UNIT 2: AGENCIES AND SOCIALISATION PROCESS

DEFINITION OF CULTURE

The concept of culture sociologist refers to is the central element of the

anthropological-social approaches, formulated at the end of the 19th century and
beginning of the 20th century. At that time, anthropologists believed that cultures
evolved and progressed according to scientific laws.

IMMATERIAL ASPECTS OF CULTURE:

● EDWARD B. TAYLOR: “That complex whole which includes the knowledge,

beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs or any other skills and habits acquired by a
man as a member of society”.

● MARGARET MEAD: “The set of acquired forms of behaviour, forms that

show value judgements on living conditions, which a human group of common
tradition transmits through symbolic procedures (language, myth,
knowledge)”.

MATERIAL ASPECTS OF CULTURE:

● BRONISLAW MALINOVSKI: “The utensils and apparatus, goods, technical

processes…etc that have been inherited”.

Both immaterial and material aspects of culture are important. It has its origin in the
differences that social scientists made between culture and civilization. The
difference between culture and civilization (Kant) evolved at the beginning of the
19th century, in Germany.

Nowadays, cultured people are those who are dedicated to some kind of creative
activity such as music, theatre, painting, where the “cultured” people are opposed to
the vulgar, ignorant people.

Today we can say that culture is everything. It is transmitted from generation to

generation. It includes everything, from the rules that govern our coexistence, the
food we eat, to the languages we speak. Without culture, we are not human. What is
important is what we do with the culture, for there is no culture without the group of
people who learn and pass on the culture (just as there is no language without the
people who speak that language). Human beings recreate cultures because we are
free and we can make changes.

Culture is what distinguishes us as a human community. To study culture,

sociologists often talk about “value system”, “ideologies”, “belief patterns”...
If we follow Durkheim's approach, it is the division of work (to put it all together at the
end) that makes us advance collectively. Therefore, there is not a single culture in a
society, but multiple subcultures (dominant, dominated, traditional, emerging).

We speak of urban, youthful cultures (even school cultures)

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

● SIGNS AND SYMBOLS. LANGUAGE: They are the most important elements
of culture. In its simplest form. For example, traffic signs warn us of possible
dangers or traffic orders on the road. Language is a shared code of signs
(sounds and graphics). The use of language implies developing the symbolic
capacity that makes us properly humans and distinguishes us from the rest of
living beings. Language allows us to communicate, remember, identify,
differentiate, transmit and recognise ideas and feelings.

● BELIEFS: We refer to the things we take for granted even if there is no

evidence of their existence (for example, religion). Sociologists are not
interested in whether it's possible to find evidence of God’s existence, but how
beliefs organise people’s social lives.

● VALUES: Consists of the principles that govern our life (freedom, solidarity,
responsibility, truth, love, justice, tolerance, peace…).

● RULES AND CUSTOMS: Norms are inseparable from a system of values.

They constitute the guidelines for behaviour that are imposed on society. They
exist to regulate social conduct.

● TECHNOLOGY: Body of knowledge and applications of that knowledge that

allow us to manipulate the world around us and adapt it to our needs.

THE SOCIALISATION PROCESS

The process of socialisation is that process by which individuals, interacting with
others, develop the way of thinking, feeling and acting that are necessary to carry out
their social participation. Interaction with others is essential.

The person (self) is formed by an I and a me. The self is the individual’s reaction to
others attitude (the self is the series of others attitudes that one adopts). The attitude
of others are the I

I: How you see yourself

Me: How others see you
Generalised other: How society sees you

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOCIALISATION

A child is not born as a member of society but with an inclination to sociability.

Primary socialisation is the process in which the first internalisation of culture takes
place (it happens when the child is learning the language). In this first socialisation,
the child learns who are his signifiers, who are the people who interact more with the
child and who take care of him (normally the mother or father, but it also could be the
aunt or brother). The primary socialisation has a much stronger impact on the child
than the secondary socialisation.

