WJEC Eduqas A Level Sociology (A200QS)

Complete Specification — A/A* Revision Notes

Option rule: The actual course requires selected options in Components 1 and 3. This master contains all options so NeuroBoost can support every Eduqas centre.

Qualification Structure

Component 1 — Socialisation and Culture

2 hours 30 minutes — 40%

Section A — Compulsory

• social construction of culture;
• socialisation;
• identity.

Section B — Choose one

• Families and Households
• Youth Cultures

Section C — Choose one

• Education
• Media
• Religion

Component 2 — Methods of Sociological Enquiry

1 hour 45 minutes — 20%

Compulsory:

• research methods;
• methodological approaches;
• sampling;
• ethics;
• practical issues;
• positivism;
• interpretivism;
• realism.

Component 3 — Power and Stratification

2 hours 30 minutes — 40%

Section A — Compulsory

• class;
• gender;
• ethnicity;
• age;
• income;
• wealth;
• social mobility;
• theories of stratification.

Section B — Choose one

• Crime and Deviance
• Health and Disability
• Politics
• World Sociology

Core Themes Across the Qualification

The whole course should repeatedly connect to:

Socialisation, Culture and Identity

How people learn:

• norms;
• values;
• beliefs;
• roles;
• identities.

Social Differentiation, Power and Stratification

How societies produce differences in:

• resources;
• status;
• life chances;
• authority;
• representation.

Theoretical Issues

• social order;
• social control;
• social change;
• conflict vs consensus;
• structure vs social action;
• role of values;
• sociology and social policy.

COMPONENT 1 — SOCIALISATION AND CULTURE

Section A — Social Construction of Culture

Culture

DEFINITION — Culture
The shared way of life of a social group, including its norms, values, beliefs, language, roles, symbols and practices.

Norms

Expected rules of behaviour.

Values

Broad ideas about what is desirable, important or morally right.

Beliefs

Ideas accepted as true.

Roles

Expected behaviour attached to a social position.

Status

Social position occupied by an individual.

Culture can include:

• dress;
• language;
• food;
• music;
• religious practices;
• leisure;
• family practices.

Culture as Socially Constructed

Culture is not simply biologically inherited.

Evidence includes:

• historical differences;
• cross-cultural differences;
• changing gender roles;
• feral-child studies;
• variation in family and youth norms.

Nature vs Nurture

Nature

Behaviour influenced by biological/genetic factors.

Nurture

Behaviour shaped by social environment and learning.

Sociological explanations generally emphasise nurture while recognising biological capacities.

Evaluation

Extreme nurture explanations can become socially deterministic. Contemporary sociology often uses interaction between biology and environment.

Cultural Diversity

Societies contain multiple cultures and subcultures.

Subculture

A group within wider society with distinctive values, norms, style or identity.

Examples:

• youth subcultures;
• occupational cultures;
• religious groups;
• ethnic communities;
• online communities.

Subcultures may:

• support identity;
• resist dominant values;
• create solidarity;
• attract moral panic.

Socialisation

DEFINITION — Socialisation
Process through which individuals learn the culture and expected behaviour of society.

Primary Socialisation

Usually occurs in families/caregiver relationships.

Children learn:

• language;
• basic norms;
• emotional behaviour;
• gender expectations;
• acceptable conduct.

Mechanisms:

• imitation;
• role models;
• rewards;
• sanctions.

Secondary Socialisation

Occurs through:

• peers;
• education;
• religion;
• media;
• work.

Agencies of Socialisation

Family

Teaches:

• language;
• manners;
• family roles;
• class/gender norms.

Functionalists: family transmits shared values.

Feminists: family may reproduce patriarchal gender expectations.

Marxists: family can transmit class ideology and patterns of consumption.

Education

Formal curriculum teaches knowledge.

Hidden curriculum can teach:

• punctuality;
• hierarchy;
• competition;
• obedience.

Functionalists: social integration.

Marxists: capitalist discipline.

Interactionists: teacher labels shape identity.

Peer Groups

Peers can:

• reinforce or challenge family norms;
• shape style;
• create youth identity;
• reward conformity.

Peer pressure should not be treated as automatically negative.

Religion

Can socialise:

• moral rules;
• beliefs;
• community identity;
• gender/family expectations.

