Sociology culture and identity

• Secondary socialisation takes place throughout life and involves learning new skills or modifying existing ones to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Primary socialisation occurs during childhood when individuals are taught basic skills such as walking, talking, eating, dressing, and using the toilet.
• Socialisation is the process by which we acquire our values, beliefs, attitudes, norms, roles, and behaviours.
• Primary socialization is the process by which individuals acquire basic values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors from their primary group (family) during childhood.
• Subcultures


  Groups within a culture that have distinct styles, beliefs, and behaviours that differ from the dominant culture
• Marxist view of subcultures

  Subcultures co-express manner of the dominant culture
• Last 50 years have seen a rise of youth subcultures such as Dockly Days Anks, Skinheads etc. that have distinct styles of dress, appearance, language and music
• Youth subcultures


  • Dissimilar styles of dress, appearance, language and music compared to dominant culture
  • May express hostility towards the dominant culture through symbols
• Willis found an anti-school subculture in his study of working class lads which rejected the schooling culture and its values
• The study of middle class youth subcultures, minority ethnic subcultures etc. that may conform to the dominant culture
• Functionalist view of subcultures

  Subcultures give young people a sense of belonging and identity
• Youth culture


  Helps young people transition into adult society by providing a way to be recognised with their own status
• Eisenstadt believes that youth culture provides a way for young people to come together with like-minded peers and challenge aspects of class and culture
• Postmodernist view of subcultures

  Lifestyles, attitudes and values that are different to some extent from wider society, not based on factors like class, ethnicity and gender but on things like clothing style, music taste etc.
• Bronies


  • A subculture based on the "My Little Pony" show for children
• Modern youth subcultures are commercially produced by the mass media to keep up with new styles and trends
• There are still examples of identifiable subculture groups in society such as goths and emos where their music taste and interests reflect a typical youth subculture
• The 'fluidity' and 'range' of youth identity is not entirely accurate to describe full youth subcultures