Active learning ideas
This topic explores the 'social glue' that holds society together: culture, norms, and values. Students examine how we learn to be members of our society through primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through schools, peers, and the media. They will distinguish between biological imperatives and learned behaviours, looking at how different cultures have vastly different expectations for conduct. This is a core component of the GCSE specification, providing the foundation for understanding social identity.
Activity 01
Set up stations for Family, Education, Media, and Peers. At each station, students must list three specific 'hidden' rules that agency teaches us and discuss whether these rules are the same for everyone regardless of gender or class.
What is the difference between norms and values?
Activity 02
In small groups, students review brief case studies of feral children (like Genie or Oxana Malaya). They must identify which human behaviours were missing due to a lack of socialisation and present their findings to the class to support the 'nurture' side of the debate.
How do agencies of socialisation function?
Activity 03
Students identify a core British value, such as 'respect for the law'. They then work in pairs to list five specific norms (behaviours) that stem from that value, such as queuing or stopping at red lights, and explain what happens when these norms are broken.
To what extent is human behaviour learned?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Norms and values are the same thing.
Values are general beliefs (e.g., honesty), while norms are specific rules of conduct (e.g., not cheating in a test). Using a sorting activity where students categorise examples helps them distinguish between the abstract belief and the concrete action.
Socialisation ends when you become an adult.
Socialisation is a lifelong process. Students often forget about 'resocialisation' in new jobs or environments. A quick brainstorm of how people change their behaviour when starting a new school or job can surface this error.
Methods used in this brief
Introduction to Sociological Theories
Students explore foundational sociological perspectives, including Functionalism, Marxism, and Feminism. They will learn to apply these theories to contemporary British society.
8 methodologies
Social Stratification and Control
Students investigate how society is stratified by class, gender, and ethnicity, and how social control is maintained. They will evaluate formal and informal mechanisms of control.
8 methodologies