Socialization Processes Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The correct statement is that socialization cultivates shared sources of meaning and value.

Socialization is the process by which a person learns the language, norms, values and beliefs of a group, through family, school, peers and media. Its result is a shared framework through which members of a society interpret the world.

The other statements are wrong. Socialization is shaped by culture and context, since what is learned differs from one society to another. It continues throughout life (secondary and adult socialization at work or in new roles), not only in childhood. And acquiring norms and beliefs is precisely what socialization does.

Answer: C

A is true but R is false.

Children absorb the values and norms of their society both overtly, through direct instruction, rules and rewards, and covertly, through observation, imitation and the hidden curriculum of everyday life. So the Assertion is correct.

The Reason is wrong because socialization is not a simple, one-way handing down of customs and rituals. It is a complex, lifelong and interactive process in which the child is an active participant and in which family, school, peers and media all play a part. Since R is false, the options saying both are true, or both false, are ruled out.

Answer: B

Peers have a greater influence on socialisation during adolescence than during early childhood.

In early childhood the family is the primary agent of socialisation. As children grow, and especially in adolescence, friends and peer groups become a major source of values, identity, attitudes and behaviour, sometimes rivalling parents.

The other statements are wrong. Peers are not the primary agents for children, since the family is. Saying peers have no major influence ignores the strong peer influence in adolescence. And saying their influence is minor in all stages misses the same shift.

Answer: A

The correct statement is that school is a secondary socialization agent and family is a primary socialization agent.

Primary socialization happens first, in early childhood, mainly within the family: the child learns language, basic habits, values and roles from parents and close relatives. Secondary socialization comes later, through institutions and groups outside the home, such as school, peers, the workplace and the mass media.

So school is not a primary agent, which rules out the second option. Peers are not primary and the family is not secondary, which rules out the third. The fourth is half wrong: the mass media are secondary agents, but the family is the primary one.

Answer: D

School is a secondary agency of socialisation of children.

Socialisation agencies are usually divided into primary and secondary. The family is the primary agency, the first and most intimate setting in which a child learns language, values and roles. School, peers and media are secondary agencies that extend this socialisation into the wider society.

School plays a large role, so 'no role' and 'very little role' are wrong. Calling it the primary agency confuses it with the family, which comes first in a child's life.

Answer: C

Socialisation is complex, multidimensional and culture-specific, so the answer is (b), (c), (d).

Socialisation is the lifelong process by which individuals learn the values, norms and roles of their society. It is complex (many agents such as family, school, peers and media interact), multidimensional (it shapes cognitive, emotional, moral and social development) and takes place differently in different cultures.

It is not a linear process: it does not move in a single straight sequence, so options including statement a are wrong.

Answer: D

All four play an important role, so the answer is (i), (ii), (iii), (iv).

Socialisation is the process by which a child learns the values, norms, language and behaviour of the society. The family is the primary agent, where the earliest and deepest learning takes place. The school, the neighbourhood with its peers and community, and the media are all secondary agents that shape attitudes, aspirations and behaviour, and media influence grows as children get older.

Each of the other options leaves out at least one of these agents, so none is complete.

Answer: A

'Society is a web of social relations' was said by MacIver, the sociologist who wrote Society: A Textbook of Sociology with C. H. Page. He held that society is not a group of people but the system of relationships among them. Talcott Parsons, Gandhi and Dominique Conchon Lapierre are not the source of the statement. Robert MacIver, with Charles Page, wrote Society: An Introductory Analysis in 1949, in which society is defined as a system of usages, procedures, authority and mutual aid. Parsons wrote The Social System, and Gandhi wrote on society in other contexts.

Answer: C

Societies in which generations of families are linked through the father's line are patrilineal societies. In matrilineal societies descent is traced through the mother. 'Matriarchal' describes a society ruled by women, which is a different concept from the line of descent, and 'primal societies' is not a term for this.

Answer: A

Endogamy is marrying within the same caste, a significant way in which caste hierarchies are maintained. Inter-caste marriage is outside the caste, and marriage within the same gender or within a blood relation are other things altogether. Endogamy is the rule of marrying within a group, such as a caste, and it keeps the boundaries of the caste intact.