AQA A-level Sociology
Fourth Edition
Authors: Steve Chapman, Martin Holborn, Stephen Moore and Dave Aiken
Tried and trusted support to help your students master the knowledge, evaluation and analysis skills to excel in their studies.
• In-depth coverage of every topic in the AQA AS and A-level Sociology specifications, approved by AQA
• Develop strong research skills with practical tasks
• Up-to-date case studies and questions help students with application, analysis and evaluation
• Plenty of practice questions to help assess progress
• Student books AQA approved
FOCUS ON RESEARCH: CHAVS, CHARVERS AND TOWNIES
Research
Focus on Research sections provide real-life sociological studies and questions for students to answer
Research by Mairtan Mac an Ghaill (1994) examined working-class students in a Midlands comprehensive. Because the school divided pupils into three sets, three distinct male,
imposed
and lacking in self-control. While the middle-class students saw themselves as investing in their educational future, they saw the working-class pupils who were chavs, charvers or townies as lacking in the desire to succeed and therefore likely to fail.
Questions 1. Examine the subcultures (if there are any) in your own school or college. What are the similarities and differences compared to the subcultures found in this research?
2. Evaluate whether the type of school used in the research (inner-city comprehensives) could explain the similarities and differences you discussed in answering question 1.
3. Identify the possible advantages and disadvantages of using interviews to study subcultures?
4. Suggest an alternative research method for this type of research and explain why it might be useful.
5. On the basis of this research, explain the view that it is not just teachers who can give pupils negative labels.
6. Applying this research, analyse how the labels attached to some working-class pupils might affect their educational progress.
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Key concepts defined clearly on each page
they can choose how they behave. However, sociologists tend to claim that, to some extent, social factors can explain behaviour. This suggests that people don’t have a free choice and that their behaviour is shaped by outside forces. Deterministic theories take this view to the extreme. They don’t acknowledge that individuals have any choice about how they behave instead arguing that circumstances shape what they do. For some, labelling is a deterministic theory which claims that people will always live up to a label imposed on them by other people. However, most labelling theorists recognise that sometimes individuals will refuse to
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How to be a Sociologist
An introduction to A-level Sociology
Authors: Dr Sarah Cant and Dr Jennifer Hardes
Equip your students with the skills to think like a sociologist with this short, up-to-date and accessible introduction to sociology at A-level and beyond.
• Give students a flavour of the key ideas they will encounter at A-level
• Spark your students’ sociological imagination with the latest thinking from expert authors
• Equip students with information about the career and higher education opportunities sociology can lead to
• Use throughout the A-level course or set as prior summer reading
• Beneficial aid at open evenings and sixth-form student recruitment assemblies
CONTENTS
Contemporary case studies highlight up-to-date research
GLOSSARY
Glossary explains and gives context to key terms
absolute poverty when a person’s household income is not enough to sustain a basic standard of living and meet essential human needs (food, shelter, clothing) agency the notion that individuals have the capacity to act freely, often contrasted with determinism and social structure alienation (Marx) a process in which someone becomes disconnected from their work and from other humans anomie an absence of shared norms or values (integration) and guidance (regulation) beliefs ideas about the world that people hold to be true, although they may not be based on evidence; beliefs lead us to take on certain values that are deemed socially important (see also values) Blackfeminism feminism that focuses on the way that women’s subordination is rooted in racism and classism as well as sexism; it calls for an intersectional understanding of inequality and a recognition that women’s experiences are not homogeneous bourgeoisie (Marx) the social class that owns the means of production and so is made up of more powerful members of society breachingexperiment (Garfinkel) an experiment that intentionally disrupts (breaches) social norms bureaucracy (Weber) a hierarchical organisation that operates according to rational sets of rules and procedures capital (Bourdieu) a set of skills and resources that take numerous forms; Bourdieu identifies five types of capital – cultural,
economic, physical, symbolic, and social – and it is the accumulation of different types of capital that constitutes someone’s social status cultural capital knowledge, lifestyle choices, values, leisure activities and education economic capital how much income and wealth someone has physical capital bodily dispositions and shape (including how attractive someone is deemed to be)
social capital a person’s social networks, relationships and who they know symbolic capital a person’s status and prestige capital (Marx) economic relations and wealth capitalism (Marx) a system defined by its economic relations of production, where goods and services are bought and sold for profit, and in which two distinct ‘classes’ emerge – those who own the goods and services (the bourgeoisie) and those who have to sell their labour to earn a living (the proletariat) causation the scientific belief that a variable (‘x’) directly impacts on, and changes, another variable (‘y’) cisnormativity the dominant social belief that a person’s gender corresponds with their biological sex at birth citizen a person who belongs to a community and has equal rights and duties under law class,social an individual’s economic position, and also their social status
This is an intellectually stimulating and compact introduction to sociology which explains difficult concepts in an engaging and accessible way.
Amazon reviewer
Get advice from Dr Sarah Cant on how to inspire your students to study sociology. Scan the QR code to watch this free webinar.
Mary Wollstonecraft
How to be a Social Researcher
Using Sociological Studies
Authors:
Dr Sarah Cant and Dr Jennifer Hardes Dvorak
Show students how to be a rigorous social researcher with this incisive and engaging guide to the most relevant, cutting edge and inclusive research methods.
• Examine each major sociological method in depth through classic and contemporary studies on crime, family life and education
• Can easily be used to supplement and enhance the current A-level specifications
• Provide valuable subject knowledge for non-specialist teachers of Sociology
• Help students add depth and nuance to their A-level studies, supplying them with the tools to succeed in their exams
An excellent book - highly recommended for anyone interested in social research. Amazon reviewer
Sociology Themes and Perspectives
Eighth Edition
Authors: Michael Haralambos and Martin Holborn
The 8th edition of the bestselling ‘Blue Bible’ of Sociology.
• Raise standards and engagement in sociology with in-depth coverage of every topic in an easy-to-follow and full colour format
• Develop understanding with informative, clear and concise explanations of all sociological concepts and theories
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