Oklahoma Social Studies S.2.4

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Content Standards

The Standard

S.2: Examine the influence of culture and the way cultural transmission is accomplished.

Describe various subcultures, counter cultures, and social movements, and explain their influence according to sociological perspectives.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · S.2

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students describe groups with shared customs, groups that reject mainstream norms, and organized efforts to change society. They explain each group's influence using functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student identifies a skateboard crew as a subculture, a 1960s antiwar commune as a counterculture, and Montgomery bus boycott organizers as part of a social movement. They use conflict theory to explain unequal power, symbolic interactionism to explain what empty bus seats signaled, and functionalism to explain changing transit rules.
Common Misconceptions: Students often call any group with different clothes a counterculture, even if it does not reject mainstream values. They may treat a hobby club as a social movement or confuse conflict over power with symbolic meaning.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Classify a skateboard crew, a 1960s antiwar commune, and Montgomery bus boycott organizers. Explain the boycott's influence using conflict theory.

Lesson moves

Have pairs sort case cards about skateboarders, antiwar communes, and bus boycott organizers onto chart sheets labeled subculture, counterculture, and social movement.
Ask students to write how conflict theory and symbolic interactionism explain the Montgomery bus boycott's effects on power and bus seats.
Race teams to match functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism cards to written claims about social order, power, or symbols.
Show a flyer for a local volunteer group; students decide if it seeks social change or shares a common interest, citing flyer details.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to S.2.4, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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