Effects vary strongly by religion and denomination.

Media

Media transmits:

• gender images;
• consumerism;
• political values;
• stereotypes;
• lifestyle identities.

Audience theories differ over whether people are passive or active.

Workplace

Socialises adults into:

• occupational roles;
• professional identity;
• hierarchy;
• organisational culture.

Formal and Informal Social Control

Formal

Enforced through official organisations:

• police;
• courts;
• schools;
• employers.

Sanctions:

• fines;
• exclusion;
• dismissal;
• imprisonment.

Informal

Enforced through everyday interaction:

• praise;
• ridicule;
• gossip;
• disapproval;
• peer acceptance.

Identity

Personal Identity

Individual sense of who they are.

Social Identity

Identity based on membership of social groups.

Key dimensions:

• gender;
• class;
• ethnicity;
• nationality.

Gender Identity

Oakley

Sex = biological distinction. Gender = socially learned roles/expectations.

Gender socialisation through:

• manipulation;
• canalisation;
• verbal appellations;
• different activities.

Feminist View

Gender identities reflect power and patriarchy.

Postmodern View

Gender identities may be more fluid and individually constructed.

Evaluation: choice remains constrained by labour markets, family expectations and social sanctions.

Class Identity

Class can influence:

• speech;
• taste;
• education;
• work;
• consumption;
• housing.

Bourdieu

Habitus: internalised dispositions shaped by class.

Cultural capital: knowledge, language and tastes rewarded by institutions.

Class identity may weaken in post-industrial societies but material inequality persists.

Ethnic Identity

Can involve:

• ancestry;
• religion;
• language;
• food;
• history;
• community.

Hall

Ethnic identity can be changing/hybrid rather than fixed.

Migration and globalisation may generate:

• hybrid identities;
• transnational identities.

National Identity

Constructed through:

• flags;
• ceremonies;
• history;
• sport;
• monarchy/state institutions;
• media.

Globalisation may:

• weaken national identity;
• create hybrid identity;
• provoke stronger nationalism.

SECTION B OPTION 1 — FAMILIES AND HOUSEHOLDS

Family Forms and Diversity

Family forms include:

• nuclear;
• extended;
• lone-parent;
• reconstituted;
• same-sex;
• cohabiting;
• transnational;
• single-person households.

Functionalism

Murdock

Family performs:

• sexual;
• reproductive;
• educational;
• economic functions.

Parsons

Modern nuclear family performs:

• primary socialisation;
• stabilisation of adult personalities.

Criticism: ignores family conflict and diversity.

Marxism

Engels

Monogamous family developed alongside private property and inheritance.

Zaretsky

Family:

• supports capitalism;
• provides emotional refuge;
• becomes unit of consumption.

Criticism: underplays positive relationships and gender inequality independent of class.

Feminism

Liberal Feminism

Gender equality improving through:

• law;
• employment;
• attitudes.

Marxist Feminism

Women's unpaid domestic labour benefits capitalism.

Radical Feminism

Family is key institution of patriarchy.

Difference Feminism

Women experience family differently by:

• class;
• ethnicity;
• sexuality;
• age.

New Right

Favours stable heterosexual two-parent nuclear family.

Argues family diversity may weaken:

• socialisation;
• responsibility;
• social order.

Criticism: idealises traditional family and blames disadvantaged households.

Postmodernism

Family life increasingly diverse because:

• individual choice;
• secularisation;
• changing gender roles;
• same-sex relationships;
• consumer culture.

Stacey

Families are increasingly negotiated/diverse.

Criticism: not everyone has equal ability to choose family form.

Demographic Change

Marriage

Trends:

• later marriage;
• declining marriage rates.

Reasons:

• secularisation;
• cohabitation;
• women's independence;
• changing norms.

Divorce

Reasons:

• legal reform;
• lower stigma;
• rising expectations;
• women's employment;
• secularisation.

Cohabitation

Growth linked to:

• reduced stigma;
• delaying marriage;
• trial relationships;
• rejection of marriage.

Fertility

Lower fertility linked to:

• contraception;
• women's education/employment;
• child costs;
• later parenting.

Life Expectancy

Increased due to:

• healthcare;
• living standards;
• nutrition.

Consequences:

• ageing population;
• longer marriages;
• more lone elderly households.

