7. PRIMARY AGENTS Primary agents include parents and family, peers, schools, religion and media. Parents and families are one of the most powerful influences on socialisation. Parents usually treat boys and girls differently from the time they are born in the way that they talk to them, treat them and expectations of them (Boy’s rooms are blue and their presents include guns, footballs and bats and girl’s rooms are pink and their presents include dolls, tea - sets and books). Gender roles are well established and readily observable by school age. At this stage, the peer group becomes an increasingly important socialising agent. Sporting ability has a very high status among the adolescent male, so strong recognition and admiration are achieved through success in sporting contests (thus the competitive nature of boys). Success for girls is often overlooked or achievements are downplayed. Arguably, the most powerful socialising agent is the mass media because they reinforce societal attitudes, beliefs and values, including those relating to sport. Female media coverage is often ‘inadequate, superficial or inappropriate’. An unfair majority of air - time advertising male sports, female sports are left in the dark as ‘second grade’. Male sportsmen also receive larger pay, prize money and sponsorship deals than their female counterparts.

8. PRIMARY AGENTS “are the persons, groups, or institutions that teach us what we need to know in order to participate in society and include family, peers, school, and the mass media. These basic attitudes and values tend to be formed early in childhood and tend to be relatively consistent throughout life” (termpaperwarehouse.com).termpaperwarehouse.com “the groups and institutions which contribute to the basic attitudes and values are known as the agents of socialization and include such groups as family, peers, mass media, religion, education, existing laws, and their own gender” (imej.wfu.edu).imej.wfu.edu “are people and/or groups such as family, school, peers, mass media and religion that influence self concepts, emotions, attitudes and behavior” (Henslin, 1999).