SociologyQ&A by dot point

Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): functionalist theories of crime (Durkheim on the functions of crime and anomie, Merton's strain theory) and subcultural theories (Cohen's status frustration, Cloward and Ohlin's three subcultures), with their criticisms.

Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): gender and crime (the gender gap, Heidensohn's control theory, the chivalry thesis, Carlen, the link between masculinity and crime) and ethnicity and crime (patterns, the role of policing and the criminal justice system, and explanations), with criticisms.

Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): globalisation and crime (global criminal networks, transnational crime), green crime and state crime, and the relationship between the media and crime (moral panics, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime), with criticisms.

Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): interactionist labelling theory (Becker, Lemert, Cicourel, the self-fulfilling prophecy and deviancy amplification) and Marxist and critical theories of crime (selective law enforcement, the crimes of the powerful, ideology), with their criticisms.

Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): defining crime and deviance, and the measurement of crime through official statistics, victim surveys and self-report studies, including the dark figure of crime and the social construction of crime statistics.

Component 3 Section B (Crime and deviance): right realism (rational choice theory, Wilson and Kelling's broken windows, control theory) and left realism (Lea and Young on relative deprivation, marginalisation and subculture), and their contrasting solutions, with criticisms.

Component 1 Section C (Education): social class differences in educational achievement, including external factors (material deprivation, cultural deprivation, cultural capital) and internal factors (labelling, the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and pupil subcultures).

Component 1 Section C (Education): educational policy, including the tripartite system, comprehensivisation, marketisation and parental choice (the 1988 Education Reform Act), selection and the impact of policy on equality of opportunity and on different social groups.

Component 1 Section C (Education): gender differences in achievement (the changing position of girls and boys, and subject choice) and ethnic differences in achievement, including external and internal explanations and the experience of different ethnic groups in school.

Component 1 Section C (Education): processes within school, including the hidden curriculum, teacher labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and setting, and pupil identities and subcultures (pro-school and anti-school responses).

Component 1 Section C (Education): perspectives on the role and purpose of education, including functionalist views (Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore), Marxist views (Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, Willis) and the New Right, with their criticisms.

Component 1 Section B (Families and households): conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour, the symmetrical family debate, the dual burden and triple shift, decision-making and money management, and domestic violence as evidence of power.

Component 1 Section B (Families and households): family diversity (the Rapoports' five types), changing patterns of marriage, divorce, cohabitation and lone-parent and reconstituted families, and the debate between the New Right and postmodernists over diversity.

Component 1 Section B (Families and households): functionalist perspectives on the family, including Murdock's four functions, Parsons's functional fit and the irreducible functions, and New Right views of the family, with their criticisms.

Component 1 Section B (Families and households): Marxist perspectives on the family (Engels, ideological functions, the unit of consumption) and feminist perspectives (liberal, Marxist, radical and difference feminism), as conflict critiques of the family.

Component 1 Section B (Families and households): childhood as a social construction (Aries), the changing position of children, the march of progress versus conflict views (Palmer's toxic childhood, the child liberationist critique), and cross-cultural and historical differences.

Component 2: experiments (laboratory and field experiments, the comparative method) and questionnaires (structured, postal and online), including their practical, ethical and theoretical strengths and limitations and the factors affecting the choice between them.

Component 2: interviews (structured, unstructured, semi-structured and group) and observation (participant and non-participant, overt and covert), including their practical, ethical and theoretical strengths and limitations and their appeal to interpretivists.

Component 2: the philosophical foundations of sociological research, including positivism and interpretivism, the question of whether sociology is a science, primary and secondary data, quantitative and qualitative data, and key concepts such as reliability, validity, representativeness and objectivity.

Component 2: sampling techniques (random, systematic, stratified, quota, snowball and opportunity), the research design process (aims, hypotheses, operationalisation, pilot studies), and research ethics (informed consent, confidentiality, harm and the BSA guidelines).

Component 2: secondary data, including official statistics (hard and soft) and documents (personal, public, historical), their practical, ethical and theoretical strengths and limitations, and the positivist and interpretivist views of their value.

Component 2: the relationship between theory and methods, including how perspectives shape method choice, the factors affecting the choice of method (PET), triangulation and mixed methods, and the debate over objectivity and value freedom (Weber, Gouldner, Becker).

Component 3 Section A: age as a form of differentiation (inequalities affecting the young and the old, ageism) and disability as a form of differentiation (the social model of disability, discrimination and life chances), and the intersection of all forms of inequality.

Component 3 Section A: social class as a form of differentiation, including how class is defined and measured, the debate over the changing class structure (the underclass, the death of class), and the impact of class on life chances.

Component 3 Section A: gender as a form of differentiation (the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling, feminist explanations of patriarchy) and ethnicity as a form of differentiation (ethnic inequalities in work, income and housing, and explanations of racism).

Component 3 Section A: patterns and trends in social inequality, including the distribution of wealth and income, the measurement and definition of poverty, social mobility, and explanations of why inequality and poverty persist.

Component 3 Section A: theories of stratification, including functionalist (Davis and Moore), Marxist (class and exploitation), Weberian (class, status and party) and feminist and postmodernist views of social differentiation and inequality.

Component 1 Section A: the concept of culture, including norms, values, beliefs, customs and roles; types of culture such as subculture, high and popular culture, mass culture, folk culture and global culture; and the idea that culture is socially constructed and transmitted.

Component 1 Section A: the nature versus nurture debate, including biological and sociobiological arguments, the sociological emphasis on socialisation, evidence from feral and isolated children, and the implications for the social construction of human behaviour.

Component 1 Section A: social control and conformity, including formal and informal social control, positive and negative sanctions, agencies of social control, and functionalist, Marxist and interactionist explanations of how order is maintained.

Component 1 Section A: the process of socialisation, including primary and secondary socialisation; the agencies of socialisation (family, education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace); and functionalist, Marxist and interactionist views of how socialisation transmits culture.

Component 1 Section A: the acquisition of identity, including the sources of identity (class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, sexuality and disability); the difference between personal and social identity; and modernist and postmodernist views of whether identity is fixed or chosen.