Sociology

To explain the importance of culture and socialisation.

To explain & analyse how culture & socialisation influences human behaviour.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the role socialisation plays in determining status & roles.

To explain the 3 structural theories and to what extent we are controlled by society.

To explain the role post modernity plays in arguing against structural theory.

To explain the importance of families for the individual and society.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the impact domestic violence has on women & families.

To explain and analyse why women are more likely to undertake domestic tasks.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the impact of paid work on men & women.

To analyse how far the roles within relationships have changed over time.

To explain & analyse how the role of money management and decision making is different between men and women.

To evaluate the different sociological views on couples’ roles and relationships.

To explain & analyse why sociologists see childhood as a social construct.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the reasons for the emergence of the modern notion of childhood.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different views on the position of children today.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different views of the future of childhood.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the functionalist, Marxist, Feminist, postmodernist perspective of the family.

To explain and analyse the similarities & differences between these theories.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main population trends in the UK since 1900.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the reasons for population changes, including birth and death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population & migration & globalisation.

To evaluate the consequences of these changes on the family & society.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different types of partnerships e.g marriage, civil partnerships.

To explain & evaluate the main changes in partnerships & family types, e.g the extended family.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main changes in birth rates/ fertility rates.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the reasons for greater family diversity in society.

To evaluate the explanations in changes to families & households.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different sociological views on family diversity e.g The New Right.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the difference between modernist & postmodernist approaches to family diversity.

To explain, analyse & evaluate sociological explanations of family diversity.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the ways social policy can impact the family.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different sociological perspectives on families & social policy.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different sociological definitions of religion.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different sociological explanations of the role & functions of religion and how religion contributes to social mobility.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different theories of religion.

To explain, analyse & evaluate a range of religions and the role in social change.

To explain, analyse & evaluate sociological explanations of the role of religion in prompting social change.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different sociological explanations of the relationship between religion, social stability & social change.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main trends in patterns of religious belief and practise in the UK & USA.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the possible causes of secularisation.

To explain, analyse & evaluate arguments & evidence for the view that secularisation is occurring.

To explain, analyse & evaluate why some sociologists reject the idea of secularisation.

To explain, analyse & evaluate alternative interpretations of the nature and position of religion today.

To explain, analyse & evaluate debates about the nature & extent of secularisation.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different ways religion interacts with its global context.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the role of religion in economic development in a globalising world.

To explain, analyse & evaluate explanations of the nature of religious fundamentalism.

To explain, analyse & evaluate explanations of the role of religion in international conflict.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main types of religious organisation and their characteristics.

To explain, analyse & evaluate explanations of different types of religious/spiritual organisation and movements.

To explain, analyse & evaluate explanations of the reasons for the growth & development of different religious/spiritual organisations & movements.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main patterns of participation by class, ethnicity, gender & ages.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the difference between open & closed belief systems

To explain, analyse & evaluate different views of science as a belief system.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different views of the nature of ideology.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the pattern of class differences in educational achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the differences between external & internal factors affecting achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the role of external factors, including cultural deprivation, material deprivation & cultural capital.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the impact of social class in education achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the role of internal factors, including labelling, the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming, pupil identities & subcultures.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the importance of internal & external factors in causing social class differences in educational achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the patterns of ethnic differences in educational achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the role of different external factors, including cultural deprivation, material deprivation & racism in wider society.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the role of different internal factors, including labelling, pupil subcultures, the curriculum, institutional racism, and selection & segregation.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the explanations for these differences.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the explanations for gender differences in subject choice.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the effect of school experiences in shaping gender identities.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the functions of education that functionalists identify.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the neoliberal & new right views of the role of the market in education.To explain, analyse & evaluate the different Marxist views of the role of education, particularly the reproduction and legitimation of class inequality.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the functionalist, neoliberal and New Right and Marxist views of education.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main features of important educational policies, including the tripartite system, comphrensivisation, globalisation, and policies relating to gender & ethnicity.

To explain, analyse & evaluate sociological perspectives to educational policies.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the impact of educational policies on inequality of achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main features of important educational policies, including the tripartite system, comphrensivisation, globalisation, and policies relating to gender & ethnicity.

To explain, analyse & evaluate sociological perspectives to educational policies.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the impact of educational policies on inequality of achievement.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main types of data are and what research methods sociologist use.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the practical, ethical and use theoretical factors influencing choice of method & topic, and be able to assess their relative importance.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the difference between positivists and interpretivist approaches to research.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main characteristics of education as a context for sociological research.

To explain, analyse & evaluate some of the problems and opportunities that researching educational issues presents for sociologists.

To explain, analyse & evaluate some of the research strategies sociologist use to investigate education.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the similarities & differences of different types of experiments.

To apply the use of experiments to the study of education.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths and limitations of questionnaires.

To apply the use of questionnaires to the study of education.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the differences between structured & unstructured interviews.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the use of interviews to the study of education.

To apply the use of interviews to the study of education.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different types of observational methods.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main stages in conducting a participant observation study.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths and limitations of overt & covert participation observation.

To apply the use of observational methods to the study of education.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different types of secondary data that sociologists use.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths & limitations of official statistics and documents.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the functionalist perspective on crime, including the functions of crime.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the concept of strain and its role in explaining deviance.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the differences between different strain & subculture theories.

To explain, analyse & evaluate functionalist, strain & subcultural theories of crime & deviance.

To explain, analyse & evaluate why interactionists regard crime & deviance, and official statistics on crime, suicide, and mental illness, as socially constructed.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the labelling process and its consequences for those who are labelled.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths and limitations of labelling theory in explaining crime & deviance.

To explain, analyse & evaluate why Marxists see crime as inevitable in Capitalist society.

To explain, analyse, evaluate Marxist & Neo-Marxist approaches to crime and deviance, and the similarities & differences between them.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths & limitations of Marxist and neo-Marxist approaches to crime.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the nature & extent of white collar & corporate crime, and be able to evaluate sociological explanations of it.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the difference between realist and other approaches to crime.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main features of right & left realist approaches to crime and understand their political context.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main gender differences in recorded patterns of offending.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the debates about the treatment of men and women in the criminal justice system.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the relationship between women & crime/men & crime.

To explain, analyse & evaluate patterns of ethnicity and criminalisation as shown by different sources of data.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the relationship between the criminal justice process & ethnicity.

To explain, analyse & evaluate sociological explanations of the relationship between ethnicity, offending and criminalisation.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different views about the media as a cause of crime & fear of crime.

To explain, analyse & evaluate views of the media’s role in the creation of moral panics.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the relationship between the new information media and crime & social control.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the ways in which globalisation and crime are related.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different types of green crime and the sociological explanations of it.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the relationship between state crimes & human rights, as well explanations of these crimes.

To explain, analyse & evaluate a range of crime prevention and control strategies.

To explain, analyse & evaluate different perspectives on punishment & surveillance.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the patterns of victimisation and the sociological explanations of victimisation.

To explain, analyse & evaluate quantitative & qualitative methods of research.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the positivist & interpretivist views of whether sociology can be a science.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the different types of feminist views.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the types of structural & action theories.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the differences & similarities between structural and action theories.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths & weaknesses of the modern & postmodern approaches.

To explain, analyse & evaluate sociological perspectives on the relationship between sociology and social policy.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the meaning of objectivity, subjectivity & value freedom.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the strengths & limitations of different views as to whether sociology can and should be value free.

To explain, analyse & evaluate the main features of the Functionalist view of the social system.

To explain, analyse & evaluate Marx’s main ideas & concepts.