In Year 1, students will study two main topics: Education with Research Methods; Families and Households.

Education

Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanation, for example:

• the role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure
• differential educational achievement of social groups by social class, gender and ethnicity in contemporary society
• the significance of educational policies ...

Research Methods

Students will explore, for example:

• quantitative and qualitative methods of research; research design
• sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics
• the relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social facts’.

Topics in Sociology

The study of these topics should engage students in theoretical debate while encouraging an active involvement with the research process.

The study should foster a critical awareness of contemporary social processes.

Families and Households

Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanations for:

• the relationship of the family to the social structure …
• changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course …
• gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society.
• demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900: birth rates, death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population, and migration and globalisation. 

In Year 2, students will study two more topics: Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods; The Media.

Students will be tested on both Year 1 and Year 2 material at the end of Year 2.

Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods

The study of the topics in this paper should engage students in theoretical debate while encouraging an active involvement with the research process.

Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanations of the following content:

• crime, deviance, social order and social control
• the social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime
• globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes.
• crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies.

Topics in Sociology

The study of these topics should engage students in theoretical debate while encouraging an active involvement with the research process.

The study should foster a critical awareness of contemporary social processes.

The Media

Students are expected to be familiar with sociological explanations of the following content:

• the new media and their significance for an understanding of the role of the media in contemporary society
• the relationship between ownership and control of the media
• the media, globalisation and popular culture
• the processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news
• media representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability
• the relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences.