Sociology

SUBJECT overview

Sociology enables students to gain knowledge and understanding of key social structures, processes and issues through the study of families, education, crime and deviance, social stratification, religion and beliefs. Students will develop their analytical and communication skills by comparing and contrasting perspectives on a variety of social issues, and by studying sociology they will gain skills towards how to: investigate facts and make deduction, develop opinions and new ideas on social issues, analyse and better understand the social world.

unit overview - autumn & spring terms

Subject: Sociology GCSE Crime and Deviance
Skills	Analysis skills - as applied to the distinction between crime and Deviance Analysis skills applied to sociological literature (i.e. studies by Lambrosso, Becker, Merton, etc ) Evaluation of sociological perspectives – as to various views of the causes of criminal behaviour Essay writing skills Debate skills as applied to biological vs psychological vs sociological theories of criminal behaviour Analysis and interpretations of various types of graphs and visual information regarding crime rates Extended writing skills – as applied to exam questions and written debate
Knowledge	Crime vs Deviance How do sociologists measure crime Theories on criminal behaviour Perspectives on the criminal behaviour (Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, New Right) Social categories and how they relate to crime (class, gender, ethnicity, age Social Control Agencies of Social Control
Rationale	Students will apply the already developed sociological knowledge to a more abstract topic in sociology – hence year 2 Throughout this topic, an emphasis is placed on defining the key concepts relating to crime as specific to sociology. These will be compared with definitions of crime from other disciplines (biology, p[psychology) resulting in a deeper understanding of the specificity of sociology Students are expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key sociological theories by reading and responding to extracts (summaries of sociological studies) which illustrate the different views of sociologists. They should be able to critically analyse and evaluate how these sociologists have interpreted the issues. For each topic area students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of relevant methods and methodological issues and critically evaluate issues with presented studies (AO3) Written and oral debates will be used foster an understanding of sociology as a discipline predicated on perspectives

unit overview - spring & Summer terms

Subject: Sociology GCSE Social Stratification
Skills	Analysis skills - as applied to various forms of social stratification (Feudalism, Class system, Caste system, Slavery) Analysis skills applied to sociological literature (i.e. studies by Webber, Marx Davies ond Moore, the Affluent worker) Evaluation of sociological perspectives – as to various views on Social Stratification – Positive vs Negative Effects Essay writing skills Debate skills as applied to meritocracy vs Marxism in social stratification Analysis and interpretations of various types of graphs and visual information regarding the experience of social class in the UK Extended writing skills – as applied to exam questions and written debates
Knowledge	Social Stratification throughout history Social Stratification as a Functional Necessity Inequality (Marx, Webber) Life Chances Social Mobility Poverty Globalisation The welfares state (contemporary UK Perspectives Political Power and Authority
Rationale	Students will apply the already developed sociological knowledge to the most abstract topic in sociology – hence year 2. This is the most interdisciplinary of all the topics in this course (requires knowledge of history, politics, psychology) Throughout this topic, an emphasis is placed on defining and evaluation the key UK institutions linked with Stratification (NHS, Welfare Provisions) Students will broaden their understanding of fluctuating societies by doing some historical Students will be introduced to the Left VS Right debate in Social Policy Students are expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key sociological theories by reading and responding to extracts (summaries of sociological studies) which illustrate the different views of sociologists. They should be able to critically analyse and evaluate how these sociologists have interpreted the issues. For each topic area students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of relevant methods and methodological issues and critically evaluate issues with presented studies (AO3) Written and oral debates will be used foster an understanding of sociology as a discipline predicated on perspectives.

knowledge organisers

A knowledge organiser is an important document that lists the important facts that learners should know by the end of a unit of work. It is important that learners can recall these facts easily, so that when they are answering challenging questions in their assessments and GCSE and A-Level exams, they are not wasting precious time in exams focusing on remembering simple facts, but making complex arguments, and calculations.

We encourage all pupils to use them by doing the following:

Quiz themselves at home, using the read, write, cover, check method.
Practise spelling key vocabulary
Further researching people, events and processes most relevant to the unit.