How do people learn the culture of their society?
Socialisation: how people learn the norms and values of their society, the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, and the main agents of socialisation including the family, education, peers, the media and religion.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on socialisation. Covers how people learn the norms and values of their society, the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, the main agents (family, education, peer group, media and religion), and how socialisation reproduces culture and shapes identity.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this dot point is asking
The SQA wants you to explain socialisation, how people learn the norms and values of their society, the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, and the main agents that carry it out. Socialisation is the central process in the Culture and Identity area: it is how learned culture is passed on and how identity is formed.
The answer
What socialisation is
Primary and secondary socialisation
The agents of socialisation
Socialisation and identity
Socialisation does not only teach rules; it shapes who we are. Through it we acquire a sense of our social identity, including class, gender and ethnic identity. This is why the rest of the Culture and Identity area builds on socialisation, exploring how it forms different identities.
Examples in context
Learning to behave in school shows socialisation through several agents. A child first learns basic norms at home, please and thank you, sharing, right and wrong, through primary socialisation in the family. At school, secondary socialisation adds new norms: arriving on time, wearing uniform, putting up a hand to speak, and the value placed on achievement. The peer group then shapes attitudes to study, music and dress, sometimes reinforcing the school's values and sometimes pulling against them, while the media feeds in images and values from the wider world. Because these agents largely reinforce one another, a shared culture is reproduced, but the occasional clash between peer and family values shows why behaviour is learned and negotiated rather than simply stamped on. Recognising both the reinforcement and the conflict is what lifts an analysis answer.
Try this
Q1. Name three agents of secondary socialisation. [3 marks]
- Cue. Education (school), the peer group, the media (also religion and the workplace).
Q2. Explain how the family acts as an agent of primary socialisation. [4 marks]
- Cue. In early childhood the family teaches basic norms, values and language, giving the foundation that later agents build on.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher specimen8 marksExplain the difference between primary and secondary socialisation, using examples.Show worked answer →
An -mark "explain" question. Markers want a clear distinction developed with examples of each.
Primary socialisation happens in early childhood, mainly within the family, where a child first learns basic norms, values and language. Secondary socialisation happens later and more widely, through agents such as school, the peer group, the media and the workplace.
Develop the contrast with examples: the family teaching a child to say please and thank you (primary), and a school teaching punctuality and rules or a workplace teaching professional norms (secondary). Naming an agent for each earns the developed marks.
SQA Higher 201912 marksAnalyse the role of the agents of socialisation in shaping behaviour.Show worked answer →
A -mark "analyse" question. Markers reward developed explanation of several agents and how they work together.
Strong answers explain the main agents, the family (primary), school, peer group, media and religion (secondary), and what each teaches: the family gives basic norms and values, education adds skills and rules, peers shape attitudes and identity, the media spreads values and images, and religion can pass on moral codes.
Analysis marks come from showing how the agents reinforce one another to reproduce culture, and from noting they can sometimes conflict (for example peer values against family values). A clear judgement on their overall importance is the discriminator.
Related dot points
- Culture, norms, values, roles and status, the idea of cultural diversity, and the nature versus nurture debate about how far human behaviour is innate or learned.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on culture and the nature versus nurture debate. Covers the meaning of culture, norms, values, roles and status, cultural diversity including subcultures, and the debate over how far human behaviour is innate (nature) or learned through socialisation (nurture).
- Identity and the social construction of identity: personal and social identity, how identities are formed through socialisation and interaction, and the idea that identity is increasingly chosen rather than fixed.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on identity and its social construction. Covers personal and social identity, how identities such as class, gender and ethnic identity are formed through socialisation and interaction, the idea that identity is socially constructed rather than natural, and the view that identity is increasingly a matter of choice.
- Gender and identity: the difference between sex and gender, how gender identity is formed through gender-role socialisation, the agents involved, and the debate over how far gender is socially constructed.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on gender and identity. Covers the difference between sex and gender, how gender identity is formed through gender-role socialisation by the family, school, peers and media, the feminist view that gender is socially constructed, and the debate with biological explanations.
- Social class and identity: how class is defined and measured, how class shapes identity and life chances, and the debate over whether class identity is declining in modern society.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on social class and identity. Covers how class is defined and measured, how class shapes identity, culture and life chances, the evidence that class still matters, and the debate over whether class identity is declining as postmodernists argue.
- The functionalist (consensus) perspective: how it explains social order, the key thinkers and concepts, and its strengths and weaknesses as a way of understanding human society.
An SQA Higher Sociology answer on functionalism, the consensus perspective. Covers how functionalists explain social order through shared values and institutions, the key thinkers Durkheim and Parsons, core concepts such as value consensus and social functions, and the main criticisms from conflict and social action sociologists.
Sources & how we know this
- SQA Higher Sociology Course Specification (C868 76) — SQA (2019)