St Cuthbert Mayne School

Sociology Eduqas GCE

A Level

Course Handbook

Name…………………..Tutor…………………..

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Your A Level at a glance

Studied in Year 1

Component 1: Socialisation and Culture A Level written exam 40% of qualification 2 hours 30 minutes (120 marks)

Culture, socialisation and the acquisition of identity. Youth cultures Sociology of Education

Component 2: Methods of Sociological Enquiry

A Level written exam 20% of qualification 1 hour 45 minutes (60 Marks)

Studied in Year 2

Component 3: Power and Stratification

A Level written exam 40% of qualification 2 hours 30 minutes (120 marks)

Social differentiation and stratification Crime and deviance

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ORGANISATION and ROUTINES Come to lessons ON TIME and READY TO LEARN with folder, textbook and stationery. First of all get organized with an A4 arch lever folder with sections for each unit in the A level. There will be regular folder checks which will count towards your effort grade. We expect to see a folder EVERY LESSON which contains:- Handouts printed from Google Classroom – Refer to your

assessment schedule for weekly topics, print resources BEFORE lessons start and pre-read and highlight keypoints noting down any questions you have

Knowledge Organisers which you have completed on each topic using templates provided on Google Classroom

Marked assignments with improvements written on them

Work submitted must be on time and completed to the best of your ability and in line with your ALPS target grade. Most assessments will be completed under timed conditions in class however occasionally you will complete these at home and they should be handed in by the due date. You should write deadlines into your assessment schedule so you cannot forget! Should you feel that you will be unable to complete a piece of work for a set date, you must speak to your teacher to arrange an extension. Similarly if you miss a timed essay you must arrange a time to catch up with this.

Should you require any extra help understanding the topics covered in class, or would like guidance on subject material, exam technique or homework, we would be more than happy to arrange a one on one session at lunchtime/after school. Again, this is your responsibility to know when to ask for help. We will allocate a lunchtime to help students repeat work or catch up.

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Assessment Your work and your exam responses will be assessed on how well you meet the assessment objectives below. When you complete each assignment detailed in the assessment schedule at the back of this booklet, you will receive a feedback proforma detailing performance in these three areas as well as a target for improvement. You must read and discuss this target and ensure you know how to improve your work. After your PPEs in November, February and June you will have a week to improve your answers in class.

AO1 Knowledge and Understanding This objective is about identifying and explaining Sociological theories, evidence, concepts and key terms. E.g Durkheim (1963) believed that a shared culture is necessary for society to run smoothly. This shared culture is passed down generations and people must conform to their culture to avoid punishment.

AO2 Application This objective is about applying your knowledge of theories, concepts, evidence and research methods in order to make your point e.g stating that Durkheim’s idea of shared culture is a Functionalist view and relates to the concept of consensus.

AO3 Evaluation and Analysis This objective is about making judgements and coming to conclusions.Evaluation is about criticising, providing strengths and weaknesses or providing supporting or opposing evidence. Analysis is saying what your point means or suggests about a theory, society, or for the question you are answering in general. E.g However Durkheim has been criticised for ignoring the inequality in society such as the exploitation of working classes. This suggests that Durkheim’s view of culture is limited. Some essay will only require AO1 and AO2 so you need only provide explanations and application of evidence and examples. However some essays will require AO1, AO2 and AO3 so you should try to structure each paragraph you write using PEAE – Point, Evidence, Analysis, Evaluation e.g AO1 Youth culture is a kind of rite of passage to adulthood. AO2 This is a Functionalist idea as it stresses the functional role of youth cultures. For example Hippies may have joined that culture to escape the consumerist culture of their parents and become independent from them. AO3 This suggests that youth culture has a positive function providing a route to adulthood. However this functionalist view ignores the existence of youth cultures which are dysfunctional like gang culture. Marxists would argue that this is a sign of conflict and resistance to capitalism. society.

