The AS-Level Sociology AQA course is structured into two main sections: “Education with Methods in Context” and “Research Methods and Topics in Sociology.” Here’s a summary of the key content for each section:
3.1 Education with Methods in Context
3.1.1 Education:
Role and functions of the education system in relation to the economy and class structure.
Differential educational achievement based on social class, gender, and ethnicity.
Relationships and processes within schools, including teacher/pupil relationships and hidden curriculum.
Significance of educational policies, such as selection, marketisation, and globalisation.
3.1.2 Methods in Context:
Application of sociological research methods to the study of education.
3.2 Research Methods and Topics in Sociology
3.2.1 Research Methods:
Quantitative and qualitative research methods, research design.
Sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, experiments, documents, and statistics.
Distinction between primary and secondary data, quantitative and qualitative data.
Relationship between positivism, interpretivism, and sociological methods; nature of ‘social facts.’
Theoretical, practical, and ethical considerations influencing research choices.
3.2.2 Topics in Sociology:
3.2.2.1 Culture and Identity:
Conceptions of culture, socialisation process, role of agencies of socialisation.
The self, identity, and difference as socially caused and socially constructed.
Relationship of identity to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality, and social class.
Relationship of identity to production, consumption, and globalisation.
3.2.2.2 Families and Households:
Relationship of the family to social structure and change.
Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, and childbearing.
Gender roles, domestic labour, and power relationships within the family.
Nature of childhood, changes in the status of children, demographic trends.
3.2.2.3 Health:
Social construction of health, illness, disability, and the body.
Unequal social distribution of health chances by social class, gender, ethnicity, and region.
Inequalities in the provision of health care.
Nature and social distribution of mental illness.
Role of medicine, health professions, and the globalised health industry.
3.2.2.4 Work, Poverty, and Welfare:
Nature and persistence of poverty.
Distribution of poverty, wealth, and income among social groups.
Responses and solutions to poverty by the state and private providers.
Organization and control of the labour process, including the division of labour and effects of globalization.
The course encourages theoretical debate, active involvement in the research process, critical awareness of social processes and change, and the application of learned skills. Students are urged to draw connections between topics and use examples from small-scale research and personal experiences.