Study

Sociology is an interesting subject. Students will develop skills valued by higher education and employers, including critical analysis, independent thinking and research. You should be interested in current affairs and be able to analyse and interpret information.

Topics include Families & Households: What is a family? What changes have there been to childhood over the last 100 years?

Education with Theory and Methods: What shapes our identity within schools and how can this affect our grades? How can a teacher form a label and make us under or over achieve? Students need to understand a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods and be able to apply these to the context of education.

In the Media Option for Paper 2, you will cover topics such as the new media and understanding of the role of the media in contemporary society as well as the relationship between ownership and control of the media. We study the media, globalisation and popular culture, the processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news as well as media representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability. You will also learn about the relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences.

Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods: Explanations of crime applied to key topics such as media, gender and globalisation. Pure sociological theory is studied in depth as well as key debates such as Sociology as a science.

Assessment

A Level Sociology is assessed only through examination. There is no coursework. There are three two hour exams at the end of Year 13 of study.

What Next?

Related degrees include Criminology, Law, Health and Social Care and Government and Politics. Future careers include Lawyer, Journalist, Business Entrepreneur, Criminologist, Social Worker, Health and Social Care Worker, Teaching, NHS and a range of public services.

Sociology Subject Leader: Mrs A Richardson

Syllabus: AQA

Course Specification: 7192

Qualification: A Level