AQA A-Level Sociology 7192

Complete Specification — A/A* Revision Notes

Option rule: A student studies one topic from Option 1 and one topic from Option 2 for Paper 2. This master contains all eight optional topics so the website can support every AQA centre.

AQA Core Themes

All content should connect where relevant to:

1. Socialisation, culture and identity
2. Social differentiation, power and stratification

These are threads across the course rather than standalone isolated chapters.

Assessment Map

Paper 1 — Education with Theory and Methods

• 2 hours
• 80 marks
• 33.3%
• Education: 50 marks
• Methods in Context: 20 marks
• Theory and Methods: 10 marks

Paper 2 — Topics in Sociology

• 2 hours
• 80 marks
• 33.3%
• one Option 1 topic: 40 marks
• one Option 2 topic: 40 marks

Paper 3 — Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

• 2 hours
• 80 marks
• 33.3%
• Crime and Deviance: 50 marks
• Theory and Methods: 30 marks

3.1 Education with Theory and Methods

3.1.1 Education

The Role and Functions of Education

Functionalism

Durkheim

Education performs:

• social solidarity — shared norms/values create cohesion;
• specialist skills — modern division of labour requires differentiated skills.

School is a miniature society:

• rules are impersonal;
• children learn cooperation beyond family.

Evaluation

• Marxists argue shared values may reflect dominant-class ideology.
• Feminists argue education historically reproduced patriarchal expectations.
• Diversity of modern society raises questions over whose "shared values" are transmitted.

Parsons

School bridges family and wider society.

Family:

• particularistic standards;
• ascribed status.

School:

• universalistic standards;
• achieved status.

Education promotes meritocratic values.

Evaluation

• assumes equal opportunity;
• class, gender and ethnicity patterns suggest achievement is not purely meritocratic.

Davis and Moore

Role allocation:

• society has functionally important positions;
• education sorts individuals by ability;
• qualifications allocate people to appropriate roles.

Criticism

• Tumin: difficult to objectively rank social importance.
• unequal starting points undermine meritocratic competition.
• high rewards may reproduce privilege rather than reflect functional necessity.

Marxism

Althusser

Education is an ideological state apparatus.

Functions:

• reproduces class inequality;
• legitimates capitalism;
• teaches ruling-class ideology.

Bowles and Gintis

Correspondence principle: school mirrors workplace.

Examples:

• hierarchy;
• external rewards;
• fragmentation;
• obedience;
• lack of control.

Hidden curriculum prepares working-class students for capitalist labour.

Myth of meritocracy legitimates inequality by presenting success as individual achievement.

Evaluation

• Willis shows pupils can resist school values.
• deterministic: not all students passively internalise ideology.
• education can create social mobility.

Willis

Ethnographic study of working-class "lads".

They formed an anti-school subculture:

• rejected authority;
• valued masculinity/manual work;
• voluntarily entered working-class jobs.

Strength: shows agency/resistance.

Criticism: small male sample; romanticises resistance; women/ethnicity neglected.

New Right / Marketisation

New Right:

• state monopoly produces inefficiency;
• parental choice and competition raise standards;
• education should transmit shared national culture.

Chubb and Moe: private/market-like schools may be more responsive.

Criticism: market choice may benefit middle-class families with greater cultural/economic capital.

Educational Achievement by Social Class

External Factors

Material Deprivation

Includes:

• low income;
• poor housing;
• overcrowding;
• inadequate nutrition;
• inability to afford devices/books/trips;
• financial pressure causing paid work.

Smith and Noble: poverty creates barriers to educational achievement.

Evaluation: some materially deprived students succeed; material resources interact with school processes and cultural factors.

Cultural Deprivation

Traditional cultural-deprivation arguments focus on:

• language;
• parental education;
• values/aspirations.

Douglas

Middle-class parents more likely to show interest and support schooling.

Bernstein

Restricted/elaborated language-code argument:

• elaborated code closer to formal school language;
• working-class pupils may be disadvantaged by language expectations.

Criticism: Labov argues working-class speech is not linguistically deficient, merely different. Concept may blame families rather than institutional practices.

Sugarman

Working-class subcultural attitudes:

• fatalism;
• collectivism;
• immediate gratification;
• present-time orientation.

