A) Discuss the role of the school as a socializing agent(15marks)

One social agency created to enhance the processes of socialization and education is the school.

Socialization is the process of creating a social self, learning one’s culture and learning the rules and
expectations of the culture.

The school is an artificial institution set up for the purpose of socialization and cultural transmission. The
school can be regarded as a formally constituted community as opposed to mutual communities.

How the school plays role of socialization.

1. through the curriculum, the school in a formal way provides the child with:
i) Knowledge of basic intellectual skills such as reading, writing, verbal expression,
quantitative and other cognitive abilities, Education teaches languages and allows
people communicate with each other according to positions in society.
ii) Cultural achievements of ones society.
iii) Opportunities to acquire social and vocational abilities which are necessary in order to
make one a social, useful and economically productive member of the society.
iv) Gender roles as perceived as suitable roles by the society.

2. Informally and especially through social clubs, the school enables the child to learn a number of
other social roles and skills which are also important for his/ her overall development as a member
of society. For example.

i) Education teaches the laws, traditions and norms of the community, the rights that
individuals will enjoy and the responsibilities that they will undertake.

ii) Education teaches how one is to behave toward his/ her play- mates and adults.

iii) Education teaches how to share things and ideas.

iv) Education teaches how to compete responsibly

v) Schooling teaches how to cooperate

vi) Schooling instills the community’s pattern of respect; thus how to relate to others well
and obey rules.

3. Educational systems socialize students to become members of society, to play meaningful roles in
the complex network of independent positions.

4. Education helps in shaping values and attitudes to the needs of the contemporary society.
 5. Education widens the mental horizons of pupils and teaches them new ways of looking at
themselves and their society.

6. Education offers young people opportunities for intellectual, emotional and social growth. Thus
education can be influential in promoting new values and stimulating adaptation of changing
conditions.

B) Discuss the emergence of sociology as an academic discipline. (15marks)

Sociology is the study of the lives of humans, groups and societies and how we interact. Dramatic social

times occurred because of the massive changes in society that took place leading up to the modern world.

The development of sociology as a discipline emerged in the 19th century in response to modernity.

Problems that arose from modernity include industrialisation, urbanisation, rationalisation and

bureaucratisation (Montagna, 2010). The difference between ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ led to the term

‘modernity’ and the modern world of the 19th century was shaped by the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution brought about massive changes in areas such as culture, industry, politics,

technology, science and communication (Marshall, 1998). A ‘new world’ had formed and theorists needed

to understand and explain how the effects of these changes impacted on society. The Industrial Revolution

saw aristocratic and religious societies change to liberal and more science based societies (Marshall,

1998). The Industrial Revolution created dramatic changes in every part of social life. Machines were

created which overtook manual labour. Factories and industrial towns were built and people left rural

areas and their way of life to go to the cities for work. Canals and roads were built which made

transportation easier and increased production of goods (The Industrial Economy, 2010). Capitalism grew

with technological change as factory owners who controlled the means of production became wealthy.

Changes in the political structure occurred due to the capitalists replacing agrarian land owners as leaders

of the nation’s economy and power structure.

Classical sociologists who helped develop sociology as a discipline were Auguste Comte, Herbert

Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber. They all witnessed the transforming effects of the

revolution and they offered lasting conceptual framework for analyzing the ongoing upheavals.

Various strains and tendencies, some intellectual and some social, combined to-form the science of

sociology. To quote Bottom ore, “The conditions which gave rise to sociology were both intellectual and

social”.

The chief intellectual antecedents of sociology are summed up by Ginsberg in the following words:

Broadly it may be said that sociology has had a fourfold origin in political philosophy, the philosophy of

history, biological theories of evolution and the movements for social and political reform which found it

necessary to undertake survey of social conditions.

Over the time, there had grown the intellectual tradition described as the historical tradition or the

philosophy of history, which believed the general idea of progress. To combat the influence of theology

on history, the thinkers of the Enlightenments introduced the idea of causality into history of philosophy,

elaborated the theory of progress. But philosophy of history as a distinct branch of speculation is a

creation eighteenth century.

Sociology as a discipline was born out of the attempt to understand the transformations that seemed to

threaten the stability of society. Social thinkers argued that there was an urgent need to establish a separate

science of society. They believed that such a science would be of great help in understanding the nature of

society. The amount of changes that occurred during the Industrial Revolution heavily impacted on society

and it was necessary to gain an understanding of these changes and how they were influencing society.

People were faced with a new world and it had created disorder, misery, poverty, disease, unemployment
and conflicts (Marshall, 1998). People felt despair, lacked traditional beliefs, lacked confidence and felt

inferior.

Theories were developed to try and gain an insight into society and improve social life. The classical

theorists Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber were seeking to

explain the radical changes that occurred due to modernity and create social ideas to improve society.

Various strains and tendencies, some intellectual and some social, combined to-form the science of

sociology. To quote Bottom ore, “The conditions which gave rise to sociology were both intellectual and

social”.

The chief intellectual antecedents of sociology are summed up by Ginsberg in the following words:

Broadly it may be said that sociology has had a fourfold origin in political philosophy, the philosophy of

history, biological theories of evolution and the movements for social and political reform which found it

necessary to undertake survey of social conditions.

Over the time, there had grown the intellectual tradition described as the historical tradition or the

philosophy of history, which believed the general idea of progress. To combat the influence of theology

on history, the thinkers of the Enlightenments introduced the idea of causality into history of philosophy,

elaborated the theory of progress. But philosophy of history as a distinct branch of speculation is a

creation eighteenth century.