Wales Β· WJECSyllabus
Society and Culture syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the Wales Society and Culturesyllabus, with a focused answer for each one. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions, and links to related dot points. Written by Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic's latest AI.
Crime and deviance
Module overview β- What are crime and deviance, and how is crime measured?The definitions of crime and deviance and how they vary by time and place, and how crime is measured through official statistics and victim surveys, including the problem of the dark figure of unrecorded crime.14 min answer β
- Why do people commit crime and deviance?The main sociological explanations of crime and deviance, including the influence of inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures, and labelling, set against biological and psychological explanations.15 min answer β
- Who commits crime, and who are the victims?The patterns of crime and victimisation by social group, the link between social characteristics and crime statistics, and why these patterns must be treated as patterns in the statistics rather than facts about individuals.14 min answer β
Education
Module overview β- Why do some groups do better than others in education?The factors affecting educational attainment: how social class, gender and ethnicity are linked to differences in achievement, and the home and school explanations for these patterns.15 min answer β
- How do things that happen inside school affect pupils?The processes within school: labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy, setting and streaming, and pro-school and anti-school subcultures, and how they shape pupils' experiences and achievement.13 min answer β
- What is the role of education, and how do sociologists view it?The role and functions of education for individuals and society, and the contrasting functionalist, Marxist, feminist and interactionist perspectives on education.14 min answer β
- What different types of school exist, and how are pupils selected for them?The main types of school in the UK including state and independent schools, comprehensive and grammar schools, faith schools, and the debate over selection by ability.13 min answer β
Families
Module overview β- How and why have patterns of marriage, divorce and family life changed?The changing patterns of family life in the UK: falling marriage and rising cohabitation, rising divorce and the reasons for it, and the growth of lone parent and reconstituted families.14 min answer β
- What different types of family exist in the UK and around the world?The definitions of family and household, the main family types in the UK including nuclear, extended, reconstituted, lone parent, same sex, cohabiting and beanpole families, and family diversity within a global context.14 min answer β
- What does the family do for society, and how do sociologists view it?The functions the family performs for individuals and society, and the contrasting functionalist, Marxist and feminist perspectives on the role of the family.14 min answer β
- How have the roles of parents and children within the family changed?The changing roles and relationships within the family: conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour, whether roles are becoming more equal, and the changing position of children and family leisure time.14 min answer β
Key concepts and the process of socialisation
Module overview β- What do sociologists mean by culture, norms, values, roles and status?The key sociological concepts of culture, norms, values, roles, status and the difference between ascribed and achieved status, and why these shared ideas hold a society together.13 min answer β
- How is a person's identity formed by society?How identity is formed through socialisation: the sources of identity in gender, ethnicity, social class, age, nationality and religion, and how identity can change over time.13 min answer β
- Is human behaviour shaped by nature or by nurture?The nature versus nurture debate: the view that behaviour is biologically determined against the sociological view that it is learned through socialisation, with evidence from feral children and cross-cultural differences.13 min answer β
- How do people learn the culture of their society through socialisation?The process of socialisation: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through the agencies of education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace, and how each transmits norms and values.14 min answer β
- How does society make people follow its norms and values?Social control through formal agencies such as the police, courts and law, and informal agencies such as the family, peer group and media, working through positive and negative sanctions to maintain social order.13 min answer β
Sociological research methods
Module overview β- What primary methods do sociologists use to collect data?The main primary research methods: questionnaires, interviews, observations and experiments, and the strengths and weaknesses of each for sociological research.15 min answer β
- What practical and ethical issues must sociologists consider when doing research?The practical, ethical and theoretical considerations that affect the choice of research method, the role of pilot studies, and the meaning of reliability and validity.14 min answer β
- How do sociologists choose who to study, and what existing sources can they use?The idea of a sample and a sampling frame, the main sampling methods including random and quota sampling, and the secondary sources sociologists use such as official statistics and the mass media.13 min answer β
- How do sociologists carry out research, and what kinds of data do they use?The stages of the research process, the aim and hypothesis, the difference between primary and secondary data, and the difference between quantitative and qualitative data.13 min answer β
Social differentiation, stratification and power
Module overview β- How are people treated differently by gender, ethnicity, age and disability?Forms of social differentiation and inequality beyond class: gender, ethnicity, age and disability, the meaning of prejudice and discrimination, and how the law seeks to promote equality.14 min answer β
- What is power, and why do people obey those in authority?The concepts of power and authority, the difference between power and authority, and the three types of authority: traditional, charismatic and legal rational.13 min answer β
- How does social class affect a person's life chances?The link between social class and life chances, the difference between wealth and income, and the meaning, measurement and causes of poverty in modern Britain.14 min answer β
- Can people move between social classes, and what helps or hinders this?The concept of social mobility, the difference between open and closed systems and between upward and downward mobility, and the factors that help or hinder movement between classes.13 min answer β
- How is society divided into layers, and what is social class?The concept of social stratification, the main systems of stratification including the class system, and how social class is defined and measured in modern Britain.14 min answer β