Criticism: overgeneralises working class; class cultures are diverse.

Cultural Capital — Bourdieu

Middle-class families possess:

• language;
• tastes;
• dispositions;
• knowledge.

Schools value these as legitimate culture.

Habitus: internalised dispositions shaped by class background.

Cultural capital can convert into educational capital.

Economic capital enables:

• tutoring;
• housing near desirable schools;
• private schooling;
• enrichment.

Internal Factors

Labelling

Teachers may attach meanings to pupils based on:

• class;
• behaviour;
• appearance;
• prior attainment.

Becker

Teachers compare pupils against an "ideal pupil"; middle-class pupils more often fit expectations.

Rosenthal and Jacobson

Teacher expectations may become self-fulfilling.

Evaluation: pupils can reject labels; effects vary; labelling is hard to isolate from prior attainment.

Streaming and Setting

Grouping by perceived ability can:

• create different teacher expectations;
• affect curriculum access;
• generate polarisation.

Lacey

Differentiation: school categorises pupils.

Polarisation: pupils form pro-school/anti-school responses.

Pupil Subcultures

Hargreaves

Lower-stream boys may gain status by rejecting school.

Ball

Removing banding reduced some polarisation, but informal labelling persisted.

Woods

Responses range from conformity to rebellion; pupils are not simply pro-/anti-school.

Educational Achievement by Gender

External Factors

Changes in girls' achievement linked to:

• feminism;
• changing family structures;
• labour-market opportunities;
• changing aspirations.

Sharpe

Girls' priorities shifted over time from love/marriage toward career/independence.

Internal Factors

• equal-opportunity policies;
• positive role models;
• GCSE coursework historically cited;
• teacher attention;
• challenging stereotypes.

Boys and Underachievement

Possible explanations:

• literacy;
• laddish subcultures;
• changes in labour market;
• teacher labelling;
• masculinity.

Mitsos and Browne

Boys may receive more negative teacher attention and be less organised.

Epstein

Some boys avoid academic effort because achievement can be labelled feminine.

Gender Subject Choice

Influenced by:

• early socialisation;
• peer pressure;
• gender domains;
• career expectations;
• school subject images.

Educational Achievement by Ethnicity

Avoid treating ethnic groups as internally homogeneous.

External Factors

Cultural explanations

May include:

• family structure;
• language;
• attitudes.

Criticism: can become victim-blaming and ignore racism/class.

Material deprivation

Some ethnic groups experience:

• higher poverty;
• unemployment;
• insecure housing.

Class and ethnicity intersect.

Racism in Wider Society

Discrimination in:

• employment;
• housing;
• criminal justice; can indirectly shape educational resources and expectations.

Internal Factors

Teacher Labelling

Gillborn and Youdell

Black pupils may be disproportionately disciplined/seen as threatening.

Wright

Asian pupils could be stereotyped despite positive attainment.

Pupil Identities and Responses

Fuller

Black girls may reject negative teacher labels while remaining academically committed.

Sewell

Different responses among Black boys; peer groups and masculinity important.

Archer

Concept of Nike identities and conflict between some working-class identities and school's middle-class standards.

Institutional Racism

Policies and routines may produce unequal outcomes even without individually racist intent.

Gillborn

Race inequality embedded within educational structures/policies.

Criticism: other sociologists argue institutional-racism accounts can underplay class, gender and successful minority groups.

Relationships and Processes Within Schools

Know:

• teacher/pupil relationships;
• pupil identities;
• subcultures;
• hidden curriculum;
• organisation of teaching;
• selection;
• school ethos.

Use interactionism to explain micro-processes and structural theories to explain context.

Education Policy

1944 Education Act

Tripartite system:

• grammar;
• secondary modern;
• technical.

11+ selected pupils.

Criticism: class bias; secondary moderns often lower status.

Comprehensive Education

Aimed to reduce selection by ability across schools.

Debate: reduced between-school selection but internal streaming may remain.

1988 Education Reform Act

Marketisation:

• league tables;
• open enrolment;
• formula funding;
• national curriculum.

Parentocracy

Ball et al.: marketisation presents parents as consumers.

