There are six main influences of socialisation: Family, media, religion, school, peer groups and work. Each can have a huge effect on a persons instinct and a how a person behaves.

Through socialisation we learn culture. Culture is a way of life, an aspect of living. One example of culture would be the language we speak. This is a culture because our language is something we learn from others around us. In this case we would learn the basics from the primary source, our family, and then factors such as school could influence it slightly.  A subculture however, is a culture within a culture. This involves factors such as youth, ethnicity and social class. One example of this would be, a culture such as a persons lifestyle could then influence the social class of a person, this being the subculture.  

Norms and values are simply goals to achieve and acceptable ways to achieve them. They can change over time as well as from culture to culture. They could be defined as morals, in a way teaching people lessons for example that it’s good to share. An example of a norm and value would be ‘to make lots of money in life’, ‘get a good job/work hard.’ Another example being ‘start a family’, ‘make sure you’re in a stable relationship’, and a third example being ‘keep slim’, ‘eat healthy/exercise’.

Without socialisation people wouldn’t learn ‘behaviour’ in general. A person’s traits wouldn’t exist. Without primary and secondary socialisation we wouldn’t be prepared for society, and therefore wouldn’t be able to fulfil values by completing norms. We wouldn’t know the basics for example being able to talk, as well as not knowing any sort of right/wrongs. If socialisation didn’t exist then neither would society as people wouldn’t be able to interact with one and other, therefore not giving people a way of life…

e) Radical feminists would share the claim made in the question as women are still stereotyped. However liberal feminists would challenge this as they believe things have changed even if a few inequalities do still occur. This essay will assess both claims.

According to item A media portrays stereotypes in order to sell more items and make a larger profit. “One of the stereotypes that is constantly portrayed in advertising is the nuclear family” This suggesting that adverts often use the imagery of a ‘perfect family’ to advertise their particular products. “Why do the media and advertising focus on the nuclear, privatised family? To sell more products. But it is not just this. It is also to sell a way of life” In my opinion source A is suggesting that although ‘media and advertising’ focus on the nuclear family to be able to put their company behind a poignant image, they also do it to encourage this particular life style. Item A therefore presenting that the media do still represent women in traditional ways.

Cameron etal presents both radical and liberal views within her article. “In the 1970s programmes such as ‘sweeney’ were male centred; women played bit parts as wives and prostitutes. Now in programmes like ‘the bill’ and ‘prime suspect’ they are centre stage and hold positions of authority” This suggests that although the stereotypical women used to be ‘wives and prostitutes’ and that men overpowered the women, things have now changed portraying women on television programs as main and more dominant characters, therefore going against the stereotype, and at the same time presenting the change to the world.

Cameron suggests that a lot has changed since the 1970’s. Within her article she presents several examples of change from then to now, for example in the 70’s “70 percent of women compared with 10 percent of men were shown doing domestic chores” this itself portraying the stereotype of housework and women. On the other hand she does suggest that TV now “features numerous strong women and single mothers” These points themselves would never have happened in the 1970’s, therefore presenting the change in society and the stereotypes women are given.

Haralambos and Holborn portray the view that although things have changed, a lot still hasn’t. “soap operas have a relatively high proportion of women, but women are still outnumbered by men” This suggesting that yes things have changed as there are now a lot of women within soap operas, however the inequality still stands as these females are still outnumbered by the dominating males. Haralambos and Holborn have presented to us that although the stereotype/ inequalities do still exist, it is only slightly and a lot has actually changed.

Overall I do think that the radical view is true to an extent, as stereotypes of women and women’s jobs are still existing a lot in everyday media however as Cameron etal has suggested, a lot has managed to change since the 1970’s, presenting women with much more freedom then they once had, there are still many inequalities that exist through the roles of men and women, for example you wouldn’t necessarily stereotype a plumber or a builder as a women just yet…