Component 1 Section A: the nature versus nurture debate, including biological and sociobiological arguments, the sociological emphasis on socialisation, evidence from feral and isolated children, and the implications for the social construction of human behaviour.

What this dot point is asking

This statement is the debate that underpins all of Section A: are humans shaped by nature (biology, genes, instinct) or nurture (socialisation, culture)? You need the biological and sociobiological arguments, the sociological case for nurture, the evidence from feral and isolated children, the interactionist middle position, and the implication that human behaviour is largely socially constructed. Sociology rests on the nurture side, so this dot point justifies the discipline itself.

The answer

The two sides of the debate

The nature side draws on biological explanations (genetic and hormonal influences on traits such as intelligence or aggression) and sociobiology (the claim that behaviours such as gender roles or mate selection are products of evolution and serve reproductive success). On this view, much human behaviour reflects an inherited "human nature".

The nurture side is the sociological mainstream. Its central evidence is cultural diversity: norms, family structures, gender roles and even emotions vary enormously between societies, which would be impossible if behaviour were biologically fixed. If gender roles were natural, they would be the same everywhere; the fact that they differ shows they are learned through gender role socialisation.

The evidence of feral and isolated children

The most striking sociological evidence comes from feral and isolated children, raised with little or no human contact:

• The "wild boy of Aveyron" (Victor), found living wild in France, never fully acquired language despite intensive teaching.
• Genie, kept in severe isolation for years, struggled to develop normal language and social behaviour even after rescue.

These cases suggest that abilities we might assume are natural, above all language and social interaction, actually depend on socialisation during childhood. Without it, the supposedly "human" behaviours fail to develop, which strongly supports the nurture side and the idea that human behaviour is socially constructed.

Limits and the interactionist conclusion

The feral-children evidence has limits: such cases are extremely rare, and they are confounded by the abuse the children suffered and by the possibility that some had prior disabilities, so it is hard to isolate the effect of missing socialisation. For this reason the debate is not settled by a handful of tragic cases.

Most sociologists therefore adopt an interactionist position: nature provides the potential (a brain capable of language, a body that develops), but nurture shapes how it develops (which language, which norms, which identity). Behaviour is best understood as the product of both, with socialisation doing the work that turns biological potential into a social human being.

Examples in context

A strong answer uses cultural diversity and feral children as the sociological evidence, acknowledges the limits of that evidence, and reaches the interactionist judgement rather than asserting nurture wins outright.

Try this

Q1. Explain one sociological argument for the importance of nurture over nature. [6 marks]

• What the marker wants. A developed argument (AO1 and AO2): cultural diversity (norms and gender roles vary between societies, so they must be learned), or the feral-children evidence (children raised without socialisation lack language and social skills), applied to an example and linked to the social construction of behaviour.

Q2. Analyse two reasons why the evidence from feral children should be treated with caution. [12 marks]

• Cue. Two developed points: such cases are extremely rare so cannot be generalised, and they are confounded by abuse and possible prior disability so the missing socialisation cannot be isolated, each explained and linked to the difficulty of settling the nature versus nurture debate.