Singlehood

Increasing through:

• delayed partnership;
• divorce;
• lifestyle choice;
• ageing.

Relationships in Families

Domestic Labour

Parsons

Instrumental male / expressive female roles.

Young and Willmott

Movement toward symmetrical family.

Oakley

Women still perform disproportionate housework.

Gershuny

Men do more domestic work where women work full time, but inequality remains.

Emotional Labour

Duncombe and Marsden

Women may perform a triple shift:

• paid employment;
• domestic labour;
• emotional labour.

Power and Decision Making

Edgell

Men historically dominated important decisions.

Pahl and Vogler

Money-management systems reflect power.

Domestic Violence

Dobash and Dobash

Domestic violence linked to patriarchal authority.

Material explanations: poverty and stress may increase risk but do not fully explain gender patterns.

SECTION B OPTION 2 — YOUTH CULTURES

Formation of Youth Cultures

Factors:

• media;
• economic change;
• globalisation;
• class;
• gender;
• ethnicity.

Functionalism

Eisenstadt

Youth culture helps transition from childhood to adult roles.

Strength: recognises youth as distinct life stage.

Criticism: treats youth experience as too universal.

Marxism / CCCS

Hall and Jefferson

Working-class subcultures symbolically resist class inequality.

Hebdige

Style can act as symbolic resistance.

Examples:

• clothing;
• music;
• appearance.

Criticism:

• romanticises resistance;
• focuses spectacular male groups;
• neglects ordinary youth.

Feminism

McRobbie and Garber

Traditional subculture research ignored girls.

Bedroom culture: girls' youth culture can occur in domestic/private spaces.

Criticism: digital media has transformed distinction between public/private.

Interactionism

Youth identities constructed through:

• labels;
• peer interaction;
• media representation.

Becker-style labelling

Deviance can emerge through societal reaction.

Postmodernism

Maffesoli

Neo-tribes: temporary, fluid lifestyle groupings.

Bennett

Youth identities increasingly flexible and consumption-based.

Criticism: class/gender/ethnicity still shape resources and style.

Youth, Deviance and Crime

Youth subcultures can be associated with:

• delinquency;
• school resistance;
• violence;
• drug cultures.

Cohen

Status frustration among working-class boys can produce delinquent subculture.

Cloward and Ohlin

Different illegitimate opportunities generate different subcultures.

Youth and Media

Media can create:

• stereotypes;
• moral panics;
• folk devils.

Cohen

Mods and Rockers: media exaggeration may amplify deviance.

SECTION C OPTION 1 — EDUCATION

Role and Function of Education

Functionalism

Durkheim

• social solidarity;
• specialist skills.

Parsons

School bridges family and society:

• particularistic → universalistic standards;
• ascribed → achieved status.

Davis and Moore

Education selects/sorts people for occupational roles.

Criticism: meritocracy assumes equal opportunity.

Marxism

Althusser

Education is ideological state apparatus.

Bowles and Gintis

Correspondence principle: school mirrors capitalist workplace.

Hidden curriculum teaches:

• obedience;
• hierarchy;
• external rewards.

Myth of meritocracy legitimates inequality.

Willis

Working-class "lads" resisted school but entered working-class jobs.

Shows agency yet class reproduction.

Feminism

Education historically reinforced patriarchy through:

• subject choice;
• curriculum;
• teacher expectations.

Girls' achievement has improved, but gender inequalities remain in:

• subjects;
• careers;
• harassment;
• leadership.

New Right

Markets and parental choice expected to improve standards.

Criticism: middle-class parents are better positioned to use choice.

Postmodernism

Education increasingly:

• diverse;
• flexible;
• consumer-oriented;
• lifelong.

Criticism: structural inequalities remain.

Differential Attainment

Class

External:

• material deprivation;
• housing;
• nutrition;
• cultural capital.

Internal:

• labelling;
• setting;
• subcultures.

Bourdieu

Cultural capital and habitus align middle-class pupils with school expectations.

Gender

Girls:

• changed aspirations;
• employment opportunities;
• policy;
• teacher expectations.

Boys:

• literacy;
• masculinity;
• anti-school cultures.

Gendered subject choices remain.

Ethnicity

Factors:

• class/material deprivation;
• institutional racism;
• teacher labelling;
• cultural identities;
• school policies.

