What's covered
Key facts
Agents of social control
Courts are a formal agent of social control that decide punishments for people who break the law.
Feral and isolated children
Children seem to need to learn language in their early years, or it becomes very hard later.
Learning right from wrong
Family, school, friends and the media all help teach us right from wrong.
Primary socialisation — the family
In primary socialisation the family is the main teacher: parents, brothers, sisters and grandparents.
Secondary socialisation — school, peers, media
The hidden curriculum is the unwritten lessons school teaches, like being on time and following rules.
Agents of social control
The family is an informal agent of social control because it teaches children right from wrong.
Feral and isolated children
A feral child is a young person who grew up with almost no human contact.
Learning right from wrong
Children often learn how to behave by watching and copying the adults around them.
Primary socialisation — the family
Children learn a lot by watching and copying the people close to them in the family.
Secondary socialisation — school, peers, media
The media shapes what seems normal or desirable, such as fashion trends and body image.
Sample questions
A taste of the 45 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What does social control mean?
- ✓How society encourages people to follow its rules and behave
- •The natural way that children grow up and get taller over time.
- •The study of how cities are built and roads are planned out.
- •The way the government chooses which laws to make each year.
What do cases of feral children mainly teach sociologists?
- •Animals can raise human children perfectly well
- •Children are born knowing how to behave properly
- •School is the only place children learn anything
- ✓Socialisation is essential for normal human development
Where do most people first learn right from wrong?
- •By reading school textbooks
- •From famous sports stars
- •From the news on television
- ✓From their family at home
Which group carries out a child's primary socialisation?
- •A child's friends
- •Social media
- ✓The family
- •The school
What is secondary socialisation?
- •Being taught right and wrong by parents only.
- •Forgetting the rules you learned at home.
- ✓Learning society's rules beyond your family.
- •Learning to walk and talk as a baby.
Which type of social control is based on written laws and official rules?
- ✓Formal social control
- •Friendly social control
- •Informal social control
- •Personal social control
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