Course Content – AQA Syllabus (8192)
Unit 1 – Introduction
- What is Sociology?
- Overview of the course
- Learning methods
- Resources
Unit 2 – The Sociological Approach
- Karl Marx and his ideas
- Durkheim and functionalism
- The ideas of Weber
- Feminist ideas
- The New Right Theory
- Values
- Norms
- Social control and issues
- Culture
- Socialisation
- Symbolic interactionism
- The Debate between conflict and consensus theories
- Culture vs Nature debate
- Sex and gender
- Race and ethnicity
- Research design
- Quantitative vs qualitative methods
Unit 3 – Families and Their Functions
- Changing roles within families
- Tension in conventional families
- Inequality in conventional families
- Family relationships and how they have changed
- Relationships between children and parents
- Care of the disabled and elderly
- Children in families
- Stratified diffusion
- Pre-industrial families
- Industrialised families
- Modern-day families
- The symmetrical family
- Power in the family
- Relationships in the family today
- Family and marriage
- Functionalism and conjugal roles
- Feminism and conjugal roles
- Criticisms of the feminist view
- Feminism and Anne Oakley
- Criticism of Delphy’s and Leonard’s views
- Marxism and conjugal roles
- Zaretsky and his views
- Criticisms of Marxist views of the family
- Decision-making
- Parenting and childcare
- ‘Dysfunctional’ families
- Marriage in Britain today
- Family breakdown and divorce
- Sociological perspectives of divorce and marital breakdown
- The Nuclear Family and Murdock’s Four Functions
- Parsons’ perspectives – the loss of functions
Unit 4 – Families
- UK family forms
- Global family forms
- China and the ‘One Child per Family’ Policy
- Rapoport’s Five Types of Family Diversity
- Alternatives to living in a family
- Reasons for diversity
Unit 5 – Education
- Functionalist perspectives on the role of education
- Parsons’s perspectives on the role of education
- Other criticisms of functionalism
- The selective role of education
- The formal and hidden curriculum
- Criticisms of the Marxist view of education
- Bowles and Gintis
- Paul Willis and the counter school culture
- Functionalists and achievement
- Feminism and achievement
- Marxists and achievement
- Interactionism and achievement
- Social class factors that affect success in school
- Sociological research and social class
- Gender and educational achievement
- Ethnicity and educational achievement
- School diversity
- Alternative education
- Education and politics
Unit 6 – Crime and Deviance
- How functionalism explains crime and deviance
- Merton’s explanation of crime and deviance
- Interactionalist explanation of crime and deviance
- Feminist explanation of crime and deviance
- Marxist explanation of crime and deviance
- Marxism and law enforcement
- Social control
- Anti-social behaviour and social control
- Sanctions for crime and deviant behaviour
- The treatment of young offenders
- Who commits crimes?
- How criminal and deviant behaviour is explained
- Interactionist view of social control
- Functionalism and social control
- Feminists’ view of social control
- Marxism and social control
- The media and public concern
- Cohen – folk devils and moral panics
- Different ways to measure crime
- Patterns and trends in crime statistics
- The social construction of crime
Unit 7 – Social Stratification
- What is social stratification?
- The different types of social stratification
- The functionalist perspective
- The Marxist approach to socioeconomic class
- Weber’s views on socioeconomic class
- The Embourgeoisement Theory
- Functionalist views on socioeconomic class
- Feminist views on socioeconomic class
- Life chances and health
- Life chances and religion
- Life chances and gender
- Life chances and ethnicity
- Life chances and young people
- Life chances and old age
- Life chances and disability
- The functionalist view of life chances
- The feminist view of life chances
Unit 8 – Social Stratification: Poverty and Power
- The New Right Theory of Welfare
- Charles Murray and the ‘Underclass’
- Feminism and Marxist theories on welfare
- The functionalist view of poverty
- Peter Townsend and measuring poverty
- Power and authority
- Weber and authority
- Sylvia Walby’s Study of Patriarchy
- Political power
Unit 9 – Sociological Research Methods
- The research process
- Research questions, hypotheses and aims
- Theoretical issues
- Mixed approaches
- Samples and sampling techniques
- Qualitative and quantitative research methods
- Types of data collection and sources
- Primary and secondary sources of data collection
- Participant observation
- Practical issues when carrying out research
- Solutions for practical problems
- Informed consent
- Anonymity and confidentiality
Unit 10 – Preparing for the Exam
- Course summary
- Revision guidance
- Examination preparation
- Sample papers and grading scheme
- Writing papers and essays
- Practice Paper 1
- Practice Paper 2
