Key term
AQA AS-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 Welfare
- 5 subtopics
- 10 things to know
- Paper 2
- Paper 2, two optional topics chosen from eight
What Work, Poverty and Welfare covers
Work, Poverty and Welfare is one of the optional topics on Paper 2. It covers how poverty is defined and explained, who bears it, the welfare arrangements that respond to it, and how work itself is organised, controlled and increasingly globalised.
Where it is assessed
Paper 2
One of the optional topics, of which a student answers two.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 5 subtopics
Each one has its own page. AQA AS Sociology students sit this topic in the first year.
- Poverty: definitions, explanations and distributionAbsolute and relative poverty, the culture of poverty and underclass theses, social exclusion, and how poverty, wealth and income are distributed.Open →
- The welfare state and welfare provisionUniversal and means-tested provision, the New Right, social democratic, Marxist and feminist views, and welfare pluralism.Open →
- The division of labour and the control of workDurkheim on solidarity, Marx on alienation, Taylorism, Fordism and post-Fordism, and the deskilling debate.Open →
- Work, worklessness and life chancesWhat work provides beyond income, Jahoda's latent functions, the effects of unemployment, and precarious work.Open →
- Globalisation and the global division of labourDeindustrialisation, transnational corporations, the global division of labour, and the effect on wages and migration.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Who and when
How do Marxists and functionalists explain the existence of poverty?
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How do wealth and income differ, and which groups are most vulnerable to poverty?
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What do social democrats argue about welfare, and what forms does provision take?
Process
How does the division of labour alienate workers, and how did Durkheim describe it?
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How does post-Fordism differ from Fordism?
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How can technology be used for surveillance and control in the workplace?
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Besides income, what does work provide in terms of time structure?
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What is the gig economy?
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How has globalisation shaped migration patterns?
Take Work, Poverty and Welfare further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Absolute poverty vs Relative poverty
Absolute poverty: lack of resources required for basic physical survival. Relative poverty: lack of resources needed for the customary living standard of a society.
Wealth vs Income
Wealth: ownership of assets such as property, shares and savings. Income: the flow of money received from wages, benefits or investments.
Universal welfare provision vs Means-tested welfare provision
Universal welfare provision: benefits and services offered to all citizens regardless of income. Means-tested welfare provision: benefits targeted only at those who demonstrate financial need.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is absolute poverty?
Model answer
A condition where individuals lack the minimum resources necessary for basic physical survival, such as food, shelter, and clothing.
- 2
What is relative poverty?
Model answer
A condition where individuals lack the resources to participate in the standard of living considered normal in their society.
- 3
What is the key distinction between absolute and relative poverty?
Model answer
Absolute poverty is based on fixed subsistence needs, while relative poverty is based on comparison to prevailing social standards in a particular society.
- 4
How do functionalists explain the existence of poverty in society?
Model answer
Functionalists argue that poverty serves functions for society, such as ensuring low-paid work is done and reinforcing the work ethic.
- 5
How do Marxists explain poverty?
Model answer
Marxists argue that poverty is an inevitable consequence of capitalism, serving to discipline the workforce and maintain a reserve army of labour.
- 6
What is the culture of poverty thesis and who is it associated with?
Model answer
Associated with Oscar Lewis, it suggests poverty persists because the poor develop a distinct subculture with values that perpetuate their disadvantage across generations.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Work, Poverty and Welfare revision questions
- Is Work, Poverty and Welfare examined at AS in AQA Sociology?
- Yes. It sits in Paper 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Work, Poverty and Welfare cover in AQA AS-Level Sociology?
- 5 subtopics: poverty: definitions, explanations and distribution, the welfare state and welfare provision, the division of labour and the control of work, work, worklessness and life chances and globalisation and the global division of labour. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Work, Poverty and Welfare organised?
- By the AQA 7192 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Work, Poverty and Welfare, 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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