Culture, Norms, Values and Socialisation

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• way 1 identified, e.g. teaching language.1 mark
• developed, e.g. parents talk to babies and correct their speech, so children learn to communicate in the way their society expects.1 mark
• way 2 identified, e.g. rewarding or punishing behaviour.1 mark
• developed, e.g. parents praise good manners and tell children off for rudeness, teaching them which norms are approved of and encouraging conformity.1 mark

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• identifies that school is often the first agency outside the family a child spends large amounts of time with.1 mark
• develops this, e.g. children encounter formal rules, a wider range of adults and children, and structured routines for the first time (1 mark for this developed example, 1 mark for explaining that it extends socialisation beyond what the family alone could provide).2 marks
• identifies that school teaches a formal, official set of norms and values through its rules and curriculum.1 mark
• develops this, e.g. rules about punctuality, respecting authority and completing work on time (1 mark for this developed example, 1 mark for explaining that it prepares pupils for expectations in later life, such as the workplace).2 marks
• identifies that school also teaches an informal, hidden set of norms through everyday interaction with teachers and peers.1 mark
• develops this, e.g. pupils learn how to cooperate, compete and resolve conflict with other children, which is not formally taught but is still an important part of socialisation.1 mark
• links both reasons together, noting that school combines formal, deliberate teaching with informal, everyday interaction, which is why sociologists see it as one of the most powerful agencies of secondary socialisation.1 mark

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• Basic, undeveloped answer. Makes one or two simple, unsupported points. Little or no use of sociological concepts. One-sided or purely descriptive.1 mark
• Some accurate and relevant sociological knowledge. Two or more points made, at least one applied to the item, but development is limited and points are not clearly linked together.1 mark
• Accurate, relevant and reasonably developed knowledge, applied clearly to the item. Begins to construct a balanced argument, comparing at least two viewpoints, with some evaluation.1 mark
• Sophisticated, well-developed and sustained argument. Sociological concepts and perspectives used accurately and applied precisely to the item throughout. A clear, balanced evaluation leads to a substantiated, reasoned conclusion.1 mark
• the family carries out primary socialisation, teaching a child's first language and basic norms and values, before the child has significant contact with any other agency.1 mark
• Functionalists such as Talcott Parsons argue the family performs the vital function of primary socialisation into society's shared value consensus, giving the family a foundational role.1 mark
• The family instils fundamental values, such as ideas of right and wrong, that other agencies then build on, so its early influence can shape how a child responds to later agencies.1 mark
• Counterpoint: as children grow older they spend increasing amounts of time with the peer group, at school and consuming media, so these secondary agencies may have more day-to-day influence on attitudes, tastes and behaviour, especially in adolescence.1 mark
• Interactionist sociologists would point out that children are not passive; they actively interpret and sometimes resist family norms once they can compare them with other agencies, so the family's influence is not automatically the strongest.1 mark
• Marxist and feminist sociologists might argue the family's socialisation itself reflects wider structures, such as class values or patriarchal gender roles, so its importance is linked to and reinforced by other institutions rather than fully independent of them.1 mark
• A balanced answer notes that the family's influence is strongest in early childhood but that other agencies, especially the peer group and media, increasingly compete with or reinforce it as a child grows up, so no single agency can be called 'most important' in every case.1 mark
• Conclusion: a supported judgement, either that the family's early, foundational influence makes it the most important overall, or that importance shifts across the life course, provided the point made is clearly supported.1 mark

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