Gewirtz

Types:

• privileged-skilled choosers;
• disconnected-local choosers;
• semi-skilled choosers.

Middle-class families have greater ability to exploit choice.

Cream-skimming / Silt-shifting

Schools may seek high-achieving pupils and avoid pupils likely to lower performance measures.

New Labour

Policies mixed:

• market mechanisms;
• academies;
• compensatory initiatives;
• targets.

Coalition / Conservative reforms

Expansion of:

• academies;
• free schools;
• increased school autonomy;
• further marketisation.

Privatisation

Ball: education increasingly shaped by private companies/consultants.

Globalisation

Education influenced by:

• global rankings;
• international comparisons;
• policy borrowing;
• competition for skilled labour.

3.1.2 Methods in Context

This section requires applying research-method knowledge to education.

Do not write a generic method essay. Every strength/limitation must be tied to:

• schools;
• teachers;
• pupils;
• classrooms;
• parents;
• achievement;
• institutional access.

Experiments in Education

Strengths

• control;
• cause/effect;
• replication.

Context problems

• schools may refuse disruptive research;
• Hawthorne effect;
• ethical issues with pupils;
• teacher expectations difficult to manipulate ethically;
• school variables hard to control.

Questionnaires

Strengths:

• large samples;
• quick;
• standardised;
• useful for attitudes/aspirations.

Education-specific issues:

• literacy;
• social desirability;
• pupil seriousness;
• school gatekeepers;
• parental consent.

Interviews

Structured: comparability.

Unstructured: rapport and depth.

Education context:

• power difference between adult researcher and child;
• pupils may give "school-approved" answers;
• teachers may fear professional judgement.

Observation

Participant/non-participant.

Useful for:

• teacher-pupil interaction;
• labelling;
• classroom behaviour.

Problems:

• access;
• informed consent;
• observer effect;
• interpreting child behaviour.

Official Statistics

Examples:

• exam results;
• exclusions;
• attendance;
• destinations.

Strength: large-scale trends and comparisons.

Criticism: categories are socially constructed; policy changes alter definitions; cannot reveal meanings.

Documents

• school policies;
• pupil work;
• inspection reports;
• online communication.

Evaluate authenticity, credibility, representativeness and meaning.

3.1.3 Theory and Methods

Sociological Perspectives

Functionalism

Society as system of interdependent institutions maintaining order/value consensus.

Strengths: macro analysis; institutional functions.

Criticisms: overstates consensus; underplays conflict/inequality; can be teleological.

Marxism

Class conflict; capitalism; ruling-class ownership/power; ideology.

Strengths: explains structural inequality and power.

Criticisms: economic/class reductionism; underplays gender/ethnicity; working class has agency.

Feminisms

Liberal

Seek gradual reform and equal opportunities.

Radical

Patriarchy is fundamental system of male domination.

Marxist Feminism

Women's oppression connected to capitalism.

Difference / Intersectional Feminism

Women experience gender differently according to class, ethnicity, sexuality, age and other identities.

Social Action / Interactionism

Meaning, interpretation, agency.

Weber: social action and verstehen.

Interactionism: labels, negotiated meanings, self-concept.

Critique: micro focus can neglect institutions/power.

Postmodernism

Society increasingly:

• fragmented;
• diverse;
• media-saturated;
• unstable identities;
• sceptical of grand narratives.

Critique: can exaggerate fragmentation and underplay persistent class/gender inequalities.

Sociology and Science

Positivism

Sociology can discover social laws using:

• objective measurement;
• hypotheses;
• quantitative data.

Durkheim-style social facts.

Interpretivism

Human behaviour has meanings; sociology must understand subjective action.

Methods:

• qualitative interviews;
• participant observation;
• verstehen.

Realism

Open systems mean underlying structures may be real even if not directly observable.

Kuhn

Science organised by paradigms. Question: does sociology have a single paradigm?

Objectivity and Values

Weber: values influence topic selection but researchers should strive for value freedom in analysis.

Gouldner: complete value freedom unrealistic and undesirable.

Becker: sociologists may take sides, particularly with less powerful groups.

Funding, politics and researcher identity can shape research.