Avoid victim-blaming.

Social Policy

Examples:

• selection;
• comprehensives;
• marketisation;
• league tables;
• academies;
• widening participation.

Evaluate: who benefits and whether policy reduces or reproduces inequalities.

SECTION C OPTION 2 — MEDIA

Role of Media

Functions:

• information;
• entertainment;
• socialisation;
• political communication;
• identity.

Media Effects

Hypodermic Model

Media directly injects messages into passive audiences.

Criticism: oversimplifies audience activity.

Two-Step Flow

Opinion leaders mediate effects.

Uses and Gratifications

People actively use media for:

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

Reception Analysis — Hall

Readings:

• dominant;
• negotiated;
• oppositional.

Moral Panics

Cohen

Media amplifies deviance and constructs folk devils.

Stages:

• exaggeration;
• prediction;
• symbolisation;
• societal reaction.

New Media and Globalisation

Features:

• interactivity;
• convergence;
• user-generated content;
• global reach;
• algorithms.

Debates:

• democratisation;
• misinformation;
• echo chambers;
• corporate power;
• surveillance.

Ownership and Control

Pluralism

Media reflects audience demand and competing views.

Marxism

Owners/corporations shape content in class interests.

Curran and Seaton

Concentration can reduce diversity.

Neo-Marxism

Media professionals reproduce dominant ideology without direct owner instructions.

Hall

Encoding shaped by dominant frameworks.

News Values

Galtung and Ruge

News selection influenced by:

• negativity;
• threshold;
• elite persons;
• continuity;
• unexpectedness.

Agenda Setting

Media influences which issues audiences see as important.

Representation

Analyse representations of:

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

Representation can:

• stereotype;
• marginalise;
• normalise;
• challenge dominant ideas.

SECTION C OPTION 3 — RELIGION

Role and Function of Religion

Functionalism

Durkheim

Religion creates:

• collective conscience;
• solidarity;
• distinction between sacred/profane.

Malinowski

Religion provides comfort during uncertainty/crisis.

Parsons

Religion gives meaning and supports values.

Marxism

Marx

Religion can legitimate inequality and reduce class consciousness.

But religion can sometimes inspire resistance.

Neo-Marxism

Gramsci

Religious organisations can support either:

• dominant ideology;
• counter-hegemonic movements.

Feminism

Religion may reproduce patriarchy through:

• male leadership;
• doctrine;
• gender roles.

But some women use religion for:

• identity;
• solidarity;
• agency.

Weber

Religion can drive social change.

Protestant Ethic

Calvinist ideas helped create values compatible with capitalism:

• hard work;
• discipline;
• reinvestment.

Postmodernism

Religious belief may become individualised:

• spiritual marketplace;
• pick-and-mix belief;
• New Age movements.

Participation and Religiosity

Patterns vary by:

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

Women often show higher participation in many religious contexts, explained through:

• socialisation;
• life expectancy;
• caring roles;
• deprivation theories.

Religious Organisations

Church

Large, socially accepted, often bureaucratic.

Denomination

Respectable minority organisation.

Sect

High commitment, often exclusive.

New Religious Movement

Newer religious organisation.

New Age Movement

Individualised spiritual practices.

Fundamentalism

Characteristics:

• literal/scriptural authority;
• moral certainty;
• reaction against secularisation/globalisation.

Can occur across multiple religions.

Secularisation

Decline in social significance of religion.

Indicators:

• attendance;
• belief;
• influence;
• membership.

Wilson

Modernisation reduces religious influence.

Bruce

Rationalisation and differentiation weaken religion.

Critics:

• believing without belonging;
• religious revival;
• global religion;
• spiritual alternatives.

COMPONENT 2 — METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL ENQUIRY

Key Concepts

Validity

Whether research captures social reality accurately.

Reliability

Whether research can be repeated consistently.

Generalisability

Whether findings can apply more widely.

Representativeness

Whether sample reflects target population.

Objectivity

Researcher neutrality/minimisation of bias.

Ethics

Moral principles governing research.

Primary Research Methods

Questionnaires

Strengths:

• cheap;
• large samples;
• easy quantitative analysis;
• standardised.

Weaknesses:

• low response rates;
• limited depth;
• misunderstanding;
• social desirability.

