Sociology - Commonweal

Teacher in charge of Subject

Mrs R Kalra-Hampshire
rkalra-hampshire@commonweal.co.uk

Overview

Sociology explores human society, social behaviour, and the institutions that shape everyday life. If you are naturally inquisitive, interested is social issues, global affairs, and enjoy debating controversial issues then Sociology may be for you.

Course Title

AS/A Sociology
Exam Board and Specification No.

AQA (2190)

What do I need to have studied/have knowledge of?

There is no prior leaning required for this course, but you must have achieved a grade 6 in English and a Humanities subject to be considered.

What will I learn on this course?

Year 1: AS

Explores how family structures function, change, and impact society.

Family Forms – types of family & household.
Core theoretical perspectives.
Family Diversity: The decline of the traditional nuclear family and the rise of extended, reconstituted, single-parent, and same-sex households.
Gender Roles and Power: The division of domestic labour, the “dual burden,” and power dynamics or domestic violence in relationships.
The Nature of Childhood: How childhood is socially constructed and how the status of children has changed over time in modern society.
Demographic Trends: Changes in birth rates, death rates, life expectancy, aging populations, and migration patterns in the UK.
Social Policy: How government policies and laws (such as divorce reforms or welfare benefits) shape family life.

Education

Explores the role of schooling, achievement disparities, internal school dynamics, and state policies

Role and Perspectives on Education.
Differential Educational Achievement.
Internal School Processes.
Educational Policies.

Theory and Methods

The connection between sociological thinking, research design, and how society is studied

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods.
Positivism Versus Interpretivism.
Sociological Perspectives.
Science, Values, and Social Policy.

Applied in context of Education.

Year 2: A2

Crime and Deviance

Outlines core sociological theories, patterns of criminal behaviour, and methods of crime control.

crime, deviance, social order and social control.
the social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime.
globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes.
crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies.

Theory and Methods applied in context of Crime and Deviance

Mass Media

Explores how the media shapes society, identity, and power.

Ownership and Control of the Media.
Globalisation and Popular Culture.
The Social Construction of News.
Media Representations.
Media Effects and Audiences.
The New Media.

What key skills will I develop?

A-level Sociology offers students the opportunity to develop the essential knowledge and understanding of central aspects of sociological thought and methods. It is designed to encourage students to demonstrate the application of a range of skills and consider the integration of sociological themes:

socialisation, culture and identity,
social differentiation, power and stratification.

By taking sociology, you will become a much more informed, questioning and critical citizen of society.

You will learn valuable skills, working independently, as well as in a team, to find and extract information, synthesis information and ideas, conduct research, interpret statistics, analyse information and respond to questions with effective evaluation.

How will I be assessed?

Paper 1: Education with Theory and Methods: 2 hour written exam.

Paper 2: Topics in Sociology: 2 hour written exam.
Section A Families and Households.
Section B Mass Media.

Paper 3: Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods: 2 hour written exam.

What could this course lead to?

Sociology is very popular nationally as an A Level subject, with many students achieving excellent outcomes. It is now firmly embedded as a noteworthy A Level subject, with all universities seeing it as an excellent foundation for many degrees. Sociology can lead to any jobs involving people, and can set you up for many careers including Law, business management, journalism, development, social work, medicine and teaching.