Applied Science

“My students often ask me, 'What is sociology?' And I tell them, 'It's the study of the way in which human beings are shaped by things that they don't see.” Sam Richards

Exam Board AQA

Qualification AS Level 7191

(only for those students not completing the full A Level) A level 7192 COURSE CONTENT, STRUCTURE

Studying sociology offers insights int o social and cultur al issues. It hel ps you develop a m ultiperspective and critical approach to understanding issues ar ound culture, ide ntity, religion, crime, childhood and s ocial power. More than once during the course you’re bound to ask yourself the question, “why have we developed like this? Poverty, ignorance, crime, injustice ... shoul dn’t we have left them in the Stone Age?”

AS Level

Family and H ouse holds— Relations hip of the f amily to state policy; changes in family structure; changing patterns of marriage, m arital break down and chil d bearing; gender roles, domestic labour and changes to the status of children.

Education and Sociological met hod—Factors affecting e ducational achieveme nt of different s ocial groups by gender, s ocial cl ass and et hnicity; school processes including pupil subcultures and teacher/ pupil rel ationships; the significance of state policies on student e xperiences of education. Different methods by which sociol ogists g ather information; the oretical, pr actical and et hical considerations influencing choice of topic and research method; t he strengt hs and limit ations of a range of methods and data.

A level

Beliefs in society—This topic e xamines t he role of a range of religious beliefs and organisations and the extent of secularisation.

Crime and Dev iance wit h The ory and Methods—

This topic buil ds on k nowledge from Module 3 in a more critical, inter pretative and ev aluative way; studies t he nat ure of sociological thoug ht in much greater dept h than AS level. This topic studies expl anations of crime, deviance, s ocial or der, control and power; distribution of crime by age, ge nder, social cl ass, ethnicity and l ocality; a study of suicide 39 .

Subject Entry Requirements

5 GCSEs at grade 5 or above, including a grade 6 in Sociology (if studied) and a grade 5 in English METHOD OF ASSESSMENT

AS Qualification

•· Paper 1 – 90 minutes written examination. Accounts for 50% of final AS grade · • Paper 2 – 90 minutes written e xam ination.

Accounts for 50% of final AS grade

A level Qualification

•· P aper 1 – 2 hr written examination. Accounts for 33.3% of final A level. • Paper 2 – 2 hr written examination. Accounts for 33.3% of final A-level • Paper 3 – 2 hr written examination. Accounts for 33.3% of final A-level

WHAT DOORS WILL IT OPEN FOR ME?

Sociology can le ad to a v ariety of different careers and m any of our A-level Sociology students do choose t o study a sociol ogy rel ated course at university for this reas on. Some of the possible career pathways incl ude: l aw, journalism, social work, education (teaching), policing, nursing, criminology and political science.

Student Comment:

“I enjoy le arning Sociology be cause it deepe ns my understanding of t he worl d ar ound me and I can e xplain why t hings are the way they are in society. ”