Year 12

Knowledge focus

Paper 1-Education with Theory and Methods 

• Role and function of the education system
• Differential education achievements: social class, gender and ethnicity Relationships and processes within school: pupil identities, subcultures, hidden curriculum and organisation of teaching and learning
• Significance of educational policies: policies of selection, marketisation and privatisation, and policies to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome, for an understanding of the structure, role, impact and experience of and access to education; the impact of globalisation on educational policy

Paper 2-Families 

• The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, with particular reference to the economy and to state policies 
• Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course, including the sociology of personal life, and the diversity of contemporary family and household structures 
• Gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society 
• The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society 
• Demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900: birth rates, death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population, and migration and globalisation. 

 

Key skills

• AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sociological theories, concepts and evidence and sociological research methods 
• AO2: Apply sociological theories, concepts, evidence and research methods to a range of issues 
• AO3: Analyse and evaluate sociological theories, concepts 

Assessment

• Exam style questions throughout 

 

Key Vocabulary 

• Conflict theory
• Consensus theory 
• Identity
• Ideology
• Norms and values
• Power relationships
• Socialisation
• Social construct
• Social mobility
• Stratification
• Subcultures
• Material deprivation
• Habitus
• Streaming
• Myth of meritocracy
• Ethnocentric curriculum 
• Conjugal Roles
• Symmetrical family
• Domestic labour
• Dual burden
• Triple shift
• Primary socialisation 
• Patriarchy 

Year 13 

Knowledge focus

Paper 3-Crime and deviance with methods in context 

• Crime, deviance, social order and social control 
• The social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime 
• Globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes 
• Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies. 

Paper 2-The Media

• The new media and their significance for an understanding of the role of the media in contemporary society 
• The relationship between ownership and control of the media 
• The media, globalisation and popular culture 
• The processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news 
• Media representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability 
• The relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences. 

 

Key skills

• AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sociological theories, concepts and evidence and sociological research methods 
• AO2: Apply sociological theories, concepts, evidence and research methods to a range of issues 
• AO3: Analyse and evaluate sociological theories, concepts 

Assessment

• Exam style questions throughout 

 

Key Vocabulary 

• Deviance
• Social construction
• Social control
• Dark figure of crime
• Interactionism
• Postmodernity
• Subcultures
• Conglomerates
• Globalisation
• Stereotyping
• Symbolic annihilation
• Folk devils
• Male gaze
• Hypodermic syringe model
• Gratifications
• Moral panic
• Gatekeeping
• Technological convergence
• Neophiliacs
• Hegemony
• Pluralism 

Year 12

Knowledge focus

Paper 1- Education with methods in context  

• Role and function of the education system Differential education achievements: social class, gender and ethnicity
• Relationships and processes within school: pupil identities, subcultures, hidden curriculum and organisation of teaching and learning
• Significance of educational policies: policies of selection, marketisation and privatisation, and policies to achieve greater equality of opportunity or outcome, for an understanding of the structure, role, impact and experience of and access to education; the impact of globalisation on educational policy

Paper 2-Families 

• The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, with particular reference to the economy and to state policies 
• Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course, including the sociology of personal life, and the diversity of contemporary family and household structures 
• Gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society 
• The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society 
• Demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900: birth rates, death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population, and migration and globalisation. 

 

Key skills

• AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sociological theories, concepts and evidence and sociological research methods 
• AO2: Apply sociological theories, concepts, evidence and research methods to a range of issues 
• AO3: Analyse and evaluate sociological theories, concepts 

Assessment

• Exam style questions throughout 

 

Key Vocabulary 

• Conflict theory
• Consensus theory 
• Identity
• Ideology
• Norms and values
• Power relationships
• Socialisation
• Social construct
• Social mobility
• Stratification
• Subcultures
• Material deprivation
• Habitus
• Streaming
• Myth of meritocracy
• Ethnocentric curriculum 
• Conjugal Roles
• Symmetrical family
• Domestic labour
• Dual burden
• Triple shift
• Primary socialisation 
• Patriarchy 

Year 13 

Knowledge focus

Paper 3-Crime and deviance with methods in context 

• Crime, deviance, social order and social control 
• The social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime 
• Globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes 
• Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies. 

Research methods and methods in context 

• Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories 
• The concepts of modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory 
• The nature of science and the extent to which Sociology can be regarded as scientific 
• The relationship between theory and methods 
• Debates about subjectivity, objectivity and value freedom 
• The relationship between Sociology and social policy. 

 

Key skills

• AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sociological research methods 
• AO2: Apply sociological research methods to a range of issues 
• AO3: Analyse and evaluate sociological research methods 

Assessment

• Exam style questions throughout 

 

Key Vocabulary 

• Quantative
• Qualitative
• Longitudinal study
• Sampling
• Representativeness
• Generalisability
• Positivism
• Interpretivism
• Reliability
• Validity
• Triangulation
• Ethical
• Bias
• Operational concepts
• Variables 

Year 12

Knowledge focus

Research Methods 

• Quantitative and qualitative methods of research; research design 
• Sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics 
• The distinction between primary and secondary data, and between quantitative and qualitative data 

Methods in context 

• The relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social facts’ 
• The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research 
• Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories 
• The concepts of modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory 
• The nature of science and the extent to which Sociology can be regarded as scientific 
• The relationship between theory and methods 
• Debates about subjectivity, objectivity and value freedom 
• The relationship between Sociology and social policy

 

Key skills

• AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sociological research methods 
• AO2: Apply sociological research methods to a range of issues 
• AO3: Analyse and evaluate sociological research methods 

Assessment

• Exam style questions throughout 

 

Key Vocabulary 

• Bias
• Ethical
• Generalisability
• Interpretivism
• Longitudinal study
• Operational concepts
• Positivism
• Qualitative
• Quantitative
• Reliability
• Representativeness
• Sampling
• Social action theory
• Triangulation
• Validity
• Variables

Year 13 

Knowledge focus

Revision: 

• Paper 1 
• Paper 2 
• Paper 3