TCE Sociology Practice Questions

Socialisation is the lifelong process through which individuals learn a society's norms and values, and it works alongside sanctions, the rewards and punishments applied to encourage conformity, to produce social control (1 mark for accurately defining both terms). Primary socialisation in the family instils basic norms of behaviour from infancy, while secondary socialisation through schools, peer groups and media reinforces and extends these norms into adolescence and adulthood (1). For example, a school that gives praise and higher grades for punctual, cooperative behaviour and detention for disruptive behaviour is applying positive and negative sanctions that reward conformity to the institution's expectations (1). Over time these external sanctions support internalisation, in which the individual comes to accept the norm as their own belief rather than simply obeying to avoid punishment, so conformity continues even without direct surveillance (1). Functionalists argue this combination is highly effective because it produces the shared value consensus a stable society needs, with each agent of socialisation, family, school, peer group and media, reinforcing the same core norms (1). A balanced evaluation notes real limits: sanctions are not applied evenly across social groups, socialisation agents can conflict (a peer group can reward behaviour a school punishes), and some individuals resist or reinterpret norms rather than simply internalising them, so conformity is never total or guaranteed (2). On balance, socialisation and sanctions together are the primary explanation for widespread, everyday conformity in CAS, but they operate unevenly and always leave room for non-conformity and change (1).