Sociology

Sociology is the study of how society is organised and how we experience life. Studying sociology will enable students to understand the structure of society, and connections and patterns in human behaviour.  

The course is designed to give students the opportunity to focus on their own experience of the social world, whilst encouraging them to build on this knowledge by analysing and reflecting on different aspects of society. A level Sociology will develop students literacy, analysis and critical thinking skills and the course will enable them to have a broader understanding of the society they are part of and how it is made up.

KS3-4 Pathways (Southfield)  
KS4-5 Pathways (Southfield) A level Sociology
KS5- Higher & Further Education
Pathways		 Sociology can prepare students for a wide range of degree courses including courses in social sciences, sociology, psychology, criminology and health and social care, as well as courses related to working with people in healthcare and social care.
Careers  Sociology can prepare students for careers in health and social care, teaching, the criminal justice system and social work for example, Social Worker, Primary School Teacher, Police Officer, Youth Worker
KS4 Specification links   
KS5 Specification links www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/sociology/as-and-a-level
Year 12

Unit 1 - Families and Households

Key questions/concepts

  • How has the family structure changed within society?
  • What function does a family serve in society?
  • How have gender roles and domestic division of labour changed within the family?
  • How has the nature of childhood changed over time?
  • How have state policies affected the structure of the family?

Timeframe

  • September - July (Teacher 1)

Key vocabulary

Word/phrase Definition
Breadwinner The person who provides the economic support to the family. This role is traditionally done by the male of the family. With a growing movement for economic independence in women this has seen an interesting trend of female breadwinners
Conjugal roles The conjugal role refers to the separation of roles within the household based on the individual’s gender. This allows for a clear differentiation and segregation of tasks based on the role of the individual within the family. Traditional conjugal roles are that women are the main caregivers and housewives whilst men are the breadwinners and disciplinarians
Demographics Demographics refers to the study of the population and how this changes over time. This will involve the analysis of crime rates, mortality rates, fertility rates, birth rates, marriage rates, divorce rates and religiosity
Family A family is a social institution that is bound together by kinship, blood ties, and marriage. It can also be used to refer to a family where the children are adopted. In modernity the family has rapidly diversified meaning additional family forms have emerged in the 20th century
Nuclear family A nuclear family is two generations of a family living together in one household. This typically involved parents and their children living in one household together. The parents are expected to fulfil traditional gender and conjugal roles in the family unit. However, in modern society this has started to change with relationships becoming increasingly symmetrical in nature

Wider reading

  • AQA A Level Sociology Book One Including AS Level: Book one by Rob Webb , Hal Westergaard , et al.
  • Sociology for AQA, Vol. 1: AS and 1st-Year A Level by Ken Browne
  • Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. Owen Jones
  • AQA AS and A Level Sociology Families and Households (Collins Student Support Materials) 
  • https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology

 

Unit 2 - Education

Key questions/concepts

  • What is the function of the education system in society?
  • How does the school system lead to inequality of outcomes of certain groups?
  • How have educational policies shaped changes in education?
  • How do factors outside of school lead to inequality of outcomes of certain groups?
  • What are the characteristics of students more or less likely to achieve in education?

Timeframe

  • September - April (Teacher 2)

Key vocabulary

Word/phrase Definition
Cultural capital Pierre Bourdieu argued that it is not only money that gives the wealthy power, but cultural assets too. He argued that the children of middle-class or wealthier parents are likely to have knowledge, behaviour, attitudes and cultural experiences that ensures that they succeed in education (and society). This is because sometimes schools assess cultural capital rather than what has been learnt in school and also teachers will perceive cultural capital as intelligence, and this in turn leads to them applying a positive label to the pupils
Elaborate language code While everyone uses the restricted code in casual speech, the middle class are able to switch into using the elaborate code, with complex sentence structures and vocabulary. This is the code used in education, by teachers and in textbooks and examination papers. As such, this gives middle-class pupils an advantage
Hidden curriculum As well as the formal curriculum - the subject knowledge taught in classes and assessed in examinations – schools teach their pupils a whole range of other things in a more subtle or covert way. This learning includes things like understanding manners and behaviour, respecting authority and understanding hierarchy.
Internal factors Internal factors refer to factors within the school that can influence a student’s achievement, in contrast with external factors such as material or cultural deprivation. These include teacher stereotypes and labelling, bias and discrimination, whether individual or institutional, and issues with the curriculum or with assessments
Meritocracy Meritocracy describes a society whereby jobs and pay are allocated based on an individual’s talent and achievements rather than social status