Research Methods

Primary Methods

• experiments;
• questionnaires;
• interviews;
• observations.

Secondary Sources

• official statistics;
• documents;
• personal documents;
• media;
• historical records.

Practical Issues

• time;
• money;
• access;
• researcher skills.

Ethical Issues

• consent;
• deception;
• privacy;
• harm;
• confidentiality;
• vulnerable groups.

Theoretical Issues

Reliability

Repeatability/consistency.

Validity

Truthfulness/accuracy in capturing social reality.

Representativeness

Whether sample reflects population.

Generalisability

Extent findings can be applied more widely.

Sampling

• random;
• stratified;
• systematic;
• quota;
• snowball;
• opportunity.

3.2 Topics in Sociology — Option Group 1

3.2.1 Culture and Identity

Concepts of Culture

Culture: shared meanings, norms, values, language, symbols.

Types:

• high culture;
• popular culture;
• global culture;
• consumer culture;
• subculture.

Socialisation

Primary: family.

Secondary: education, peers, media, religion, workplace.

Identity

Identity can be influenced by:

• social class;
• gender;
• ethnicity;
• nationality;
• sexuality;
• age;
• disability.

Modernity and Identity

Traditional identities may weaken through:

• globalisation;
• individualisation;
• consumer choice.

Giddens

Self-identity increasingly reflexive: individuals construct life narratives.

Beck

Individualisation shifts responsibility from tradition to personal choice.

Bauman

Liquid modern identities are more fluid/unstable.

Criticism: class/gender/ethnicity still constrain choices.

Class Identity

Bourdieu: habitus and cultural capital reproduce class distinctions.

Gender Identity

Feminist analysis: gender socially constructed through norms and institutions.

Connell: hegemonic masculinity.

Ethnic Identity

Hybrid identities may emerge through migration/globalisation.

Hall: new ethnicities; identities not fixed.

National Identity

Globalisation may weaken or intensify nationalism.

3.2.2 Families and Households

Couples

Domestic Division of Labour

Parsons: instrumental male / expressive female roles.

Young and Willmott: movement toward symmetrical family.

Oakley: women still carry majority of housework; criticised optimistic symmetry claims.

Gershuny: women's paid work can increase men's domestic contribution.

Decision Making / Resources

Edgell: important decisions often male-dominated.

Pahl and Vogler: money-management systems reveal power differences.

Domestic Violence

Radical feminists: patriarchal power.

Dobash and Dobash: violence linked to male authority.

Materialist explanations: stress linked to deprivation.

Childhood

Aries: childhood is socially constructed and historically variable.

Postman: childhood disappearing due to media blurring adult-child boundaries.

Jenks: modern childhood may be increasingly controlled/protected.

Criticism: experiences differ by class, gender, ethnicity and country.

Functions of Family

Functionalism

Murdock: sexual, reproductive, economic, educational functions.

Parsons: primary socialisation; stabilisation of adult personalities.

Marxism

Engels: monogamous family linked to private property/inheritance.

Zaretsky: family cushions workers and acts as consumption unit.

Feminism

Family can reproduce patriarchy through:

• unpaid domestic labour;
• emotional labour;
• violence;
• socialisation.

Personal Life Perspective

Smart: focus on meanings, friendships, chosen relationships and connectedness rather than only household structures.

Demography

Study trends in:

• birth rate;
• death rate;
• fertility;
• life expectancy;
• ageing population;
• migration.

Reasons for lower birth rate:

• contraception;
• women's employment;
• cost of children;
• changing norms.

Ageing consequences:

• dependency ratios;
• health/social care;
• political influence.

Migration reshapes:

• household forms;
• ethnic diversity;
• transnational families.

Changing Family Patterns

• marriage decline/later marriage;
• divorce;
• cohabitation;
• same-sex relationships;
• single-parent families;
• reconstituted families;
• lone-person households.

Divorce

Reasons:

• legal changes;
• secularisation;
• rising expectations;
• women's independence;
• reduced stigma.

New Right criticises family diversity. Postmodernists emphasise choice/diversity. Feminists ask whether diversity equals equality.

3.2.3 Health

Social Distribution of Health

Patterns by:

• class;
• gender;
• ethnicity;
• age.

