How do people learn the culture of their society through socialisation?
The process of socialisation: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through the agencies of education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace, and how each transmits norms and values.
A focused answer on socialisation for WJEC GCSE Sociology: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through education, peers, media, religion and the workplace, and the agencies that transmit culture.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point covers socialisation, the lifelong process by which people learn the culture of their society. You need to explain the difference between primary socialisation (in the family in early childhood) and secondary socialisation (later, through other groups), and describe the main agencies of socialisation: the family, education, the peer group, the media, religion and the workplace. For each you should be able to say how it passes on norms and values.
Primary socialisation: the family
The family teaches through everyday interaction: imitation, praise and correction. A child copies how parents speak and behave, is praised for sharing and corrected for hitting, and so absorbs the norms and values of the wider society without being formally "taught".
Secondary socialisation: beyond the family
How agencies socialise: sanctions
Try this
Q1. Identify three agencies of secondary socialisation. [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Any three of: education, the peer group, the media, religion and the workplace.
Q2. Explain how the peer group acts as an agency of socialisation. [Short explanation]
- Cue. The peer group is made up of friends of a similar age who set expectations about dress, language and behaviour, and they enforce these through approval and peer pressure, which is especially powerful in adolescence.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC (Component 1)2 marksExplain what is meant by primary socialisation.Show worked answer →
A short knowledge question (AO1). Reward a clear definition with a developed point or example.
Definition. Primary socialisation is the first and most important stage of learning the norms and values of society, which takes place in early childhood.
Development. It happens mainly within the family, where children learn language, manners and basic behaviour from parents and carers.
Top marks. A precise definition plus a developed point about where it happens earns both marks.
WJEC (Component 1)6 marksExplain how two agencies of secondary socialisation transmit norms and values.Show worked answer →
An explain question (AO1 and AO2). Reward two developed agencies, each with how it socialises.
Education. Schools teach the formal curriculum but also a hidden curriculum of punctuality, respect for authority and teamwork, through rules, rewards and sanctions.
Media. Television, social media and advertising present role models and shape ideas about gender, body image and what is normal or desirable.
Top band. Two clearly identified agencies, each developed with a clear explanation of how it passes on norms and values.
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Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCSE Sociology (Wales) specification (C200QS) — WJEC (2017)