Socialisation

Module 1 begins with two linked ideas. Culture is the shared way of life of a group: the beliefs, practices, objects and knowledge that are learnt and passed on rather than inherited biologically. Society is a group of people who share a territory and interact through organised relationships. Culture gives a society its content, and society gives culture a structure through which it is passed on.

Socialisation is the lifelong process that connects the two, because it is how individuals learn the culture of their society, come to see themselves as members of it and learn to regulate their own behaviour.

Culture has several components. Values are shared ideas about what is good, right and desirable, such as the high value many societies place on education. Norms are the expectations and rules that put values into practice, such as waiting your turn to speak. Cultural universals are features found in all known societies, such as language, family arrangements, music and rituals around death, although their form differs from culture to culture.

Ideal culture is what a society says it values; real culture is what people actually do. Material culture consists of physical objects (a smartphone, a school uniform), while non-material culture consists of ideas, language, beliefs and norms. A subculture shares most mainstream culture but has distinctive norms of its own, such as competitive gamers or surfers. A counter-culture actively rejects key mainstream values and offers alternatives, as some anti-consumerist or radical protest groups do.

Society is organised through statuses (social positions) and roles (the behaviour expected of a person in a status). An ascribed status is given at birth or acquired without choice, such as age or birth order. An achieved status is earned or chosen, such as school captain or apprentice electrician.

People belong to social groups, two or more people who interact and share a sense of belonging, and they act within institutions, stable clusters of values, norms, statuses and roles built around basic social needs, such as the family, education, work and the media.