Please note:
This seems to be a popular choice! This course is now full for 2026/27 and so you will not be able apply for it as one of your course choices.
However, you can join our waiting list for this course by emailing us at waitinglist@stbrn.ac.uk
In the meantime, please apply for an alternative course to go alongside your other choices. If a place becomes available, we will contact you and discuss whether you want to swap to this course back into your programme.
As course choices change and students shuffle around, it is very unusual for students to remain on waiting lists and not get onto all of their first choice courses by the beginning of term. We will keep you updated!
This course has most similarity with the study of History and Politics. It is appropriate for students who are interested in modern society and who enjoy conveying their ideas in writing. Sociologists produce theories to explain human behaviour (functionalism, Marxism, feminism, etc.) and students must be prepared to study these theories and the related research in detail.
There is a great deal of reading and essay based assessment; students must be able to interpret essay titles and produce coherent, fluent essays. It is essential that they develop analytical and evaluative skills in relation to both empirical and theoretical data.
Methods of Teaching and Learning
The course is taught by well qualified members of staff. Lectures, discussions, written assignments, videos, presentations and tests, are all part of the learning programme.
The course is taught by well qualified members of staff. Lectures, discussions, written assignments, videos, presentations and tests, are all part of the learning programme.
Methods of Assessment
The course will be examined in the following pattern:
PAPER 1:
Socialisation and Culture
- Cultural diversity and subcultures
- Socialisation and identity
Families & Households
- Family diversity in the UK
- Social change and how it has changed family structures
- Patterns and trends relating to families and households e.g. marriage, divorce and our ageing population
- Theoretical perspectives of families and households: Functionalist, Marxist, Feminist, Postmodernist, New Right
Education
- The role and function of education
- Patterns and trends of achievement; factors affecting achievement by class, ethnicity and gender
- Social policy and education
Theoretical perspectives of education
2 hour 30 written paper
(40% of total A-level)
PAPER 2
Methods of Sociological Enquiry
- Key concepts of research, such as validity, ethics, reliability, objectivity
- Primary and secondary research methods
- Methodological approached to research
- Sampling
- Ethical, practical and theoretical issues with research
1 hour 45 written paper
(20% of total A-level)
PAPER 3
Power and Stratification
- Inequality related to social class, gender, ethnicity and age
- Changing patterns of inequality including the distribution of income, wealth and social mobility
- Theories and explanations for inequality: functionalist, New Right, Marxist, neo-Marxist, Weberian, neo-Weberian, feminist, postmodernist and theories of racism
Crime and Deviance
- Patterns of crime and deviance
- Measuring crime; official government statistics including police statistics and the British Crime Survey, victim studies and self-report studies
- Definitions of crime and deviance as social constructs including the role of the media
Theories and explanations of crime and deviance: functionalist, Marxist, neo-Marxist, interactionist, right and left realism, postmodernist, feminist, sub-cultural
2 hour 30 written paper
(40% of total A-level)
The course will be examined in the following pattern:
|
PAPER 1: Socialisation and Culture
Families & Households
Education
Theoretical perspectives of education |
2 hour 30 written paper
(40% of total A-level) |
|
PAPER 2 Methods of Sociological Enquiry
|
1 hour 45 written paper
(20% of total A-level) |
|
PAPER 3 Power and Stratification
Crime and Deviance
Theories and explanations of crime and deviance: functionalist, Marxist, neo-Marxist, interactionist, right and left realism, postmodernist, feminist, sub-cultural |
2 hour 30 written paper
(40% of total A-level) |
Course Combinations
Sociology combines well with any other academic subject. It is not recommended to take it as a third A-level in conjunction with only practical subjects.
Sociology combines well with any other academic subject. It is not recommended to take it as a third A-level in conjunction with only practical subjects.
Resources
Support for student learning is provided by extensive Teams documents and video extracts. The Library provides access to the Internet and is well stocked with Sociology books and reference works.
Students will be advised which textbooks are most useful for their studies.
Support for student learning is provided by extensive Teams documents and video extracts. The Library provides access to the Internet and is well stocked with Sociology books and reference works.
Students will be advised which textbooks are most useful for their studies.
Progression
The full A-level in Sociology provides a sound basis for students who wish to proceed to higher education as well as being a useful background for careers in nursing, social work, health care, education, public relations, the media, personnel, police, law and the leisure industry. Sociology combines well with most other subjects.
The full A-level in Sociology provides a sound basis for students who wish to proceed to higher education as well as being a useful background for careers in nursing, social work, health care, education, public relations, the media, personnel, police, law and the leisure industry. Sociology combines well with most other subjects.
Where can this course lead?
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