| Key term | Definition |
| Achieved status | Gained by the individual through talent, effort and hard work. |
| Agents of socialisation | Social groups and institutions which have a role to teach us norms, values, customs, traditions etc. |
| Ascribed status | Status which is fixed and determined at birth. |
| Culture | The way of life of a social group, made up of norms and values. It is how a person understands how to behave and make sense of the world around them. |
| Cultural diversity | Different cultures living alongside each other in one society. |
| Femininity | Socially acceptable behaviour and characteristics appropriate to being female in our society. |
| Feral children | Children who have grown up with limited human contact. |
| Formal curriculum | What we learn from subjects on the school curriculum such as history, maths etc. |
| Formal social control | Ways of controlling behaviour with written rules, laws or codes of conduct. If these are broken, punishments include fines, ASBOs, imprisonment etc. |
| Gender roles | Cultural expectations attached to how males and females are expected to behave in our society. |
| Imitation | Copying the behaviour of others. |
| Informal curriculum | Also known as the Hidden Curriculum. How we learn social norms & values through how the school is organised. |
| Informal social control | Unwritten, more informal ways of controlling how people behave. Carried out by agents of social control which are also the agents of socialisation. |
| Masculinity | Socially acceptable behaviour and characteristics appropriate to how males are expected to behave in our society. |
| Nature/nurture debate | Debate about whether human behaviour is biological (inherited) or learnt from environmental influences around us. |
| Norms | Social rules of behaviour that relate to specific social situations and govern how we are supposed to behave. |
| Peer group | People of a similar age and status, usually friends or colleagues. |
| Peer group pressure | Influence peer groups have on their members to imitate group behaviour. It can be positive or negative. |
| Primary socialisation | Early stages of socialisation usually between birth and 4/5 years of age. |
| Roles | How a person is expected to behave in relation to their social position in society. |
| Role conflict | When the demands of one role conflict with those of another role. |
| Role models | People who are seen as setting a good example, in their behaviour and beliefs, for others to follow (especially young people) |
| Sanctions | The rewards and punishments used to socialise individuals. They can be positive or negative. |
| Secondary socialisation | Socialisation which takes place after we start full-time education. We begin to be influenced by those around us such as peer groups, teachers, media etc. |
| Socially constructed | Created by society and the people within it and passed from one generation to the next. |
| Social identity | How a person sees themselves as part of a group. |
| Status | A person’s social position or standing in society. |
| Sub-cultures | Different social groups who have their own norms and values – sometimes at odds with the larger culture that they live in. |
| Values | Beliefs that underpin rules of behaviour. |
