Notifications

Task 2
 NOTIFICATION AND OUTLINE
Year Group 11

Subject Society and Culture

Assessment Task Number 2

Distribution Date Monday 19 May, 2025 at 8.30am on the google classroom (Term 2, Week 4)

Issued By Ms Aquino, Mrs Howlett and Mr Taniane

Date Due Tuesday 17th June, 2025 (Term 2, Week 8)

11SAC1 - HOW - Period 1

11SAC2 - DAQ - Period 5
11SAC3 - ATA - Period 5

Topic Personal and Social Identity

Weighting 30%

Outcomes Assessed P1, P2, P3, P7, P8, P10

Syllabus Reference Students are to:

● conduct a comparative cross-generational study of how the processes of
socialisation have changed over time within the student’s own cultural
context, using the research method of questionnaire
● apply ethical research practices and follow the steps of the research process
to: - develop and administer a questionnaire that contains both open and
closed questions and that is suitable for people from different generations
- compile, analyse and synthesise the results obtained
- present the findings and conclusions about these findings in an
appropriate format.

ASSESSMENT RULES
● You can quote another’s work, but you must reference regardless of whether you
have been specifically asked to do this or not.
● You can paraphrase another’s work, but you must reference regardless of
whether you have been specifically asked to do this or not.
● Assessments assess your understanding and your ability to apply your
knowledge. Quotations & references to other sources are used to support
and justify your understanding and arguments. An assessment can not be
just a series of quotations and paraphrasing.
● All normal rules apply. See Assessment Handbook.
 1
TASK INSTRUCTIONS

You will be conducting a cross-generational study of how one process of

socialisation has changed over time.

As part of this assessment task, you will construct the following:

● A Questionnaire
● In class written response

For your assessment focus, you can choose from the following:

❏ Individual's perceptions of birth-order characteristics

❏ Attitudes towards adolescents
❏ Perspectives on location and social class
❏ Perspectives on the changing role of religion in Australian society
❏ Impact of changing family structures
❏ Impact of gender stereotyping on the individual

Once you have chosen your general area of interest, you will need to follow the
Research Process (pages 22-23 of the syllabus) to design your investigation,
starting with a research question. This is the question that you want your research to
answer. Remember, this is a cross-generational study, so you will need to compare
(show how things are similar or different) between two generations.

Some examples of research questions:

❏ Analyse the similarities and differences between the perception of

adolescents by the Builders generation and Generation X.
❏ Assess whether Generation Z is more accepting of changing family
structures than Baby Boomers. ❏ Investigate which generation is more
accepting of changing gender roles in society.
 Source: [Link]

2
Questionnaire
You should aim to collect 15-20 responses from each generation you are studying.
Your questionnaire should have the following features:

❏ A minimum of 10 questions, showing a balance of both close-ended and

open-ended questions. ❏ One question must capture the age/generation
of the respondent.
❏ The questions must clearly link to the overall research question.
❏ Address the principles of ethical research (refer to page 21 of the syllabus).

In class Task
In class on the 17th June, you will be given a question that you will need to answer
based on the research that you have conducted. You are allowed to bring in 1 page,
that is one sided of research notes. Font type will be Times New Roman and size 12,
spacing 1.15. You will hand in your research notes at the end of the assessment. You
must also hand in a blank copy of your questionnaire that you have constructed.

You will get FOUR lessons to work on this assessment task.

 3
Marking Criteria
The Process of Research and Written response
Criteria Mark

❏ Constructs a well-balanced and logical questionnaire that clearly applies ethical research 17-20
practices and accurately addresses the research question
❏ Comprehensive and detailed description of the research results, effectively integrating
relevant course concepts
❏ Sophisticated and detailed interpretation of findings, clearly using the results to answer a
unseen question
❏ Sophisticated and insightful reflection on the application of ethical research practices

❏ Constructs a balanced questionnaire that applies ethical research practices and 13-16
adequately addresses the research question
❏ Detailed description of the research results, integrating relevant course
concepts ❏ Detailed interpretation of findings, using the results to answer an
unseen question ❏ Detailed reflection on the application of ethical research
practices
9-12
❏ Constructs a questionnaire that may apply some ethical research practices and
attempts to address the research question
❏ Sound description of the research results, may integrate some course
concepts ❏ Sound interpretation of findings, attempts to answer an
unseen question
❏ Sound reflection on the application of some ethical research practices 5-8

❏ Constructs a questionnaire that somewhat addresses the research question but fails to
address ethical research principles
❏ Basic description of the research results, may refer to some course
concepts ❏ Basic interpretation of findings with no clear links to an
unseen question 1-4
❏ Basic attempt at reflecting on the application of some ethical research practices

❏ Questionnaire does not address ethical research practices or the research

question ❏ Limited description of research results
❏ Limited description of findings
❏ Limited description of ethical research practices

Feedback:

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The Social and Cultural World
 The Social and Cultural World

Integrated concepts

Fundamental What is a concept?

course A concept is an important idea expressed using significant words that shape our
concepts understanding of human behaviour, which is the major aim of the Society and Culture
course.

