Page 33 - Flipbook: Sociology Shortcuts Issue 3
P. 33

Primary socialisation is necessary                 Secondary socialisation is also necessary
        because human infants require the                  because, for Parsons (1951), one of its
        assistance of other members of society to          main purposes (or functions) is to:
        develop as both human beings (the                  "Liberate the individual from a
        walking, talking, bit) and as members of a         dependence upon the primary attachments
        culture (the learning roles, norms and             and relationships formed within the family
        values bit).                                       group". In other words, in modern
                                                           societies the majority of people we meet
                                                           are strangers and it would be impossible
                                                           to relate to them in the same way we relate
                                                           to people we love or know well. This
                                                           means we need to learn:





        Instrumental relationships - how to deal with people in terms of what they can do for
        us and what we can do for them in particular situations (the opposite of the affective
        relationships we find in primary groups).


        Berger and Luckmann (1967), for example, suggest that while primary socialisation
        involves “emotionally charged identification” with people like our parents, secondary
        socialisation is characterised by “formality and anonymity” - you don’t, for example,
        treat a total stranger who stops you in the street to ask directions as your closest friend
        in all the world…















































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