Closed questions: higher reliability.

Open questions: greater validity/detail.

Interviews

Structured

Standardised questions.

Strength: reliability/comparison.

Weakness: less depth.

Unstructured

Flexible conversation.

Strength: rapport and validity.

Weakness: time-consuming and difficult to replicate.

Focus Groups

Group discussion moderated by researcher.

Strengths:

• interaction generates rich data;
• participants respond to each other.

Weaknesses:

• dominant voices;
• conformity;
• confidentiality;
• difficult analysis.

Observational Methods

Dimensions:

• participant/non-participant;
• overt/covert;
• structured/unstructured.

Strengths: natural behaviour/high validity.

Weaknesses: access; ethics; researcher influence; low reliability.

Methodological Approaches

Survey

Collects standardised data from sample.

Useful:

• patterns;
• comparison;
• quantitative analysis.

Ethnography

Long-term immersion in group/community.

Strength: high-depth understanding.

Weakness: time, access, researcher subjectivity.

Longitudinal Studies

Study same individuals/group across time.

Strength: change and life-course evidence.

Weakness: attrition, cost.

Methodological Pluralism

Use multiple methods because no single method captures all aspects.

Triangulation

Use multiple sources/methods to cross-check findings.

Secondary Data

Existing Sociological Research

Advantages:

• inexpensive;
• provides comparison/historical context.

Limitations:

• may not match new question.

Official Statistics

Strengths:

• national scale;
• trends;
• comparability.

Weaknesses:

• categories socially constructed;
• political/administrative definitions;
• hidden behaviour.

Documents

Examples:

• letters;
• diaries;
• newspapers;
• social media;
• organisational records.

Evaluate:

• authenticity;
• credibility;
• representativeness;
• meaning.

Sampling

Target Population

Group researcher wants to generalise to.

Sampling Frame

List from which sample selected.

Gatekeeper

Person/organisation controlling research access.

Representative Sampling

Simple Random

Equal chance.

Stratified Random

Sample reflects important population proportions.

Systematic Random

Select every nth case after random start.

Quota

Researcher fills categories to target proportions.

Non-Representative Sampling

Snowball

Participants recruit others.

Useful hidden populations.

Volunteer

Participants self-select.

Risk: volunteer bias.

Opportunity

Use available participants.

Fast but biased.

Purposive

Select participants because they fit research aim.

Ethical Issues

• deception;
• sensitivity;
• confidentiality;
• informed consent;
• vulnerability;
• anonymity;
• privacy;
• right to withdraw;
• protection from harm for participants and researcher.

Practical Issues

• operationalisation;
• research topic;
• target population;
• access;
• time;
• cost.

Theories of Research

Positivism

Society can be studied scientifically.

Favours:

• quantitative data;
• hypotheses;
• reliability;
• representative samples;
• causal patterns.

Interpretivism

Human behaviour requires understanding meanings.

Favours:

• qualitative data;
• validity;
• verstehen;
• unstructured methods.

Realism

Accepts a real social world with underlying structures that may not be directly observable.

Can combine:

• quantitative evidence;
• qualitative evidence;
• causal mechanisms.

Research Design

A high-quality research-design answer should identify:

1. research question;
2. operationalisation;
3. target population;
4. sample;
5. sampling method;
6. access/gatekeeper;
7. method;
8. practical procedure;
9. ethics;
10. reliability/validity;
11. data analysis.

COMPONENT 3 — POWER AND STRATIFICATION

Section A — Inequality and Stratification

Inequality must be understood through:

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

Evidence may include:

• income;
• wealth;
• health;
• education;
• employment;
• housing;
• political power;
• social mobility.

Social Class

Marx

Two major classes:

• bourgeoisie;
• proletariat.

Inequality caused by private ownership and exploitation.

Criticism: modern class systems more complex.

Neo-Marxism

Recognises:

• managerial/professional groups;
• ideology;
• state/cultural institutions.

Class remains central but not mechanically determined.

Weber

Stratification is multidimensional:

• class;
• status;
• party/power.

Market situation shapes life chances.

Neo-Weberian

Occupational and employment relationships create:

• security;
• autonomy;
• promotion prospects.

Useful for modern class schemes.

Functionalism

Davis and Moore

Inequality:

• ensures important roles filled;
• motivates training.

