allsociology

With the Eduqas GCSE Sociology Paper 2 exam on Thursday, I’ve made a walkthrough video covering what students can expect from the paper and offering advice on how to answer different questions.

https://youtu.be/nmwzgvRxfgU

GCSE Sociology Exam Paper 2 walkthrough (Eduqas / WJEC): Grade a Grade 9 in Sociology! This video offers a walkthrough of the 2022 GCSE Sociology Paper 2 (Understanding Social Structures) for the WJEC / Eduqas specification. I hope it allows st...

My final video on the topic of Crime & Deviance looks at patterns of crime by social class, age, gender and ethnicity, and it’s out now!

https://youtu.be/VtomVCi3owg

GCSE Sociology Revision - Patterns of Crime: Class, Age, Gender, Ethnicity (Episode 21) Hello once again! Today’s episode is the last one on Crime & Deviance for GCSE Sociology and looks at patterns of crime in society. In particular, I consider...

How do different sociological theories explain crime and deviance?

https://youtu.be/kuCCa3bYX1M

My latest video covers the views of Functionalists, Marxists, Feminists, the New Right, Interactionists and Subcultural theories.

GCSE Sociology Revision - Theories of Crime (Episode 20) Hello everybody! Welcome to my 20th revision video for GCSE Sociology! Today’s episode is on sociological theories of crime and deviance and it’s a fairly lo...

How do we measure the amount of crime? Why can’t we trust the official statistics? What’s the difference between a victim study and a self-report study?

Answers to all these and more in my latest video: https://youtu.be/LILv3vnZlF4 ✌️

GCSE Sociology Revision - Measuring Crime (Episode 19) Hello!! I’m back again with another video on the sociology of Crime & Deviance! Today’s episode focuses on the different ways that we measure crime in societ...

GCSE Sociology (Eduqas) Paper 1 walkthrough - my latest video is out now! https://youtu.be/sOgAWaGX8NA

With the exam a week away, I cover off what students can expect from the paper and give some advice on how to answer different questions.

GCSE Sociology Exam Paper 1 walkthrough (Eduqas / WJEC): Get a grade 9 in Sociology! This video offers a walkthrough of the 2022 GCSE Sociology Paper 1 (Understanding Social Processes) for the WJEC / Eduqas specification. I hope it allows stu...

Revising crime and deviance? Need some help? In my latest revision video I cover some key terms you’ll need to know, with a focus on social control and the social construction of crime.

https://youtu.be/b9LXe8cZ0jg

GCSE Sociology Revision - Crime and Social Control (Episode 18) Hello everybody! Welcome to my first video on the topic of Crime & Deviance! This video acts as an introduction to some of the key concepts that you’ll need ...

My final video on strat-diff is out now!

https://youtu.be/NFgC1gLiFqs

In it I break down types of poverty, the causes and consequences of poverty, how it affects different groups and theoretical views of poverty.

GCSE Sociology Revision - Poverty and Deprivation (Episode 17) Hello again! I’m back and doing my final video on the topic of Stratification and Differentiation, and today it’s all about Poverty and Deprivation. In this ...

How does society differentiate people according to gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability and age?

That’s the topic of my latest video and it’s out now! https://youtu.be/ZvxYMhD6PKY

GCSE Sociology Revision - Gender, Sexuality, Ethnicity, Disability and Differentiation (Episode 16) Strap yourselves in folks – this one’s a long one! This episode on Social Stratification looks at gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age and disabilities as ways ...

Social class and differentiation: Is class still important? My new video covering all the key issues, theoretical views and an essay walkthrough is out now! https://youtu.be/IA4pf1ZKym4

GCSE Sociology Revision - Social Class and Differentiation: Is Class still important? (Episode 15) Here we go again! This latest episode on social stratification focuses purely on social class as a way of differentiating people. Class is a theme that you c...

Struggling to get your head around Weber and his views on stratification and authority?

My latest video might help… https://youtu.be/QLbycHxhEHs

GCSE Sociology Revision - Weber and Stratification (Episode 14) Hello again! This episode is all about Max Weber and his views on Stratification and Differentiation. Weber can be tricky to get your head around, so in this...

