Students taking
Sociology should have an interest in social issues and trends in society. They will benefit from paying close attention
to stories in the media about crime, families, education and poverty in the developing
world. During the course, they will
learn to develop their written communication skills, particularly in the
writing of coherent arguments in the form of essays. Students will also be able to employ critical
thinking skills in order to interrogate material from a variety of sources such
as film, television news, print media and research by sociologists.
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AS
Units Unit
1 – Families and Households This unit looks the role that families and
household play in shaping society. It
asks: Why do we have families? Why are they the size and shape they are? Who
benefits from family life? What are the alternatives to the nuclear
family? Studying this part of the
course will give you an insight into the way that different sociologists
explain such things as relationships between couples, the changing nature of
childhood, the rise of divorce and single parent families, and the increasing
number of different choices which people make about family life. Unit
2 – Education and Methods in Context This part of the course looks at the way in which
schools have been researched by sociologists.
It considers the purpose of education and asks whether all students
benefit from school equally. It focuses
on some of problems brought about inequalities between children of different
classes, genders and ethnicities. In
addition, this course looks at the methods which sociologists have used to
study education and asks students to make judgements about which ones are
best suited to research both inside and outside of the school context. |
A2
Units Unit 3 –
World Sociology This unit looks at Global development and asks
questions about the causes of inequality and poverty in the developing world
and the response of the developed world to them. It considers current debates about the
effectiveness of aid, the problems associated with population growth, and the
extent to which globalization can be seen as a force for good or bad. Unit 4 –
Crime and Deviance and Theory and Methods in Context In this part of the course we look at different
explanations of crime ranging from gangs and subcultures through to the
impact of class, gender, age and ethnicity.
We pay particular attention to debates between different sociological
approaches looking at issues such as the extent to which our actions are
determined by forces beyond our control or are, instead, a result of our own
conscious choices. Like Unit 2, this unit also looks at the way in
which Sociologists do their research, focusing on the use of crime statistics
of the type which hit the headlines in the newspapers, and comparing their
usefulness with the kind of research which has led some sociologists to
interview victims and offenders and even to become gang members in their
studies of crime. |
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Assessment details All
exams take place in the summer term. It
is possible to re-take some of the summer exams the following January.
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Assessment details All exams take place in the summer term.
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Progression
Sociology
A-level is a versatile and well-recognised subject. Many of our students have gone on further
study at university in degrees which have Sociology as a core element, or which
are closely related, such as Criminology.
It also provides evidence to universities of skills in written
communication and research and can be used to meet their requirements for entry
on to a wide range of Arts, Social Science and Science courses. Sociology can also help towards vocational
qualifications and a career in social work and other social policy-related
careers.
Exam
board
AQA