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GCSE SOCIOLOGY REVISION TABLES

STUDYING SOCIETYTOPICS KEY IDEAS/STUDIES/PERSPECTIVES TERM DEFINITIONS

What is Sociology? Sociology involves studying human social life, groups and societies in a systematic way. Sociologists investigate and explain the social world and our behaviour in it.

Studying Sociology helps us understand how society is organised, and to make sense of our own experiences in it.

SocietySociologists define society as the people who interact in such a way as to share a common culture. The cultural bond may be ethnic or racial, based on gender, or due to shared beliefs, values, and activities.

What is the sociological approach? When addressing questions to do with society, sociologists use terms and concepts to help them analyse social processes.

TermsSpecialised vocabulary

ConceptsKey ideas

Social processesThe means by which culture and social organization change or are preserved.

How is Sociology different to other disciplines such as Psychology and journalism?


What key terms are used in Sociology?

What do sociologists mean by socialisation?

How do sociologists go about their research?

How do sociologists select samples?


How do sociologists collect and analyse data and evaluate their research?

What are social surveys?

What are the pros and cons of postal questionnaires?

What are the uses, advantages and limitations of unstructured interviews?

What are the uses, advantages and limitations of group interviews?


What are longitudinal studies?

How is participant observation used in sociological research?

What are the strengths and limitations of participant observation?

How is non-participant observation used in sociological research?

What sources of quantitative secondary data are available to sociologists?

What are the advantages and limitations of official statistics?

What sources of qualitative secondary data are available to sociologists?


What sorts of ethical issues arise during the research process?

What are the links between Sociology, social policies and social problems?

FAMILYTOPICS KEY IDEAS/STUDIES/PERSPECTIVES TERM DEFINITIONS

What is family?

What different types of households and families are there in Britain today?

How might an individual’s family and household settings change over the


course of their life?

How do functionalist approaches view families and family life?

How do New Right approaches view families and family life?

How do critical approaches view families and family life?

What were gender roles and relationships between adult partners


like in the past?

What is the symmetrical family and why it has emerged?

Is the symmetrical family reality or a myth?

How is power distributed between partners in relationships?

How have relationships between parents and their children changed over time?

How have people’s relationships with members of their wider family


changed over time?

What are the current trends in families and households?

What are the current trends in lone-parent families?

What other changes are taking place in families and households?

What are the links between families, household’s ethnicity and social classes?

How have changing patterns of fertility affected families and households?

What are the changing patterns of life expectancy and infant mortality?

How has the age structure of the population changed and what are the


consequences of this? How do older people experience retirement?

What are the changing patterns of marriage?

What are the changing patterns of divorce?

What are the consequences of divorce?

What is the difference between arranged and family forced marriages?

What sort of family-related issues are currently causing concern?

EDUCATION


TOPICS KEY IDEAS/STUDIES/PERSPECTIVES TERM DEFINITIONS

What are the economic and selective roles of education?

What are the socialisation, social control and political roles of education?

What is learned through formal and informal education?

What changes took place in Britain’s education system up to 1965?

What is comprehensive system?


How is the education system organised in contemporary Britain?

Should education be provided by the state or by the independent sector?

What are vocational education and alternative forms of provision?

What have been the effects of marketing the National Curriculum and testing?

How have freedom and choice increased?


What are school league tables?

How has educational policy developed since 1997?

How can social class affect achievement?

How can material factors affect achievements?

How can parental attitudes affect achievement?

How might the school affect achievement?

What is the influence of streaming, subcultures and school organisations?


Why has achievement for females improved?

How can we explain differences in subject choice between males and females? Why is the performance of female students improving faster than that of male students?

What are the patterns for ethnicity and achievement?

Are social class and cultural factors influential?

What is the role of the school in ethnicity and achievement?

How might discrimination and a lack of black teachers important?


CRIME AND DEVIANCETOPICS KEY IDEAS/STUDIES/PERSPECTIVES TERM DEFINITIONS

What is meant by crime and deviance?

What is an act seen as deviant?

What is the difference between formal and informal rules?

What are social order and social control?


What is the difference between formal and informal social control?

What non-sociological explanations are there for criminal and deviant behaviour?

How do sociologists explain criminal and deviant behaviour?

What other sociological explanations of criminal and deviant behaviour are there?


How does labelling theory explain criminal and deviant behaviour?

What are the main sources of statistical data on the extent of crime?

How far do official statistics on recorded crime measure the extent of crime?

What is meant by the social construction of official crime statistics?

What is the relationship between involvement in crime and age?

What is the relationship between crime and gender?

How do we explain women’s


increasing involvement in crime?

What is the relationship between involvement in crime and ethnicity?

How do we explain the patterns in statistics on crime and ethnicity?

What is the significance of criminal behaviour for victims of crime?

What is the significance for communities and society? Why is youth crime seen as a social problem?

What are the links between racism and crime?


MASS MEDIATOPICS KEY IDEAS/STUDIES/PERSPECTIVES TERM DEFINITIONS

What are the mass media?

What are the broadcast and electronic media?

What technological developments have affected the mass media over the last 30 years?

How widespread is newspaper readership?


How much TV do audiences watch?

What use do people make of the internet?

What are the effects of the mass media on their audiences?

What are the effects of the media according to the decoding approach?

What is the role of the mass media in the socialisation process?


What is the mass media’s role in political socialisation?

What are the patterns of ownership within the press?

What is the pluralist approach to press ownership and content?

What is the conflict approach to press ownership and content?

How are new stories selected and presented?

What other factors affect how news is selected and presented?


How are black people represented in the media?

How is gender represented in the media?

Does the internet influence the distribution of power in society?

What is the role of the mass media in the process of deviancy amplification? What contemporary social issues are related to mass media?

POWERTOPICS KEY IDEAS/STUDIES/PERSPECTIVES TERM DEFINITIONS


What is power?

What is a democracy?

What is a state?

What is the role of the general elections in the political process?

What opportunities do people have to participate in the political process?


What are the social influences on general election turnout?

How do social class, gender and age influence voting behaviour?

What are the patterns between ethnicity, religion, region and voting behaviour?

How far are MPs’ social backgrounds typical of the UK population?

What are pressure groups?


What tactics and practices are used by pressure groups?

What is the role and significance of pressure groups?

What is the nature and extent of political engagement?

What opportunities are there to participating in volunteering?

What barriers are there to participation in the political process?

How do we measure participation in the political process?

What is the welfare state?


What are the different political positions in debates about the welfare state?Hom much have governments attempted to tackle social problems such as poverty? Ho have governments attempted to tackle unemployment?

How have governments attempted to tackle discrimination, including issues arising from an ageing population?

How do power relationships operate in everyday situations such as between parents and children?Hom might power relationships operate in classrooms and schools?

How do power relationships operate between the public and the police and between employees and employers

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