Sociology Homework

‘The peer group is the most effective agency of socialisation’ – Evaluate agreements for this claim.

Peer groups are some of the most effective and powerful influences on youth in modern day society. Whether going out with friends, talking online over social networks or attending school, children and teens are constantly being developed into social beings. A peer group refers to a social group of people that set a social environment when interacting which develops an individual’s characteristics after spending time with the group.
Peer pressure is a way of socially influencing someone else in a certain peer group to act in the same way as others in the social group. Most commonly, peer pressure is present in adolescent peer groups that socialise independently without any influence or rules set by carers. Teens enjoy deviating from social acceptance, so activities such as underage drinking, smoking weed, cigarettes and having house parties is usually influenced through peer pressure. Most of the time, teens are unaware of the sheer consequences and results of engaging in such activities and often end up becoming regular smokers or frequent alcohol drinkers, so it’s important that younger children know the risks before doing so.
Marxists views on peer groups consist of critical views on educational and social ways of learning. Marxists believe that the main agencies of socialisation are: education, family and peer groups. Marxists believe that the Bourgeoisie uses primary agencies of socialisation such as education, to try and build you into their ideal worker, which will not amount to much success and will work for a business rather than create their own business. The idea is that education period shapes a child into a worker in order to allow the elite businesses to prosper and grow with more and more workers. This also