Week 3- Professional Practice

1. Week 3- Professional Practice

2. Sociology: • A systematic study of human societies • The analysis of the structure of social relationships as constituted by social interaction

3. Ideology • Refers to a set of beliefs covering everything from scientific knowledge, to religion, to every day beliefs about proper conduct irrespective of whether it is true or false. • Ideology can be defined as a tightly knit body of beliefs organized around a few central values.

4. Dominant Ideology • A set of beliefs about the social world and the way it works or should work • These beliefs tend to benefit the powerful and have the capacity to “distort reality”

5. Culture and Behaviour • Culture directs actions and defines attitudes • Culture defines accepted ways to behave

6. Socialisation • This is the process by which the individual learns the culture of their society • Primary Socialisation- FAMILY • Other socialisation agents –Peers, educational system, the media, gender, occupational group, social class and stratification.

7. Norms • These are guidelines which direct conduct in particular situations.e.g dress codes • Norms are enforced by “positive” (rewards) and “negative”(punishment) sanctions • Norms can be sanctioned informally • Formalised norms can be Laws enforced by official sanctions. These sanctions are mechanisms of social control and are used to maintain order.

8. Status • This is a social position e.g. Occupational, family and gender • Honour, prestige and power is bestowed on the individual by ones status • Statuses are culturally defined

9. Hegemony A term to describe how the domination of one class over others is achieved by a combination of political and ideological means. (Gramsci,1971)