Wider reading

  • AQA A Level Sociology Book One Including AS Level: Book one by Rob Webb , Hal Westergaard , et al.
  • Sociology for AQA, Vol. 1: AS and 1st-Year A Level by Ken Browne
  • The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone.  Richrd Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
  • AQA AS and A Level Sociology Education with Research Methods (Collins Student Support Materials) by Martin Holborn 
  • https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology

 

Unit 3 - Theory and methods

Key questions/concepts

  • How can interviews be used to study processes within schools?
  • How can observations be used to study processes within schools?
  • How can questionnaires be used to study processes within schools?
  • What factors make studying schools challenging?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of methods used to study processes in schools?

Timeframe

  • April - July (Teacher 2)

Key vocabulary

Word/phrase Definition
Closed questions In a questionnaire or structured interview it is possible to ask open questions or closed questions. Closed questions are those with a limited number of possible responses, often "yes" or "no". Closed questions help to make data easier to analyse and to make it more reliable
Ethical Issues When sociologists carry out research they must take into account ethics: problems that relate to the morality of your research or research method. This would include whether the research method required any deception and that participants had given their full informed consent to their contribution. It includes the issue of whether the research could cause any discomfort or harm, or indeed whether it includes any illegal activity. Furthermore there are issues of participants' anonymity and privacy
Gatekeepers Sociologists are not always able to automatically or directly access their sample, target population or situation. For example, if researching education and wishing to research in a school, they will need permission from the headteacher. In this situation the headteacher is acting as a gatekeeper: she/he can facilitate or block the researcher from carrying out their research
Hawthorne effect The phenomenon of the subjects of a study behaving differently because they are being studied
Longitudinal research Refers to research that is done over a long period of time. For example, interviewing participants at regular interviews through their childhood, in order to see development

Wider reading

  • AQA A Level Sociology Book One Including AS Level: Book one by Rob Webb , Hal Westergaard , et al.
  • Sociology for AQA, Vol. 1: AS and 1st-Year A Level by Ken Browne
  • Gang Leader for a Day. Sudhir Venkatesh
  • AQA AS and A Level Sociology Education with Research Methods (Collins Student Support Materials) by Martin Holborn 
  • https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology
Year 13

Unit 1 - Beliefs in Society

Key questions/concepts

  • What function does religion serve in society?
  • Does religion create social change or reinforce traditional values?
  • Why are some groups in society more religious than others?
  • Why do some people join cults and how are these different to other religious groups?
  • Is the UK becoming less religious?

Timeframe

  • September - March (Teacher 1)

Key vocabulary

Word/phrase Definition
Religion There are multiple ways to define a ‘religion’. For example, a functional definition focuses on the social or psychological function it performs for individuals or society.
Secularisation Secularisation refers to the decline in the importance of religion. There is much disagreement among sociologists about whether or how far religion has declined.
Sacred Sacred refers to anything that members of society regard as special. This does not have to be a god but anything that people consider sacred, including a stone, a tree, a book or a person.
New Age The New Age refers to a range of ideas that started to become prominent in the 1980s. They involve one-to-one encounters (such as a healer and a client) or small groups (such as a yoga group). Examples include clairvoyance, contacting aliens, meditations, paganism, tarot cards and crystal healing.
Fundamentalism Fundamentalism refers to the desire to return to the core beliefs of a religion. It is often in response to a perceived threat to religion, such as secularisation. Fundamentalism is sometimes linked to violence, particularly terrorism, but this is not always the case.