Grade Boundaries A 80 - 100% B 70 - 79%

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C 60 - 69% D 50 - 59% E 40 - 49%

Resources and useful websites

Essential textbooks to buy:- Year 12 WJEC/Eduqas Sociology for AS and Year 1 Student Book’ (ISBN 978-1908682741.) This book is available either online from the publishers www.illuminatepublishing.com for £23.50 or from Amazon.co.uk Year 13 WJEC/Eduqas Sociology for A2 and Year 2 Student Book (ISBN 978-1-908682-75-8.) This book is available either online from the publishers www.illuminatepublishing.com for £25.99 or from Amazon.co.uk.

If there are any difficulties with purchasing the above required text this should be discussed with me at the earliest opportunity as this would have a serious impact on your success on this course. As this is new syllabus we will only have limited copies available to lend to students but there will be bursary money available to students in financial difficulty. Also available at a discount student price is a membership to the Sociology Review magazine which provides excellent additional reading. Please see me if you are interested in signing up for this, the cost is £13 per annum. In the Sociology room C2 we have a range of Sociology texts which can provide additional reading. We also have past copies of Sociology Review the A’level Sociology magazine.

Google Classroom will be the place to find most resources Eduqas /WJEC exam board website where you can download syllabus and

past papers etc. A site for watching Sociology videos, podcasts and articles

http://www.podology.com Site for resources specific to WJEC syllabus including an A-Z of terms

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk Sociology revision site

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/sociology.html Site for study and research

http://www.intute.ac.uk/sociology/ Site to get up-to-date statistics

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html Search for specific news articles

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Search for specific social trends

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/social-trends Social trends archive http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?

vlnk=5748 The flagship magazine for A’level Sociology

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/sociologyreview/index.htm

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SOCIOLOGY INDUCTION WORKThis assignment is due on the first lesson of term without exception Please complete BOTH tasks. In Advanced Level Sociology you will be required to read a fair amount of material and put it into your own words in the form of essays. You will also be required to think critically about this information and offer alternative viewpoints. You will improve these skills as the course progresses. There will be many terms you are unfamiliar with and you should get used to dealing with these. These tasks are designed to help you develop these skills.

1. Create a Sociology glossary by finding definitions of the words at the end of this booklet. Most of them can be found in the booklet, some you will need to look up.

2. There are five theories or perspectives about how society works described in this booklet, FUNCTIONALISM, MARXISM, FEMINISM, INTERACTIONISM, POSTMODERNISM. Explain which one is your favourite and why. Make comparisons to the other perspectives in your answer and write no more than 500 words.

I hope you have a great summer and see you in September!Mrs Rust Ashford

What is Sociology?

Sociology is the study of human social life. Because human social life is so complex, sociology has many sub-sections of study, ranging from the analysis of individual interactions between people to theories that try to understand how the entire world works. Sociology has its roots in significant changes such as the industrial revolution and the urbanisation of populations. The focus of the early founders of sociology was to gain an understanding of how social structures e.g the economy, family, workplaces, religion, education, or the media, can influence people’s norms,values ,culture and status. They were also interested in how social roles influence behaviour e.g gender, ethnic background or class.Is Sociology a Science?

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Social Science subjects are gaining ground in being considered scientific but some still argue that humanity is simply too complex to study in the same way as chemistry or biology. Social scientists gather data and test their theories about how the world works using the scientific method. However, Sociologists, like all humans, have attitudes and beliefs which will influence what they study and what they find. Humans are conscious thinking beings that have free-will and awkwardly change their behaviour when they know they are being studied! Some believe that this makes it difficult to be objective. In the natural sciences like chemistry the objects of study do not choose how to react – water does not choose how to react to heat – it just boils. Another issue is if we only collect Quantitative data like numbers and statistics, how can we gain a true picture of individual motives, attitudes and experiences? But if we collect rich Qualitative data like a case study for example of one person’s experiences, how can we generalise the findings to a whole population?

