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AS Sociology

This subject may be offered at more than one Southern Consortium school site. The teaching of this subject may be at any one of the sites listed below.

The information on this webpage is a guide only. Topics, units and course content may vary from those listed below.

AS Sociology @ SRS

What is Sociology?

Sociology is one of the major Social Sciences. It is the study of people and the society that we live in. Sociologists study and research how society works, in a systematic way.

The syllabus requires the student to study a number of topics. These include: the family, education, status and occupation, health, poverty and the distribution of wealth, the welfare state, religion, age, gender, race, crime and deviance. Theories about society and research methods are also studied.

Students who have an interest in social issues, like reading and are not put off by challenging texts, extended writing and essays will enjoy Sociology. Although the course is open to all A level students, pupils who are studying A level English, Psychology, Economics, Geography, or History or who have achieved high grades at GCSE in these subjects usually develop the skills needed for success in Sociology.

The AS exams are taken in January and June of Year 12, the A2 exams in January and June of Year 13.

Career Links

Sociology is really useful for students who want to quite genuinely ‘work with people’ in occupations where an understanding of society and how it works is important.

Some examples are:

• All health service careers especially those with direct contact with the public
• Police, courts and criminal justice
• Prison and probation services
• Teaching
• Welfare and social work
• Counselling, advice and guidance work
• Media related occupations
• Management and business

The kind of issues that interests sociologists are:

• Why has the number of single parent families increased?
• Which types of crime have increased/decreased?
• Do girls commit less crime or are they more clever than boys at not being detected?
• Are people less ‘religious’ and how do we measure ‘religiosity’?
• Why are so many young people choosing to remain single?
• How does your class and area you live in affect your exam results?
• How does your social class, sex and ethnic background affect how long you are likely to live and what you will probably die from?
• Can we trust statistics on crime, suicide, death rates, unemployment, mental illness and racist or sexist incidents?
• How do you decide which social class someone belongs to?

 

 

AS Sociology @JRCS

Outline of the course

Sociology is the study of our behaviour. It looks at how groups and organisations affect us and how we influence them.

Skills you will develop include:

• A questioning approach to issues and problems and the ability to see them from different points of view
• Debating and discussion skills – verbally and in written form
• An understanding of modern British society

Sociology AS outline

Unit 1: Families and Households

• Issues that you will study in this unit include;
• How childhood has changed over time
• What has happened to family size over the last 100 years
• What the patterns of marriage and divorce are in our society
• How the Government has an impact on the family
• Power relationships within the family

Exam: 1 hour. This exam is the equivalent of 40% of your total AS Level marks. There will be 5 questions about Families and Households that you will have to answer.

Unit 2: Education (& Sociological Methods)

• Issues that you will study in this unit include;
• Why we have an education system in society
• Why girls do better in education than boys
• The relationship and processes between students and teachers
• The reasons why sociologists research different subjects
• The different ways that sociologists carry out research

Exam: 2 hours This is the equivalent of 60% of your total AS Level marks. There will be 4 parts to the question on Education and 2 questions on Sociological Research Methods.

Sociology A2 outline

Unit 3: Beliefs in Society Issues that you will study in this unit include;

• Different theories of science and religion
• Different religious organisations, for example cults
• The idea of religion not being as important in society today

Exam: 1 hour 30 minutes This is the equivalent of 20% of your final A2 level marks. You will need to answer 1 compulsory question and 1 essay question from a choice of 2.

Unit 4: Crime & Deviance (& Theory and Methods) Issues that you will study in the unit include;

• How society can control and prevent crime
• How the mass media can influence crime
• The study of suicide
• The different sociological theories that exist

Exam: 2 hours This is the equivalent of 30% of your final A2 level marks (remember you got 50% of your marks at AS level). You will need to answer 1 question on Crime & Deviance, 1 question on Sociological research methods and its link to Crime & Deviance and 1 essay question on Theory and Methods.

Careers and further study

Sociology is a useful subject if you are thinking of working in a variety of areas including health, education, law, civil service and social work.

Being familiar with sociological ideas can help in any area of employment as you gain an understanding of how different organisations function.

The skills of independent learning and research enable you to be a successful student – whatever your area of interest.

 

 

AS Sociology @EB

Sociology is the study of the societies and how they shape people's ideas, their social behaviour and their cultures, and how, in turn, people interact together and shape their societies. This 'A' Level course will appeal to students who enjoy exploring issues dealing with how and why our society is structured and shapes our lives.

Sociology combines well with most other subjects you may study at 'A' Level, including English, Government & Politics, History, Media Studies and Psychology.

Course Content

We follow the AQA specification. The AS, which is studied in Year 12 is the first half of the Advanced course. The AS course consists of 3 units:

Unit 1 - Families and Households, Health and Mass Media

Including the study of:

• Changing patterns of marriage and cohabitation
• Different explanations of the relationship between the mass media and their audiences.

Unit 2 - Education, Wealth and Poverty, Work and Leisure

Including the study of:

• Different explanations of the existence and persistence of poverty
• The causes and social effects of unemployment.

Unit 3 - Research Methods

You will study the theories and research methods used by sociologists.

Unit 4 - Power and Politics, Religion and World Sociology

Including the study of:

• The way in people vote
• Cults, sects and religious denominations.

Unit 5 - Coursework

You will be involved in conducting an investigation into a topic – for example you may be looking at how gender roles within a family are changing. Your investigation will form the coursework.

The full Advanced qualification is made up of the AS units plus 3 more units which are studied at Year 13.

Unit 6 - Synoptic - Crime and Deviance

This unit will draw from material across different areas of the 5 earlier units and allows you to show knowledge and understanding of the whole course.

It includes the study of:

• Different explanations of crime
• Sociological issues arising from the study of suicide.

As well as covering advanced level study of Sociology, this course will enable you to develop a wide range of Key Skills, which will be essential to you whatever you go on to do afterwards. This course is excellent preparation for a wide range of university degree courses and careers.