Concepts are the language of this course. Learning to use this language appropriately and
insightfully and using concepts effectively will enable you to go beyond merely describing
human behaviour. It will facilitate a deeper examination and encourage analysis of all the
weird, wonderful and normal aspects of our lives and the lives of those we are studying.

Persons
Every person is a unique individual who develops in a social and environmental setting in
which he or she is influenced by, and interacts with, other persons and groups.
Communication, the sharing of values and beliefs, and cooperation are major interactions.
The identity achieved by each individual is the result of interactions at the micro, meso and
macro levels of society.

Society
Society is made up of people, groups, networks, institutions, organisations and systems.
These aspects of society may include local, national, regional and international patterns of
relationships and organisation. People belong to informal and formal groups, and within and
between these groups there are patterns of interactions that contribute to unique cultures.

Culture
Culture refers to the shared knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that give each society its
coherence, identity and distinctive way of life. Culture is demonstrated by the beliefs,
customs, values, norms, rules, laws, governance, arts, technologies and artefacts that
people generate and use as they interpret meaning from their world and solve present and
future problems. Culture is dynamic and undergoes change, and is therefore not static.

Environment
Every society is located in a particular physical setting and interacts with its environment.
The attitudes and values that people have in regard to their environment greatly affect
interactions between persons, society, culture and the environment. Unique culture is
generated from the interactions with the immediate environment. Different locations and
their environments – including urban, rural, coastal, inland and isolated – present societies
and their cultures with both opportunities and constraints.

Time
Every person, society, culture and environment is located in a period of time and is
changing with time. Time can be examined as past, present and future. Our perceptions of
time are drawn from past events and these influence our ideas about the present. These
perceptions need not, however, determine possible ideas of a future. The concept of time is
best studied in context – last century, this century, and pre- and post-events – or as a
particular decade. Time is studied in relation to continuity and change. (This is a key theme,
particularly in the HSC course)
Additional
course Power
concepts: Power is the ability or capacity to influence or persuade others to a point of view or action to
which they may not always agree.
Exercising power is important in initiating or preventing change.

Authority
Authority is linked to power and the right to make decisions and to determine, adjudicate or
settle issues and disputes in society. Authority is best understood as the legitimate use of
power. The use of authority is important in the process of decision-making and in initiating
change and maintaining continuity.

Gender
Gender refers to the socially constructed differences between females and males. Social
life – including family life, roles, work, behaviour and other activities – is organised around
the dimensions of this difference. Gender also refers to the cultural ideals, identities and
stereotypes of masculinity and femininity and the sexual division of labour in institutions and
organisations. Gender reflects the value a society places on these social constructs, which
are particular and unique to a society.

Identity
Identity refers to the sense of self and can be viewed from a personal, social and cultural
level. Identity is formed over a period of time and is the result of interactions at the micro,
meso and macro levels of society. An identity has dimensions or layers that create a sense
of inclusion in a group or culture. Contributing factors to one’s identity may be gender,
sexuality, family, class, ethnicity, beliefs, social status, group membership and national
pride.

Technologies
The term ‘technologies’ refers to all the tools that we use to assist our interactions in
society. Technologies can lead to innovation and can initiate change to micro, meso and
macro operations in society. The value placed on technologies at any level of society
influences the rate of change to society and culture. Technologies are constantly changing
and adapting and their impact varies over time. Communication-based technologies
facilitate the interaction between the micro, meso and macro levels of society.

Globalisation
Globalisation is the process of integration and sharing of goods, capital, labour, services,
knowledge, leisure, sport, ideas and culture between countries. Globalisation is evidenced
in the emergence of global patterns of consumption and consumerism; the growth of
transnational corporations; global sport; the spread of world tourism; and the growth of
global military and economic systems. Globalisation is assisted by technologies and media
integration, resulting in an increasing consciousness of the world as a single place.

Contemporary Context

Social & Social & Cultural Literacy

Cultural Interactions exist between micro, meso and macro levels.
Literacy
Micro level:
Interactions are personal and occur between individuals and their family, peers and
individuals in the community.
 Meso level:
Interactions occur between the micro and the macro levels of society. Meso-level structures
are groups in the community, village, school, workplace, local interest club, branch,
organisation and state. The meso level is also known as the middle level.

Macro level:
Interactions are impersonal and relate to large institutions, the media, law, and government,
and are evident at national and international levels.

The Nature of the Social and Cultural world

The Social & Related Concepts

Cultural World Social Construct: A socially created aspect of social life. Social constructionists argue that
society is actively and creatively produced by human beings rather than being merely given
or taken for granted.

Community: A (usually local) social system with an implied sense of relationship and
mutual identity among its members. As well as being locational, a community can be a
group that shares a strong common interest and whose members communicate over space
and through time using communication technologies

Citizenship: The rights and duties of a member of a nation-state. The status of citizenship
can be defined by the civil, being rights and freedom, the political, being the right to
participate by voting or holding office, and the social, being access to services such as
education and welfare.

Continuity: The persistence or consistent existence of cultural elements in a society across

time. Continuity can also be referred to as the maintenance of the traditions and social
structures that bring stability to a society.

Change: The alteration or modification of cultural elements in a society. Change to society

can occur at the micro, meso and macro levels. It can be brought about by modernisation
processes, including technical innovation. This force results in an alteration to culture.