Nature or Nurture?Is the behaviour of humans due to genes, biology, evolution etc or is it due to environmental factors like upbringing, culture, nationality, and social roles like gender, class or race? Sociologists fall heavily on the side of nurture (how the social environment affects behaviour)

Top-down or bottom-up Sociology?

Top-down sociology sees people as being influenced by the system (society as a structure). A bit like society being a great big machine that controls how we act – we are puppets on a string and ‘society’ is the puppet master. We have very little free-will and are compelled to do things. For example we commit crime because there is pressure for us to possess certain things from the media, like the latest mobile phone. Marxism and Functionalism (see below) are top-down perspectives also known as ‘structural’ theories or ‘Macro approaches’Bottom-up sociology prefers to look at how individuals actively create society through their interactions with each other and how they influence each other on a small scale. All together this has the effect of creating the larger structure. For example, using the crime example, it could be argued that the media requires individuals to interact and make decisions and their individual actions create the media. Interactionism and Post-modernism (see below) are bottom-up perspectives also known as ‘social action’ theories or ‘Micro approaches’

Functionalist perspective

Functionalism is based on the work of French sociologist Emile Durkheim. It is a structural theory (Macro approach). The big structure which Functionalists examine is the shared culture within any society and how this makes society the way it is. Functionalists believe that society is how it is because everything

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serves an important function. For example we have education because we need to pass on knowledge and culture to offspring. We have a government because we need leadership and rules. We have families because we need a way in which children can be nurtured and people are emotionally supported. We have an economic system in which people are provided with wages or profit with which to buy food and shelter. Even crime serves the function of reminding us of our values (what we believe is right and wrong) and allows us to question our values and change for the better e.g suffragettes were criminals in their day! In the main part, people believe strongly in these ways of doing things (shared culture) and contribute in order to maintain a harmonious society e.g by paying taxes, going to work, sending children to school and obeying the law. This is known as value consensus.

This basically suggests that everyone must work together to maintain society and therefore all parts of society are inter-dependent (they depend upon each other). For example without education we would not have skilled individuals to work and provide goods and services for people. If the economy fails then many aspects are affected such as jobs, families, health. To explain this concept of inter-dependence Functionalist use an organic analogy. They suggest that society is like the human body as if one part fails e.g lungs, then other parts will also fail e.g heart. Topics in SociologyCulture and Identity – Functionalist believe that shared culture is essential to maintain a harmonious society. Socialisation is the process through which shared culture is passed onto the next generation. Youth Culture – Functionalists believe youth culture is functional for society as it helps to integrate young people into adult life. Therefore they see it as an important ‘rite of passage’. Young people go through a crisis of identity as they separate themselves from families/adults and youth culture helps them resolve this crisis.Research Methods – Functionalists believe in studying society scientifically. They prefer to use a quantitative approach. This involves collecting statistics and correlations of social facts e.g Is there a correlation between family income and divorce?Education - Functionalists believe that education serves the function of allocating roles to people so that society has all the workers and skills it needs e.g refuse collectors and doctors. They believe that education is meritocratic (people succeed based on merit or intelligence and hard work) and inequalities in wealth are fair. Doctors should be paid more than refuse collectors.

Marxist PerspectiveMarxism comes from the work of German sociologist Karl Marx. It is a structural (Macro approach) but is also sometimes referred to as a ‘critical theory’ and as a ‘conflict theory’. The big structure examined in Marxism is capitalism. Marxists are anti-capitalist and anti-establishment, they believe society enslaves people to a system where they work hard for low wages in order to buy stuff they don’t really need. It is a conflict theory because it claims that capitalism creates conflict between classes. Two classes exist: a dominant class, the bourgeoisie (rich, upper/ruling class), and a subordinate class, the proletariat (working classes), and the whole social system is centred around