Social Class

Marmot: health gradient across occupational hierarchy.

Explanations:

• material deprivation;
• housing;
• work conditions;
• diet;
• healthcare access;
• psychosocial stress.

Artefact Explanation

Class-health patterns partly due to measurement/classification.

Social Selection

Poor health can cause downward mobility.

Most evidence supports substantial social causation.

Gender

Women often:

• live longer;
• report more morbidity.

Men:

• higher rates of some premature deaths;
• risk-taking and occupational exposure.

Feminist explanations: women's caring roles, poverty, medicalisation.

Ethnicity

Health affected by:

• socioeconomic position;
• discrimination;
• cultural factors;
• migration;
• access to services.

Avoid biological essentialism.

Medical Profession

Functionalism

Doctors help restore sick individuals to functioning social roles.

Parsons: sick role: rights + obligations.

Criticism: less suitable for chronic illness; assumes compliance and medical authority.

Marxism

Medicine can:

• individualise structural problems;
• support workforce;
• generate profit.

Feminism

Medicalisation of:

• childbirth;
• menopause;
• women's bodies.

Medicalisation

Illich: medicine expands control over normal life processes; iatrogenesis.

Conrad: behaviours/conditions increasingly defined medically.

Mental Illness

Diagnosis can reflect:

• social norms;
• labelling;
• professional power;
• cultural variation.

Global Health

Inequalities linked to:

• poverty;
• development;
• healthcare systems;
• pharmaceutical power;
• pandemics/globalisation.

3.2.4 Work, Poverty and Welfare

Nature of Work

Changes:

• post-industrialisation;
• service sector;
• automation;
• flexible work;
• gig economy;
• remote work.

Marxism

Alienation: workers separated from:

• product;
• process;
• human potential;
• each other.

Braverman: deskilling under capitalist control.

Criticism: some occupations show upskilling/autonomy.

Post-Fordism

More flexible:

• teams;
• multi-skilling;
• customised production.

Critics argue flexibility often means insecurity/intensification.

Labour Market Inequalities

By:

• class;
• gender;
• ethnicity;
• age.

Concepts:

• glass ceiling;
• horizontal segregation;
• vertical segregation;
• dual labour market.

Poverty

Absolute

Below minimum subsistence.

Relative

Resources insufficient to participate in normal society.

Townsend: relative deprivation.

Explanations:

• structural unemployment;
• low wages;
• housing;
• welfare policy;
• individual/cultural explanations.

Culture of Poverty / Underclass

Murray: welfare dependency and behaviour.

Criticism: victim blaming; ignores low pay/labour-market structures.

Welfare

Perspectives:

• New Right: dependency/disincentives;
• social democratic: protection/citizenship;
• Marxist: stabilises capitalism;
• feminist: welfare can reproduce or reduce gender dependence.

3.2 Topics in Sociology — Option Group 2

3.2.5 Beliefs in Society

Theories of Religion

Functionalism

Durkheim: sacred/profane; collective conscience; social solidarity.

Malinowski: religion manages uncertainty/life crises.

Parsons: meaning and value consensus.

Marxism

Marx: religion can legitimise inequality, "opium" role.

Also may provide hope and sometimes motivate change.

Feminism

Religion may legitimate patriarchy through:

• doctrine;
• institutions;
• gender roles.

But religious participation can also create community/identity and women may reinterpret traditions.

Religion and Social Change

Weber

Protestant ethic contributed to spirit of capitalism.

Liberation Theology

Religion can support resistance and social justice.

Fundamentalism

Response to modernity/globalisation; certainty through literal/absolute beliefs.

Secularisation

Indicators:

• attendance;
• belief;
• institutional influence.

Wilson: decline in social significance.

Bruce: rationalisation and social differentiation.

Critics:

• believing without belonging;
• spiritual marketplace;
• global religious vitality.

Religious Organisations

• church;
• denomination;
• sect;
• cult/new religious movement.

Stark and Bainbridge: sects/cults and religious markets.

Social Groups and Religion

Differences by:

• gender;
• ethnicity;
• age;
• class.

3.2.6 Global Development

Development Concepts

Measures:

• GDP/GNI;
• life expectancy;
• literacy;
• HDI;
• inequality.