Socialisation: The process by which individuals learn to become functioning members of

society by internalising the roles, norms and values of that society. Socialisation occurs as a
result of the individual’s interaction with the agents of socialisation, through which they learn
to perform social roles.

Social Structure: The recurring patterns of social behaviour and the ordered
interrelationships between different elements of a society. For example, the statistical
distributions of occupations and employment reveal important features of the social
structure of society. Socialisation is important for maintaining social structures because
norms and meanings become evident through the shared ideas and actions of individuals.

Modern societies are both diverse and unique:

→ Multicultural: An approach to cultural diversity in society that promotes the view that
cultural differences should be respected and even encouraged and supported.
→ Hybrid: A society that comprises a range of social and cultural influences and
components, rather than having a homogenous identity.
Social Comparision Table
Constructs
Men Both Women

●​ Reproductive ●​ Human biology ●​ Reproductive

system ●​ Intelligence organs
●​ More muscle mass ●​ Emotional capacity ●​ Longer life span
●​ Suppress emotions ●​ Moral & ethic ●​ Menstruaction
●​ Higher understanding ●​ More emotional
testosterone levels ●​ Capable of learning ●​ Express more
new skills direct
communication

Biological Sex: The physical and genetic traits (e.g. chromosomes, hormones,
reproductive organs).

Gender: A social and cultural construct that defines roles, behaviours and identities
associated with masculinity, femininity identities.

Quantitative and Qualitative research

Research Primary Research

Methodologies Research that is conducted by the researcher themselves:
-​ Conduct to gain first hand info e.g. interviews, questionnaire, etc
-​ Data collected requies interpretation
-​ Allows collection of new info

Secondary Research
-​ Research conducted by some else
-​ Draws on primary research and other secondary research to present interactions
and conclusions
-​ Using secondary research gives you the background of a topic and allows you to
define your own area of study

Types of Data
Quantitative Research
→ involves collecting data that can be counted (quantified) and analysed for meaning
-​ Data is easily measured/counted
-​ Results are usually presented as graphs or in tables
-​ Recorded statistics of observable behaviour

Qualitative research
→ involves the collection of data that provides detailed descriptions explanation,s and
opinions of why things occur
-​ Research that uses descriptions rather than statistics
-​ Focuses on interpreting and evaluating the experiences of participants

Methodologies
-​ Statistical analysis
-​ Questionnaire
-​ Content analysis
-​ Observation
-​ Interview
Personal & Social Identity
 Personal & Social Identity

Socialisation Socialisation
●​ Acquiring the attitudes and values of the wider society
●​ Gaining an identity
●​ Achieving a personality

The socialisation process involves many different influences or layers that affect the
individual throughout the lifecycle.
The agents of socialisation are the most important of these influences. The family; the peer
group: the school; and the Mass [Link] influences are individuals, groups and
institutions.

NESA Definition:
The process by which individuals learn to become functioning members of society by
internalising the roles, norms and values of that society.

The most important time when socialization occurs is between the ages of one and ten.
We learn throughout our lives, but this first ten years is most important in determining who
we are for the rest of our lives.

Defintions
●​ The values of the culture in which we live define the roles that we play and the
pattern of behaviour that goes with those roles.
●​ Roles: are a ‘set’ of normative expectations
●​ Norms; are expected patterns of behaviour defined by the wider values of a
society’s culture. Eg arranged marriage, worship
●​ Status: level of social honour or prestige.

Socialisation- passing on culture

Our societies to which we are born into as well as the roles we are to play in life are tenets
of ‘culturalisation’. Generally, we are also socialized and usually adopt our culture's norms
through the ‘culturalisation’ process.

Norms and values defined by society

Norms, values, perceptions and roles that people formulate are significantly defined by
society through various agents eg the family, peer groups, the church (that is, religious
institutions) and educational institutions.

Socialisation not confined to childhood

It should be understood that socialization is not only confined to childhood as event is a
lifelong process The individual does not cease learning norms, myths, perceptions, customs
and other forms of the culture

Aim: to become ‘institutionalised’.

As social life evolves, develops and become more complex, certain forms of conduct and
belief – moral codes or religious practices for example – become reproduced by successive
generations of people as accepted or proper ways of doing things. In sociological terms,
they become ‘institutionalized’.
Language is a good example of a social institution. We all learn it and use it, but none of us
created it.

Children Raised in Isolation

There are numerous accounts of children raised in near total isolation.

Genie was raised in near isolation for the first twelve years of her life. She was often
strapped to a child's potty or confined to a sleeping bag. She saw only her father and
mother and this contact was occurred only at feeding. Needless to say, she failed to
develop social skills.

Primary agents of socialisation

Sociologists explain that the agents of socialization are classified in two main groups
namely primary and secondary.

They confer that the primary agents of socialization are probably the most important in the
socialization process of an individual.
- Parents
Family
peers;

Secondary agents of socialisation

Whereas the school, religious institutions (e.g. the churches) and mass media are seen as
secondary because of their positioning in the socialization process of the infant.

