Sociology

An A Level in Sociology can lead on to a wide variety of university courses and occupations such as Criminology, Law, Politics, Education, Social Work, Health Care and Teaching.

AS Level

Unit One: Families & Households:

• Is there such a thing as a 'normal' family?
• Reasons for rise in divorce.
• The causes of domestic violence.
• Social construction of childhood.
  
  

Unit Two: Education and Sociological Methods:

• Reasons why girls do better than boys at GCSE.
• Reasons why Afro-Caribbean & Pakistani pupils underachieve at school.
• The advantages and disadvantages of using questionnaires, interviews, experiments and observations to study people and society.
• Moral and ethical considerations when studying behaviour in schools.

A2 Level

Unit Three: Beliefs in Society:

• Are people still religious?
• Religion and conflict across the world.
• Do religious groups brainwash people?
• Are New Age Movements more popular that traditional religions today?

Unit Four: Crime & Deviance / Theory & Methods:

• Is the legal system more lenient towards women?
• Gangs and criminal subcultures.
• Critical evaluation of Sociological theories such as Marxism, Functionalism, Feminism and Postmodernism.

Course Leader: Mr Lawless

Why Study Sociology?

Sociology allows you to find out how society works. Whilst everyday life appears to be a random set of events, behind all this it is possible to identify patterns of behaviour. Studying Sociology will give you the knowledge and skills to understand these patterns of behaviour and the society in which you live, enabling you to gain a valuable insight into human behaviour.

A level Sociology achieves all of this by offering a blend of traditional theories and contemporary political and social issues.

Sociology is an academic subject which requires students to be able to analyse different ideas and apply them to contemporary social situations.