Sir John Deane's Programme of Study 2019/20 Programme | Page 62

Sociology
Course Breakdown
Course Summary
• Exam board is AQA
Paper Content Marks Duration Weighting
Paper 1 Education with Theory and Methods 80 2 hours 33%
Paper 2 Topics in Sociology: Beliefs in Society, Families & Households 80 2 hours 33%
Paper 3 Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods 80 2 hours 33%
Summary of Content
Education
• The position of children in society: children once
worked but are now seen as dependants – is this the
same cross culturally?
• The role and history of the education system and
policies: how has the education system changed and
does this benefit every member of society? • Religious organisations in society: from cults, to sects,
to denominations and churches, who belongs to what?
• Differences in achievement between social groups in
society: why are boys and working class groups more
likely to underachieve in education? Crime and deviance
• How processes inside the school affect achievement,
such as teacher labelling: which social groups are
teachers more likely to label, how does this affect
student performance?
• How sociologists conduct research into the education
system: sociologists study society, its members and
their behaviour – how do you measure people’s
behaviour?
Research methods
• The different types of methods sociologists use
to study human behaviour including interviews,
participant observation and questionnaires.
Beliefs in society and families and households
• Changing patterns of families and family life in society:
it used to be 2:5 children as the “ideal family”, but
many families don’t fit this mould.
• The changing roles of women within the family and
society: from housewife, to worker to the triple shift –
have women achieved equality?
• The social distribution of crime and deviance by
ethnicity, gender and social class: who is more likely to
be a victim or perpetrator of crime in society?
• The media and crime: is the public’s perception of
crime real or has the media created these figures to
scare society?
• Crime control and prevention: what makes people
conform to societies rules? What can be done to stop
them from deviating?
Theory and methods
• Sociology and science: is sociology a science? Can we
measure society and the behaviour of its members in
a scientific manner?
Suggested Preparation for September
Recommended text books and lesson activities can be
found at napierpress.co.uk
Educationforum.co.uk also gives students a good insight
into what studying A level Sociology is all about.
Britsoc.co.uk provides an outline of opportunities in
sociology and future careers.
C SirJohnDeanes A SirJohnDeanes
www.sjd.ac.uk
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