Introducing Society 4 · Section 16

workshops in their dwellings (see visuals on page ). Socialisation and Individual Freedom It is perhaps evident that socialisation in normal circumstances can never completely reduce people to conformity. Many factors encourage conflict. There may be conflicts between socialising agencies, between school and home, between home and peer groups.

However, since the cultural settings in which we are born and come to maturity so influence our behaviour, it might appear that we are robbed of any individuality or free will. Such a view is fundamentally mistaken. The fact that from birth to death we are involved in interaction with others certainly conditions our personalities, the values we hold, and the behaviour in which we engage. Yet socialisation is also at the origin of our very individuality and freedom.

In the course of socialisation each of us develops a sense of self-identity, and the capacity for independent thought and action. How Gendered is Socialisation? We boys used the streets for so many different things — as a place to stand around watching, to run around and play, try out the manoeuvrability of our bikes. Not so for girls.

As we noticed all the time, for girls the street was simply a means to get straight home from school. And even for this limited use of the street they always went in clusters, perhaps because behind their purposeful demeanour they carried the worst fears of being assaulted (Kumar ). Activity We have completed four chapters. Read the text of the next page carefully and discuss the following themes : The relation between individual and society in the girl’s rebellion against grown-ups.

How the normative dimensions of culture are different in town and village? The question of ascribed status in that the priest’s daughter is permitted to touch. Conflict between socialising agencies for example in the text note: “thankful none of her school friends could see her like this”. Can you find any other sentence that illustrates this?

Gendered = combing hair + escort + not playing football Punishment = “tight-lipped silence” + conspicuous absence of pappadams