AQA Sociology:Paper 1

• Functionalists focus on the positive functions of education
• Creating social solidarity:

  • School makes individuals feel like they are part of something bigger
  • Subjects like history and English give a shared sense of identity
  • School prepares individuals for cooperating with others in wider society
• Teaching specialist skills for work:

  • In an advanced industrial economy, a complex Division of Labour is required
  • School teaches diverse skills necessary for different professions
  • Vocational education provides specific skills for particular professions
• Teaching core values:

  • Education acts as the central socializing agency in modern society
  • School takes over from primary socialization to adapt children to societal norms
  • Children are judged by universalistic standards in school and wider society
• Role Allocation and meritocracy:

  • Education allocates individuals to suitable jobs based on talents
  • Examinations and qualifications ensure the most talented are allocated to important occupations
  • Meritocracy ensures equality of opportunity and fair chance for success
• Positive evaluations of the Functionalist view on education:

  • School performs positive functions for most pupils most of the time
  • Link between education and economic growth
  • Low exclusion and truancy rates
  • Schools foster solidarity and offer diverse vocational courses
• Criticisms of the Functionalist View of Education:

  • Education system not fully meritocratic
  • Functionalist view is ideological and reflects the views of the powerful
  • Modern education systems focus more on individual development
  • Ignores negative aspects of school like bullying and exclusion
• Contemporary Evidence to Evaluate Functionalism (2022 update):

  • Government plans to make 90% of pupils sit GCSEs from the Ebacc suite of subjects by 2025
  • Shift towards a more similar educational experience for students
  • Potential exclusion of poorer students from creative subjects
  • Requirement to teach British Values in schools emerged from the PREVENT agenda
  • Teaching British Values may not promote value consensus effectively
• The EU Referendum in 2015 split the UK population down the middle, with approximately half voting to stay in the EU and half voting to leave
• This was the only time the UK Population had the chance to vote directly on a specific social policy
• The split in the nation suggests there is no meaningful value consensus on how Britain should relate to the wider world
• Graduate Labour Market Statistics in 2021 show that 86.7% of graduates were employed compared to 67.2% of non-graduates
• Graduates were three times as likely to be in 'highly skilled' jobs compared to non-graduates
• Around 25% of graduates end up in lower skilled jobs, indicating the system isn't fully effective
• Apprenticeship data from 2021-22 shows approximately 750,000 people were doing apprenticeships, with main sectors being health and social care and business administration
• The majority of apprentices are under 25, suggesting apprenticeships work alongside traditional further and higher education institutions for role allocation
• A Level Sociology exam
• Sociologists use a range of quantitative and qualitative, primary and secondary social research methods to collect data about society
• Main types of research methods include:

  • Social surveys (questionnaires and structured interviews)
  • Experiments (Lab and Field)
  • Unstructured interviews
  • Participant Observation
  • Secondary qualitative data
  • Official Statistics
• Research Methods Top Ten Key Concepts:

  • Includes simple explanations of terms such as validity, reliability, representativeness, Positivism and Interpretivism
• An Introduction to Research Methods:

  • Basics of different types of research method
  • Factors influencing choice of research methods
  • Distinction between Positivism and Interpretivism
• Factors Effecting Choice of Research Topic in Sociology:

  • Theoretical, ethical, and practical factors affecting the choice of research methods
• Factors Effecting Choice of Research Method in Sociology:

  • Theoretical, practical and ethical factors
  • The nature of the topic affecting the choice of research method
• Positivism and Interpretivism:

  • Positivists prefer quantitative methods
  • Interpretivists prefer qualitative methods
• Stages of Social Research:

  • Research design, operationalising concepts, sampling, pilot studies, data collection and data analysis
• Primary Quantitative Research Methods:

  • Social Surveys:
  • Advantages and disadvantages
  • Preferred by positivists
  • Good for simple topics
  • Structured Interviews:
  • Different contexts and stages
  • Strengths, limitations, and criticisms
• Primary Qualitative Research Methods:

  • Favored by Interpretivists
  • Allow respondents to speak for themselves
  • Risk of researcher's subjective views interfering with results
  • Participant Observation:
  • Overt and Covert
  • Strengths and limitations of covert participant observation
  • Recent examples of sociological studies using participant observation
• Secondary Research Methods:

  • Official Statistics:
  • General strengths and limitations
  • Examples include crime statistics, school league tables, and education statistics
• Univariate Analysis in Quantitative Social Research involves looking at one variable at a time
• Strengths and limitations of bar charts, pie charts, and box plots are covered in this post
• Secondary Qualitative Data Analysis in Sociology includes private and public documents
• Public documents are written or visual documents produced with an audience in mind, such as government reports and newspapers
• Private documents refer to personal documents like diaries and letters not intended to be seen by their authors
• Content Analysis of the Media in Social Research covers formal content (quantitative) analysis and semiology
• Personal documents like diaries and letters are discussed in detail regarding their strengths and limitations as sources of data
• Autobiographies in social research are popular with the British public, but their usefulness as data sources for social researchers is questioned
• Sociology, Science, and Value Freedom is part of A2 Theory and Methods
• Methods in Context includes Research Methods Applied to Education
• Field Experiments applied to Education are discussed, focusing on whether Chinese Teaching Methods are the best
• Participant Observation in Education focuses on the work of Paul Willis and Mac An Ghail