1. ?
Unit 1 (100 marks)
Compulsory Core (Culture & Socialisation / Research Methods)
(60 marks)
*Spend 50 minutes on this section
Mass Media
(40 marks)
*Spend 40 minutes on this section ?

2. Tips for success
Learn the key words on the specification as you will be tested on their meanings
Learn the key sociological methods as you will be tested on these.
Use examples, when required, marks are awarded for these.

3. The ‘Building Blocks’ of Sociology
‘Culture’
‘Socialisation’ & ‘Social Control’
‘Nature/Nurture’
Research Methods

4. CORE FOCUS OF SOCIOLOGY
INDIVIDUAL
SOCIETY
CULTURE
TERM USED BY SOCIOLOGISTS TO DESCRIBE THE SHARED WAY OF LIFE WHICH BINDS INDIVIDUALS TOGETHER INTO A SOCIETY
BUT…
WHAT LINKS THESE TWO THINGS TOGETHER?

5. KEY COMPONENTS OF CULTURE
VALUES
NORMS
Set of beliefs governing what a social group holds worthwhile and important
A set of guidelines which define appropriate and inappropriate behaviour
e.g. privacy, politeness.
e.g. conversation codes, e.g. ‘the no name rule’, ‘the long goodbye rule’

6. CULTURE OR CULTURES? MAINSTREAM CULTURE SUBCULTURE SUBCULTURE
A form of culture which exists within the mainstream, but which has its own distinct norms, values, roles, customs, language, etc.

7. What Constitutes Culture?
RECAP
What is Culture?
What Constitutes Culture? ?

8. Ok, so Individuals and Society are bound together by Culture…
Ok, so Individuals and Society are bound together by Culture….so how do we learn about Culture?

9. FIRST FOCUS….. SOCIALISATION
The processes by which individuals are taught, learn and internalise the culture of their society.
SOCIALISATION

10. Primary agency of socialisation
Families are important in the process of primary socialisation of children. Through interaction within their families, children are helped to acquire language, cultural norms, values and customs.

11. Gender
Gender is social. It is the expected behaviour for your sex and people are taught gender roles
Families often socialise their sons and daughters differently so children develop a gender identity – they come to see themselves as masculine or feminine.

12. Secondary Socialisation
Schools are important in the process of secondary socialisation.
Schools have rules, dress code, be on time, respect authority
You are expected to conform to the rules
This process is known as the Hidden Curriculum.

13. SECOND FOCUS…
The processes by which society ensures that people conform to its culture, and the mechanisms by which it deals with deviance.
SOCIAL CONTROL

14. Prescribed by law , police, prisons
TWO FORMS
FORMAL
INFORMAL
SOCIAL CONTROL
Official means of dealing with deviance – usually focused on prescribed rules.
Unofficial means of deviance control – usually dealing with “unwritten” rules
Prescribed by law , police, prisons
Can be expressed through norms and customs – good in small group setting. Excluding or ridiculing
from group

15. Social Control
‘Social control’ is how we are taught to stick to the rules that apply in our culture; it is part of the socialisation process.
It describes the pressures placed directly and indirectly on people to conform to the values and practices of a society.
We learn to stick to rules by receiving positive and negative sanctions.

16. Social Control
Positive sanctions are rewards for behaving in socially acceptable ways; e.g. pay rise, receive a present etc.
Negative sanctions are punishments for behaving in unacceptable ways. e.g. being fined/banned, going to prison

17. Human behaviour is patterned by… Social order is maintained by..?
RECAP TODAY
Human behaviour is patterned by…
CULTURE
INDIVIDUAL
SOCIETY
Social order is maintained by.. ?
SOCIALISATION
SOCIAL CONTROL

18. Park Sociology GCSE Twitter Feed

19. TERM USED BY SOCIOLOGISTS TO DESCRIBE THE SHARED WAY OF LIFE WHICH BINDS INDIVIDUALS TOGETHER INTO A SOCIETY
Elements of culture:
Family
Language
Forms of government
Religion
Customs and Traditions

