AS/A2 Sociology

AS / A2 SOCIOLOGY

Exam Board: AQA
Sociology is an increasingly popular and successful academic A-level subject at Paston, which combines particularly well with subjects such as History, Law, English and Psychology. Nationally the number of undergraduates taking Sociology degrees has risen by a third since 1996.Past Paston Sociology students have gone on to study Sociology, often in combination with Politics and History
at university including York, Bristol and Southampton.

Sociology is a fascinating subject which tries to explain how societies work, for example by looking at who has power and why, and how political ideologies have influenced social change.

It challenges everyday assumptions, asks uncomfortable questions and suggests answers that some people, especially those in authority, may feel threatened by. It most appeals to students already interested in History, Philosophy and Politics, and those that enjoy debates around moral and ethical issues in RE.

Sociology degrees are relevant to a range of careers and university courses including Politics, Criminology, History, Medicine, Law, Government Research, and Teaching.

Paston Sociology students have the opportunity to go on the extremely popular joint History and Sociology trips which have included cultural visits to Germany, Russia and China. We also run a political film club which gives students the chance to watch and debate controversial films and documentaries.

Out of all the subjects I took at Paston, Sociology has had the greatest impact on my further education and approach to life. The foundations provided by the polemic nature of Sociology equipped me with an individual conception of the world, and the ability to develop free thinking arguments, a skill that will stay with me indefinitely. James Craske, studying English Literature, Sociology and Politics at the University of East Anglia.

I chose to study Sociology at Paston as it was completely new and different to anything I had studied previously. The best thing about Sociology is the enthusiasm that the teachers have for the subject and the teaching which made the lessons really interesting. I enjoyed learning from activities like debates and watching extracts from films and documentaries not just reading from the textbook. I liked the fact that Sociology really relates to the world around us now and being able to identify with the political content of the course motivated me to read widely and learn more effectively. Nicola Alexander, studying History and Sociology at the University of Sussex.

AS Sociology

At AS you will study:

• Education
• The effects of past and present government education policies in reproducing class inequalities.
• The significance of educational policies, including selection, and the introduction of market forces, on the structure and impact of education.
• Relationships and processes within schools, with reference to teacher/pupil relationships, pupil subcultures, the hidden curriculum, and the organisation of teaching and learning
• How social class, gender and ethnicity affects educational attainment in contemporary society
• The application of research methods to the study of education
• Families and households
• The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, with particular reference to the economy and state policies.
• Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, child-bearing and the life course, and the diversity of contemporary family and household structures.
• How sociologists have investigated violence and abuse within the family.
• The nature and extent of changes within the family, with reference to gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships.
• The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society.
• Demographic trends in the UK since 1900: reasons for changes in birth rates, death rates and family size.
• How the media idealises the nuclear family, making alternatives such as single parent families appear inferior.

Assessment

2 examinations, each with a short answer section and two essays.

Entry requirements

At least a grade C in English Language in addition to the Colleges entry requirement for AS study. No prior knowledge of the subject is necessary.

A2 Sociology

At A2 you will build upon your work at AS and study:

• Beliefs and Society
• Different theories of ideology and hegemony: Marxist, neo-marxist, pluralist and feminist accounts.
• The relationship between religious beliefs and social change and stability
• Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age Movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice.
• The significance of religion and religious fundamentalism in the contemporary world, including the nature and extent of secularisation in a globalised society
• Crime and Deviance
• Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control.
• The social distribution of crime and deviance by age, ethnicity and gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime.
• Globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the mass media and crime; environmental green crime, human rights and state crimes.
• Crime control, prevention and punishment, victims and the role of the criminal justice system.
• The sociological study of suicide and its theoretical and methodological implications
• The connections between sociological theory and methods and the study of crime and deviance.

Assessment

2 examinations consisting of a short answer section and essays.