Agents

• Agents of socialization in sociology include education, family, media, peer groups, religion, and the workplace
• Education as an agent of socialization transmits skills and knowledge too advanced for parents, along with universalistic values
• Functionalists believe in the idea of meritocracy in education, while Marxists argue that extended education leads to worthless qualifications that do not improve inequality and poverty
• Bowles and Gintis studied schooling in America from a Marxist perspective, highlighting the hidden curriculum alongside the formal curriculum, which aims to turn children into obedient workers
• The Correspondence Principle in education argues that everything in school corresponds to experiences in work, promoting accepting hierarchy, external rewards, and the fragmentation of knowledge
• In the UK and Wales, the leaving age was raised to 18 in 2018, with functionalists arguing that as society becomes more complex, children need more time in school, while Marxists complain that extended education leads to worthless qualifications
• Family, as a primary agent of socialization, is crucial as poorly socialized children can lead to dysfunctional adults, lacking social solidarity and experiencing anomie
• The media, as a secondary agent of socialization, represents many social groups through stereotypes, with Laura Mulvey highlighting the male gaze in film and the objectification of individuals
• Peer groups, as a secondary agent of socialization, teach acceptable behavior and conformity, with Albert Cohen suggesting that the middle class is more likely to form a deviant subculture due to status frustration
• Religion socializes children through simple moral rules and role models, while adults are socialized through rites of passage during difficult transitions
• The workplace, with formal and informal socialization, has a code of conduct, dress code, and expectations for formal sanctions, alongside informal norms and values like the "canteen culture" described by Waddington