20. Theorists tend to explain behaviour in terms of one of two factors
THIS LESSON
NATURE vs. NURTURE
Theorists tend to explain behaviour in terms of one of two factors
NATURE
NURTURE
Socialisation, learning your gender role, masculinity and femininity
Genetics/sex – biological differences, e.g. are you male or female

21. NATURE NURTURE Intelligence is largely inherited
Intelligence is largely learned
Brain scanning has suggested a neurophysical basis to aggressive tendencies
Poor parenting styles leads to deviant behaviour
Gender roles are socially constructed, masculinity and femininity
We are born male or female

23. Evidence against ‘nature explanations’
Social roles (e.g. gender roles) vary a great deal between cultures
Social roles have changed throughout history
Human behaviour is too complex to be reduced to either nature or nurture

24. Social roles (e.g. gender roles) vary a great deal between cultures
According to the anthropologist, Margaret Mead, women among the Tchambul tribe have shaved heads and they wear few clothes or ornaments. The women control society.
Tchambuli men spend a lot of time looking after their appearance and curl their hair. They wear shells, fur and feathers. They compete with each other to get attention from their women for their good looks and their ability to play musical instruments. The men spend time dancing, painting and carving.

25. Research Methods Revisited!

26. TYPES OF RESEARCH METHOD
We generally categorise these methods according to two dimensions
Dimension One
PRIMARY
SECONDARY
Data generated “first hand”
by the sociologist, observations, surveys, interviews
Using “second hand” data,
which already exists, official stats, reports, historical documents

27. TYPES OF RESEARCH METHOD
We generally categorise these methods according to two dimensions
Dimension Two
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Methods which generates
numerical information
Methods which generate
rich, in-depth data

28. When both quantitative and qualitative join forces!
Triangulation:
When both quantitative and qualitative join forces!
Sociologists may choose to use more than one type of research methods. This is sometimes called, “triangulation” or ”multiple methods” and illustrates how sociologists may try to find different sorts of evidence to make their research stronger.

29. 1. Introduction to Social Research Three key research criteria:
Reliability.
Validity.
Representativeness.
video 1
video 2
video 3

30. Reliability:
Whether the research can be repeated easily or not. It is important in that a method would get the same results if repeated by another sociologist. So if I conducted a questionnaire I would expect another sociologist to get the same results if they were to do the same.
Validity:
Whether a piece of research gives an accurate picture of the subject being studied. In basic language it means how true the research is. Ideally, it should give an insight into the meanings and values of those being studied.
Representativeness
Does the sample provide a good cross-section of society? For example, would conducting a piece of research about the attitude of young people to ethnic minorities be representative if it was conducted at Sussex Downs College.

31. Practice Paper 2012: Section A: Questions revisited

32. Identify and explain the meaning of the term gender. [2]
Gender is the socially expected behaviour for your sex and people are taught gender roles through socialisation.

33. What is the meaning of the term culture? [1]
The shared way of life which binds people together into a society

34. Identify and explain one element of culture that all societies share
Culture defines accepted ways of behaving for members of a particular society. Societies work or function because each individual member of that society plays particular roles and each role carries a status and norms which are informed by the values and beliefs of the culture of that society. Values and norms vary from society to society, however every society has certain common problems to deal with for example caring for children or the elderly.

35. Explain, with an example, one way in which children may be taught their cultural traditions by their families. [2]
Children are taught their cultural traditions by their families through the process of socialisation. These are then accepted as norms and internalised. For example parents teach their children about Father Christmas and to celebrate their birthday.

36. Identify and explain one problem that a researcher might experience with your chosen method of investigating traditional weddings.
One problem with interviewing is that it is time consuming. People also may not tell the truth to the interviewer in order to impress them, this would affect the validity of the results.

