Eduqas GCSE Sociology- Whole Course

• Manipulation


  Parents encourage behaviour that is normal for a child's sex (Praise)
• Manipulation


  Parents discourage different behaviour (disapproval/punishment)
• Canalisation


  Children are 'channelled' to certain toys and activities by their parents
• Verbal appellations


  We use gender in our praise (Good girl, Princess, Naughty boy, Bossy girls)
• Ann Oakley


  Argues that agents of socialisation create gender roles by passing on different gender messages to boys and girls from infancy
• Ways the family socialise you into gender roles

  1. 1.

  2. 2.

  3. 3.

  4. Different activities - Children are encouraged to do different things. Girls are expected to help their mother. Boys are given more freedom outdoors.
• It was acceptable for boys to be sexually promiscuous. They were regarded by their peers as 'a bit of a lad'
• A different standard was applied to girls, those who were sexually promiscuous were regarded as 'slags' or 'sluts'
• Sue Lees' 'double standard of morality'

  A way the peer group controls the behaviour of girls
• Types of family diversity in Britain today

  • Organisational diversity
  • Cultural diversity
  • Social class diversity
  • Life course diversity
  • Generational diversity
• Rhona and Robert Rapoport (1982) CLOGS


  Believe that we've moved away from the traditional nuclear family
• Types of family identified by Robert Chester

  • The Conventional Family (declining) - The Traditional nuclear family with 'segregated conjugal roles' – Male breadwinner and female homemaker
  • The Neo-Conventional Family (the new norm) – a dual-earner family in which both spouses go out to work
• Chester argues that most people are not choosing to live in alternatives to the nuclear family (such as lone parent families) on a long term basis and the nuclear family remains the ideal to which most people aspire
• In 1975 The Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to discriminate for employers to discriminate an the basis of gender
• Sue Sharpe's findings in 1976 and the subsequent changes in 1996 show how girls' priorities have changed from 'love marriage and husbands and careers' more or less in that order to 'job, career and being able to support themselves'
• Young and Wilmott's 'symmetrical family'


  In the early 70s, they interviewed 1,928 people in Greater London. Life is largely home centred, particularly when children are young, leisure is mainly home based (watching television). The conjugal bond is strong, the husband and wife increasingly share their work. Conjugal roles although not the same – wives still have the responsibility for raising children – are symmetrical. They are similar in terms of contributions made by each spouse to the running of the household.
• Young and Willmott found that the home centred symmetrical family was more typical of the working class
• Ann Oakley


  Disagrees with Wilmott and Young. She says that the conventional nuclear family is a married couple and their children. Within this family, women are expected to do unpaid work outside the home and men have economic power from his income, while women depend on men for their wages. She was critical of Wilmott and Young's extent to which men's roles had changed in the home (new man)
• Pahl found that more couples share decisions on household spending, than 30 years ago. However husbands are likely to dominate decision making. If the man and woman work, then there is more equality in the financial decision making.
• Palmer believes that many children experience a toxic childhood because they are damaged by junk food, excessive exposure to games and a lack of love or discipline from parents
• Aries believes that the 20th Century is the century of the child as the position of children has improved
• Postman


  Believes that the 'child centred' family has reversed and that children are becoming more like adults now. He believes that childhood is disappearing and blames this mostly on television culture
• Murdock's four key functions of the family

  • Sexual
  • Reproduction
  • Economic
  • Education (socialisation)
• Parsons' two key functions of the family

  • Primary socialisation
  • Stabilisation of adult personalities (warm bath theory)
• Eli Zaretsky


  1. The family provides 'a cushion' from the effects of capitalism

  2. The family allows the worker to relax, refresh and unwind after a days work

  3. This means that the worker can then feel revitalised for work the next day

  4. Families separate & fragment individuals from the rest of community. This is the cult of private life

  5. This stops a revolution from happening. (Divide & Conquer)

  6. Capitalism also encourages pester power

  7. Children are brought up to do what parents tell them. This prepares children for accepting authority at school and work
• Delphy & Leonard


  All the unpaid housework and childcare is done by women. Women also make the largest contribution to family life, while men contribute the least but gain the most! The inequalities in domestic labour continue with wives often flattering, understanding and praising their husbands achievements but men rarely reciprocate. They also found women provide trouble free sex which is important as men best unwind post-coitally.
• Dobash and Dobash


  Most domestic violence occurs within marriage. They argue this is due to the institution of marriage gives power to men through their wives dependency on them.
• Edgell


  The important family decisions such as financial issues tended to be either made by the husband, while wives were free to make the trivial decisions on their own such as what 'the evening meal with consist of' or where 'they do the weekly shopping'.
• Murray


  There is now an 'underclass' who are dependent on welfare benefits. These people are more likely to be single parents, or young parents. According to Murray these families cause a lot of societies problems. Instead, the nuclear family is best at socialising children into societies norms and values. Therefore divorce is not desirable.
• Hargreaves (1975)


  Teachers have only a very limited idea about 'who their students are' when they first meet them. They then have to build up an image of their students as the school year progresses. Their initial ideas can change as they elaborate on them and test them on students.
• Ball 1970s


  Banding and Streaming disadvantages the working classes and some minority groups. Band one pupils were 'warmed-up' and encouraged to have high aspirations, while band two pupils were 'cooled-out' and directed towards more practical subjects and GCSE exams.
• Paul Willis


  Participant observation allowed Willis to immerse himself into the social settings of the 'lads' and gave him the opportunity to ask them detailed questions about their behaviour. One of his most important findings was that the lads were completely uninterested in school – they saw the whole point of school as 'having a laff' rather than trying to get qualifications.
• Reay


  Argues that much of the curriculum is not relevant to the working class. This causes them to disengage, which can lead to anti-school subcultures.
• Stephen Ball


  Argues the education system is unclear and difficult to navigate. League tables are difficult to understand. The middle class are well-informed and confident persistent parents give them an advantage.
• Poverty – Britain's Hungry Children (Channel 4 Report, 2013) cites research drawn from 2500 food diaries kept by children in the UK – Some of whom live on less than half of the recommended calories. Also highlights the importance of lunch clubs to feed hungry children.
• Bernstein (1972)


  Language is linked to developing understanding and thinking. There are two language codes: the restricted code (shorthand speech, 'assumed' meanings) used by the working class, and the elaborated code (detailed, explanatory) used by the middle class. The working class students aren't able to understand the middle class teachers.
• Bourdieu


  A Marxist sociologist who put forward the idea of cultural capital. He argued a person has three types of capital: economic, cultural and social. The capital of the upper and middle class are regarded as superior but is also the capital desired by schools as the upper class control education. Upper and middle class children therefore fit in better in school as they have the same culture.
• Arnott (2004)


  Anti-school black masculinity's ideal is 'the ultra tough ghetto superstar, an image constantly reinforced through rap lyrics and MTV videos'. In schools students demonstrate this behaviour and this causes conflict between the values of school.
• Hatcher 1996


  School governing bodies gave low priority to race issues and failed to deal with pupils' racist behaviour. There were no formal channels of communication between school governors and ethnic minority parents.
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2007 found that over half of Pakistani and black African children in Britain were growing up in poverty. This can lead to poor, overcrowded housing and poor diets.