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.

What this dot point is asking

Socialisation is the process by which we learn the culture of our society. OCR Section A wants you to distinguish primary from secondary socialisation and to know how the main agencies (family, education, peer group, media, religion, workplace) transmit norms and values. This is the engine that links culture to identity, and the same agencies reappear in families, inequality, crime and the media.

The answer

What socialisation is

Sociologists divide it into two stages. Primary socialisation occurs in the early years, almost entirely within the family, where the child learns language and the most basic norms and values. Secondary socialisation is the continuing process carried out by other institutions once the child moves into the wider world.

The agencies of socialisation

The family is the agency of primary socialisation. Parsons argues it performs the primary socialisation of children, internalising the shared culture so that society's values become part of the individual's personality. Feminists such as Oakley show it also transmits gender, through manipulation, canalisation, verbal appellations and differential activities.

Education is a powerful secondary agency. Through the formal curriculum it teaches knowledge and skills; through the hidden curriculum (the unspoken lessons of school) it teaches punctuality, obedience and competition. Durkheim sees school building social solidarity, while Bowles and Gintis argue the correspondence principle prepares working-class pupils for subordinate roles.

The peer group exerts strong influence, especially in adolescence, through pressure to conform and the granting or withholding of status. The media socialise through repeated representations and role models; Bandura's social learning theory shows behaviour can be imitated from media figures. Religion transmits moral codes, dress, diet and gender expectations, while the workplace socialises adults into occupational norms, sometimes through resocialisation that overrides earlier learning.

Consensus or conflict?

Functionalists see socialisation positively, as the transmission of a value consensus that binds society together. Marxists argue it reproduces ruling-class ideology and a compliant workforce, and feminists argue it reproduces patriarchy by teaching girls and boys unequal roles. Evaluating socialisation through these perspectives is exactly the AO3 the longer Section A questions reward.

Examples in context

A model answer never simply lists agencies. It explains the mechanism by which an agency socialises, names a theorist, and applies an example, then evaluates whether the outcome is consensus or the reproduction of inequality.

Try this

Q1. Outline two ways in which the peer group socialises young people. [4 marks]

• What the marker wants. Two ways (AO1, two marks each): pressure to conform to group norms, and granting status for valued behaviour, each with a brief example such as fashion or slang.

Q2. Outline and explain two ways in which education acts as an agency of secondary socialisation. [12 marks]

• Cue. Two developed points: the hidden curriculum teaching obedience and punctuality (Bowles and Gintis), and the formal transmission of shared values and solidarity (Durkheim), each applied to an example such as school assemblies or timetables.