On-going agents of socialisation

●​ Politics
●​ Nationality
●​ Community
●​ Career
●​ Trade unions
●​ Pressure groups
●​ Social class
●​ Church
●​ Mass media

Importance of socialisation
●​ These agents of socialisation are especially important in modern societies Why?
●​ Because they affect almost everyone in a powerful and lasting way.
●​ Societies work because every individual member plays a role and each role carries
a norm and status which are influenced by values- this is called socialisation.

Pre ‘I.R’ family was extended

But that was before the industrial revolution.
IR families raised large amounts of children to help with the many challenges that come
with owning a family rural farm. The family was an extended kinship group.
Their extended family was their social networks

Post Social Revolution- families smaller

After the revolution, many families moved into town and downsized because of the small
living spaces. They began to spend less time with their extended family, and more time
socializing with neighbors’ and friends.
The family today
●​ Today, the nuclear family is diversifying (since the 1960s)
●​ The family form is changing (form = shape)
●​ The continuity is that the family still socialise their children ie Function
●​ Families have children based on their economic stability and children tend to stay
with their parents longer.
●​ families today are generally more compassionate and caring than in earlier years.

Definition of nuclear family – difficult!

Sociologists’ today agree that a nuclear family does not have to consist of their biological
children, or contain both a mother and a father.

With rising divorce-rates and the ageing of the population, the nuclear family is no longer
the norm.

Many parents have become more career oriented, and children are involved in more school
and community activities. Children turn to close friends for comfort and support as well as
their family, and they have more freedom when it comes to making their own decisions.

Function of the family

●​ provide a nurturing environment with love, devotion to spending time with them,
educational support, and a stable economic environment throughout the years.
●​ Parents also pass on their values of religion, work ethic, and responsibility.
●​ They teach their children what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
●​ provide a stable emotional environment for their children.
●​ Each parent has their own role as well as working together.
●​ The father is usually responsible for providing income, along with protecting the
family.
●​ The mother, in most families, is still responsible for housework and motherhood.

The family – a conduit of values

The family/ parents are equally conduits of the transfer of values, norms, ideology and
perspective on the world for their children.

Infants are almost totally dependent on others (family) for their survivability, and this explain
the pivotal role of parents and-or other family member.

Adoption and repetition

The socialisation process begins with the family, and more so those individuals to which the
child will rely for survival.

The child learns to speak, the language, actions, mode of communication, value system,
norms and the meaning of things through adoption, repetition, and observation of the social
actions of people within the environment.

What makes socialisation in the family so important and influential?

Foundation for all socially accepted behavior:
-​ Language abilities (learning to talk)
-​ Body control (e.g., toilet training)
-​ Emotional control (e.g., "don't hit your sister")
-​ Rules of public conduct (e.g., "don't throw food")
-​ Moral values (e.g., "lying is a sin")
Emotion bond important
●​ Access to the emotional bond between parent and child, an extremely strong and
effective socializing mechanism
●​ Lifetime impacts affecting the person's self-esteem, emotional health, identity, and
personality
●​ Origin point of gender roles (masculine and feminine behavior; fundamental division
of the social world into men and women)
●​ Origin point of ethnocentricism and racism (racial and ethnic prejudice)
●​ Source of original social capital that determines life chances

Social capital and life’s chances

●​ Social capital = resources useful for gaining advantages in life; includes such things
as family and friendship networks, community schools, family's social class
background, technology available in home or school, etc.
●​ Life chances = probability of achieving the "good things" in life, such as, health,
wealth, happiness, security, power, etc.
●​ The amazing power of the family as an agent of socialization comes from a
combination of two factors:

Gender roles
●​ An important part of socialization is the learning of culturally defined gender roles.
●​ Gender socialization refers to the learning of behavior and attitudes considered
appropriate for a given sex. Boys learn to be boys and girls learn to be girls.
●​ This "learning" happens by way of many different agents of socialization. The family
is certainly important in reinforcing gender roles, but so are one’s friends, school,
work and the mass media. Gender roles are reinforced through "countless subtle
and not so subtle ways“

Boys and trucks

●​ Henslin (2004:66) suggests that the fact that parents let their preschool boys roam
farther from home than their preschool girls illustrates how girls are socialized to be
more dependent.
●​ A parent who buys his male children trucks while buying his female children dolls is
engaging in gender socialization.

Agents change their levels of influence

●​ The power of the family is strongest during infancy
●​ After that the media, then peers, and finally school challenges its exclusive access
to the child.
●​ By later childhood the family's power as a socialization agent has weakened
considerably.

Family influence further weakened

●​ In the adolescent years the power of the family is further weakened by peer group
influences and the predominance of the media in teenage subculture.
●​ Overall there has been an historical trend of the family's power as an agent of
socialization being steadily eroded by the media, peer subculture, and schooling.
●​ The family returns as a predominant agent of socialization during the adult years
with the roles of marital partner and parent.
●​ The process of becoming a human is simply only performed by the family but other
socio-political agents.
Mass Media Includes:
●​ Television
●​ • Radio
●​ • Movies
●​ • Music
●​ • Books, magazines, etc.
●​ • Internet
●​ Somewhere around the age of two or three, children in our society first encounter
the media as an agent of socialization in the form of TV. Socialization comes through
from children's shows, cartoons, and, most especially, commercials.

