Key term
WJEC A-Level Sociology 601-5237-0
Culture and the Social Construction of Culture
Topic overviewCulture as a way of lifeNorms, values and beliefsRoles, status and role conflictAspects of culture: dress, language, food and musicHeritage and cultural tradition in WalesHigh culture, popular culture and global cultureNature, nurture and the social construction of cultureCultural diversity and sub-cultures
Socialisation and Its Agencies
Topic overviewPrimary and secondary socialisationRole models, imitation and sanctionsFamilies and primary cultural transmissionPeer groups as an agency of socialisationEducation as an agency of socialisationReligion as an agency of socialisationThe media as an agency of socialisationWork, resocialisation and total institutionsFormal and informal social control
Socialisation and Identity
Topic overviewPersonal and social identityTheories of identity: structural, interactionist and postmodernGender socialisation and gender identityMasculinity, femininity and change in gender identitiesSocial class and identityClass change, mobility and the underclassEthnicity and identityNationality, national identity and BritishnessWelsh identity and the Welsh language
Families and HouseholdsAcquiring Culture
Topic overviewDefining families and householdsFamily forms and family diversity in England and WalesEthnic, cultural and religious diversity in family lifeMarriage, cohabitation and singlehoodDivorce and separationFertility, birth rates and family sizeLife expectancy, ageing and the beanpole familyThe domestic division of labourPower, decision-making and domestic violenceChildhood and parent–child relationshipsFunctionalist and New Right theories of the familyMarxist and feminist theories of the familyPostmodernism, the life course and personal life
Youth CulturesAcquiring Culture
Topic overviewYouth and the social construction of adolescenceThe media and the formation of youth cultureEconomic change, consumption and the youth marketGlobalisation and youth cultureSocial class and youth subculturesGender and youth cultureEthnicity and youth cultureNational identity, Welshness and youth cultureNeo-tribes and the changing nature of youth cultureYouth deviance, delinquency and crimeAnti-school subcultures and the labelling of youthFunctionalist and Marxist theories of youth cultureFeminist, interactionist and postmodernist theories of youth culture
Research Methods: Primary and Secondary
Topic overviewQuestionnairesStructured interviewsUnstructured and semi-structured interviewsFocus groupsParticipant observationNon-participant and structured observationThe social surveyEthnographic methodsLongitudinal studiesExisting sociological research as secondary dataOfficial statistics and Welsh Government dataPersonal and public documents
Sampling, Ethics and Practical Issues
Topic overviewTarget populations, sampling frames and accessSimple random and systematic random samplingStratified random samplingQuota samplingSnowball and volunteer samplingPurposive and opportunity samplingInformed consent, deception and the right to withdrawAnonymity, confidentiality and privacySensitivity, vulnerability and protection from harmPractical constraints: operationalisation, time and cost
Key Concepts and Theories of Research
Topic overviewValidity in sociological researchReliability and replicationRepresentativeness and generalisabilityObjectivity, value freedom and biasEthics as a criterion for judging researchPositivism and the scientific study of societyInterpretivism and verstehenRealism and the critical realist approachChoosing an approach: theory and method in practice
EducationUnderstanding Society
Topic overviewThe role and function of education in societySocial class and differential attainmentGender and differential attainmentEthnicity and differential attainmentParticipation, choice and the marketisation of educationEducation policy in England and Wales since 1944Welsh-medium education and the Curriculum for WalesMaterial factors and educational attainmentCultural capital and cultural deprivationLabelling, streaming and pupil subculturesFunctionalist and New Right theories of educationMarxist theories of educationFeminist, interactionist and postmodernist theories of education
MediaUnderstanding Society
Topic overviewThe role and function of the media in contemporary societyModels of media effects: the hypodermic syringe and cultural effectsActive audiences: uses and gratifications and reception theoryMoral panics and folk devilsNew media, globalisation and the digital divideOwnership and control of the mediaMedia professionals, news values and agenda settingRepresentations of social class and ageRepresentations of genderRepresentations of ethnicity, nationality and disabilityMedia policy and regulation in Wales and EnglandPluralist and Marxist theories of the mediaFunctionalist, feminist and postmodernist theories of the media
ReligionUnderstanding Society
Topic overviewThe role and function of religion in contemporary societyReligion in Wales: chapel, nonconformity and the Welsh languageReligion as a conservative force and as a force for changePatterns of religious participation by social class and ageGender and religiosityEthnicity and religiosity in England and WalesChurches, denominations, sects and cultsNew religious movements and new age movementsFundamentalism and religion in a globalised worldSecularisation in England and WalesReligion and social policy in England and WalesFunctionalist, Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of religionWeberian, feminist and postmodernist theories of religion
Crime and DeviancePower and Control
Topic overviewDefining crime, deviance and social controlCrime and deviance as social constructsThe media, moral panics and the fear of crimeSocial class and crimeGender and feminist explanations of crimeEthnicity, policing and the criminal justice systemAge and crimePolice recorded crime and the dark figureVictim surveys and self-report studiesCrime, policing and social policy in WalesFunctionalist and subcultural theories of crimeMarxist and neo-Marxist theories of crimeInteractionism, labelling and postmodernist theories of crimeLeft realism, right realism and crime control policy