Criticism:

• importance difficult to measure;
• unequal opportunity;
• inherited advantage.

New Right

Inequality can:

• motivate effort;
• reward enterprise.

Poverty partly explained through dependency/behaviour.

Criticism: victim blaming; structural barriers ignored.

Gender Stratification

Feminist explanations:

Liberal

Inequality declining through reform.

Marxist Feminism

Capitalism benefits from women's unpaid/reproductive labour.

Radical Feminism

Patriarchy is fundamental source of women's inequality.

Intersectional

Gender interacts with:

• class;
• ethnicity;
• age;
• sexuality.

Ethnic Stratification

Explanations:

• discrimination;
• institutional racism;
• class position;
• migration;
• cultural capital.

Racism Theories

Distinguish:

• individual prejudice;
• structural/institutional racism.

Avoid assuming all members of an ethnic category share the same life chances.

Age Stratification

Age affects:

• employment;
• income;
• welfare;
• political influence;
• housing;
• health.

Young people may face:

• low wages;
• insecure work;
• housing barriers.

Older adults may face:

• ageism;
• health inequality; but some hold high wealth/assets.

Income and Wealth

Income: flow of money received.

Wealth: stock of assets.

Wealth is usually more unequally distributed than income.

Wealth creates cumulative advantage through:

• property;
• inheritance;
• investment;
• education access.

Social Mobility

Intergenerational

Class movement compared with parents.

Intragenerational

Movement during own life.

Absolute Mobility

More people enter different classes because occupational structure changes.

Relative Mobility

Chance that people from different origins reach particular destinations.

A society can have high absolute mobility but persistent relative inequality.

SECTION B OPTION 1 — CRIME AND DEVIANCE

Social Distribution of Crime

Patterns by:

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

Always distinguish: recorded crime from actual offending.

Measuring Crime

Police/Official Statistics

Strength: large-scale patterns.

Weakness: dark figure; reporting/recording decisions; policy changes.

Crime Survey

Victim survey.

Strength: captures unreported crime.

Weakness: memory; excludes some crimes/populations.

Self-Report Studies

Ask people about offending.

Strength: hidden offending.

Weakness: honesty/sample bias.

Crime and Deviance as Social Constructions

Crime depends on law.

Deviance depends on norms.

Both vary by:

• time;
• society;
• group.

Media and moral entrepreneurs influence definitions.

Functionalism

Durkheim

Crime:

• inevitable;
• boundary maintenance;
• social change.

Merton

Strain between cultural goals and unequal means.

Adaptations:

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

Subcultural Theory

Cohen

Status frustration leads working-class boys toward delinquent subculture.

Cloward and Ohlin

Illegitimate opportunity structures:

• criminal;
• conflict;
• retreatist.

Interactionism

Becker

Deviance results from labelling.

Lemert

Primary vs secondary deviance.

Cicourel

Police use typifications.

Criticism: weak explanation of original offending.

Marxism

Crime reflects:

• class inequality;
• law serving powerful interests;
• selective enforcement.

Corporate crime may cause serious harm but receive less attention.

Neo-Marxism

Taylor, Walton and Young

Combines:

• class structure;
• meaning;
• agency.

Criticism: can romanticise deviance.

Right Realism

• rational choice;
• opportunity;
• weak control.

Policies:

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

Left Realism

Causes:

• relative deprivation;
• marginalisation;
• subculture.

Square of crime:

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

Feminism

Heidensohn

Patriarchal control limits female offending opportunities.

Carlen

Crime more likely where class/gender deals fail.

Masculinity theories explain male offending.

Postmodernism

Crime becomes:

• diverse;
• fragmented;
• identity-related;
• globally networked.

Criticism: may underplay material inequality.

Media and Crime

Moral panic:

• exaggeration;
• folk devils;
• increased control;
• possible deviance amplification.

Policy

Theory shapes policy:

• punishment;
• prevention;
• welfare;
• community policing;
• rehabilitation.

SECTION B OPTION 2 — HEALTH AND DISABILITY

Social Distribution of Health

Patterns by:

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

Use:

• mortality;
• morbidity;
• life expectancy;
• self-reported health.

Class and Health

Material Explanation

Health affected by:

• income;
• housing;
• diet;
• working conditions;
• pollution.

