Culture and Beliefs
CONTENTS
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Culture what is it, subcultures...
Socialisation primary, secondary, agents...
Nature vs. Nurture how it influences you...
Identity as a person, as a student...
Immigration + multiculturalism religions, groups...
Issues abortion, euthanasia, donation...
Case Studies all the case studies you need!
Quiz can you ace the quiz?
CULTURE
Culture is the whole way of life for a community or
social group. It is a shared set of beliefs, values,
norms, traditions, attitudes, practices and
customs.
For example, Britain’s culture is that we like fish and
chips, all go to school (and most to college), and
like national events, like football games or Royal
Weddings. It may seem stereotypical, but it is
how other cultures view our own culture.
The seven parts of culture
• PRACTICES – the way our beliefs and values are put into action, like
how Christians go to church.
• ATTITUDES – positive or negative feelings towards other things or
people, like how Britain is negative towards terrorism.
• BELIEFS – a set of ideas about the world, like how Muslims believe
in Allah.
• TRADITIONS – the handing down from generation to generation of
customs and beliefs, like how it is traditional to eat a roast dinner
on Sunday.
• CUSTOMS – the long-established habits of a society, like how it is
customary to watch national sport.
• NORMS – unwritten rules defining the appropriate behaviour of a
society, like how it is normal to not be rude to someone.
• VALUES – what a person feels is important, like how royalists value
our royal family.
Sub-cultures
• Sub-cultures are cultures within cultures – for
example, a gang culture within a town’s culture.
The gang culture has a different attitude to the
town/country’s culture.
• Gangs differ from mainstream culture because
most people in the mainstream culture don’t
carry weapons to feel protected, and don’t
choose certain areas of their community as their
‘territory’.
How order is maintained
• LAW – when people in society break norms, it can
be dealt with formally. Sometimes, breaking
social norms becomes illegal, and then the law
and formal agencies of social control are used
(the police, the army, etc.)
• MORALS – providing guidance on what’s wrong
and what’s right in the society.
• VALUES – identify what someone feels to be
important – for example, Western societies value
achievement.
SOCIALISATION
• Socialisation is the process in which we learn.
• PRIMARY SOCIALISATION – the first stages of
socialisation, from 0-4 years old. You learn
from family and friends.
• SECONDARY SOCIALISATION – after the age of
4 to time of death, always learning from
experiences and other people.
Agencies of socialisation
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FAMILY
EDUCATION
PEER GROUP
MEDIA
WORK
RELIGION
Resocialisation
• When people meet new experiences, they
have to adapt to them. No part of their
socialisation could have prepared them for
this new experience, so it’s resocialisation. For
example, if someone has experienced bringing
up a child, they would be better at it the
second time round, as they had already
experienced it.
NATURE VS. NURTURE
• Nature vs. Nature is the famous debate
between scientists and members of society,
choosing which is more important when it
comes to your behaviour as an adult: your
upbringing as a child (nurture) or the
genes/attitude you were born with (nature.)
Nature
• Nature is your instincts and your genes. You
cannot change your natural genes, but your
later identity could be influenced by your
genes – for example, if you inherited
punctuality from your mother, this could
affect your socialisation process (you could be
known for your punctuality, and be respected
for it.)
Nurture
• Nurture is how you learn, and your
upbringing. It is the socialisation side of the
debate. This involves the people around you
(e.g. kind people would encourage you to be
kind), the area you’re in (in an area where jobs
are hard to find, you are more likely to work
hard to get a job), and the era in which you
were brought up (children born in the 1940s
and 50s would be used to rationing, so would
value food more).
IDENTITY
ethnicity
religion
gender
nationality
Identity
disability
sexuality
age
social class
What is identity?
• Identity is who you are, and you might have
several identities – for example, you might have
the identity of a student, where you may obey
rules and not talk; you might have an alternative
identity of a daughter/son, obeying your parents
and doing chores; another identity could be
girlfriend/boyfriend, keeping secrets and being
loyal.
• IDENTITY-GIVING: an act or process that defines
part of a person’s identity.
IMMIGRATION + MULTICULTURALISM
• Multiculturalism is the mix of many cultures in
one country or region. Britain is a multicultural
society, because we have all of the main religions
here, and have a mix of many ethnicities. We can
see this because of recent census replies, and
national questionnaires.
• When people from different countries move to
Britain in order to live and work here, they are
immigrating. To do the opposite (to leave this
country and move to another country to live and
work) you are migrating.
Push + pull factors
• PUSH FACTOR – a push factor is something that
‘pushes’ someone to another country – they have been
forced to leave. This is often caused by persecution or
invasion from their native country.
• PULL FACTOR – a pull factor is something that ‘pulls’
someone to another country – they wanted to leave
because they saw something they would like to have in
Britain. This includes new opportunities and better
living and working standards – many people ‘pulled’ to
Britain are from poor countries where the standards of
living are bad.
What is multiculturalism in the UK?
events
TV programmes
new words
fashion
art
food
Contributions
to UK culture
music
sporting success
dance
festivals
Issues produced by immigration
• Conflicts of culture can cause problems –
could include religious issues (like arranged
marriages) and terrorism fears.
• Some people think that immigrants steal jobs
that should be given to native people.
• There are often fears that although
immigrants work in the country and therefore
contribute to the economy, they do not pay
their taxes.
ISSUES
• An issue is an argument or situation over
which there are several different views.
• Examples of issues: euthanasia, abortion,
capital punishment (death penalty), organ
donation.
• For your exam, you should probably choose
one of these issues, and study into it so that
you know it off-by-heart! You’ll need at least
one issue memorised to use as an example!
CASE STUDIES
• A list of all the case studies you could use for
each topic is here. That’s just a list I’ve made
recently of all the case studies in detail – of
course, you can use your own case studies if
you want to! 
QUIZ
This is a quiz to test your knowledge on culture
and beliefs! To begin, click any of the six
bubbles.
GREEN BUBBLE
Which of the following is not a push factor?
INVASION
NEW
OPPORTUNITIES
PERSECUTION
DISCRIMINATION
BLUE BUBBLE
Which of these is not an agent of socialisation?
FAMILY
EDUCATION
PEER GROUP
RECREATION
ORANGE BUBBLE
What is a belief?
IDEAS ABOUT
THE WORLD
WHAT YOU FEEL
TO BE
IMPORTANT
FEELINGS
TOWARDS
SOMETHING
LONGESTABLISHED
HABITS OF A
COMMUNITY
RED BUBBLE
Which of these is not a contribution to UK culture?
MAGAZINES
DANCE
FASHION
FOOD
PURPLE BUBBLE
What is an issue? People have...
NO OPINION
ON IT
DIFFERENT
OPINIONS ON
IT
VIOLENT
ARGUMENTS
ABOUT IT
NO RESPECT FOR
IT
GREY BUBBLE
What is multiculturalism?
SEPARATION
OF CULTURES
MANY
CULTURES IN A
COMMUNITY
BELIEFS OF
ONE
CULTURE
MULTIPLE PARTS
OF ONE CULTURE
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