Sociology

whether it is more for the benefit of capitalism. This topic is an opportunity for students to take a familiar part of our lives that they might not have considered in much detail before and to see how different people and different sociologists might see what is happening from very different perspectives. Next year, students will take this understanding and apply what they know to the topic of education – we are looking forward to hearing their ideas in the debates and discussions we will be able to have!

Year 10 (2 year course) and Year 11 (3 year course) students have been further developing their written exam skills this term as we build towards the summer exams. We have been focusing on the ability to create a coherent and detailed essay that demonstrates their ability to make judgements about the relative importance of different sociological arguments. This has been done whilst studying the topics of crime and deviance, and stratification and differentiation. We have debated whether crime really can be necessary for society, as functionalists might suggest, or, whether this view hides the class and gender inequality that Marxists and feminists would argue underpins the causes of crime and the workings of the criminal justice system. In stratification and differentiation, students have considered topics such life chances and how they are influenced by social class, ethnicity, disability sexuality, religion, gender and age. The importance of understanding inequalities exist in society underpins this aspect of the course, and it is an opportunity for students to develop a deeper understanding of diversity and inequality in our society.

Key Stage 5

In Year 12, students study core topics across the year, such as education, culture and identity. The education topic is a critical look at education from the different sociological perspectives. Students this term have considered what different sociological perspectives suggest about the UK education system.