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the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie. The proletariat are exploited because their labour (work) is worth more than the wages they receive and the bourgeoisie (who employ them in factories, mines, shops, offices, banks etc) keep the surplus (profit) for themselves. The result is the bourgeoisie become richer and the proletariat merely survive. According to Marx the whole of society is organised around this relationship.The bourgeoisie are a minority in society, the proletariat out-number them by far. This means that the bourgeoisie have to maintain control over the proletariat in order to prevent an uprising or revolution. Marx suggested that control is maintained because the Bourgeoisie promote an‘ideology’ which is in their interests through institutions which they control such as education, religion, media and government. For example government can promote the idea that people who claim benefits are lazy. This benefits them because they can make inequalities in wealth seem fair. According to Karl Marx people accept this ideology and develop ‘false class consciousness’ (they are unaware that they are controlled and exploited). When they become aware of the unfairness of society they will become ‘class conscious’ and a revolution will be the result. An uprising will abolish capitalism and replace it with a communist system. Neo-Marxism is a newer perspective which focuses more on the means of power and control other than ownership of land and property e.g the media, politics, education and cultural power. Topics in SociologyCulture and Identity – Marxists believe that the shared culture of society is essentially designed to benefit the bourgeoisie e.g we are socialised to believe that working hard is worthwhile because hard work increases profits for the rich. Youth culture – Neo-marxists have examined spectacular youth sub-cultures like the skinheads and teddy boys and believe that these represented resistance to capitalism or class consciousness. Research Methods – Marxists traditionally used a positivist approach but Neo-marxists prefer a qualitative approach. Education – Education ensures that rich children secure well-paid and powerful positions and that working class children contribute to the lower-paid workforce. They believe the Functionalist idea of ‘meritocracy’ is a myth

Femininist perspectiveFeminism is a Conflict theory similar to Marxism but feminists believe the main conflict in society is between men and women rather than between classes.Men have exploited women for a long time. They call this patriarchyPatriarchy exists in the family, the workplace, the government and throughout society. Men can exploit women because childbirth makes them vulnerable (imagine a woman’s life without birth control even today).The fact that men are physically stronger than women comes into it but is exaggerated by socially constructed gender roles. Feminists believe there are other options, had men not chosen to exploit women there are fairer ways to share wealth and workload. Men are aware of this but choose exploitation because they benefit from the expectations placed upon women such as being a ‘domestic goddess’ and looking attractive for men. Many women still suffer from inequality in the workplace, sexual objectification in the media and from violence at the hands of men. However the level of exploitation has reduced over the decades due to feminist campaigns described below. There have been women fighting for

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women’s rights throughout history however the first major campaign was the suffragettes in the late 19th century. They succeeded in gaining votes for women in 1918. This was crucial to secure laws in parliament which would protect the rights of women. Although many of these important rights such as abortion or divorce laws were not changed until years later. The second major campaign started in the 1960s known as the Women’s liberation movement. They campaigned in areas such as the law e.g the workplace, maternity leave, equal pay, education, entry into universities and in the family, rape within marriage laws, abortion rights. Women do have more say in family matters as they often contribute financially now. But many feminists feel women now have a dual burden of paid work and housework. Women are making great inroads in occupations once considered purely male.Topics in SociologyCulture and Identity – Feminists believe that children are socialised into gender roles and this disadvantages women. Girls are brought up to believe they are weaker than men, that they should be good mothers and wives etc. And can only perform certain roles in the workplace.Youth culture – Feminist believe that in the past girls have been ignored when researching youth cultures because male sociologists were mainly interested in male youth cultures that were anti-social or deviant in some way. However there are girl sub-cultures.Research Methods – Feminists usually conduct qualitative research as they are keen for the voices of women to be heard. They aim for their research to result in social change.Education – Feminists believe that the education system has in past been sexist towards girls. E.g encouraging curriculums and subject choices which disadvantage girls e.g needlework instead of carpentry, wearing of uniforms which are masculine.

Postmodernist perspectivePostmodernist sociologists claim that changes that took place in the 20th century have rendered existing sociological theories redundant. Such theories were devised to make sense of the modern era with its industrial societies and nation states. Today, they claim, these societies have altered so much that we need a new type of sociology to make sense of them.