Media
●​ The media are social agents that influence people’s perspective as much as they
DO because they are a part of the socialization landscape.
●​ By placing a subject matter on the back of the newspaper, or leaving it completely
untouched, will have an influence on the importance (or lack thereof) that people will
attach to that item.
●​

Media transmit values

●​ The media thoroughly understand how values are formulated, and so they are able
to use coverage and emphasize of issues through particular personalities to
stimulate discourse and shape culturalization.
●​ Like the family, the church, informal and formal social groupings, and formal
schooling, the media is a mode of socialization.
●​

Values or attitudes through discourse

●​ the media exploit in an attempt to influence the culture.
●​ The media receive feedback on particular issues through public opinions from which
guided approaches are taken to address certain values or attitudes through
discourse.

Socialisation occurs through…

●​ … the characters, images, words, and narrative story lines.
●​ Some media specifically act to be an agent of socialization (e.g., children's programs
such as Sesame Street) but most only strive to be entertainment.
●​

Values are carried by the media

●​ Today the media seriously challenges the family.
●​ Children spend as much or more time in front of the TV as interacting with parents.
●​ Messages and values carried by the media are powerful and seductive. Many of
those messages and values challenge or directly contradict what parent's teach their
children.
●​

Media influence strengthens

●​ Media influence continues and strengthens in adolescence based on a merger of
teen subculture, pop culture (music & movies), and corporate marketing.
●​ Sports, increasingly a branch of marketing, become especially influential for teenage
boys.
●​ The internet (web pages, e-mail, chat rooms) have emerged as another media
 source important to teens, again especially boys

Power of the media declines

●​ The power of the media declines in adult years but still remains strong. Pop culture
continues strong but loses its subculture support. Sports and the internet continue
as agents of socialization, especially for males. News (both TV and print) emerge as
new agent of socialization in the adult years.

Peers
●​ Peers refer to people who are roughly the same age and/or who share other social
characteristics (e.g., students in a class/year/cohort/clique).
●​ Peers are people of roughly the same age (same stage of development and
maturity), similar social identity, and close social proximity.
●​ Typically, children encounter peer group influence around age three or so. Usually
these are neighbors, family members, or day care mates.
●​ With peers, the child begins to broaden his or her circle of influence to people
outside of the immediate family.

Peer interaction closely supervised

●​ Often peer interaction in the earliest years is closely supervised by parents so it
tends to parallel and reinforce what is learned in the family.
●​ What is added to socialization are social skills in group situation with social equals.
●​ Before this time children basically dealt with people in a superior position.

Socialisation learned through play

●​ The lessons learned also progress from basic rules of group interaction to more
complex strategies of negotiation, dominance, leadership, cooperation, compromise,
etc.
●​ These lessons are learned first in play and later through games.
●​ Peers also establish the platform for children to begin challenging the dominant
power of parents and family.

Peer group relationships important

●​ In adolescence, peer group relationships become extremely important, rising up to
directly challenge the family.
●​ In direct alliance with the media, teenage peers form their own subculture.

Learn to navigate
●​ They learn how to navigate the complexities and nuances of group interaction
largely without adult guidance or supervision.
●​ Peer group socialization also becomes linked to puberty and the all important role
of sexuality and sexual relations in life.

Teens learn lots!

●​ Peer groups are where teens largely learn about sex and being sexual and practice
the skills of sexuality.
●​ Paralleling this, the gender role socialization begun in the family is extended,
deepened, and reinforced.
●​ In the adult years the demands of work and family overwhelm most peer group
relations and the influence of peers seriously declines as an agent of socialization,
only to return during the elderly years.
Peers role in socialisation:
●​ The development of trust
●​ The development of independence
●​ The tendency to take initiative
●​ The sense of competence and ambition
●​ Decisions about who one is
●​ Relationships with others
●​ Decisions about future generations
●​ Reflections on one's life

School
●​ Traditionally around five or six years old the child enters the school system in the
first grade. Today the process often starts earlier in Kindergarten or day care.
●​ Socialization takes three forms in school:
●​ The official curriculum, The social curriculum and the hidden curriculum

Official curriculum
●​ What the school system and its teachers announce as their content and goal.
●​ It includes the knowledge & skills learned in English, math, history.
●​ This curriculum often reinforces what is learnt in the family but it can also challenge
family socialization (e.g., teaching values of tolerance to a child from a racist family)

Transmit culture
●​ The school is the official place where our society transmits it accumulated
knowledge and skills from one generation to next. It's also the place where we
officially pass on our cultural values, tradition, and heritage, at least the "official"
heritage.

Social curriculum
●​ social behavior appropriate for peer groups that are not friendship groups, which
then become the model for secondary group interactions.
●​ Many of the skills learned in peer groups are transferable but now the child learns to
communicate, negotiate, dominate, etc. with peers outside of their immediate social
circle, often from diverse social backgrounds.
●​ In many ways this social curriculum reinforces and deepens gender role
socialization started in the family and continued in the peer group.

Social curriculum replaced by Social interaction

●​ By high school, teens have largely learned the social curriculum. It is replaced more
and more by peer social interaction in the hallways, in the parking lot, in the study
room etc. and broadens away from general group interaction to interaction in
sexualized situations.
●​ In addition, many adolescence are introduced to the social curriculum through
organized sports.

