Numbers
Eduqas A-Level Sociology A200QS
Culture and the Social Construction of Culture
Topic overviewCulture as a way of lifeNorms, values and beliefsRoles, status and role conflictDress, appearance and cultural identityLanguage and cultural transmissionFood, diet and cultural rulesMusic, the arts and high and popular cultureThe social construction of cultureFeral children and extreme isolationThe nature and nurture debateCulture and social changeCultural diversity, multiculturalism and hybriditySubcultures and countercultures
Socialisation and Its Agencies
Topic overviewPrimary socialisationSecondary socialisationRole models and imitationSanctions and the enforcement of normsThe family and cultural transmissionPeer groups and peer socialisationEducation as an agency of socialisationReligion as an agency of socialisationThe media as an agency of socialisationWork and occupational socialisationInformal social controlFormal social controlCultural reproduction and the limits of socialisation
Socialisation and Identity
Topic overviewPersonal identity and the selfSocial identity and collective belongingSociological theories of identityConsumption, globalisation and identityGender socialisation and gender identityChanging femininitiesChanging masculinitiesClass identity and the working classMiddle-class, upper-class and underclass identitiesThe decline of class identityEthnicity and ethnic identityHybrid identities and cultural changeNational identity and Britishness
Option: Families and HouseholdsFamilies
Topic overviewDefining families and householdsFamily forms and family diversityEthnic, religious and cultural diversity in family lifeMarriage, cohabitation and singlehoodDivorce and separationFertility, life expectancy and the ageing populationConjugal roles and the domestic division of labourPower, decision-making and domestic violenceChildhood and relationships between the generationsFunctionalist perspectives on the familyThe New Right and social policy on the familyMarxist and feminist perspectives on the familyPostmodernist perspectives, the life course and personal life
Option: Youth CulturesYouth cultures
Topic overviewYouth and the social construction of adolescenceThe media and the formation of youth cultureEconomic change, affluence and the youth marketGlobalisation and youth cultureSocial class and youth subculturesGender and youth cultureEthnicity and youth cultureNeo-tribes and the changing nature of youth cultureDelinquency, crime and youth offendingAnti-school subcultures and youth in educationMoral panics and media representations of youthFunctionalist and Marxist perspectives on youth cultureFeminist, interactionist and postmodernist perspectives on youth culture
Option: EducationEducation
Topic overviewThe role and function of education in societyFunctionalist perspectives on educationMarxist perspectives on educationInteractionist perspectives and labelling in educationFeminist perspectives on educationThe New Right and educationPostmodernist perspectives on educationPatterns and trends in attainment and participationMaterial factors and educational achievementCultural factors: deprivation, language and cultural capitalExplaining the gender and ethnicity gapsStreaming, setting and pupil subculturesEducation policy and marketisation
Option: MediaMedia
Topic overviewThe role and function of the media in societyOwnership and control of the mediaMarxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on the mediaPluralist perspectives on the mediaFeminist perspectives on the mediaPostmodernist perspectives on the mediaNews values, newsworthiness and agenda settingModels of media effects and the active audienceMoral panics and folk devilsNew media, globalisation and the digital divideRepresentations of social class and age in the mediaRepresentations of gender, ethnicity and disability in the mediaMedia regulation and social policy
Option: ReligionReligion
Topic overviewDefining religion and its role in societyFunctionalist perspectives on religionMarxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on religionFeminist perspectives on religionWeberian perspectives on religionPostmodernist perspectives on religionSecularisation: the evidence for declineSecularisation: the case againstChurches, denominations, sects and cultsNew religious movements and the new ageFundamentalism and religion in a globalising worldReligiosity by class, gender, ethnicity and ageReligion and social policy in contemporary society
Research Methods: Primary and Secondary
Topic overviewQuestionnaires: writing them and delivering themStructured interviewsUnstructured and semi-structured interviewsFocus groups and group interviewsParticipant observation, overt and covertNon-participant and structured observationSocial surveysEthnographic methodsLongitudinal studiesMethodological pluralism and triangulationExisting sociological research as secondary dataOfficial statisticsPersonal documents, public documents and newspaper reports
Sampling, Ethics and Practical Issues
