OxfordAQA IGCSE Sociology: Socialisation — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, in the style and at the standard of the examination. They are not reproduced past-paper questions — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. This is a new qualification (first examined May/June 2028) with no live past papers yet, so use these alongside OxfordAQA’s own specimen assessment materials.

Related: Socialisation study guide, Socialisation revision notes

These questions cover 3.2.2.2 Socialisation only — types of socialisation, its agencies, and the four sociological perspectives applied to it. They do not cover 3.2.2.1 (culture and the sociological imagination) or 3.2.2.3 (social control and social identities), which are revised separately.

---

Section A

1. Define primary socialisation and secondary socialisation, giving one typical agency for each. [4]

2. Define re-socialisation and inadequate socialisation, giving one example trigger for re-socialisation. [4]

Section B

3. Explain, using a specific mechanism for each, how two agencies of socialisation other than the family transmit norms and values. [6]

4. A student writes: “Socialisation happens mainly through the family.” Explain why this statement is too narrow, referring to secondary socialisation and at least one other agency. [6]

5. Compare the functionalist and Marxist views of socialisation, giving an explicit point of contrast between them. [8]

6. Explain the feminist perspective on socialisation, giving one specific example of how an agency reinforces gender roles. [5]

7. Explain the social action/interactionist perspective on socialisation, and explain the key difference between this perspective and the functionalist view. [6]

8. Explain what is meant by the “social construction of identity”, giving one example of how socialisation shapes it. [5]

9. Explain why inadequate socialisation might be linked to deviant behaviour in later life, according to at least one sociological perspective. [4]

---

Answers

1. Primary socialisation — the early learning of norms and values, mainly within the family [1] [1]. Secondary socialisation — later learning through wider agencies, such as school, peers, media or the workplace [1] [1].

2. Re-socialisation — learning new norms and values that replace previously learned ones, often following a major life change, for example joining the military, migrating to a new country, or imprisonment [1] [1]. Inadequate socialisation — socialisation that has failed to properly instil a society’s shared norms and values [1] [1].

3. Any two, 3 marks each: school — through the formal curriculum, which explicitly teaches knowledge and values, and the “hidden curriculum”, the implicit rules and expectations (such as punctuality, hierarchy and obedience) taught through the way school itself is organised [1] [1] [1]. Media — through modelling behaviours and norms in the content it presents, showing audiences examples of how people are expected to look, behave and relate to others [1] [1] [1]. Peers — through informal approval and disapproval within a friendship group, rewarding conformity to group norms and discouraging deviation from them [1] [1] [1].

4. The statement is too narrow because secondary socialisation continues throughout life through agencies beyond the family, so socialisation is not confined to the early, family-based stage [1] [1]. For example, schools transmit norms and values through both their formal curriculum and hidden curriculum [1] [1], and media shapes identity and behaviour through the images and role models it presents to audiences well into adulthood [1] [1].

5. Functionalist: socialisation instils shared norms and values that create value consensus, allowing society to function smoothly; agencies such as the family and school are seen as performing a positive, necessary function for social cohesion [1] [1] [1]. Marxist: socialisation is used by the ruling class to instil values that benefit capitalism, such as obedience and acceptance of inequality, preparing individuals to accept their position in the workforce; agencies such as schools are seen as reproducing class inequality rather than serving everyone equally [1] [1] [1]. Point of contrast: functionalism presents socialisation as broadly beneficial and consensual, while Marxism presents it as serving the interests of one social class over another [2].

6. The feminist perspective argues that socialisation reproduces gender roles and inequality [1] [2]. Example: family and media agencies model different behavioural expectations for boys and girls — for instance, media content that presents narrower or more appearance-focused role models for girls than for boys — which reinforces a gendered division of labour and identity as children grow up [2].

7. The social action/interactionist perspective argues that individuals are not simply passive recipients of socialisation — they actively interpret, negotiate and sometimes resist the norms and values presented to them by different agencies [1] [2]. Key difference from functionalism: functionalism treats socialisation as a broadly structural process that instils widely shared values and creates value consensus across society (functionalists acknowledge that socialisation is imperfect or incomplete for some individuals, which they use to explain deviance, rather than claiming universal, uniform success), whereas social action theory emphasises individual agency and interpretation, allowing for the possibility that a person rejects or reshapes the norms an agency presents to them [3].

8. The social construction of identity is the idea that a person’s sense of who they are is not fixed or natural, but built up over time through their interactions with socialising agencies [2] [1]. Example: a child’s sense of gender identity is shaped gradually through family, school and media agencies modelling particular expectations of how boys and girls should behave, rather than being something the child is simply born already knowing [2].

9. Some perspectives link inadequate socialisation — where shared norms and values have not been properly instilled — to a weaker internalisation of the behavioural expectations that normally restrain antisocial or deviant behaviour [2] [1]. A functionalist-influenced explanation would argue that without effective socialisation into shared values, an individual lacks the value consensus that binds most members of society to conventional behaviour, making deviance more likely [1].

---

Where marks are usually lost

• Confusing primary and secondary socialisation, or omitting re-socialisation and inadequate socialisation as distinct concepts in their own right.
• Naming an agency of socialisation without explaining the specific mechanism by which it socialises individuals.
• Describing a perspective’s view of socialisation in vague terms (“Marxists think it’s about class”) rather than explaining the specific mechanism the perspective identifies.
• Comparing two perspectives without an explicit point of contrast, rather than just placing two descriptions side by side.
• Treating identity as fixed or natural rather than explaining it as something built through interaction with socialising agencies.