New GCSE Sociology revision video out now!
youtu.be/Z77VLQ4fjGU

This one’s on functionalist vs. Marxist views of stratification and includes all the key details, plus a 9 mark question walkthrough.

GCSE Sociology Revision - Functionalist and Marxist views on Stratification (Episode 13) This is the second video in my series on Stratification and Differentiation and is based around the theoretical views of functionalists, the New Right and Ma...

With exams fast approaching, I’m sticking out some new revision videos, starting with an Introduction to Stratification and Differentiation (aimed at GCSE Eduqas students).

Give it a watch: https://youtu.be/kqkvq7K5p3I

GCSE Sociology Revision - Intro to Stratification and Differentiation (Episode 12) Welcome back! In this episode I introduce the topic of Stratification and Differentiation, which is a big one and is covered in many Sociology courses. In th...

New video out now! https://youtu.be/Gh-KVcbYYWc

GCSE Sociology Paper 2 (Eduqas). Covering the topics in the Advance Info given by Eduqas on Stratification & Differentiation and Crime & Deviance.

GCSE Sociology Revision: Paper 2 (Eduqas) Advance Information - Stratification and Crime In this video I go over some key topics in GCSE Sociology Paper 2 - focusing on the areas of Stratification & Differentiation and Crime & Deviance the exam b...

The (brief) allsociology guide to Methods in Context. ⁣
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One for the A-Level sociologists. The Methods in Context (MiC) topic is about applying your knowledge of a particular research method to the study of a specific issue in education. ⁣
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The key to doing well in these questions is being specific. Rather than just writing about general strengths and weaknesses of the method, you’ll need to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the method in relation to the issue at hand. Issues might focus on things like bullying, attendance or streaming/setting. ⁣
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As a result, you need to consider who you’re researching, how you’ll gain access to them, where and when the research takes place and the impact all of this can have on both your research and the school(s) being studied. Often, there are also sensitivities around many of the issues, so it’s worth thinking about ethics of the research, as well as classic theoretical issues like reliability and validity. ⁣
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Be specific, base your paragraphs around practical, ethical and theoretical issues and consider the impact of the research and you won’t go far wrong✌️ ⁣
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Auguste Comte (1798 -1857)

Having preceded Weber, Durkheim and Marx, Comte is undoubtedly the OG of Sociology (apologies for leaving him out of my previous post, but thank you for the comments as they inspired this post!). In developing Sociology as the science of society, Comte was heavily influenced by the Age of Enlightenment and the growing rise of positivism.

Comte wanted Sociology to transform society in the way the natural sciences had brought about changes in technology, industry and healthcare. By using observation and rational thought, he felt it possible to verify cause and effect relationships, which would enable the development of social laws and ultimately, improvements to society.

Comte famously described Sociology as “the queen of the sciences”. By this he meant it was the most complex of scientific pursuits, as it required an existing understanding of other sciences in order to be used and applied to society. For Comte, Sociology was at the apex of scientific understanding, and his vision of a critical and empirical science of society paved the way for many other sociologists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Drop a comment below if there’s another sociologist you’d like me to post about! ✌️

It’s the start of a new year studying sociology for many of us, so what a great time to remind ourselves of the ‘founding fathers’ of sociology. ⁣
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Marx, Weber and Durkheim are widely considered the most important classical sociologists; not only for their personal contributions to the development of sociology but also for their influences on modern and contemporary sociological thought. ⁣
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Who’s your favourite of the 3 and why?⁣
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Hello everybody! If you study/teach Families & Households in sociology, you might be interested in my latest video...⁣ https://youtu.be/wOgalLH9aYM
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Families and Households: Wider watching / listening gives over 30 recommendations for things to watch or listen to, to boost your/your students’ understanding of the topic. It’s primarily aimed at AQA A-Level sociologists, but will also work for those studying other qualifications. ⁣
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Not only will it help you/your students better understand the topic without reading, it also acts as a summer playlist to keep you thinking over the summer. ⁣
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I hope you enjoy it - if you do, please like and subscribe. The link is in my bio✌️⁣
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A-Level Sociology (AQA) - Families & Households: Wider watching / listening In this video, Ben () and Leanne () talk through some wider watching and listening recommendations for students who study the Famil...