Health and DisabilityPower and Control
Topic overviewDefining health, illness and diseaseThe biomedical model and the social model of healthThe social construction of disabilityOfficial statistics and the measurement of healthSocial class and health inequalitiesGender and healthEthnicity and healthAge and healthArtefact, selection, cultural and material explanationsAccess to and provision of health care in England and WalesMedicalisation and the role of health professionalsHealth policy in England and WalesFunctionalist, Marxist and interactionist theories of healthFeminist and postmodernist views of health and disability
World SociologyPower and Control
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentGlobal inequalities in health and educationEmployment, poverty and the global division of labourPatterns of inequality in England and WalesPopulation, demographic change and developmentUrbanisation and marginalisationAid, debt and non-governmental organisationsGlobalisation and developmentTransnational corporations and world tradeModernisation theory and its criticsMarxist, dependency and world systems theoriesFeminist explanations of development
Applied Methods: Designing Sociological Research
Topic overviewChoosing a research topic and framing the aimHypotheses, operationalisation and indicatorsJustifying the chosen methodAnticipating problems with the chosen method and their impactSelecting and justifying a sampleAnticipating problems with the sample and their impactEthical issues in a research designPractical issues in a research designPresenting collected data
Social Inequality: Evidence and Patterns
Topic overviewMeasuring social class in BritainThe distribution of income and wealthWork and pay: occupational inequalityClass inequality: the evidenceGender inequality: the evidenceEthnic inequality: the evidenceAge inequality: the evidenceDisability and inequalityPower and political inequalityPoverty and social exclusionInequality in Wales: the evidence base
Theories and Explanations of Inequality and Stratification
Topic overviewSocial stratification: the core conceptsFunctionalist explanations of inequalityMarxist explanations of inequalityNeo-Marxist explanations of inequalityWeberian explanations of inequalityNeo-Weberian explanations of inequalityFeminist explanations of inequalityPostmodernist explanations of inequalityNew Right explanations of inequalityComparing and evaluating theories of stratification
Health and Disability
- 14 subtopics
- 42 things to know
- A2 Unit 3
- A2 Unit 3, one option of three
What Health and Disability covers
Health and Disability is examined in Unit 3, Power and Control — one of three options, studied instead of Crime and Deviance or World Sociology. It covers defining health, illness and disease, the biomedical model and the social model of health, the social construction of disability, official statistics and the measurement of health, social class and health inequalities, gender and health, ethnicity and health, age and health, artefact, selection, cultural and material explanations, access to and provision of health care in England and Wales, medicalisation and the role of health professionals, health policy in England and Wales, functionalist, Marxist and interactionist theories of health and feminist and postmodernist views of health and disability.
Where it is assessed
A2 Unit 3
Power and Control — one option of three, studied instead of the other two.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 14 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Defining health, illness and diseaseNegative definition of health, positive definition of health and sickness in medical sociology.Open →
- The biomedical model and the social model of healthBiomedical model of health, doctrine of specific aetiology and social model of health.Open →
- The social construction of disabilityMedical model of disability, social model of disability and three stereotypes of disabled people found in media representation.Open →
- Official statistics and the measurement of healthRecall questions on the standard mortality measures, what the census asks, why service use understates illness, the trouble with death certificates, and measuring mental illness.Open →
- Social class and health inequalitiesSocial gradient in health, central argument of the Marmot Review and proportionate universalism.Open →
- Gender and healthCentral paradox in the pattern of gender and health, medicalisation of women's bodies and gender bias in diagnosis.Open →
- Ethnicity and healthRecall questions on the patterns found in particular communities, material and cultural explanations, racism as a cause of ill health, psychiatric detention, and language barriers to care.Open →
- Age and healthCompression of morbidity, main health concerns for children in Wales and England and dependency ratio.Open →
- Artefact, selection, cultural and material explanationsArtefact explanation of health inequality, social selection explanation of health inequality and cultural or behavioural explanation of health inequality.Open →
- Access to and provision of health care in England and WalesRecall questions on the founding principles of the health service, how Wales diverges, rural and cross-border access, Welsh-language provision, the postcode lottery, and who gains most.Open →
- Medicalisation and the role of health professionalsProfessional dominance and feminist criticism of the medical profession.Open →
- Health policy in England and WalesFirst national health strategy for England, lifestyle drift in health policy and reasoning behind minimum unit pricing.Open →
- Functionalist, Marxist and interactionist theories of healthSick role and interactionist approach to health and illness.Open →
- Feminist and postmodernist views of health and disabilityCentral feminist claim about health and medicine, gender bias in medical research and surveillance medicine.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Explain why men and women show different patterns of recorded illness.