37. Be careful here…100,000 not 100, always read the chart labels!!

38. 1,000 – thousand 10,000 – ten thousand 100,000- one hundred thousand
1, – one million!

39. With an example, explain the meaning of the term role model. [2]
Role models are people who you look up to and are inspired by, for example a professional footballer could be a role model to a young boy or girl because they are good at what they do and have succeeded in their profession.

40. Explain one reason why schools are an important part of the socialisation of children.
Schools are important in secondary socialisation as they teach children the necessary skills for life. Through the hidden curriculum children learn from teachers how to dress, respect authority and how to behave appropriately with those around them.

41. Identify and explain two problems that a researcher may have when researching children’s attitudes towards school.
(You may wish to use the following terms to help: reliability, validity, ethics and representativeness). [6]
Problem 1
Reliability could be an issue as it would be very difficult to repeat the research. If another researcher was to go back to the school could they repeat it? Probably not as it would be very difficult to find the same students. Also practicality features here…it would be really difficult to conduct the research as it might disrupt lessons. In a busy school, finding the time to speak to pupils might be difficult.

42. Problem 2
Validity would also be a problem. Children may well feel that they would get into trouble if they say anything bad about the school. They may well lie and tell the researcher what they think the researcher wants to here, so this would affect the validity of data.

43. Explain why sociologists sometimes use more than one method in their research.
Sociologists use triangulation in order to validate data. By using different research methods it is possible to compare and contrast data which will make it more reliable.

44. What are the mass media? [1]
Mass media refers to forms of communication which reaches a large amount of people - includes TV, radio, newspapers

45. Using an example, fully explain the meaning of socialisation.
Using an example, fully explain the meaning of socialisation.
Socialisation is how an individual learns the norms and values of their culture, for example boys and girls learning gender roles through the toys that they play with.

46. Fully explain, with an example, how children may learn one norm from television programmes. [4]
The media is a powerful agency of socialisation and plays a role in transmitting gender norms to children through advertising and programmes. For example girls learn gender norms from things like Disney films. In these films, there is a gender stereotype of how girls should behave. As a woman, you can either be a princess awaiting her prince or an evil stepmother/witch; as a man, you get all the action!

47. Fully explain two reasons why children may be more easily socialised by the media than adults.
Children may be more easily socialised by the media than adults as they are less likely to be critical of what they see. Children have not learnt the norms and values of society in order to ‘filter’ the information that is being presented to them. Because of this, children are more likely to be socialised by the media.

48. Another reason is due to the fact that the media is becoming a central part in children’s everyday life. The mass media, including TV, the internet (Facebook, etc.), magazines and books, are an important part of secondary socialisation and children are exposed to and consume more media at an early age.

49. Explain the meaning of the term anthropologist. [1]
An anthropologist is a person who studies people and culture

50. Explain one difference between the Tchambuli society and UK society
In the UK women are expected to worry about their appearance in order to attract men. However, amongst the Tchambuli, the men are more concerned with this particular activity

51. Explain one way in which UK society and Tchambuli society are similar
One way that these societies are similar is that both of the UK and Tchambuli have different gender roles for men and women.

52. Using sociological language, fully explain why it is important to follow the norms and values of the society in which you live.
The members of every society express their values through a system of social norms. These norms guide individual members into how they should act or behave. Individuals learn when and where it is appropriate or inappropriate to say certain things, to use certain words, to discuss certain topics or wear certain clothes.

53. Social norms can be enforced through social control
Social norms can be enforced through social control. Social control describes the pressures placed directly and indirectly on people to conform to the values and practices of a society. We learn to stick to rules by receiving positive and negative sanctions. If an individual does not conform to social norms they can be labelled as deviant and socially excluded by society. Breaking norms and rejecting values can lead to cultural sanctions such as earning a negative label, e.g. lazy—or to legal sanctions such as traffic tickets, fines, or imprisonment.