Topic overviewTarget populations and sampling framesSimple random and systematic random samplingStratified random and quota samplingSnowball and volunteer samplingPurposive and opportunity samplesGatekeepers and gaining accessInformed consent and vulnerabilityDeception and covert researchConfidentiality, anonymity and privacyThe right to withdraw and protection from harmSensitivity and researching difficult subjectsOperationalisation and the choice of research topicTime, cost and the practical limits on research
Key Concepts and Theories of Research
Topic overviewValidity and what threatens itReliability, standardisation and replicationRepresentativeness and the sampleGeneralisabilityObjectivity, value freedom and biasEthics as a criterion for judging researchPositivism and the scientific study of societyInterpretivism and verstehenInteractionism, phenomenology and interpretivist research in practiceRealism and the search for underlying causesThe suicide debate as a test of the three positionsChoosing a method: theory, practicality and ethics
Social Inequality: Evidence and Patterns
Topic overviewSocial inequality and stratificationMeasuring social class in the contemporary UKClass inequality in income and wealthClass inequality in health and life expectancyClass inequality in education and employmentGender inequality in work and payGender inequality beyond the workplaceEthnic inequality in employment and incomeEthnic inequality in health, education and criminal justiceAge and inequalityThe changing distribution of income and wealthSocial mobility in the contemporary UK
Theories and Explanations of Inequality and Stratification
Topic overviewFunctionalist theories of stratificationCriticisms of functionalist stratification theoryThe New RightMarxist theories of classNeo-Marxist theoriesWeberian theories of stratificationNeo-Weberian theoriesFeminist explanations of inequalityExplaining gender inequality beyond feminismTheories of racism and ethnic inequalityExplaining age inequalityPostmodernist accounts of inequalityComparing and evaluating the theories
Option: Crime and DevianceCrime
Topic overviewDefining crime and deviance as social constructsThe media, moral panics and the social construction of crimeMeasuring crime: official government statisticsVictim studies and self-report studiesThe social distribution of crime by class and ageThe social distribution of crime by genderThe social distribution of crime by ethnicityFunctionalist explanations of crime and devianceSub-cultural explanations of crime and devianceMarxist and neo-Marxist explanations of crimeInteractionist explanations and labelling theoryRight realism, left realism and crime control policyFeminist and postmodernist explanations of crime
Option: Health and DisabilityHealth
Topic overviewDefining health and illness as social constructsThe medical and social models of disabilityOfficial statistics, patterns and trends in healthHealth and social classHealth and genderHealth and ethnicityHealth and ageArtefact and self-selection explanationsCultural and material explanationsAccess to and provision of health care in the UKThe biomedical model, medicalisation and health professionalsFunctionalist and Marxist approaches to healthInteractionist, feminist and postmodernist approaches to health
Option: PoliticsPolitics
Topic overviewPower, authority and legitimacyPluralist theories of powerElite theories of powerMarxist and neo-Marxist theories of powerFunctionalist, Weberian and postmodernist theories of powerPatterns and trends in political participationPolitical participation and social classVoting behaviour and partisan de-alignmentPolitical participation and genderPolitical participation, ethnicity and agePolitical parties and the democratic processPressure groups and policy makingNew social movements and anti-capitalist movements
Option: World SociologyWorld sociology
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentGlobal inequality in healthGlobal inequality in educationEmployment and the global division of labourGlobal poverty, marginalisation and exclusionPopulation, urbanisation and demographic changeAid and its criticsDebt, structural adjustment and development policyGlobalisation, transnational corporations and world tradeNon-governmental organisations and international institutionsModernisation theoryMarxist, dependency and world systems theoriesFeminist and people-centred accounts of development
Socialisation and Identity
- 13 subtopics
- 39 things to know
- Component 1 Section A
What Socialisation and Identity covers
Socialisation and Identity is examined in Component 1 Section A, Socialisation, Identity and Culture — compulsory. It covers personal identity and the self, social identity and collective belonging, sociological theories of identity, consumption, globalisation and identity, gender socialisation and gender identity, changing femininities, changing masculinities, class identity and the working class, middle-class, upper-class and underclass identities, the decline of class identity, ethnicity and ethnic identity, hybrid identities and cultural change and national identity and Britishness.
Where it is assessed
Component 1 Section A
Socialisation, Identity and Culture.