Cultural Explanation

Lifestyle/health behaviour:

• diet;
• smoking;
• exercise.

Criticism: behaviour is itself shaped by material conditions.

Artefact Explanation

Class-health inequality partly due to measurement/classification.

Social Selection

Ill health may cause downward social mobility.

Most evidence suggests selection alone cannot explain the gradient.

Gender and Health

Women often:

• live longer;
• report more illness.

Men:

• higher risk of some premature deaths.

Explanations:

• work;
• masculinity;
• healthcare use;
• poverty/care roles.

Ethnicity and Health

Factors:

• class;
• racism;
• migration;
• housing;
• cultural practices;
• healthcare access.

Avoid biological essentialism.

Age and Health

Older populations experience more chronic conditions, but health in later life varies by:

• class;
• gender;
• ethnicity;
• lifetime conditions.

Social Construction of Health, Illness and Disability

Definitions change by:

• culture;
• history;
• medical knowledge.

Medicalisation

Illich

Medicine extends control over normal life processes.

Conrad

Non-medical issues can be redefined as medical disorders.

Sick Role — Parsons

Rights:

• not blamed;
• exempt from normal roles.

Obligations:

• seek help;
• try to recover.

Criticism: poor fit for chronic illness/disability.

Disability

Medical Model

Disability seen as individual impairment.

Social Model

Disability created by social barriers:

• inaccessible buildings;
• discrimination;
• exclusion.

This distinction is essential.

Medical Profession

Marxism

Healthcare may reproduce class inequality and benefit pharmaceutical/corporate interests.

Feminism

Medical authority can medicalise women's bodies and reproduction.

Interactionism

Illness identities negotiated in interaction.

SECTION B OPTION 3 — POLITICS

Political Participation

Includes:

• voting;
• party membership;
• protests;
• petitions;
• pressure groups;
• online activism.

Patterns vary by:

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

Voting and Participation

Class

Traditional class voting has weakened through partisan de-alignment.

Age

Older citizens generally vote at higher rates.

Gender

Gender gap has changed over time; participation forms differ.

Ethnicity

Participation affected by:

• representation;
• discrimination;
• political mobilisation;
• migration history.

Political Organisations

Political Parties

Contest elections and form governments.

Pressure Groups

Seek policy influence without usually seeking government office.

New Social Movements

Often focus:

• environment;
• identity;
• rights;
• global justice.

Anti-Capitalist / Anti-Globalisation Movements

Challenge:

• corporate power;
• inequality;
• neoliberal globalisation.

Functionalism / Pluralism

Pluralists: power dispersed among competing groups.

Dahl

Multiple centres of power prevent permanent dominance.

Criticism: resources are unequally distributed.

Marxism

State and political institutions reproduce capitalist class power.

Miliband

State elites share class background/interests with capitalist elites.

Neo-Marxism

Poulantzas

State has relative autonomy but must protect long-term capitalist system.

Weber

Power: ability to achieve objectives despite resistance.

Authority:

• traditional;
• charismatic;
• legal-rational.

Elite Theory

A minority holds disproportionate decision-making power.

Pareto / Mills-style arguments

Political, economic and institutional elites can dominate.

Postmodernism

Power is:

• dispersed;
• networked;
• shaped by media/knowledge.

Criticism: economic/state power still concentrated.

SECTION B OPTION 4 — WORLD SOCIOLOGY

Global Inequality

Study patterns in:

• health;
• education;
• employment;
• poverty.

Indicators:

• GDP/GNI;
• life expectancy;
• literacy;
• HDI;
• infant mortality.

Use multidimensional measures, not income alone.

Modernisation Theory

Societies develop through stages toward industrial modernity.

Rostow

Stages from traditional society to high mass consumption.

Internal barriers:

• traditional values;
• low investment;
• weak institutions.

Criticism:

• ethnocentric;
• ignores colonialism;
• assumes Western model universal.

Dependency Theory

Frank

Poor countries underdeveloped through exploitative links with richer capitalist economies.

Core extracts:

• resources;
• profits;
• labour value.

Criticism: does not explain all development success.

World Systems Theory

Wallerstein

Global economy divided into:

• core;
• semi-periphery;
• periphery.

Position can change historically.