Critique: economic measures can hide distribution, environment and wellbeing.

Modernisation Theory

Rostow-style stages: traditional → take-off → mass consumption.

Barriers: traditional values/institutions.

Criticism: ethnocentric; assumes Western path; ignores colonialism.

Dependency Theory

Frank: underdevelopment produced through exploitative global capitalist relationships.

Core/periphery.

Criticism: some formerly peripheral economies developed rapidly; can underplay internal factors.

World Systems

Wallerstein:

• core;
• semi-periphery;
• periphery.

Neoliberalism

Development through:

• markets;
• free trade;
• privatisation;
• reduced state barriers.

Criticism: inequality, dependency, weak public services.

Aid

Forms:

• bilateral;
• multilateral;
• NGO;
• emergency;
• development.

Arguments: can fund infrastructure/health.

Criticisms: dependency; tied aid; corruption; donor interests.

Globalisation and Development

TNCs:

• employment/investment; but may exploit labour/environment and repatriate profits.

Gender and Development

Women can face:

• unpaid work;
• education barriers;
• maternal health risks;
• land/property inequality.

Development strategies increasingly stress gender empowerment.

Environment

Sustainable development: meeting present needs without undermining future generations.

Climate change disproportionately affects poorer regions.

3.2.7 The Media

Ownership and Control

Pluralism

Media responds to diverse audiences; owners constrained by consumer demand and competition.

Marxism

Owners/ruling class shape ideological content.

Traditional Marxism

Direct owner influence.

Neo-Marxism — Hall

Media can reproduce dominant ideology through cultural processes, not simple conspiracy.

Curran and Seaton

Media concentration can narrow diversity and prioritise profit.

News Selection

Gatekeeping and news values.

Galtung and Ruge: news values such as:

• threshold;
• negativity;
• elite persons/nations;
• continuity.

Agenda setting: media influences issue salience.

Representation

Study representations of:

• class;
• gender;
• ethnicity;
• age;
• disability.

Gender

Mulvey-style male-gaze argument where applicable. Postfeminist representations may combine empowerment with sexualisation.

Ethnicity

Stereotypes can construct "otherness", but representation has become more diverse.

Audiences

Hypodermic model

direct powerful effects.

Two-step flow

opinion leaders mediate.

Uses and gratifications

audiences actively select media for:

• information;
• identity;
• entertainment;
• social interaction.

Reception analysis — Hall

• preferred;
• negotiated;
• oppositional readings.

New Media

Features:

• interactivity;
• user-generated content;
• convergence;
• global reach;
• algorithmic personalisation.

Debates:

• democratisation vs corporate/platform control;
• echo chambers;
• surveillance/datafication.

3.2.8 Stratification and Differentiation

Social Class

Marx

Class determined by relation to means of production:

• bourgeoisie;
• proletariat.

Class conflict drives change.

Weber

Class based on market position plus:

• status;
• party/power.

More multidimensional.

Neo-Marxism

Managers/professionals complicate simple two-class model.

Measuring Class

Occupational schemes:

• Registrar General historically;
• NS-SEC.

Limitations:

• household class;
• women;
• unemployed;
• changing occupations.

Gender

Feminist theories of stratification:

• patriarchy;
• labour market;
• domestic labour;
• intersectionality.

Ethnicity

Inequalities in:

• income;
• employment;
• housing;
• education;
• criminal justice.

Explanations:

• discrimination;
• class position;
• institutional racism;
• migration histories.

Age

Age stratification: young/old may face:

• labour-market exclusion;
• dependency stereotypes;
• ageism.

Social Mobility

Intergenerational: between generations.

Intragenerational: within individual's career.

Absolute vs relative mobility.

Debate: education expansion may raise absolute mobility while relative class chances remain unequal.

Poverty and Wealth

Wealth is more unequally distributed than income.

Perspectives:

• functionalist;
• New Right;
• Marxist;
• Weberian;
• feminist.

3.3 Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

3.3.1 Crime and Deviance

Functionalism

Durkheim

Crime is inevitable because:

• norms vary;
• social change disrupts regulation.

