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Researching and understanding social inequalities (Component 2)

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do the young and the old experience inequality, and how do sociological perspectives explain age-based disadvantage?

Component 2: age inequality, including the disadvantages faced by the young and the old in work, income and status, ageism, and the functionalist, Marxist, Weberian and interactionist explanations of age-based inequality.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 2 guide to age inequality. Covers the disadvantages faced by the young and the old, ageism, disengagement theory, the Marxist and Weberian views, and the interactionist analysis of age stereotypes, with the debate about age as a source of inequality and the exam skills the paper rewards.
14 min answer →

How and why do ethnic inequalities persist, and to what extent are they the result of discrimination?

Component 2: ethnic inequality, including patterns in employment, income and the criminal justice system, the concept of institutional racism, and the theoretical explanations (functionalist, Marxist, Weberian and intersectional) of ethnic disadvantage.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 2 guide to ethnic inequality. Covers patterns in employment, income and justice, institutional racism (Macpherson), the host-immigrant model (Patterson), the reserve army of labour (Castles and Kosack), the dual labour market and intersectionality (Crenshaw), with the debate about discrimination and the exam skills the paper rewards.
15 min answer →

How and why do gender inequalities persist in work, pay and power, and are they declining?

Component 2: gender inequality, including the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling, vertical and horizontal segregation, the dual labour market, and the feminist explanations (liberal, radical, Marxist and difference) of women's life chances.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 2 guide to gender inequality. Covers the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling, vertical and horizontal segregation, the dual labour market, and liberal (Oakley), radical (Walby), Marxist and difference feminism, with the debate about whether gender inequality is declining and the exam skills the paper rewards.
15 min answer →

How significant is social class as a source of inequality, and is class still the main division in contemporary society?

Component 2: social class inequality, including patterns in income, wealth and life chances, the concepts of embourgeoisement, proletarianisation, the underclass and the precariat, and debates about the continuing significance of class.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 2 guide to social class inequality. Covers income and wealth, life chances, embourgeoisement and proletarianisation, the underclass (Murray) and the precariat (Standing), Bourdieu's cultural capital and the Great British Class Survey, with the debate about the significance of class and the exam skills the paper rewards.
15 min answer →

How do sociological theories explain social stratification, and do they see inequality as necessary, exploitative or fragmenting?

Component 2: theories of social stratification and inequality, including the functionalist, Marxist, Weberian, New Right and postmodernist perspectives on why societies are unequal.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Component 2 guide to theories of social stratification. Covers the functionalist view (Davis and Moore), the Marxist view (Marx, neo-Marxists), the Weberian view (class, status, party), the New Right (Murray, Saunders) and postmodernism (the decline of class), with the theorists, evaluation and exam skills the inequalities paper rewards.
15 min answer →