Wider reading

  • AQA A Level Sociology Book Two by Rob Webb , Hal Westergaard , et al.
  • Sociology for AQA, Vol. 2 by Ken Browne
  • Religion in Sociological Perspective by Keith Roberts and David Yamane
  • Sociology for AQA Revision Guide 2: 2nd-Year A Level (Aqa Revision Guides) Paperback – 26 May 2017
  • https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology/collections/beliefs-in-society

 

Unit 2 - Crime and Deviance

Key questions/concepts

  • How does the media influence crime?
  • How is crime punished?
  • How does crime serve a function in society?
  • Who is more likely to commit crime?
  • How have changes in society created changes in crimes committed?

Timeframe

  • September - March (Teacher 2)

Key vocabulary

Word/phrase Definition
Anomie A state of normlessness: the lack of social cohesion and solidarity that often accompanies rapid social change
Chivalry thesis When trying to explain crime statistics showing that men commit many more criminal acts than women, some sociologists suggest that these statistics do not reflect reality; rather that mostly-male law enforcement officers tend to attempt to protect women from the criminal justice system out of gentlemanliness
Moral panic Interactionist sociologist Stan Cohen introduced the concept of the moral panic into sociology, specifically in reference to the societal reaction – particularly the media reaction – to mods and rockers.  The term can be applied to any sensationalist or over-the-top reaction to an issue that appears to relate to morality: to right and wrong
Rational choice theory Some approaches to crime and deviance and especially crime prevention are based on the assumption that criminals make a rational choice to commit a crime. The suggestion is that when criminals are presented with an opportunity for criminality, they make a cost/benefit analysis
Relative deprivation The lack of resources (e.g. money, rights, social equality) necessary to maintain the quality of life considered typical within a given socioeconomic group

Wider reading

  • AQA A Level Sociology: Book 2 Paperback by Rob Webb (Author), Hal Westergaard (Author), Keith Trobe (Author), Annie Townend (Author)
  • AQA A Level Sociology Themes and Perspectives: Year 2 (Haralambos and Holborn AQA A Level Sociology) Paperback – 3 July 2018 by Michael Haralambos
  • AQA A Level Sociology Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods (Collins Student Support Materials) by Steve Chapman and Judith Copeland
  • Folk Devils and Moral Panics. Stanley Cohen
  • https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology

 

Unit 2 - Theory and methods

Key questions/concepts

  • Is Sociology a science?
  • Can society be studied in a value-free manner?
  • To what extent can Marxism explain the structure of society?
  • Does post-modernism exist?
  • How does sociology contribute to social policy?

Timeframe

  • March - April (Teacher 2)

Key vocabulary

Word/phrase Definition
Interpretivism Interpretivists argue that the study of human society must go beyond empirical and supposedly objective evidence to include subjective views, opinions, emotions, values: the things that can't be directly observed and counted
Positivism Positivist sociologists believe that it is possible to establish objective facts through scientific research methods and the thorough collection and analysis of empirical evidence
Feminism This is a broad term to refer to a perspective (and a movement) that recognises and opposes patriarchy (the male dominance of society) and that argues for the rights of women
Functionalism This is one of the key sociological perspectives and is known as a consensus theory as it is characterised by the idea that society requires shared norms and values in order for it function properly
Post-modernism Post-modernism refers to a broad movement across many academic disciplines and aspects of society that rejects the apparent certainties that characterised the ideas associated with modernity. It suggests we are now in a new historical era - post-modernity – which is characterised by rapid change and choice. They write about a "pick and mix" culture, where people choose their identities rather than being born into them and they identify the process of globalisation

Wider reading

  • AQA A Level Sociology: Book 2 Paperback by Rob Webb (Author), Hal Westergaard (Author), Keith Trobe (Author), Annie Townend (Author)
  • AQA A Level Sociology Themes and Perspectives: Year 2 (Haralambos and Holborn AQA A Level Sociology) Paperback – 3 July 2018 by Michael Haralambos
  • AQA A Level Sociology Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods (Collins Student Support Materials) by Steve Chapman and Judith Copeland
  • Pearson REVISE AQA A level Sociology Revision Guide and Workbook
  • https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology
Back to Academic Curriculum

Admissions

Access our current admissions information

Examinations

Details on forthcoming exams

Professional Learning Hub

Collaborative staff development
Sixth Form
Academic Curriculum
Video
Explore our school...