Revision Guide – Sociology
SUBJECT: SOCIOLOGY
EXAM BOARD AND CODE: WJEC C200QS
NUMBER OF PAPERS: 2
Paper 1: (50% of total grade)
Understanding Social Process
Paper 2: (50% of total grade)
Understanding Social Structures
LENGTH OF PAPERS:
Paper 1: 1 hr 45 minutes
Paper 2: 1 hr 45 minutes
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: Black pen (and spares), highlighter pen
WEBSITE LINK:
https://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/sociology/r-sociology-gcse-from-2017/eduqas-gcse-sociology-spec-from-2017-e.pdf
Topics to be revised
Paper 1
- Key concepts and processes of cultural transmission
- Families
- Education
- Sociological research methods
Paper 2
- Social differentiation and stratification
- Crime and deviance
- Applied methods of sociological enquiry
PAPER 1 – IN DETAIL
KEY CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION:
- Concepts – culture, norms, values, roles, status, identity, sanctions, cultural diversity
- Debates – nature/nurture including examples of feral children and cultural diversity
- Socialisation – agents of socialisation, informal and formal social control
FAMILIES:
- Definitions of family
- Family Diversity – e.g. nuclear family, extended family, reconstituted family, lone parent family, single sex family, cohabiting family, beanpole family, ethnic minority family forms, global family forms including polygamy, arranged marriages, one-child family policy in China
- Family structures – e.g. divorce rates and serial monogamy, cohabitation, single parent families, later age of marriage, singlehood, family size
- Family Relationships – e.g. new man, money management and decision making, dual career families
- Theories & the Role of the family – e.g. Functionalist, Marxist, Feminist and New Right views
- Criticisms of the family – e.g. loss of traditional functions, dysfunctional families, role of women, isolation and unrealistic expectations, marital breakdown and divorce, the dark side of family life including domestic violence, decline of the traditional family
EDUCATION:
- Theories & the Role of Education – e.g. Functionalist, Marxist, Feminist views
- Processes inside schools – e.g. labelling, hidden curriculum, streaming, anti-school subcultures
- Patterns of education achievement – e.g. by gender, class and ethnicity
- Factors affecting educational achievement
SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS:
- Usefulness of different types of data – e.g. primary/secondary data, qualitative and quantitative data, sources of secondary data, including diaries, journals, official and non-official statistics, usefulness of these types of data to sociologists
- Methods of research – e.g. Questionnaire, interviews, observations, validity, reliability, ethics and representativeness
- Sampling processes – e.g. representative and non-representative sampling techniques
- Practical issues affecting research – e.g. access to subjects of research, gatekeeper to allow access, time and cost of research
- Ethical issues affecting research – e.g. informed consent, confidentiality, harm to participants, deception, strategies used by sociologists to address issues
PAPER 2 – IN DETAIL
SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION AND STRATIFICATION
- Sociological theories of stratification – e.g. Consensus View – Functionalism, Conflict View – Marxism, Weber, Feminism
- Different forms and sources of power and authority – e.g. formal and informal sources of power, agencies of social control, Weberian theory of authority
- Equality/inequality in relation to class, gender, ethnicity, age, disability and sexuality – e.g. equality/ inequality in contemporary UK: education, crime, income and wealth, health, family, work, media
- Factors which may influence access to life chances and power – e.g. class, gender, ethnicity, age, disability and sexuality
- Poverty as a social issue – e.g. absolute and relative poverty, including the work of Townsend on relative deprivation, material deprivation, groups prone to poverty, culture of poverty, cycle of deprivation, social exclusion and inclusion, impact of globalisation
CRIME AND DEVIANCE
- Social construction of concepts of crime and deviance – e.g. definition of crime and deviance, historical and cultural variations, social construction of crime and deviance
- Social control – e.g. informal and formal social control and unwritten rules, agencies of informal and formal social control, sanctions
- Patterns of criminal and deviant behaviour – e.g. social class, ethnicity, age, gender
- Sociological theories and explanations of deviance and criminal behaviour – e.g. structural, subcultural, interactionist, feminist, Marxists, ethnicity and crime
- Sources of data on crime – e.g. patterns and trends of criminal behaviour, official statistics, victim and self-report studies, usefulness of sources of data on crime
APPLIED METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL ENQUIRY
- The process of research design – e.g. choosing a research area, establishing an aim and/or hypothesis, choosing a method, pilot study, sampling techniques, analysis of data, triangulation
- Interpreting data–e.g. how to interpret graphs, diagrams, charts/tables to spot patterns/trends
Revision Tips
- Learn key terms for each of the topics and create a Glossary
- Practice using these words in context
- Create flash cards to test your knowledge
- Create mind maps to help you make links between sections.
- Practise past papers/questions–these are on the WJEC website with mark schemes
- https://www.wjec.co.uk/qualifications/sociology/r-sociology-gcse-from-2017/eduqas-gcse-sociology-sams-2017-e.pdf
Exam Hints
WJEC Educas GCSE Sociology Revision Guide (Paperback) By by Kathryn Bowman and Steve Tivey
WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology: Student Book (Paperback) By Steve Tivey and Marion Davies
- Learn key words
- Read the question carefully and highlight question words to help you to consider what is being asked
- Check how many marks a question is worth. If, for example, a question is worth 15 marks, make sure you spend plenty of time on it and develop your ideas.
- Don’t forget to check through your paper after you have completed the questions to ensure that you are happy with your responses.
Download a printable version here