Functions:

• boundary maintenance;
• adaptation/change;
• social cohesion after deviance.

Too much crime = anomie.

Merton — Strain Theory

Cultural goal: material success.

Unequal legitimate means create strain.

Adaptations:

• conformity;
• innovation;
• ritualism;
• retreatism;
• rebellion.

Criticism: focuses utilitarian crime; assumes shared success goals; underplays state/corporate crime.

Subcultural Theories

Cohen

Working-class boys experience status frustration in middle-class school system. Reaction formation → delinquent subculture.

Cloward and Ohlin

Different illegitimate opportunity structures:

• criminal;
• conflict;
• retreatist.

Miller

Lower-class focal concerns:

• toughness;
• excitement;
• smartness;
• trouble;
• autonomy.

Criticism: can stereotype working class.

Interactionism and Labelling

Becker

Deviance is not quality of act but consequence of social reaction.

Moral entrepreneurs create rules.

Lemert

Primary deviance: initial acts.

Secondary deviance: deviance becomes identity after societal reaction.

Cicourel

Police typifications and negotiation can create class bias in juvenile justice.

Deviance Amplification

Control reaction can increase deviance.

Evaluation: shows selective enforcement; does not explain initial deviance well; can imply offenders are passive.

Marxist and Neo-Marxist Theories

Traditional Marxism

Law reflects ruling-class interests. Selective enforcement criminalises working class while corporate harms receive less attention.

Chambliss

Law connected to interests of powerful groups.

Pearce

Corporate crime can be highly harmful but less visible.

Neo-Marxism — Taylor, Walton and Young

"Fully social theory of deviance": combine structure and agency.

Crime can be meaningful political choice, but theory criticised for romanticising offenders.

Realism

Left Realism

Lea and Young: causes:

• relative deprivation;
• marginalisation;
• subculture.

Square of crime:

• offender;
• victim;
• state;
• public.

Solutions: democratic policing, reduce inequality.

Right Realism

Wilson and Herrnstein: biological/social factors and rational choice.

Clarke: rational choice.

Wilson and Kelling: broken windows.

Solutions:

• target hardening;
• zero tolerance;
• situational prevention.

Criticism: displacement; ignores structural causes; can criminalise marginal groups.

Gender and Crime

Why Women Appear to Commit Less Crime

• socialisation;
• control;
• opportunities;
• criminal justice treatment.

Heidensohn

Patriarchal control:

• home;
• public;
• workplace.

Carlen

Women conform when class/gender deals offer rewards; crime where deals fail.

Chivalry Thesis

Women may sometimes be treated more leniently.

Criticism: women can also be judged harshly for violating gender norms.

Masculinity

Messerschmidt: crime can be a resource for "doing masculinity".

Criticism: masculinities diverse; risks circular explanation.

Ethnicity and Crime

Official statistics show disproportionality at stages such as:

• stop/search;
• arrest;
• imprisonment.

Explanations:

• policing practices;
• institutional racism;
• deprivation;
• demographic factors;
• victim/offender patterns.

Hall et al.

Moral panic around mugging linked race, crisis and state control.

Avoid treating official statistics as transparent measure of offending.

Social Class and Crime

Working-class overrepresentation in official statistics may reflect:

• real inequalities;
• policing priorities;
• visibility;
• labelling.

Middle-class/corporate crime often:

• less visible;
• handled administratively;
• complex to prosecute.

Globalisation, Green Crime, State Crime

Globalisation

Creates opportunities:

• cybercrime;
• trafficking;
• global financial crime;
• organised networks.

Green Crime

Crimes/harms against environment.

Traditional criminology: focus legal definitions.

Green criminology: focus social/environmental harm even when legal.

State Crime

Crimes/harm committed or facilitated by states:

• genocide;
• torture;
• war crimes;
• corruption.

Challenges: state often defines law and controls enforcement.

Media and Crime

Media can:

• exaggerate;
• stereotype;
• create moral panics;
• influence fear of crime.

Cohen

Moral panic:

• folk devils;
• exaggeration/distortion;
• prediction;
• symbolisation;
• deviance amplification.

News values

Violent, dramatic, unusual crimes overrepresented.

