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Socialisation, culture and identity (Component 1)

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What do sociologists mean by culture and identity, and how are the norms and values of a society transmitted and contested?

Component 1 Section A: the concepts of culture, norms, values, roles and status, the different types of culture (high, popular, folk, mass, global, consumer and subculture), and the relationship between culture and identity.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 1 guide to culture, norms, values, roles and status. Covers the different types of culture (high, popular, folk, mass, global, consumer and subculture), cultural diversity and hybridity, and how culture shapes a socially constructed identity, with the theorists and exam skills Section A rewards.
14 min answer →

How is conformity to a society's norms maintained through formal and informal social control and through sanctions?

Component 1 Section A: the concept of social control, the distinction between formal and informal agencies of social control, and the role of positive and negative sanctions in securing conformity.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 1 guide to social control. Covers formal and informal social control, the agencies that enforce norms, positive and negative sanctions, and the consensus and conflict views of why control exists, with the theorists and exam skills Section A rewards.
13 min answer →

How do the agencies of socialisation transmit a society's culture, and how do primary and secondary socialisation differ?

Component 1 Section A: the process of socialisation, the distinction between primary and secondary socialisation, and the role of the agencies of socialisation (family, education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace) in transmitting culture.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 1 guide to socialisation. Covers primary and secondary socialisation, the agencies of socialisation (family, education, peer group, media, religion and workplace), the hidden curriculum and role models, with the key theorists, examples and exam skills Section A rewards.
14 min answer →

How is identity socially constructed, and how do class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality and disability shape who we are?

Component 1 Section A: the social construction of identity, the distinction between personal and social identity, and the sources of identity (social class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, disability and nationality), including hybridity and the postmodern view of fluid identity.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 1 guide to identity. Covers the social construction of identity, personal versus social identity, the sources of identity (class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, disability, nationality), hybridity and the postmodern view of fluid, fragmented identity, with the theorists and exam skills Section A rewards.
15 min answer →

Is human behaviour the product of nature or nurture, and what does the evidence on feral children tell sociologists about socialisation?

Component 1 Section A: the nature versus nurture debate, the sociological emphasis on nurture and socialisation, and the implications of cases of feral and isolated children for understanding the development of human behaviour.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 1 guide to the nature versus nurture debate. Covers biological versus social explanations of behaviour, the sociological case for nurture, the evidence from feral and isolated children, and how socialisation makes us human, with the studies and exam skills Section A rewards.
13 min answer →