Changes include issues like the development and spread of information and communication technology. Consumerism has lead to choice and diversity. Buying goods and services has become increasingly central to peoples lives. What we buy helps to define who we are. We purchase branded goods that allow us to create our own identities. In postmodern society people’s identities are constructed through personal choice rather than determined by class, gender etc. As a result they are more fluid and changeable. The media is so intense that the boundary between reality and media images has broken down. We get our ideas about who we are from the media.

Globalisation has broken down boundaries between nation states. We now have transnational organisations like the EU and transnational companies. People are increasingly exposed to different societies and different ways of life. Nations are becoming increasingly multi cultural. A sense of growing social and environmental risk makes peoples lives increasingly insecure. Jobs are no longer for life, neither are marriages. With global warming and worldwide

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pollution, our environment appears increasingly dangerous. Distance no longer provides a barrier to communication – people can talk to each other from anywhere at any time. This provides immediate access to cultures, practices, ideas and belief systems, which were once remote and inaccessible.Topics in SociologyCulture and identity – Post modernist believe identities are no longer fixed or based on categories like gender, class and ethnicity. People develop hybrid identities such as black british and culture is based on media and consumerismYouth Culture – Post modernists believe that youth culture is very diverse and made up on small collections of young people with similar consumer and leisure interests, known as Neo-tribes.Research Methods – Post modernists examine media images, how language and conversation constructs reality. They use qualitative methods.Education – The post modern world is full of risk and uncertainty. This has resulted in excessive pressure on young people to conform and succeed in gaining qualifications and the right kind of identity. Education has not kept up with changes to society such as new kinds of media and communication or with the new scepticism towards authority.

Interactionist perspectiveInteractionism is a social action or micro theory that is focussed on how the actions of individuals creates the reality of society. In particular they focus on inner mental states such as how the people around us help us to develop a ‘sense of self.’ Interactionists use the term ‘labelling’ to describe how some groups are negatively stereotyped and how this in turn affects a person’s sense of self. A person can adopt the behaviour they feel is expected of them leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example being labelled a ‘chav’ may lead to a person behaving like a chav and may have negative consequences for the individual.

Human beings attach meanings to experiences or events that they encounter. How they interpret these events is more important than the event itself. If a teacher at school criticises our work we may interpret this in a number of ways and it is this interpretation that will influence action rather than the event itself. Concepts in the social world like crime, unemployment or poverty are abstract and socially constructed by the way we choose to interpret or attach meanings to them. A “crime” is only a crime because that is how we interpret it.

In social science, objectivity is neither possible nor desirable, values, beliefs and expectations will always colour research. Objectivity is itself a value treasured by the scientific community that does nothing to reveal the truth. There is a fundamental difference between the subject matter of natural science and that of sociology and it is therefore a mistake to attempt to apply the same methodology. Human beings have consciousness and free will – they choose how to act. They are not simply caused to do things by external pressures acting upon them as things do in the natural world.Topics in SociologyCulture and Identity – We develop a sense of self from others. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘looking glass self’ as society is like a mirror to us.

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It reflects back to us who we are. For example if we had no social interaction with others we would not understand what it means to be masculine or feminine, ugly or beautiful, black or white.Youth Culture – The labelling of young people as deviant/criminal and terms such as yob, hoody or chav create self-fulfilling prophecies which lead to further deviance.Research Methods - Interactionists use an ‘interpretivist’ approach to research. They might use qualitative observation of the day-to-day interactions of people and how they shape our understanding of the social world. Education – Interactionists examine how labelling occurs in the interactions between teachers and students. Students who are labelled as ‘failures’ will develop a self-fulfilling prophecy and fail. Whereas students with positive labels such as ‘bright’ or ‘hard working’ will do well.

GlossaryWord/phrase Explanation

Culture

Quantitative Data

Qualitative Data

Value Consensus

Organic Analogy

Rite of Passage

Meritocracy

Capitalism

Bourgeoisie

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Proletariat

Sub-Culture

Patriarchy

Consumerism

Labelling

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