Sociology

Course summary

Sociology is a really grown-up subject. You will learn a lot about how the society you live in really works. The kind of questions we consider in Sociology are: Why are some people rich and some people poor? How does culture shape an individual? What is the purpose of education? Sociology is a subject which combines well with Psychology, Health and Social Care History, Geography, English, Maths, and Business Studies. Students who do best are interested in people, enjoy looking at newspapers and the news, ask questions, like reading, voice their opinions, keep an open mind and are not frightened of graphs, charts and tables. You will study: Education, topics include: - functions and types of school, class, gender and ethnic issues, differences in achievement and social policy. • The role of the media and family in society today. • Research methods topics include questionnaires, observation, interviews and data analysis. • Looking at the different perspectives in Sociology – Functionalism, Feminism, Marxism, Interactionism and Post Modernism. • Crime and Deviance topics include patterns of crime in the UK today. Different theories about the causes of crime, and issues relating to social class, gender and ethnicity.