Check the Eduqas specification ↗The 13 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Personal identity and the selfPersonal identity, difference between personal and social identity and spoiled identity.Open →
- Social identity and collective belongingSocial identity, collective identity and in-group and an out-group.Open →
- Sociological theories of identityCooley's looking-glass self, Mead on the significant and generalised other, Goffman on presentation and stigma, Giddens on the reflexive project, and the postmodern account of identity as chosen.Open →
- Consumption, globalisation and identityConsumer identity and commodification of identity.Open →
- Gender socialisation and gender identitySex and gender and manipulation in Oakley's account of gender learning.Open →
- Changing femininitiesDual burden, beauty myth and ladette culture.Open →
- Changing masculinitiesSubordinated masculinity, marginalised masculinity and masculinity did Mac an Ghaill identify at school.Open →
- Class identity and the working classSocial class, class consciousness and traditional working-class identity.Open →
- Middle-class, upper-class and underclass identitiesMiddle-class identity, service class and upper-class identity.Open →
- The decline of class identityClass dealignment and difference between objective and subjective class.Open →
- Ethnicity and ethnic identityInstitutional racism and white ethnic identity.Open →
- Hybrid identities and cultural changeHybrid identity and cultural navigation.Open →
- National identity and BritishnessNational identity, difference between a nation and a state and difference between civic and ethnic nationalism.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Numbers
How has devolution affected national identity in Scotland and Wales?
Key term
What do sociologists mean by identity?
Key term
What is social identity?
Process
How do functionalists explain the formation of identity?
Key term
What is meant by consumer identity?
Key term
What is meant by femininity?
Key term
What is meant by masculinity?
Key term
What is social class?
Key term
What is meant by middle-class identity?
Key term
What is meant by class dealignment?
Key term
What is meant by ethnicity?
Key term
What is a hybrid identity?
Key term
What is personal identity?
Key term
What is a collective identity?
Evaluation
Give one criticism of the functionalist account of identity.
Numbers
What did Mike Featherstone argue about consumer culture?
Key term
Distinguish between sex and gender.
Key term
How have women's magazines changed?
Numbers
Why do sociologists speak of masculinities in the plural?
Key term
How did Marx define class?
Evaluation
How is middle-class advantage passed on?
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What did Pakulski and Waters argue?
Key term
How does ethnicity differ from race?
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What did Sunny Johal find about young British Asians?
Key term
What is national identity?
Key term
What is the difference between personal and social identity?
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What did Richard Jenkins argue about identity?
Key term
How do Marxists explain identity?
Key term
How do Marxists criticise consumer identity?
Numbers
Who established the sex and gender distinction in British sociology?
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What did Helen Wilkinson mean by genderquake?
Key term
What is subordinated masculinity?
Key term
How did Weber define class differently?
Key term
What is meant by the service class?
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Give one criticism of the death of class thesis.
Key term
Why do sociologists say race is socially constructed?
Key term
What is code-switching?
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What did Benedict Anderson mean by an imagined community?
Take Socialisation and Identity further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Hegemonic masculinity vs Marginalised masculinity
Hegemonic masculinity: the culturally idealised form of manhood. Marginalised masculinity: men denied the resources to reach that ideal.
Class consciousness vs False consciousness
Class consciousness: awareness of a shared position and shared interests. False consciousness: a set of beliefs that disguise exploitation.
Objective class vs Subjective class
Objective class: measured economic position. Subjective class: the position a person believes they occupy.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What do sociologists mean by identity?
Model answer
Identity is a person's sense of who they are and how others define them. Identity is formed in interaction rather than fixed at birth.
- 2
What is personal identity?
Model answer
Personal identity is what marks an individual out as unique, including their name, biography and personal qualities. Personal identity distinguishes one person from another.
- 3
What is the difference between personal and social identity?
Model answer
Personal identity marks a person as an individual. Social identity comes from membership of groups such as a class, a gender or a nation.
- 4
What did Charles Cooley mean by the looking-glass self?
Model answer
Cooley argued in 1902 that people build a self-image from how they believe others see them. The reactions of others work like a mirror.
- 5
What did George Herbert Mead mean by the I and the Me?
Model answer
Mead argued in 1934 that the I is the spontaneous acting self. The Me is the self as seen through the expectations of other people.
- 6
How did Erving Goffman describe the presentation of self?
Model answer
Goffman argued in 1959 that people manage the impressions others form of them. Identity is performed for a particular audience.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Socialisation and Identity revision questions
- What does Socialisation and Identity cover in Eduqas A-Level Sociology?
- 13 subtopics: personal identity and the self, social identity and collective belonging, sociological theories of identity, consumption, globalisation and identity, gender socialisation and gender identity, changing femininities, changing masculinities, class identity and the working class, middle-class, upper-class and underclass identities, the decline of class identity, ethnicity and ethnic identity, hybrid identities and cultural change and national identity and britishness. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Socialisation and Identity organised?
- By the Eduqas A200QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Socialisation and Identity, 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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