New media can:

• enable cybercrime;
• expose state/corporate crime;
• amplify moral panics.

Crime Control, Surveillance and Punishment

Foucault

Modern control through surveillance.

Panopticon: possibility of observation encourages self-discipline.

Contemporary: CCTV, databases, digital tracking.

Punishment

Functions:

• retribution;
• deterrence;
• rehabilitation;
• incapacitation.

Garland

Late-modern societies combine punitive policies with preventative risk management.

Suicide

Durkheim

Social facts explain suicide rates.

Types from integration/regulation:

• egoistic;
• altruistic;
• anomic;
• fatalistic.

Strength: demonstrated social patterning.

Criticism: official statistics may be socially constructed.

Interactionist Critique

Douglas: meaning of suicide varies; official statistics reflect coroners' interpretations.

Atkinson: how coroners construct "typical suicide".

3.3.2 Theory and Methods

Apply all theoretical-method content from 3.1.3, plus:

Modernity and Postmodernity

Modernity

Industrialisation, bureaucracy, nation-state, class structure.

Late Modernity

Giddens: reflexivity; disembedding; manufactured risks.

Beck: risk society; individualisation.

Postmodernity

Lyotard: decline of meta-narratives.

Baudrillard: media/simulation/hyperreality.

Criticism: material inequalities and institutions remain powerful.

Globalisation

Increasing interconnectedness in:

• economy;
• politics;
• culture;
• migration;
• media.

Effects:

• hybrid identities;
• global risks;
• transnational crime;
• policy convergence.

Social Policy

Sociology can:

• identify problems;
• evaluate policy;
• influence debates.

Perspectives differ:

• positivist social-democratic approaches more policy-oriented;
• Marxists may see policy as serving capitalism;
• feminists expose gendered effects;
• postmodernists sceptical of universal solutions.

AQA Essay Toolkit

10-mark without item

Use two developed paragraphs:

1. identify sociological point;
2. explain;
3. use named sociologist/concept;
4. develop implication.

10-mark with item

Use two explicit item hooks.

Each paragraph:

Item phrase → sociological concept → explain → develop.

20-mark Methods in Context

Structure around:

• characteristic of method;
• characteristic of educational setting/group;
• explicit link explaining why this creates a strength/problem.

Do not write generic research-method paragraphs.

20/30-mark essays

High-level structure:

Introduction

Define issue and set debate.

Paragraph

Point
Evidence / sociologist
Explain mechanism
Application to question
Evaluation / alternative
Mini-judgement

Conclusion

Directly answer "to what extent":

• identify strongest explanation;
• conditions;
• interactions between factors.

AQA Core Sociological Perspectives — Quick Comparison

Common Lost Marks

• describing a theory without linking to the question;
• sociologist name-dropping without explaining the concept;
• treating class, gender or ethnicity as isolated rather than intersecting;
• using official statistics as if they directly equal true behaviour;
• saying correlation proves cause;
• confusing reliability with validity;
• generic method evaluation in Methods in Context;
• calling all feminists the same;
• treating Marxism as simply "rich people control everything";
• writing "postmodernism means society is modern";
• confusing primary and secondary deviance;
• confusing relative deprivation with material deprivation;
• writing moral panic as merely "people panic";
• assuming labelling means behaviour is imaginary;
• treating the hidden curriculum as an official written curriculum;
• conclusions that merely repeat the introduction.

Whole-Course Summary Notes

Education

Education can be analysed as:

• social integration/role allocation;
• reproduction of capitalism;
• reproduction/challenge of patriarchy;
• interactional labelling;
• market competition.

Achievement patterns require external + internal explanations.

Methods

Method choice reflects:

• practical constraints;
• ethics;
• reliability;
• validity;
• representativeness;
• theoretical perspective.

Families

Family structure and relationships change with law, gender roles, demography and individualisation, but inequality remains.

Beliefs

Religion can integrate, legitimate inequality or inspire change; secularisation is contested.

Crime

Crime is explained through:

• strain/subculture;
• labels;
• class power;
• realism;
• gender/ethnicity;
• global/state/environmental harms.

Theory

Always connect: structure vs action; consensus vs conflict; modernity vs postmodernity; positivism vs interpretivism.