AQA A-level Sociology (7192): Paper 2 – Culture and identity – Revision Notes

For full explanations and worked exam paragraphs, read the Culture and Identity study guide first.

These notes cover Culture and Identity for AQA A-level Sociology (7192), from the AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021). The topic is section 4.2.1 of the A-level content (shown as 3.2.1 in the specification-at-a-glance list). It is examined in Paper 2: Topics in Sociology, Section A, as one of the option 1 topics. Test yourself afterwards with the practice questions, and track the whole course with the 7192 checklist and the AQA A-level Sociology hub.

The five content points

1. Different conceptions of culture: subculture, mass, folk, high and low, popular and global culture.
2. The socialisation process and the role of the agencies of socialisation.
3. The self, identity and difference as both socially caused and socially constructed.
4. Identity and age, disability, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality and social class in contemporary society.
5. Identity and production, consumption and globalisation.

Paper 2 option rule (as printed): Section A is “one from option 1: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3 or 4.2.4”; Section B is “one from option 2: 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.2.7 or 4.2.8”. The paper is 2 hours, 80 marks, 33.3% of the A-level; each section is extended writing worth 40 marks.

Key terms

Term	Definition
Culture	The shared norms, values, beliefs, language, knowledge and objects of a group
Norms	Specific rules of expected behaviour in a situation
Values	General beliefs about what is good or worth aiming for
High culture	Works judged to have lasting artistic value; linked to elite groups
Low culture	Entertainment judged to have less artistic worth; a value-laden label
Folk culture	Pre-industrial culture made by ordinary people and passed on orally
Mass culture	Standardised commercial culture produced for large, passive audiences
Popular culture	Culture widely enjoyed by ordinary people; audiences may be active
Subculture	A group with some norms and values different from the wider culture
Global culture	Products, images and styles circulating across many societies
Primary socialisation	Early learning of culture, mainly in the family
Secondary socialisation	Later learning through school, peers, media, religion and work
Identity	How individuals see themselves and how others see them
Difference	Defining identity in contrast to others (“us” and “them”)
Hybrid identity	An identity that mixes two or more cultural sources
Master status	A label that overrides a person’s other identities
Hegemonic masculinity	The dominant, most valued way of being a man in a society
Heteronormativity	The assumption that heterosexuality is the normal state
Banal nationalism	Everyday, unnoticed reminders of national belonging
Conspicuous consumption	Buying goods to display status to others
Glocalisation	Global products and ideas adapted to local cultures

Theories and studies at a glance

Who	What	Finding or claim	One evaluation point
Arnold	High culture	Culture as “the best which has been thought and said”	Elitist: reflects the tastes of powerful groups
Adorno and Horkheimer	Culture industry (Frankfurt School)	Standardised mass culture keeps people passive	Assumes audiences are passive dupes
Strinati (1995)	Critique of mass culture theory	Mass culture theory is elitist and ignores audience choice	Underplays the power of large media firms
Gans (1974)	Taste cultures	Different tastes, none simply superior	May ignore how taste links to class power
Hall and Jefferson (1976)	Youth subcultures as resistance	Working-class youth resist through style	Reads political meaning into fashion
Hebdige (1979)	Punk style	Objects given new meaning (bricolage)	Based on the analyst’s reading, not members’ accounts
Parsons	Functionalist socialisation	Family socialises children and stabilises adults	Ignores conflict and abuse within families
Oakley	Gender socialisation	Manipulation and canalisation	Children may resist gendered cues
Sharpe (1976; 1994)	Girls’ priorities	Shift from marriage to careers between the 1970s and 1990s	Working-class London girls; may not apply to all groups
Mead	Self through interaction	Taking the role of the “generalised other”	Says little about structural power
Cooley	Looking-glass self	Self-image from how we think others see us	Hard to test directly
Wrong (1961)	Oversocialised view	People are not puppets of culture	Can understate real constraints
Goffman (1959; 1963)	Dramaturgy; stigma	Impression management; spoiled identity	Describes interaction more than causes
Giddens (1991)	Reflexive project of the self	People rework identity in late modernity	Overstates choice for poorer groups
Hall (1990; 1992)	Identity as becoming; globalisation	Three outcomes: homogenisation, resistance, hybridity	Outcomes vary by group and place
Oliver (1990)	Social model of disability	Society’s barriers disable people	Shakespeare (2006): ignores impairment effects
Modood et al. (1997)	Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities	Stressed diversity between minority groups, including in culture and identity	Data now dated
Gilroy (1993); Back (1996)	Hybrid identities	Diasporic “Black Atlantic” culture; young people mixing cultural sources	Can underplay racism
Connell	Hegemonic masculinity	Masculinities are ranked	Concept is hard to measure
Mac an Ghaill (1994)	Crisis of masculinity	Loss of manual jobs unsettles male identity	Not all men experience a crisis
Butler (1990)	Gender performativity	Gender produced by repeated acts	Less on material inequality
Anderson (1983)	Imagined communities	Nations as felt bonds among strangers	Ignores divisions within nations
Billig (1995)	Banal nationalism	Everyday reminders reproduce nationhood	Hard to show the effect on individuals
Foucault; Weeks	Constructed sexualities	Sexual categories are historically specific	Essentialists stress orientation is not chosen
Skeggs (1997)	Class and respectability	Working-class women seek respectability	Small, local sample
Savage et al. (2013)	Great British Class Survey	Seven classes from economic, cultural, social capital	Main online sample was self-selecting
Pakulski and Waters (1996)	Death of class	Consumption replaces class as identity source	Class still predicts life chances
Veblen (1899)	Conspicuous consumption	Goods display status	Written about an elite, not mass consumers
Bauman (1998)	Flawed consumers	The poor are excluded from consumer society	Supports, not refutes, the role of class
Ritzer (1993)	McDonaldisation	Rationalised global sameness	Glocalisation shows local adaptation

