An Introduction to Sociology Essay

Philip Vernon carried out research studies into contri butions of environmental and genetic factors into intellectual phylogeny in the 1940s and 1950s. He believed that Western IQ tests were unsuitable for non-Western citizenry he also applied the same argument to the use of Western IQ testes deep down different subcultures and tender classes within Western Societies. He verbalise that There is no much(prenominal) thing as culture-fair tests, and never undersurface be (Haralambos p. 747).Vernon developed a hierarchical model of IQ test in the 1950s, which broke down the test into many subcategories. He cerebrate that social class differences occupy some genetic basis. He ground this conclusion on evidence that intelligence of adopted children relate much to the social class of their biological pargonnts than to their adopted parents. Vernon believed that social mobility intromited case-by-cases with high IQ levels to rise to the socially high classes whilst those with l ow IQ levels would fall to socially lower classes.Cultural rules see a profound role in our order of magnitude today, and through education we have drivet what is right and what is wrong. However, could somebody who has not been brought up knowing these rules be able to interact with otherwise public? There are many cases where children in particular have had no social interact with other humans in the early stages of life, where capital acculturation should take place. And the outcome has been that they have no facial expression, irrational movement, and have no human speech. The near popular example of this is the uncivilised children.Feral Children are children who have been nurtured in the wild by animals, children that were raised in a non-human, inhuman or sub-human environment and because of it did not learn how to communicate or take over in a human manner. dickens particular cases of child deprivation that argue the case of nurture specially well are Amala an d Kamala and djinn. Amala and Kamala were two sisters aged approximately eight and oneness and a half who were brought up by wolves in the 1920 in Bengal, India. When captured they were taken to an orphanage where they were looked after by the reverend Singh and his wife.Singh described them as animal like in appearance and behaviour. They walked on all fours and had calluses on their knees and palms from doing so. They preferent to eat raw meat and stole it when ever they could. They licked irrigate with their tongues and ate their food in a crouched position. Their tongues permanently hung out of their mouths, and they panted dear like wolves. They never slept after midnight and howled at night. They could move truly stiff on all fours. They turned a musical mode from human corporation altogether. If approached, they made faces and some clippings bared their teeth.Their hearing was very acute and they could tonus meat at a great distance. They could also orientate thems elves very well at night. In September 1921 both girls became ill, and Amala, the younger, died. Probably the most famous case of a feral child is that of Genie. She spent nearly 13 years in almost total isolation and was feed only when on milk and baby food. She was unconstipatedtually found and set(p) in a childrens hospital. At that time she could not subscribe straight, chew or see beyond 10 feet. She was inquisitive though and after 7 years her IQ had increased from 38 to 74 although she never developed the normal use of language.Many Psychologists believe that a child result have permanent difficulties in learning a language unless they start from an early age. Others argue that children could be mentally decelerate from such abuse. So Genies case does not settlement the nature-nurture controversy surrounding human development. In 1977, the last time Genie was filmed, scientists found that without constant teaching Genie had regressed. She now barely say a word. In oth er cases of feral children, some, who were discovered at a much younger age than Genie, learnt language and were eventually able to articulate argueably well.Genie however was unable to do to a greater extent than wander a few words together. Genie failed to learn any configuration of grammar, and this is what distinguishes the language of humans from that of animals. Genie could not grasp the difference amid various pronouns or between active and passive verbs. In that experience she appeared to have passed the critical period. The critical period is a hypothesis that states that the number one few years of life are a crucial time in the development of a first language providing that a able stimulus is present.If the acquisition of language is not achieved during this time then it go out never be fully achieved. Socialisation is a major sociological concept that provides the link between the individual and their Society. Socialisation is the ongoing social learning process that is necessary for human existence and development. There are two types of socialization, primary and secondary. Those factors that are involved in primary socialisation are usually small, involve face-to-face interaction and communication and allow the individual to express the whole self, both feelings and intellect.Usually, those factors are the family, peer groups, of conclude friends. Within these groups, through personal experience, the individual learns primary values such as love, loyalty, justice, sharing, etc. In contrast, secondary groups are usually large, more impersonal and formally organised, and exist for specific purposes. In the secondary stage, the individual learns more values and norms which are to be applied for the individual to tot in. This includes learning how to organise and conduct themselves in formal contexts (backgrounds) and how to behave towards people who have different degrees of status and authority.One of the crucial aspects of secondary s ocialisation is school. The effects of prepareing up in unsocial conditions in these and other cases seem consistent. When the children emerged immediately into society, they were generally described by observers as gross and hardly human. None of the children developed social and communication skills beyond a basic level, in spite of attempts to re-socialise them. Above all, their absence or limited ability to learn language prevented them from functioning fully within society.These cases, also, suggest that human development, especially those of gaining basic social and communication skills, needfully considerable contact with others. These stories do more than just confirm the beta role of education, and that not just nature plays an important role in growth and development but also the environment in which you grow up in. They show that a human being not only female genitals, but must be educated or learn to produce a human being. Even when isolated from birth, animals usu ally retain clear recognisable instincts. A cat that is raised among dogs, will still behave like a cat.Humans, however, enter the world very poorly equipped. The cognition a child needs to become fully human is not complete. Everything the child eventually knows, or can do, must be learned. With the riddance of natural body functions, such as breathing, as well as the reflexes, everything else must be learned. That is why feral children are an excellent commencement of evidence in the nature and nurture debate, because they cannot walk, talk or even socialise. They cannot show any emotions nor have empathy. This is due to them growing up in isolation and not having humans to human interaction so that they can learn the basic skills of life.This also proves that its not only nature that play a big role in child development but the environment you grow up in makes an impact to child development or the upbringing of a person because that is where you learn to be what you will becom e. To conclude, culture is a very important idea in Sociology and without it, we would have no language, we would not be able to express ourselves, and our ability to reason and think would be severely restricted. Through the process of Socialisation, children learn the way of life or culture of their society. If culture did not exist, then society would not exist and vice versa.Bibliographyanon (2006) charlatanism. Available athttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism (Accessed 2/11/2006)Anon (2006)John Locke. Available athttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke (Accessed 2/11/2006)Anon (2006)Francis Galton. Available athttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton (Accessed 1/11/2006)Anon (2006)Critical Period. Available athttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period (Accessed 1/11/2006)Devlin, D., Daniels, M., & Roeder K., 1997. The heritability of IQ.