Sociology

Course summary

Year 12 - Work, Poverty, and Welfare: The definition and measurement of poverty. The causes of poverty. The impact of the Welfare State on poverty. What is work? - Education: Class, race, gender, and educational achievement. The functions of education. The hidden curriculum. The impact of educational reforms. - Sociological Methods: The main methods and sources used by sociologists and their relationship to theory, e.g. interviews, questionnaires, and observation. Year 13 - Global Development: Different theories of development, Globalisation, Role of transnational corporations, Development about industrialization, Urbanisation, The Environment, War and conflict, Education, Health, Gender and population change as aspects of development. - Crime and Deviance: The causes of crime. Perspectives on crime and deviance. Corporate and white collar crime. Crime statistics – how useful are they? - Theory and Methods: This involves re-examining the material covered earlier plus issues such as: - Values and objectives - The nature of social ‘facts’ - Is Sociology a Science? -‘Structural’ v ‘action’ approaches to Sociology - ‘Consensus’ v ‘conflict’ approaches to Sociology