National Year 13 Sociology
Chapters: 6
1. 4.3.2 Theory and methods
4.3.2 Sociological theory · 4.3.2 Sociology as science and values · 4.3.2 Sociology and social policy
- Introducing Western Sociologists: Marx, Durkheim and Weber – Sociology was born in Europe out of three big changes: the Enlightenment (trust in reason), the French Revolution (ideas of freedom and equality) and the Industrial Revolution (factories, cities, wage work). Karl Marx said society is shaped by how people produce goods, and history moves through conflict between classes, such as capitalists and workers. Emile Durkheim said society is held together by solidarity: mechanical in simple societies where people are alike, and organic in modern societies where people do different jobs and depend on one another. Max Weber said sociology must understand the meaning people give to their actions (interpretive sociology), used ideal types as measuring tools, and described bureaucracy as the rule-bound modern way of organising.
- Sociological Theory: Paradigms, Science, Values and Social Policy – A paradigm is a set of ideas used to look at society. Consensus theory (functionalism) sees society as a stable system held by shared values; conflict theories (Marxism, feminism) see groups with unequal power; interactionism studies meanings in everyday action. Positivists copy the natural sciences and use numbers; interpretivists seek meanings with qualitative methods. Sociologists debate whether sociology is a science and whether it can be value-free, and research can shape social policy.
2. 4.3.1 Crime and deviance
4.3.1 Crime, order and control · 4.3.1 Social distribution of crime · 4.3.1 Globalisation, media and new crimes · 4.3.1 Control and punishment
- Deviance and Social Control – Deviance is behaviour that breaks the norms a group expects. Social norms come from custom; legal norms are laws, and breaking them is crime or delinquency. Deviance is relative: it changes between groups and over time. Societies keep order through informal and formal social control, using positive and negative sanctions. Theories explain deviance through strain, learning in groups, weak social bonds and labelling, which can lead to stigma and a deviant career. Official crime figures miss a large 'dark figure' of unreported crime.
3. 4.2.5 Topic option 2 (choose one): Beliefs in society
4.2.5 Beliefs in society
- Beliefs in Society: Religion, Science and Ideology – Sociologists study beliefs as part of society. They compare religion, science and ideology as belief systems; ask whether religion keeps society stable (functionalists, Marxists, feminists) or drives change (Weber, liberation theology); sort religious organisations into churches, denominations, sects, cults and New Age movements; look at how gender, age, ethnicity and class shape belief; and debate secularisation, the spiritual revolution and the effects of globalisation.
4. 4.2.6 Topic option 2 (choose one): Global development
4.2.6 Global development
- Global Development: Why Some Countries Are Richer – Global development asks why some societies are rich and others poor, and how this can change. Sociologists measure development (GNI per person, HDI), explain inequality with theories (modernisation, dependency, world systems, neoliberalism, people-centred development), and study globalisation and its actors: transnational corporations, NGOs and international agencies. They also look at aid, trade and debt, urbanisation, the environment, war and conflict, and the roles of education, health and gender equality.
5. 4.2.7 Topic option 2 (choose one): The media
4.2.7 The media
- Mass Media – Mass media are channels that carry the same message from one sender to a very large audience: print (newspapers, magazines), broadcast (radio, TV, film) and digital (websites, social media, music videos, video games). They inform, educate, entertain and persuade. Owners, editors and algorithms act as gatekeepers that choose which news we see. New media is digital, interactive and two-way, so audiences can reply and create. Sociologists debate how strongly media affect audiences, from direct 'injection' to active audiences who choose and interpret.
6. 4.2.8 Topic option 2 (choose one): Stratification and differentiation
4.2.8 Stratification and differentiation
- Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion – Social inequality means some groups get more money, respect and links than others, not because of talent but because of the group they are born into. Social exclusion means people are kept out of the full life of society. This lesson walks through caste and untouchability, tribes and Adivasi struggles, Other Backward Classes, women's fight for equality and the rights of people with disabilities, and what the state and people's movements did about each.