Causes and consequences of poverty.

Relative poverty is measured in a variety of ways, but is generally taken to mean someone living on below 60% of the income of the average person. In the UK this amounts to about £100 per week (after housing costs) for a single person.

The causes and consequences of poverty are far-reaching, and although
estimates of how widespread poverty is vary, the UK government puts it at around 20% of the population.

Amongst people renting their homes, this amounts to almost half of people renting social housing and 1/3 of all people renting privately.

Sources: jrf.org.uk and https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn07096/

Key Sociologists #21: Zygmunt Bauman

Bauman sees ‘liquid modernity’ (the latter parts of the 20th Century to today) as a time of constant change and fluidity in society, politics and economics. He contrasts it with the previous age - ‘solid modernity’ (roughly the 19th and first part of the 20th century), which was characterised by social structure, order and bureaucracy.

Like water, liquid modernity is free-flowing and difficult to predict, which means society becomes increasingly obsessed with risks. As old structures like the family, religion and the nation state fragment we are less able to determine our life courses and the things we consume increasingly construct our identities.

Above all, liquid modernity is characterised by 5 key features: 1) the decline of the nation state; 2) the rise of transnational corporations as new powers; 3) the impact of global communications networks, eg internet; 4) an increasing preoccupation with risk; 5) the role of mass migration - Bauman suggests “the population of every country is nowadays a collection of diasporas.”

Key sociologists #20: Louise Archer

In conducting her research on working class pupils and education, Archer draws on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, cultural capital and symbolic capital.

Noticing the disconnect between middle class school habitus and capital and that of working class pupils, Archer found working class pupils either needed to adapt their behaviours to gain acceptance from the school, or seek alternative ways to create symbolic capital and status.

Archer suggests working class pupils adopt ‘Nike Identities’ as a way to earn their own symbolic capital from their peers. Doubling down on this expression of identity leads to conflict with school dress codes, leading to stigmatisation and symbolic violence between working class pupils and middle class schools.

It’s been almost a year since I posted anything hand drawn, so it was about time I got the colouring pens out again!

Marx’s famous quote “Workers of the world, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!” was written in The Communist Manifesto in 1848.

The quote can be interpreted to mean several things: a) that workers should seek unionisation to protect against exploitation; b) workers should come together to destroy capitalism; and c) workers in different countries have more in common with each other than they do with their employers.

Key sociologists #19: Stan Cohen⁣⁣
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Cohen’s 1972 study into media reporting on youth subcultures, the Mods and Rockers is famous for bringing a variety of sociological concepts to our attention. ⁣⁣
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Cohen observed how violent clashes between the two groups were disproportionately reported on by newspapers, creating a ‘moral panic’: a public reaction to an event that creates an imbalance of fear for the well-being of society. ⁣⁣
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Cohen also used the term ‘deviancy amplification’ to describe how the media created an uneven sense of anxiety about the phenomena. Both the clashes (and those involved in them - the ‘folk devils’) were viewed as a greater threat to society than they actually were. ⁣⁣
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Cohen’s work has inspired development of the concepts ‘moral panic’, ‘folk devils’ and ‘deviancy amplification’, and is still cited in contemporary research projects on youth subcultures. ⁣⁣
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Key sociologists #18: Ben Hewitson 👀 ⁣
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Qualitative researcher and general loudmouth, Hewitson has been involved in sociology in one way or another for 20 years. ⁣
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After graduating with a BA in Sociology from the university of Birmingham, Ben worked as a qualitative researcher for 8 years, generating multiple government social research publications. With a key focus on family life and populations, Hewitson’s research laid the foundations for policy changes from paternity leave to adult social care funding. ⁣
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Despite still conducting research on a freelance basis, Hewitson now spends most of his time teaching Sociology and designing pretty pictures for allsociology. ⁣
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We’ve all seen Richard Osman’s house of games, right?! I love an answer-smash! Here’s my take on it as a starter activity for Y12 later this week...

I’m doubtful they’ll get all of them... maybe you will?! Answers later on