Paper 2 Guidance (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

What is examined in AQA A Level Sociology Paper 2?

• This paper focuses on topics in sociology, which is divided into two sections of optional topics

• The paper's duration is 2 hours

• Paper 2

  • is worth a total of 80 marks

  • represents 33.3% of the A Level

  • is made up of two sections, each worth 40 marks

• You must answer:

  • all three questions on one topic from Section A

  • all three questions on one topic from Section B

• The question paper contains the questions for all eight topics, so make sure that you know which topics you have studied and only answer the questions on those topics

Layout of Paper 2

• Every topic on Paper 2 is examined by the same three questions:

• The question numbers and Items for each topic are the same every year:

• Throughout the paper, you are expected to:

  • link your answers to the two core themes of the course, which are:

    • socialisation, culture and identity

    • social differentiation, power and stratification

  • focus on UK society today, making comparisons with other societies and referring to globalisation where relevant

  • use sociological concepts, theories, research findings and the names of sociologists, as all of these are credited by examiners

• Every question on Paper 2 is worth 10 marks or more, so all of your answers should be written in continuous prose

Section A: optional topics

• Section A consists of optional topics:

  • Culture and Identity

  • Families and Households

  • Health

  • Work, Poverty and Welfare

• The specification does not name particular studies, but you need to know the sociological explanations of all of the content listed for your topic

Key concepts and theories: Culture and Identity

• Different conceptions of culture, including subculture, mass culture, folk culture, high and low culture, popular culture and global culture

• The socialisation process and the role of the agencies of socialisation

• The self, identity and difference as both socially caused and socially constructed

• The relationship of identity to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality and social class in contemporary society

• The relationship of identity to production, consumption and globalisation

Key concepts and theories: Families and Households

• The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, with particular reference to the economy and to state policies

• Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course, including the sociology of personal life, and the diversity of contemporary family and household structures

• Gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society

• The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society

• Demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900: birth rates, death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population, and migration and globalisation

Key concepts and theories: Health

• The social construction of health, illness, disability and the body, and models of health and illness

• The unequal social distribution of health chances in the United Kingdom by social class, gender, ethnicity and region

• Inequalities in the provision of, and access to, health care in contemporary society

• The nature and social distribution of mental illness

• The role of medicine, the health professions and the globalised health industry

Key concepts and theories: Work, Poverty and Welfare

• The nature, existence and persistence of poverty in contemporary society

• The distribution of poverty, wealth and income between different social groups

• Responses and solutions to poverty by the state and by private, voluntary and informal welfare providers in contemporary society

• Organisation and control of the labour process, including the division of labour, the role of technology, skill and de-skilling

• The significance of work and worklessness for people's lives and life chances, including the effects of globalisation

Section B: optional topics

• Section B consists of optional topics:

  • Beliefs in Society

  • Global Development

  • The Media

  • Stratification and Differentiation

• The specification does not name particular studies, but you need to know the sociological explanations of all of the content listed for your topic

Key concepts and theories: Beliefs in Society

• Ideology, science and religion, including both Christian and non-Christian religious traditions

• The relationship between social change and social stability, and religious beliefs, practices and organisations

• Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice

• The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices

• The significance of religion and religiosity in the contemporary world, including the nature and extent of secularisation in a global context, and globalisation and the spread of religions

Key concepts and theories: Global Development

• Development, underdevelopment and global inequality

• Globalisation and its influence on the cultural, political and economic relationships between societies

• The role of transnational corporations, non-governmental organisations and international agencies in local and global strategies for development

• Development in relation to aid and trade, industrialisation, urbanisation, the environment, and war and conflict

• Employment, education, health, demographic change and gender as aspects of development

Key concepts and theories: The Media

• The new media and their significance for an understanding of the role of the media in contemporary society

• The relationship between ownership and control of the media

• The media, globalisation and popular culture

• The processes of selection and presentation of the content of the news

• Media representations of age, social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability

• The relationship between the media, their content and presentation, and audiences

Key concepts and theories: Stratification and Differentiation

• Stratification and differentiation by social class, gender, ethnicity and age

• Dimensions of inequality: class, status and power; differences in life-chances by social class, gender, ethnicity, age and disability

• The problems of defining and measuring social class; occupation, gender and social class

• Changes in structures of inequality, including globalisation and the transnational capitalist class, and the implications of these changes

• The nature, extent and significance of patterns of social mobility

How should I manage my time in Paper 2?

• You have 120 minutes to earn 80 marks

  • This works out at 1.5 minutes per mark

• Spend 60 minutes on each section and move on to Section B after an hour, even if you have more to say

  • Students who over-write in Section A often run out of time on the Section B essay

• Do not spend more than 15 minutes on any 10-mark question

  • There are no marks for evaluation in the 'Outline and explain' question, so time spent evaluating is time taken away from the essay

• Each 20-mark essay should take around 30 minutes, including a brief plan