Marxist Explanations

Global inequality produced by:

• capitalist exploitation;
• TNCs;
• unequal trade.

Population

Neo-Malthusian: rapid population growth strains resources.

Criticism: poverty can itself produce high fertility; resource distribution matters.

Urbanisation

Rapid urban growth can create:

• employment;
• infrastructure; but also:
• informal settlements;
• congestion;
• inequality.

Marginalisation

Groups can be excluded from:

• markets;
• political power;
• services.

Often affects:

• women;
• rural poor;
• indigenous populations.

Aid

Benefits:

• infrastructure;
• health;
• disaster response.

Criticisms:

• dependency;
• donor interests;
• tied aid;
• corruption.

Debt

Debt servicing can reduce spending on:

• health;
• education;
• welfare.

Structural adjustment can require:

• privatisation;
• spending cuts.

Globalisation

TNCs

Potential benefits:

• jobs;
• investment;
• technology.

Potential problems:

• low wages;
• environmental damage;
• profit repatriation;
• tax avoidance.

World Trade

Free trade may create growth but unequal bargaining power can disadvantage poorer countries.

NGOs

Can provide:

• humanitarian aid;
• advocacy;
• development projects.

Criticism: unelected accountability and donor priorities.

Feminist Development Theory

Women may experience:

• unpaid labour;
• unequal land ownership;
• lower education;
• reproductive burdens.

Gender-focused development stresses:

• education;
• healthcare;
• property rights;
• political participation.

A/A* Theoretical Comparison

Eduqas Research Methods Quick Reference

Questionnaires

Best for:

• large-scale patterns;
• quantitative comparison.

Unstructured Interviews

Best for:

• meanings;
• sensitive experiences;
• validity.

Observation

Best for:

• natural interaction;
• hidden practices.

Official Statistics

Best for:

• trends;
• national comparisons.

Ethnography

Best for:

• deep group understanding.

Longitudinal

Best for:

• social change across time.

Eduqas Exam Technique

AO1

Accurate:

• concepts;
• theories;
• evidence;
• research methods.

AO2

Apply knowledge directly to:

• item;
• social issue;
• contemporary context.

AO3

Analyse/evaluate by:

• comparing theories;
• assessing evidence;
• identifying assumptions;
• reaching judgement.

Essay Paragraph Structure

Use:

Point
Name theory/sociologist.

Explain
Show mechanism.

Evidence
Use research/example.

Application
Link to exact question.

Evaluation
Counter-theory/evidence/method limitation.

Judgement
Explain how far the point succeeds.

Strong Conclusions

Do not simply summarise.

A strong conclusion answers:

• which explanation is strongest?
• under what conditions?
• which social groups?
• how do structure and agency interact?

Example form:

“Overall, material explanations are more convincing than purely cultural explanations because income, housing and working conditions directly constrain health choices. However, the effect of material inequality is mediated by gender, ethnicity and health behaviour, so a combined explanation is strongest.”

Common Lost Marks

• writing AQA option structures instead of Eduqas sections;
• failing to distinguish Section B and Section C Component 1 choices;
• forgetting Component 3 Section A is compulsory stratification;
• using "culture" to mean only ethnicity;
• calling norms values;
• treating gender as purely biological;
• generic theory description with no application;
• official statistics treated as objective truth;
• validity and reliability confused;
• claiming qualitative research is automatically valid;
• claiming quantitative research is automatically reliable;
• snowball sampling described as random;
• gatekeeper omitted in difficult-access research;
• social model of disability confused with medical model;
• crime statistics equated with actual crime;
• relative poverty confused with absolute poverty;
• social mobility confused with income growth;
• postmodernism described as simply "modern society";
• moral panic described only as public fear;
• conclusion with no judgement.

Whole-Course Summary Notes

Component 1

Culture is socially constructed and transmitted through socialisation. Identities are shaped by gender, class, ethnicity and nationality. Families/youth cultures plus education/media/religion develop these themes.

Component 2

Research-method choices involve trade-offs between validity, reliability, ethics, generalisability, representativeness, objectivity and practicality. Positivism, interpretivism and realism shape methodological preferences.

Component 3

Power and stratification are studied through class, gender, ethnicity and age. Income, wealth and mobility reveal persistent inequality. Crime, health, politics or world sociology then applies competing perspectives to social power.