020 8668 5136
020 8668 5136  

Sociology

Sociology provides valuable insights into our society and our place within it. This academic discipline involves the organised study of human social life, groups, and societies. Sociologists seek to research and explain the processes which create, sustain, and occasionally fragment and destroy structures and institutions such as the education system, media, the family, and religion. Socialisation, culture and identity, social differentiation, power, and stratification, conflict and consensus and structure and action are seen as core threads of knowledge that are woven throughout the course and as students’ progress through the course of study, their knowledge of these areas will become more sophisticated.

Key Stage 5  |  Specific Requirements & Skills Required  |  Revision Resources  |  Progression

Key Stage 5

Year 12

Families and Households: This unit focuses on the changing nature and power relationships within the family along with changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing, and the life course. You will also explore the nature and status of childhood and demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900.

Education and Methods in Context: You will examine the effects of social class, gender and ethnicity on academic achievements and the relationship between education, the government, and the economy. You will also learn about sources of data including experiments, questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, official statistics, and documents. You will learn to understand the theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research with specific consideration of a range of educational contexts.

Year 13

Beliefs in Society: This unit questions the significance of religion and religiosity in contemporary society including the nature and extent of secularisation in a global context and the impact of globalisation in spreading religion. The distinguishing features of churches, denominations, sects and cults and the impact of New Age Movements in changing religious belief and practice are also explored. You will learn the differing views on the role of religion and consider the difficulty in defining religion and science.

Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods: This unit examines the social distribution of crime according to gender, ethnicity and social class and the sociological explanations of these patterns. Globalisation, green crime, and state crime along with the role of the media is also investigated. The role of the Criminal Justice System and the role it plays in crime control, surveillance, prevention, and punishment is examined. You will learn about a range of sociological theories and how these can be contextualised and applied to the society we live in today. Awareness of the debates about sociology being classified as a science, the relationship between Sociology and social policy and whether sociology can be value free will be discussed.

Trips:

We also have two exciting trips in Year 13. We attend the annual Criminology Conference, and we visit the Old Bailey Crown Court to watch a range of trials and make observations of the proceedings.

Specific Requirements & Skills Required

GCSE English Language (6)

This course is 100% examination (3 A Level papers 80 marks each) and you will therefore need to have the following skills:

  • A high standard of literacy
  • The ability to research and make connections
  • A passion for reading, analysing, and evaluating contemporary articles, studies and perspectives
  • An open, inquiring mind and a love of debate
  • An ability to draw parallels between different perspectives
  • A high level or organisation
  • Ability to meet deadlines
  • Willingness and commitment to exploring, identifying and implementing revision techniques well in advance of your exams

Revision Resources

We use Google Classroom to upload all classroom resources and independent study tasks. We provide additional opportunities to add to your breadth of knowledge by signposting you to additional resources such as books, articles and podcasts.  

Although not required, past students have found these revision guides helpful in preparation for their exams

Progression

University courses in a variety of subjects can be taken. For example Criminology, Social Anthropology, Social Administration, Social Policy, Social Science, Social Work, and Public Health. Careers can be pursued in a number of fields not just the obvious ones of social work, nursing or medicine. Many people who have studied Sociology find jobs in areas as varied as administration, business, financial services, law, marketing, advertising, public relations (PR), teaching, law, journalism and law enforcement.