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What is a negative definition of health?
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What is the medical model of disability?
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Name three official sources of data on the health of the population.
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What did the Black Report conclude in 1980?
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What pattern of cardiovascular disease is found among South Asian groups in Britain?
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How does recorded illness change across the life course?
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Give one reason offered in support of the artefact explanation.
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Which politician led the creation of the National Health Service?
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What is medicalisation?
Numbers
What was the first national health strategy for England, and what did it target?
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Why did Parsons regard sickness as a form of deviance?
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What is the central feminist claim about health and medicine?
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What is a positive definition of health?
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Why is the McKeown thesis important to the social model?
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What is the social model of disability?
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Which national survey collects data on health in Wales?
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Why are the Whitehall findings so damaging to purely material explanations?
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What is the central paradox in the pattern of gender and health?
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What pattern of illness is found among Black Caribbean groups in Britain?
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What is multimorbidity?
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Why is the artefact explanation now largely rejected?
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What change to prescription charges did Wales make in 2007?
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Give three examples of experiences that have been medicalised.
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What did the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 introduce?
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What is the sick role?
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How did the rise of the medical profession affect women healers?
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Distinguish disease from illness.
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What did Illich mean by iatrogenesis?
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Distinguish impairment from disability in the social model.
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Why can death certificates be an unreliable source of data?
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Where was Tudor Hart working when he formulated the inverse care law?
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By roughly how much does female life expectancy exceed male life expectancy in the United Kingdom?
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What did the coronavirus pandemic reveal about ethnicity and health?
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Why does an ageing population increase demand on health services?
Evaluation
Give one criticism of the social selection explanation.
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Why is the divergence of health policy within Britain useful to sociologists?
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What did Zola argue about the social role of medicine?
Who and when
What did Wales do in 2020 about the price of alcohol?
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State the two rights of the sick role.
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How is the health workforce itself gendered?
Take Health and Disability further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Disease vs Illness
Disease: an objective abnormality a clinician can identify. Illness: the subjective feeling of being unwell, which may occur without the first.
Illness vs Sickness
Illness: what the person experiences. Sickness: the social status others grant once they accept the person is unwell.
Impairment vs Disability
Impairment: the condition of the body or mind. Disability: the disadvantage imposed by a society built without that condition in mind.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
How does the World Health Organization define health?
Model answer
It defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not simply the absence of disease.
- 2
What is a negative definition of health?
Model answer
A negative definition treats health as the absence of disease or symptoms, so a person is healthy when nothing is wrong with them.
- 3
What is a positive definition of health?
Model answer
A positive definition treats health as a capacity for well-being and full functioning, which a person can have more or less of.
- 4
Distinguish disease from illness.
Model answer
Disease is an identifiable biological abnormality that a clinician can diagnose, while illness is the subjective experience of feeling unwell.
- 5
What is meant by sickness in medical sociology?
Model answer
Sickness is the social status granted when other people accept that a person is unwell and release them from some ordinary obligations.
- 6
Why can a person be diseased without being ill?
Model answer
A condition such as early high blood pressure produces no symptoms, so it is detectable by a clinician while the person feels perfectly well.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Health and Disability revision questions
- What does Health and Disability cover in WJEC A-Level Sociology?
- 14 subtopics: defining health, illness and disease, the biomedical model and the social model of health, the social construction of disability, official statistics and the measurement of health, social class and health inequalities, gender and health, ethnicity and health, age and health, artefact, selection, cultural and material explanations, access to and provision of health care in england and wales, medicalisation and the role of health professionals, health policy in england and wales, functionalist, marxist and interactionist theories of health and feminist and postmodernist views of health and disability. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Health and Disability organised?
- By the WJEC 601-5237-0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Health and Disability, 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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