important throughout a person’s life. Informal groups of people of similar ages at work, and in other contexts, are usually of enduring importance in shaping individuals’ attitudes and behaviour. Schools Schooling is a formal organisation: there is a definite curriculum of subjects studied. Yet schools are agencies of socialisation in more subtle respects too.
Alongside the formal curriculum there is what some sociologists have called a hidden curriculum conditioning children’s learning. There are schools in both India and South Africa where girls, but rarely boys, are expected to sweep their classroom. In some schools efforts are made to counter this by making boys and girls do those tasks that are normally not expected of them. Can you think of examples that reflect both trends?
Mass Media Mass media has increasingly become an essential part of our everyday life. While today the electronic media like the television is expanding, the print media continues to be of great Activity Reflect on your own experience. Compare your interaction with friends to that of your parents and other elders. What is different?
Does the earlier discussion on roles and status help you understand the difference? importance. Even in the early print media in nineteenth century India, ‘conduct-books’ instructing women on how to be better house-keepers and more attentive wives were popular in many languages. The media can make the access to information more democratic.
Electronic communication is something that can reach a village not connected by road and where no literacy centres have been set up. There has been much research on the influence of television upon children and adults. A study in Britain showed that the time spent by children watching television is the equivalent of almost a hundred school days a year, and that adults are not far behind them. Apart from such quantitative aspects, what emerges from such research is not always conclusive in its implications.
The link between on-screen violence and aggressive behaviour among children is still debated. If one cannot predict how media influences people, what is certain is the extent of the influence, in terms of