and Identity cover in Eduqas GCSE Sociology?

3 subtopics: key sociological concepts, nature, nurture and feral children and agents of socialisation and social control. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Socialisation, Culture and Identity organised?

By the Eduqas C200QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.