Sociology - A level (Linear)

Applications Open: - Thursday 14th November

Entry Requirements: - Updated subject information and application guidance will 'go live' on our website on the evening of 14th November 2024: https://www.dgsb.co.uk/1106/dgsb-sixth-form-about-us

How to Apply: - We do not accept applications via KentChoices. Please visit https://www.dgsb.co.uk/1106/dgsb-sixth-form-about-us to find out how to apply

This course is a linear A Level 2 year course with all exams being taken at the end of year 13

Sociology can completely change the way you see the social world around you and your place in it. It forces us to question the assumptions we hold about the roles we adopt in society, the patterns of our own behaviour in everyday life as well as in the major life decisions we take (e.g. family, work decisions). It examines the reasons why our society is organised the way it is, asking 'Is our society basically just or basically unjust?', 'Why is power distributed in the way that it is?', 'What kinds of effects does the mass media have on us as individuals and as a society?', 'What shapes people's choices about their family lives, religion, educational and professional choices?'.

In asking these questions in sociology A-Level, you will look at the major theoretical perspectives that have shaped our thinking about the social world around us from those that defend and validate the social world we live in, such as functionalism, to those that offer a radical challenge to the world we live and its claim to be a just society such as Marxism and feminism.

In Year 12 you will look at the sociology of education (is our education system fair? Why is it the way it is today?), the sociology of families (how are families in contemporary society changing? What are the reasons for these changes?) and research methods (how do sociologists find out about the social world around them?). In Year 13 you will study the themes of 'Crime and Deviance' and either ‘Beliefs in society’ (largely about the role of religion in contemporary society) or the sociology of the media.