Must-know distinctions

• Mass culture versus popular culture. Mass culture implies imposed, passive consumption; popular culture is a neutral or positive term for what people enjoy.
• High versus low culture. A judgement about value, not a fact about the object. Postmodernists say the line has blurred.
• Folk versus mass culture. Folk culture is made by communities for themselves; mass culture is made by industries for profit.
• Subculture versus neo-tribe. Subcultures are fairly fixed and often class-based; neo-tribes are loose and chosen.
• Primary versus secondary socialisation. Family in early childhood versus other agencies later in life.
• Socially caused versus socially constructed. Identity shaped by structure (functionalism, Marxism) versus identity built in interaction and meaning (interactionism, postmodernism).
• Medical versus social model of disability. Impairment as personal problem versus disability as social barrier.
• Production versus consumption. Identity from what you do at work versus what you buy and display.
• Homogenisation versus hybridity. Globalisation making cultures the same versus mixing them into something new.

Mini essay plan

Question type: “Evaluate the view that consumption, rather than social class, is now the main source of identity.”

1. Introduction (AO1). Define identity and consumption. State the postmodern claim and the structural counter-view.
2. For the view (AO1, AO2). Pakulski and Waters: the “death of class”. Postmodernists: identity as a pick-and-mix of brands and styles. Apply to an example such as online fashion subcultures.
3. Analysis (AO3). Link to the decline of production-based identities after de-industrialisation; consumption fills the gap.
4. Against: class still matters (AO3). Bauman’s flawed consumers: choice needs money. Skeggs: working-class women judged by middle-class standards. Savage et al.: cultural capital still sorts people into classes.
5. Other sources of identity (AO3). Ethnicity, gender and nationality may outweigh both; hybrid identities mix several.
6. Theory comparison. Marxists: consumption is shaped by capitalism and advertising. Interactionists: identity is negotiated whatever its source.
7. Conclusion. Weigh the evidence. Consumption gives more visible choice, but class shapes who can choose. Stay balanced and tie back to the question wording.

Quick self-test

1. Name two features of folk culture.
2. Who used the phrase “culture industry”?
3. Give one criticism Strinati made of mass culture theory.
4. Define canalisation.
5. What did Mead mean by the “generalised other”?
6. What is the difference between “socially caused” and “socially constructed” identity?
7. What does Goffman mean by a “spoiled identity”?
8. State the key claim of the social model of disability.
9. What is banal nationalism? Give an example.
10. Which three types of capital did the Great British Class Survey use?
11. What are Hall’s three possible outcomes of globalisation for identity?
12. Who described the poor as “flawed consumers”?

Answers

1. Made by ordinary people in pre-industrial communities; passed on by word of mouth.
2. Adorno and Horkheimer (Frankfurt School).
3. It is elitist and treats audiences as passive, ignoring how they choose and reinterpret culture.
4. Channelling children towards gender-typed toys and activities.
5. The general attitudes of society, which a child learns to take into account when seeing itself.
6. Caused: shaped by structures such as class or the economy. Constructed: built and negotiated through interaction and meaning.
7. An identity damaged by a stigma, which the person has to manage in interaction.
8. People are disabled by social barriers, not by their impairment itself.
9. Everyday, unnoticed reminders of nationhood, such as national flags in everyday places or “the weather” in the national press.
10. Economic, cultural and social capital.
11. Homogenisation (erosion), resistance (strengthening) and hybridity (new identities).
12. Zygmunt Bauman.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining mass culture as “culture that lots of people like”. That is closer to popular culture; mass culture carries the idea of standardised, imposed products.
• Listing agencies of socialisation without saying how each one works.
• Naming a theorist without the concept: “Goffman said identity is important” earns little; “Goffman’s front stage and backstage” earns more.
• Mixing up Hall’s 1990 “becoming” argument with his 1992 globalisation outcomes.
• Treating postmodern choice as fact. Always test it against class, income, racism or disability.
• Ignoring the question’s specified source of identity, such as writing on gender when asked about age.
• Evaluation by assertion (“this is a good theory”). Use a rival theory or study as counter-evidence.
• Forgetting links to other topics, such as education or the media, which the specification asks you to draw out.
• Using dated studies without noting when the data was collected.

Other resources for this specification: course structure, education revision notes, crime and deviance revision notes and methods in context revision notes.

Official syllabus

AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021): section 4.2.1 Culture and Identity, Paper 2: Topics in Sociology, Section A (option 1).