Hidden curriculum
●​ This is learning the rules of behavior need to function in formally organized groups.
It includes such behavior maxims as:
●​ • Don't talk when the teacher is talking
●​ • Get your assignments in on time
●​ • Not all teachers have the same rules for their class
●​ • When a teacher tells another student to stop talking, it is not a good idea to start
 talking to your neighbor since the teacher has already expressed disapproval of that
action
●​

Requirements for the adult world

It includes positive reinforcement for such values as:
●​ Precision
●​ Self-reliance
●​ Competitiveness
●​ Obedience

Preparation for the adult world

●​ As preparation for the adult world of formal organization and workplace authority, the
hidden curriculum stresses such things as formalization and standardization,
following instructions, obedience to authority figures that are not parents, learning to
control behavior and fit into the group, pleasing (even manipulating) authority
figures, and working in teams.

We learn to respect authority

●​ we learn to respect authority by indoctrination, punishment, and ‘culturalization’.
●​ All forms of authority groups within the school system are specifically designed so
that they reflect the various positions in our society. Eg. School leaders, prefects
●​ School leadership structures provide the background for children to capture
society’s values, norms and beliefs

Socialisation is the process….

●​ ….by which individuals learn the culture of their society
●​ They reiterated that it is through socialization that an individual bears resemblances
to another human being, and as such he/she is defined as normal based on the
standards of his/her society.
●​ It is society that defines norms, values, morals, culture and mode of interpretation of
events to which an individual normally subscribes in order to be socially accepted by
his/her peers.

Socialisation and enculturation

●​ Is achieved through the interactive phase of his/her experiences, and many of these
sociological agents are taught by family, peer group, church, formal schooling, and
other social individuals or groups.
●​ The process of acquiring a culture is referred to as socialization.

Socialisation designs the individual

●​ It is during socialization that we gain a personality and hence achieve personal
identity.
●​ ‘socialization’ is the designer of the individual into a social being “through learning to
think and behave according to the values and norms prevalent in his society”

An outcome of socialisation is personality and an identity

●​ The family is the most important agent of socialization because it represents the
centre of children’s lives” and from here a personality emerges
●​ human beings are the product of their environment and society and not the creator
thereof; they have the innate capacity and are endowed with personalities created
by nature and interactions with their social institutions.
 Personality
●​ personality is an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of behaviour,
thoughts, and emotions that are influenced by the family and the environment.
●​ Therefore, both the Sociologists and Psychologists who study different aspects in
the Social Sciences reveal that human behaviour is learnt, and is influenced by their
social environment through either ‘culturization’, adaptation, imitation or experiences
garnered from the various social agents – the family, the church, the school, political
ideology or structure, other social institutions or peer group.

The outcome of socialisation is an identity

Adolescents solve the identity crisis in a number of ways –
●​ Selection of personal values and ideals
●​ Formulation of a personality style which puts together all the adolescent’s unique
qualities, dispositions, and ways of relating to others
●​ The discovery of a place in the world where he/she fits and fells comfortable
●​ Choice of occupation

Nature vs Nurture
●​ The nature vs. nurture debate explores the relative importance of cultural (social
environment) and biological (heredity) factors in the developmental process of
human beings.
●​ Is our biology most important in determining who we are or is our social
environment?
●​ Do we learn our character or is it determined at birth genetically?

Complex interaction between the two

●​ Few would reject the position that biology plays an important role. Biology provides
us with large brains that allow us to think abstractly (e.g., we can create things in our
minds and build them in reality).
●​ In all likelihood the answer to this question is a complex interaction between the two.

Film: Nell
●​ Nell is a girl who's been brought up in an isolated world.
●​ The only people she knew were her mother and twin sister. They lived together in a
cottage in the forest.
●​ Nobody has ever met Nell.
●​ After her mother's death, she's discovered by the local doctor Jerome.
●​ He's fascinated by her, since she speaks a mangled language, developed by her
sister and herself growing up, "twin speak"

Adolescence

Adolescence Define
Adolescence is a period of time during which adolescents develop their interests and
identity in preparation for participation in society as an adult.’ The process of coming to
know who one is, what one believes in and values, and what one wants to accomplish in
life.

Personal Self
The individual's conscious experience of a distinct, personal identity that is separate from all
other people and things.
Identity
The understanding of who you are and why you are that person. As part of developing an
identity, there must be the development of the self-concept.
Social Self
A sense of self that knows what is required. The person we become is multitextured in
composition, and it is these many layers that contribute to the person’s ultimate personal
and social identity.

Adolescence is the transition period

Between childhood and adulthood, where the individual’s physical, social and emotional
growth takes them into adulthood.

Adolescence is the stage when we are socialised into adulthood, when the society to which
we belong attempts to direct our intellectual, social and emotional growth to ensure we
become the sorts of adults that society wants.

The most accurate general meaning is that adolescence represents the stage of physical
and cognitive change associated with puberty, and concurrently, the transition from youth to
adulthood.