Secondary socialisation is the process in which children learn roles. They are only
learnt when a person finds its place in the social structure (status), which can be the
same as that of his or her family of origin (assigned status) or it can change
(acquired status).
RESOCIALIZATION AND ANTICIPATORY SOCIALISATION

Resocialization is the attempt to create a new primary socialisation. For example,

religious conversion. People discover a new truth, a god, or a new set of beliefs and
values. Another example is rehabilitation for drug addicts. If the person who used to
be addicted gets healed (not using drugs anymore) but returns to the same group of
people who he or she used to do drugs with, the probabilities of that person to
relapse are really high.
In anticipatory socialisation there is an attempt to anticipate situations that may
imply strong changes in the environment in which we live.

GENDER SOCIALISATION

It is a process in which society (school, family, social media…) establish a series of

messages about who we are and how we should behave according to our gender.
You can distinguish between gender roles (how you should act according to your
gender) and gender attributions (characteristics and qualities associated with men
and women).

For example, boys are educated in values such as strength, courage or leadership
while girls are educated in values such as caring, beauty, empathy and
communication.

There has been changes because of the feminist movements, however, this
differential socialisation is still happening nowadays, so if some girls do not meet the
society’s expectations of how they should behave (they don't behave in a caring,
patient or sweet way), they feel guilty. On the other hand, boys who don’t behave the
way society wants them to behave (they don’t behave in a strong, leadership way),
they feel ashamed.

You can see this in children’s toys. If some boy uses a doll to play, society says they
are gay, which doesn’t make any sense (a toy is a toy). Also, most parents don’t
want their son to play with dolls, as they are “girls’ toys”. These gender roles can
also be seen in colours. Pink is seen as a “girl colour” and blue is seen as “boy
colour”.
It is the differential socialisation that explains why women choose university careers
related to traditionals women’s roles (teacher, nurse…) and men with men’s roles
(engineer, doctor-surgeon…).

SOCIALIZATION AGENTS

We are all agents of socialisation, however, our society is not only made of
individuals, but of social groups in which those individuals belong to. We belong to
social groups (family, school, peer groups…). These groups are what we call
socialisation agents. Some of these groups have a more important presence in the
primary socialisation process (family, infant and primary school, peer group…) and
others have more importance in the secondary socialisation process (secondary
school, university…). These socialisation agents are producers and reproducers of
values, norms, customs and social patterns.

Groups can be classified into primary and secondary groups. In primary groups,
each member interacts with the other in a face to face relationship. Our membership
in these groups has a long duration in time. These primary groups are often
considered to be places where people find peace, love and harmony, however, this is
not always the case.. What matters in primary groups is the idea of wholeness,
intimacy and “we”. Is in these groups where we learn a model of hierarchization of
some people over others according to their social class, sex, physical and intellectual
abilities or ethnicity.

Family is the first agent of socialisation (the most important for people worldwide).
The neighbourhood group would also be another of the primary socialisation groups.
This group is formed by people from the same neighbourhood as us. It is a group
that tends to be less and less important, especially in cities. Most people do not have
a solid relationship with their neighbours. The peer group (play groups) is also part of
the primary socialisation groups. This group involves face to face relationships with
each member, and can last over time (like family). We can’t choose the family we are
born into, but we can choose our group of friends.

YOUTH SUBCULTURES

As children grow up they leave the play groups to join other groups of people who
are joined by the development of an activity (usually related to leisure). In urban
settings these groups are often known as gangs, youth cultures, youth subcultures,
urban tribes or networks. In these groups, people express themselves collectively
through the construction of particular lifestyles.

Youth cultures have burst into the public scene since the second half of the 20th
century, leading to the trend of youthfulness in society. Youth subcultures have the
capacity of creating new guidelines and values. These cultures are heterogeneous:
contain a particular language, music (rock, punk, indie, pop, metal…), aesthetic
(haircut, clothes, accessories…), cultural productions (magazines, tattoos,
cinema…), focal activities (football, marijuana…) and the attendance to certain
places (pubs, discos, bars, clubs…).

ICTS IN SOCIALISATION PROCESS

Youth subcultures would be nothing without the media. In fact, the way that new
generations are accessing culture has been modified over the last decades due to
the interruption of media and information and communication technologies (ICTS).
This agent of socialisation is becoming so important that we are talking about “digital
natives”.

Until recently, children received more information and education from television than
from their parents, friends…but nowadays they receive even more information and
socialisation influences through social networks or social media. The new
communication technologies are allowing social groupings (virtual and physical) that
were impossible years ago because of the physical distance.