Key term
AQA A-Level Sociology 7192
Education
Topic overviewThe role and functions of educationClass differences in educational achievementLabelling, subcultures and processes within schoolsGender and educational achievementEthnicity and educational achievementSelection and marketisationPrivatisation and vocational educationEducational policy, equality and globalisation
Methods in Context
Theory and Methods
Culture and IdentityOptional topic
Families and HouseholdsOptional topic
Topic overviewFunctionalist views of the familyMarxist and feminist views of the familyThe New Right, postmodernism and family policyMarriage, cohabitation and divorceFamily diversity and the personal life perspectiveConjugal roles and domestic labourPower relationships and domestic violenceThe social construction of childhoodBirth rates and death ratesFamily size and the ageing populationMigration and globalisation
HealthOptional topic
Work, Poverty and WelfareOptional topic
Beliefs in SocietyOptional topic
Topic overviewIdeology and science as belief systemsFunctionalist views of religionMarxist and feminist views of religionReligion as a force for social changeChurches, sects, denominations and cultsNew religious movements and New Age movementsReligion, gender, ethnicity, age and social classSecularisationBelieving without belonging and postmodern religionGlobalisation, fundamentalism and religion worldwide
Global DevelopmentOptional topic
The MediaOptional topic
Stratification and DifferentiationOptional topic
Crime and Deviance
Topic overviewFunctionalist, strain and control theories of crimeSubcultural theories of crimeInteractionism and labelling theoryMarxist and critical theories of crimeLeft and right realismGender and crimeSocial class, white-collar and corporate crimeEthnicity, policing and the criminal justice systemGlobalisation and crimeThe media, crime and fear of crimeMoral panics and the deviancy amplification spiralGreen crimeState crime and human rightsDenial, neutralisation and prosecuting state crimeSituational and environmental crime preventionRealist crime control, surveillance and the panopticonPunishment, sentencing and the criminal justice systemVictims and victimologyCrime prevention strategies and their limits
The Media
- 6 subtopics
- 11 things to know
- Paper 2
- Paper 2, two optional topics chosen from eight
What The Media covers
The Media is one of the optional topics on Paper 2. It covers the arrival of new media, who owns and controls the industry, how news is selected, how social groups are represented, and what all of that does to audiences.
Where it is assessed
Paper 2
One of the optional topics, of which a student answers two.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The new media and its significanceDigital, interactive and networked media, technological convergence, prosumers, and the optimistic and pessimistic readings.Open →
- Ownership, control and media globalisationConcentration of ownership, the instrumentalist, pluralist and hegemonic approaches, integration, and cultural imperialism.Open →
- The selection and presentation of the newsNews values, gatekeeping, agenda-setting, norm-setting, the hierarchy of credibility, moral panics and churnalism.Open →
- Media representations of social groupsHow age, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability are represented, and the male gaze.Open →
- Media effects and models of the audienceThe hypodermic syringe model and its critics, the two-step flow, uses and gratifications, and the cultural effects model.Open →
- Reception analysis and selective filteringDominant, negotiated and oppositional readings, selective exposure, perception and retention, and postmodern audiences.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Process
What is concentration of media ownership, and what concerns does it raise?
Process
How does vertical integration differ from horizontal, and what is media globalisation?
Process
How do postmodernists challenge cultural imperialism theory?
Process
How do dramatisation, immediacy and personalisation work as news values?
Process
What are norm-setting, agenda-setting and the hierarchy of credibility?
Key term
What is churnalism, and why is it problematic for journalism?
Process
How do media representations of gender often reinforce traditional stereotypes?
Key term
What does the uses and gratifications model argue about audiences?
Process
How does the cultural effects model differ from the hypodermic syringe model?
Key term
What is selective exposure?
Take The Media further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Vertical integration vs Horizontal integration
Vertical integration: owning different stages of production and distribution. Horizontal integration: owning several companies at the same stage of production or distribution.
Agenda-setting vs Norm-setting
Agenda-setting: influencing which issues people think about rather than what they conclude. Norm-setting: establishing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour by labelling some actions deviant.
Hypodermic syringe model vs Two-step flow model
Hypodermic syringe model: the view that media messages are injected directly into a passive audience. Two-step flow model: the view that media influence passes through opinion leaders to their social networks.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is new media?
Model answer
Digital, interactive, and networked forms of communication including the internet, social media, and mobile technologies, distinguished from traditional media by user-generated content, interactivity, and global reach.
- 2
What three features distinguish new media from traditional media?
Model answer
User-generated content, interactivity, and global reach.
- 3
What is technological convergence?
Model answer
The merging of previously separate media technologies into single devices, enabling consumption of multiple media forms through one platform.
- 4
How has new media transformed the role of audiences?
Model answer
Audiences have shifted from passive consumers to active prosumers who both produce and consume content.
- 5
What is a prosumer?
Model answer
Someone who both produces and consumes media content, rather than being a passive recipient.
- 6
What do optimistic views of new media emphasise?
Model answer
Democratisation of information, increased citizen journalism, and greater diversity of voices challenging traditional gatekeepers.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
The Media revision questions
- What does The Media cover in AQA A-Level Sociology?
- 6 subtopics: the new media and its significance, ownership, control and media globalisation, the selection and presentation of the news, media representations of social groups, media effects and models of the audience and reception analysis and selective filtering. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is The Media organised?
- By the AQA 7192 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in The Media, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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