In advanced societies
In advanced societies adolescence is the transitional stage between childhood and
adulthood. Usually beginning with puberty and ends with the gaining of adult occupations
and responsibility.
●​ It is a time of questioning and often rebellion - when self identity takes shape.
●​ It is a time of questioning and often rebellion - when self identity takes shape.
●​ Adolescents are physical mature but are economically unproductive
●​ The work of the Adolescent is that of learning. For most jobs now you need the
H.S.C.
●​ Adolescent’s role in society is ill-defined – in the past it was clear – based on sexism

Adolescence is about:
●​ achieving new and more mature relations with age mates of both sexes.
●​ achieving a sexual identity.
 ●​ accepting ones physique and using the body effectively.
●​ Achieving emotional independence.
●​ Achieving assurance of economic independence.
●​ Selecting and preparing for an occupation.
●​ Preparing for marriage and family life.
●​ Desiring and achieving socially responsible behaviour.
●​ Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system.
●​ In Adolescence, the dilemma is that students are adults in appearance but not fully
socially equipped.
●​ This can create conflict (storm and stress/generation gap). This conflict is a step in
independence.

Adolescence - Changing rights and responsibilities

The Migrant Adolescence

The migrant adolescent can be subject to more discipline and control from parents thus
there is generally less interaction with peer groups. There is often more conflict because of
this as well, values and norms are different.

Australian girls as young as 14 have been flown overseas and forced to marry older men in
an attempt by their families to protect them from promiscuity and Western influences at
home.

It was a tense time for staff at the Australian embassy in Lebanon. A 14-year-old girl had
shown up on the doorstep alone, with her suitcases. Through tears, she said she wanted to
return home to Australia to her mother, after effectively being imprisoned at the home of her
new husband's family. 2005

Adolescent blurring
●​ Today, adolescence is undergoing rapid change.
●​ No formal rite of passage (p-plates) – potentially open to change (extended period).
●​ Some formal rites of passage are deliberately missed eg University graduation
●​ Part time work has allowed for a greater independence and less parental authority.
●​ Adolescence today is divided into early and late the tweens and the 20
somethings!.
●​ This new group created – the twenty something's characterised by a delay in
marriage, an established singles culture.
 ●​ Adolescence was SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED from modern industrial society - is
linked to the humanitarian movements of the late 1800's eg Universal compulsory
education and the regulation of child labour.
●​ In our society laws now protect children from heavy work, long hours and unhealthy
conditions.
●​ Young children can no longer be transformed into adults by long hours of toil.

20th century phenomena and before the 1950s

The whole period of adolescence is really a 20th century phenomena because once
schooling became compulsory, this divided childhood from adulthood and gave young
people a time in which they could associate with their peers.

●​ Middle ages – life was short/ uncertain/ labour.

●​ The period of adolescence was unheard.
●​ Marriage occurred at 12 years.
●​ Industrial revolution – children worked 12-14 hour days at age 12.

●​ The word Teenager was created in the 1950’s due to the tremendous population of
those in this age category
●​ teenagers started gaining more independence and freedoms.
●​ Teenagers were able to buy more clothes and music because of an increase in
POST WAR spending .

●​ Teenagers were expected to take life seriously.

●​ Males were expected to join the military or go out and get a job in order to help bring
in money for their family or to take care of their future family.

●​ Females were taught how to take care of the household and prepare themselves to
be a dutiful wife and take care of children

●​ New medians were created like television and AM radio that attracted teenagers.
Also they were able to attend high school dances, create clothing trends, dance
fads, and hairstyles.

Youth programs/movement
●​ School was seen as a strategy to protect youth
●​ Scout movement emerged – youth programs
●​ Teenage lifestyle created by WW2 – the US Marines had R&R – days off wearing
denim and listening to music in milkbars!!

●​ Youth movements of the 1960’s developed critiques of adult society eg Vietnam war
●​ 1970’s Teenagers no longer wanted to follow the examples of their parents –
Nimbin/6000 living in Nth QWLD commune
●​ Drug culture, radio 4222 played Punk – The Saints

1980 & 1990

●​ Jeans and T-shirt was the dress code –symbolised values of freedom, individuality
and free speech
●​ Schoolies established as a rite of passage in 1980’s
●​ 1990’s raves, designer drugs, mosh pit, mobile phones, big day out!, cargo pants
threatened denim jeans
2000
●​ Marijuana by 14
●​ Sex by 17
 ●​ Plastic surgery
●​ Youth suicide
●​ Carefree stereotype is corroded
●​ girl power – new feminism
●​ Virginity is cool again- new conservative teenager emerging
●​ 10 times more girls going to Uni compared to 1955

Growing up
●​ Rites of Passage act as a debut into society
●​ Lakota boys aged 14 sent on a fasting initiation test
●​ Masai boys are circumcised as part of their graduation to Moran Warrior status
●​ Aboriginal boys are circumcised and have a front tooth removed
●​ Female genital mutilation in Africa – preparation for marriage

Subcultures
●​ Peer group is important during adolescence to make the transition into adulthood
●​ Feelings of constraint in family and kinship group
●​ Subcultures develop own set of values, dress, customs, morality different to the
adult community
●​ Confusion between adolescent and parents occurs due to tension over values
●​ Youth subcultures are often defined or distinguishable by elements such as clothing,
beliefs, slang, dialects, behaviours or interests. Many youth subcultures are
associated with specific music genres, and in some cases music has been the
primary characteristic of the group, such as with Punks, Ravers, Metalheads, Goths,
Scene,Gangstas, Emo and Indie.
Theories about youth subgroup
●​ Early studies in youth culture were mainly produced by functionalist sociologists,
and focus on youth as a single form of culture.
●​ In explaining the development of the culture, they utilized the concept of anomie.
●​ personal feeling of a lack of norms; normlessness". It describes the breakdown of
social norms and values
●​ Talcott Parsons argued that as we move from the family and corresponding values
to another sphere with differing values, (e.g. the workplace) we would experience an
"anomie situation.“

Own values
●​ Peer group needed for the formation of identity and the authenticity of ourselves.
●​ Helps with identity formation

Generation Gap
●​ The generation gap in pre-industrialisation did not exist because children worked
productively in the home or factory and had to contribute to the family income.
●​ Youth existed BUT Adolescence as we know it did not exist.
●​ The emergence of a separate and distinctive age stage of adolescence did not
occur until the late C19th.

What influences the GENERATION GAP? - cultural differences between groups.

1. Mass media - strong influence on beliefs and attitudes of adolescents and the
communication within the sub-culture.
2. Technology and its influence.
3. Changing norms and values.
 Theories of Social Development

Development Theories to Study

●​ Social theories are a way of generalising knowledge.
●​ Theories play a very important role in helping us to understand HOW and WHY
things happen in society.
●​ It is important to understand that they are not the absolute truth.
●​ All theories are open to dispute, debate and can be challenged.
●​ Theories represent thoughts based upon knowledge at that particular time.
●​ Theories tend to reflect the social and cultural context in which they are created.
●​ Some theories can quickly seem inadequate when new theories are established
●​ Theories are born out of experiments, investigations, research and the experiences
of others.
●​ There are a number of theories to help us understand aspects of how we develop
physically and socially.

Theorists to critique
●​ David Elkind (Cognitive Development)
●​ Erik Erikson (Social development)
●​ Carol Gilligan (moral development)
●​ Robert Havighurst (holistic development)
●​ Jane Loevinger (moral/cognitive development)

Piaget’s theory
1.​ Sensorimotor from birth to 1 ½ years
2.​ Preoperational 2 – 7 years
3.​ Concrete Operations 7 – 11
4.​ Formal Operations 11 into adulthood

●​ concerned the growth of intelligence, which for Piaget, meant the ability to more
accurately represent the world, and perform logical operations on representations of
concepts grounded in the world.
●​ Piaget divided schemes that children use to understand the world through four main
stages, roughly correlated with and becoming increasingly sophisticated with age
Sensorimotor stage
1.​ Birth:
2.​ Infants are only aware of themselves
3.​ They do not understand themselves as a separate person.
4.​ Children learn about the world through their senses and body movements

Theories to Study
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Theories to Study
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Theories to Study
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Theories to Study
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Theories to Study
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Classwork
Questions

1)​ Construct a mind map of the words and ideas that you associate with the
experience of being an adolescent. Do any general patterns emerge from
these ideas; that is, can they be organised into categories of behaviour?
Intercultural Communication
The Nature of Communication
 The nature of communication

Concepts Cultural Heritage: The practices, traditions, customs and knowledge that define who we
are socially and personally. Cultural heritage is an expression of the values that help us to
understand our past, make sense of the present, and express a continuity of culture for the
future. Cultural heritage can be
analysed at the micro, meso and macro levels in society.

Customs: Established ways of acting or cultural practices that are unique to groups in
society. Customs have important links to the heritage, values, and
The traditions of people.

Values: Deeply held ideas and beliefs that guide our thinking, language and behaviour.
Differences in values exist among groups of people in society and are a part of one’s
culture. Values can be challenged.

Acculturation: The process of contacts between different cultures and also the outcome of
such contacts. Acculturation occurs when members of one cultural group adopt the beliefs
and behaviours of another group. It may involve direct social interaction or exposure to
other cultures through mass media.

Cultural Relativism: The idea that concepts are socially constructed and vary across
cultures. Therefore, individuals and groups must always view other cultures
objectively and not judge them using the values and norms of their own culture as a
measure of right or wrong.

Cultural Diversity: Appears as a society becomes larger and more complex, immigrant
groups join the dominant culture, and subcultures form within the society. The
more complex the society, the more likely it is that its culture will become internally varied
and diverse. Cultural diversity implies a two-way sharing of ideas, customs and values
among the various cultural groups that comprise the society.

Continuity: The persistence or consistent existence of cultural elements in a society across

time. Continuity can also be referred to as the maintenance of the
Traditions and social structures that bring stability to a society.

Change: The alteration or modification of cultural elements in a society. Change to society

can occur at the micro, meso and macro levels. It can be brought
about by modernisation processes, including technological innovation. This force results in
an alteration to culture.

Cultural Transmission: The transmission of culture – such as traditions, values, language,

symbols, cultural traits, beliefs and normative behaviour – across and between generations
in society.

Stereotypes: The preconceived view of the characteristics of a group held by individuals

who are not members of that group. These views are usually negative, generalised and
inflexible, and ignore differences that exist between the members of the stereotyped group.