Sociology

Conflict vs consensus: two big views of society

How sociological ideas change over time

Durkheim’s view of society and why it matters

Marx’s view of society and why it matters

Weber’s view of society and why it matters

Functionalism: core assumptions and key focus

Marxism: core assumptions and key focus

Feminism: core assumptions and key focus

Interactionism: core assumptions and key focus

Linking topics: “interrelationship” across the course

Core concepts: society and socialisation

Core concepts: norms, values and roles

Core concepts: labelling and deviance

Core concepts: power, authority and discrimination

Applying research methods to families, education, crime and stratification

Using perspectives to explain the same issue

Comparing perspectives: what to look for

Evaluating explanations: strengths and weaknesses

Evidence in sociology: what counts as evidence?

Using contemporary examples in a UK context

Using global examples where relevant

Qualitative and quantitative approaches: the difference

Official statistics: uses and limitations across topics

Mixed methods: why sociologists combine approaches

Reading sociological extracts: finding the argument

Analysing extracts: identifying concepts and assumptions

Evaluating extracts: spotting bias and limitations

Building synoptic links between topics in exam answers

The reproductive function of families

The economic function of families

The educational function of families

Parsons: primary socialisation in the family

Parsons: stabilisation of adult personalities

Functionalist views of the family: key ideas and criticisms

Feminist views of the family: key ideas and criticisms

Marxist views of the family: key ideas and criticisms

Family forms: nuclear families

Family forms: extended families

Family forms: reconstituted families

Family forms: lone-parent families

Family forms: same-sex families

Family diversity: the Rapoports’ five types

UK family diversity vs global family diversity

Joint conjugal roles: meaning and examples

Segregated conjugal roles: meaning and examples

Domestic division of labour: traditional patterns

Domestic division of labour: contemporary patterns

Oakley: the “conventional family” and critiques

Conjugal roles: decision-making power in families

Conjugal roles: money management and control

Conjugal roles: dual-career families and work–life balance

Conjugal roles: child-rearing responsibilities

Conjugal roles: leisure and family time

Family change over time: pre-industrial households

Family change over time: industrial families

Family change over time: contemporary families

Willmott and Young: the symmetrical family

Willmott and Young: stratified diffusion

Contemporary family issues: parenting and “quality of parenting”

Contemporary family issues: teenagers and adult relationships

Contemporary family issues: care of the elderly and disabled

Contemporary family issues: arranged marriage

Criticisms: family isolation and unrealistic idealisation

Criticisms: loss of traditional functions

Criticisms: weakening kinship networks

Criticisms: women’s status and gender inequality

Criticisms: marital breakdown and dysfunctional families

Zaretsky: families and capitalism

Delphy and Leonard: families, patriarchy and exploitation

Divorce patterns since 1945: trends and statistics

Why divorce has risen: changes in divorce law

Why divorce has risen: changing attitudes and values

Why divorce has risen: secularisation

Why divorce has risen: women’s changing status

Consequences of divorce: adults and relationships

Consequences of divorce: children

Consequences of divorce: the extended family

Divorce and the growth of lone-parent families

Perspectives on divorce: functionalist, feminist and marxist comparisons

Education and social mobility: how schools can enable movement

Education and social cohesion: shared values and social unity

Types of school: primary and secondary

Types of school: state and private

Alternative provision: home schooling

Alternative provision: de-schooling

Durkheim: education and the transmission of norms and values

Parsons: achieved status and meritocracy in schools

Functionalist views of education: key ideas and criticisms

Feminist views of education: key ideas and criticisms

Marxist views of education: key ideas and criticisms

Bowles and Gintis: the correspondence principle

Education and capitalism: critiques of the correspondence principle

Achievement gaps: social class and education

Achievement gaps: gender and education

Achievement gaps: ethnicity and education

Halsey: class-based inequalities in education

Ball: parental choice and competition between schools

School processes: streaming and its effects

School processes: setting and its effects

School processes: mixed-ability teaching and its effects

Labelling in schools: how labels form

The self-fulfilling prophecy: how labels affect outcomes

Interactionist views of school processes

Ball: teacher expectations and labelling

Willis: counter-school cultures

Evaluating explanations of educational achievement across perspectives

Crime and deviance as socially constructed

Anomie: how strain can lead to crime

Merton: functionalist explanations of crime

Labelling theory: why reactions matter

Becker: how labelling produces deviance

Structural theories of crime: core ideas

Subcultural theories of crime: core ideas

Interactionist explanations of crime: core ideas

Comparing perspectives on crime and deviance

Social control: formal control methods

Social control: informal control methods

Unwritten rules and sanctions in everyday life

Heidensohn: female conformity in patriarchal society

Patterns in offending: social class differences

Patterns in offending: gender differences

Patterns in offending: ethnicity differences

Patterns in offending: age differences

Public debates: concerns about violent crime

Public debates: sentencing and punishment

Public debates: youth offenders and youth justice

Public debates: the prison system and rehabilitation

Public debates: media coverage of crime

Albert Cohen: delinquent subcultures and status frustration

Carlen: women, crime and poverty

Crime data sources: what counts as “crime data”?

Official statistics: how crime data is collected

Patterns and trends in crime figures

The dark figure of crime: under-reporting and under-recording

Evaluating crime data across perspectives

Functionalist stratification: role allocation and rewards

Davis and Moore: why inequality is “functional” (their argument)

Critiques of functionalism from marxist perspectives

Critiques of functionalism from feminist perspectives

Socio-economic class: identifying class divisions

Marx: class, exploitation and capitalism

Weber: class, status and power

Comparing Marx and Weber on social class

Life chances: what they are and why they matter

Life chances and social class

Life chances and gender

Life chances and race and ethnicity

Life chances and sexuality

Life chances and age

Life chances and disability

Life chances and religion and belief

Devine: revisiting the affluent worker

Poverty: absolute vs relative ideas

Poverty as a social issue: competing interpretations

Culture of poverty: core claims and criticisms

Material deprivation: measuring poverty through living standards

Government responses to poverty and unemployment

Globalisation and its impact on poverty

Townsend: relative deprivation

Murray: the underclass and New Right links

Power: formal and informal power

Authority types: traditional authority

Authority types: charismatic authority

Authority types: rational-legal authority

Weber: power and authority

Power relationships: how class shapes power

Power relationships: how gender and patriarchy shape power

Power relationships: how race and ethnicity shape power

Power: sexuality, age, disability, religion

Walby: patriarchy and power structures

Research design: writing a clear hypothesis

Pilot studies: why sociologists use them

Sampling methods: choosing a sample strategy

Analysing data: spotting patterns and drawing conclusions

Questionnaires: designing effective questions

Questionnaires: strengths and limitations

Interviews: structured vs unstructured approaches

Interviews: strengths and limitations

Observations: participant vs non-participant

Observations: strengths and limitations

Qualitative methods: when and why they work best

Quantitative methods: when and why they work best

Mixed methods: triangulation and added validity

Types of data: qualitative vs quantitative

Types of data: official vs non-official statistics

Primary sources: what primary data looks like

Secondary sources: what secondary data looks like

Choosing sources: fit for purpose in different topics

Interpreting graphs, charts and tables in exam questions

Practical issues: time constraints in research

Practical issues: cost and funding limitations

Practical issues: access to people and settings

Ethics: informed consent

Ethics: confidentiality and anonymity

Ethics: avoiding harm to participants

Applying methods to families, education, crime and stratification