Whitchurch High School
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Whitchurch High School
A level GCE in Sociology is changing exam boards as from September 2008.
The department will be leaving AQA and using the WJEC specification.
Therefore, current pupils taking Sociology (2008-2010) will begin the new course (WJEC). Year 13 pupils beginning the A2 course September 2008 will continue with the current specification (AQA).
This specification is divided into a total of 4 units, 2 AS units and 2 A2 units. Weightings noted below are expressed in terms of the full A level qualification.
SY1 20% 1 hour Written Paper
Unit 1 - Acquiring Culture:
Families and Culture o Culture and identity o Families and households
One compulsory two part structured question based on stimulus material and covering introductory core
One two part structured question to be answered from a choice of three.
SY2 30% 1½ hour Written Paper
Unit 2 - Understanding Culture
One compulsory two part structured question based on research methods.
Education
One two part structured question – each structured question requires extended writing.
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This unit is assessed through a written paper. There will be one compulsory question on the core theme. There will be a choice of optional extension questions which will examine the core theme as applied to ‘family and culture’.
The core theme for this unit is socialisation and culture. Within these themes the focus is on how culture is transmitted, with an emphasis on sources of identity.
Introductory core:
This focuses on the key concepts and processes of cultural transmission which will be further developed in the chosen substantive option area.
Pupils will be expected to understand and use the following terms and concepts:
• socialisation
• cultural transmission
• social control
• social roles
• the nature/nurture debate
• social structures
• sanctions
• social change
• conflict
• social construction
• culture and cultural diversity
• sub-culture
• identity
• norms & values
• status
• social inequality
• consensus
• agencies of socialisation – primary
(family) & secondary (media, religion, peer group, community, work and education)
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The family is the key agency of primary socialisation and as such is central to our understanding of how culture is transmitted between the generations. Families set norms and values and as such are central to our understanding of how culture is transmitted between the generations
Specification content This focuses on:
Defining family, families and households, generation, kinship and family structures
Definitions:
Key concepts and processes of family analysis such as: nuclear families, extended families, households, singlehood, beanpole family, reconstituted family, family diversity and new family forms as they emerge
Debates:
Families in Contemporary Society in relation to gender, ethnicity and class
Understanding the Family
Debates, Patterns and Trends with reference to social profile such as: changing marriage rates, gender roles; single-hood, birth rates, divorce, cohabitation, changing family forms
Relationships within families such as: those between couples, parent/s, children and the elderly
Sexual and social diversity and new family forms
Power relationships within the family including gender roles, social control, decision making and domestic labour
Changing identity, status, roles and functions of the family in a late modern or post-modern society
Explanations:
This will include explanations for the patterns and trends identified above.
These may refer to theoretical understandings and discussions such as
Marxism, Functionalism, feminism and contemporary views of family structure and change
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This unit is assessed through a written paper. There will be one compulsory question on the core theme of research methods.
In addition, there will be a choice of optional questions which will examine one of three specific topics.
Core theme: research methods
Research is central to the academic study of Sociology. Evidence collected from empirical research is a central component of all options and topics. This core theme aims to make the connection between all of the units through an understanding of the research methodology underpinning the AO1 elements of the course. Students should not only know what writers say but how they came to their conclusions. This is further developed at A2 through higher order skills and in the application of these skills.
Candidates should understand the concepts, strengths and limitations of: o Key terms applied to research including: reliability, validity, ethics, qualitative, quantitative, generalisation, representativeness, operationalisation of concepts, objectivity and subjectivity.
o Primary methods including: survey, questionnaire, observation, interview, case study, experiments, ethnographic studies and longitudinal studies. o Secondary methods, e.g.: documents, official statistics and personal data. o Practical issues relating to research including: piloting, sampling, access, triangulation and methodological plurality. o Ethical issues relating to research, including: deceit, sensitivity, bias, confidentiality, invasion of privacy and informed consent.
Students should be able to use key terms relevant to their responses/research.
They should be able to refer critically to studies in their responses to the extension options.
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Education is a major agency of secondary socialisation. It acts as an agency of social control and there are significant sociological debates as to its influence on life chances. Although education may act as an opportunity for individual development, it may also reflect the nature of the social system which created it and act as a limiting factor on the development and progression of entire social groups and thus play a part in the creation of social inequality.
Specification content
Defining education and the education system; the impact of the education system on individuals and on social groups
This focuses on:
Definitions:
Key concepts and processes of social analysis which could include: differential attainment, cultural deficits, formal socialisation, social control, equality of opportunity, social selection, vocationalism, formal and hidden curricula, meritocracy, anti-school subculture, cultural deprivation, material deprivation, cultural capital, self fulfilling prophecy and vocational education.
Education in contemporary society in relation to gender, ethnicity and class
Understanding Education and cultural transmission
Debates:
Debates, patterns and trends with reference to the relative success, rates of participation and choices of different social groups: class, gender, ethnicity, locale
Processes within the education system that may impact on the educational achievement of students including the setting of students and also more recent notions of the effective school community
Cultural and material factors within the home and the wider community that may impact on the educational opportunities available to students including notions of underclass, material and cultural deprivation
Explanations:
This will include explanations for the patterns and trends identified above.
These explanations may refer to theoretical understandings such as
Marxism, functionalism, interactive and cultural perspectives, and contemporary views of social structure and change
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Unit 4
1½ hours 15% of the total A Level marks
One short Data Response Question and one Essay
A2 Module 4: World Sociology
Unit SC5C
1½ hours 15% of the total A Level marks
Coursework
Unit 6
1½ hours 20% of the total A Level marks
One three-part Synoptic Question
A2 Module 6: Crime and Deviance
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A2 Module 4
In their study of this module, candidates should examine topic areas in relation to the two core themes. Attention should also be given to the need to draw out links with other topic areas studied, and with the synoptic topics of Crime and Deviance.
World Sociology
Pupils will examine: o different definitions and explanations of development and under-development o The cultural, political and economic inter-relationships between societies; o The role of aid, trade, Trans-National Corporations and international agencies in different strategies for development; o Development in relation to urbanisation, industrialisation, and the environment; employment, education, health, demographic change and gender as aspects of development.
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Whitchurch High School
A2 Module 6
In their study of this module, candidates should examine topic areas in relation to the two core themes.
This entire module is synoptically assessed.
It involves the explicit assessment of understanding of the connections between Crime and
Deviance and the following: o One or more substantive areas of Sociology; o The nature of sociological thought; o
Methods of sociological enquiry.
Crime and Deviance
Pupils will examine: o Different explanations of crime, deviance, social order and social control; o The relationship between deviance, power and social control; o Different explanations of the social distribution of crime and deviance by age, social class, ethnicity, gender and locality; o The social construction of, and societal reactions to, crime and deviance, including the role of the mass media; o The sociological issues arising from the study of suicide.
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Whitchurch High School
Students are expected to achieve a minimum of: o 5 GCSEs grades A* - C
Within this department, we work very hard to ensure students and staff are treated fairly. In order for this to be achieved, we require that students attend all lessons and submit the necessary assignments on time.
It is also expected that students engage in additional reading around the topic areas.
It is vital that at this stage in education, students behave accordingly to the school policy and maintain a positive and mature attitude during lessons.
Within the department, students will have access to a range of text books and the internet. Students will benefit from the use of laptops, which will aid them in their research, particularly when working on their coursework. In addition to text books available in the department, the school library holds a wider range of books suitable for the A Level Sociology course.
Mr F. Bramhill (head of dept.)
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