Sociology QLS Level 3

Course Content

Unit 1: Studying Sociology

• What is sociology?
• What is the relationship between sociology and the other social sciences?
• What are the positivist, interpretivist, modern and post-modernist perspectives?
• What do we use sociological knowledge for?
• What is the relationship between the individual and society?
• What are the biological, psychological and social elements of human behaviour?
• To what extent is human behaviour determined by social factors?
• How diverse are human behaviour and cultural variation?
• What is socialisation and how does the individual become a full adult social interactor?
• What are the agencies of socialisation and how do they function?
• What is conformity and non-conformity?
• How do social class, age, gender and ethnicity help construct social identity?
• What is the nature of social change?

Unit 2: Sociological Methods

• What are primary and secondary data?
• What are quantitative and qualitative data?
• What are the different forms of quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of these different methods?
• What are the stages of research design?
• What is the relationship between theory and methods; positivist and anti-positivist approaches?
• What are the theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing the choice of topic, choice of methods and conduct of research?
• What is the distinction between reliability and validity?
• What is the potential influence of researcher bias?

Unit 3: Social Stratification

• What is social class?
• What are the Marxist, Weberian, functionalist and post-modern approaches to social class?
• What is the relationship between economic power and political power, social class and life chance?
• What is the extent of social mobility in contemporary society?
• What is ascribed and achieved status in contemporary modern and traditional societies?
• What is poverty and what is the extent of poverty?
• What is sex and gender difference?
• What are the functionalist, Marxist and feminist perspectives on gender difference?
• What is gender socialisation, and what are the agents of this?
• What gender differences or inequalities exist in contemporary society?
• What is patriarchy?
• How has women’s role and status in society changed?
• What has been the impact of equal opportunities policies on women’s lives?
• What are race and ethnicity and what role do they play in the formation of identity?
• What is racism and what forms does it take?
• What are the patterns of racial inequality in society?
• What anti-racist policy and legislation has there been?
• What has been the impact of racial equality legislation in contemporary society?

Unit 4: Political Power and Inequality

• What are the various forms of power, control and authority?
• What are aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy and dictatorship?
• What different theories of power are there?
• What different interpretations of the role of the state in contemporary society are there?
• How are political decisions made, both in a democracy or in an authoritarian régime?
• How do the political processes work in the UK?
• What is the role of the political party?
• What is the role of a political pressure group?
• What are democratic elections?
• What factors influence voting behaviour in an election?
• What is freedom of speech and ideas?
• What is censorship?

Unit 5: The Family

• What are the different types of family?
• To what extent is the nuclear family a universal or common family structure?
• What is the economic status of the family?
• What are the functions of the family?
• How have the functions of the family changed?
• What changes have there been in the family and household structure and how have these been tied to industrialisation?
• What demographic changes which have impacted on the family have there been, why have these happened and what have been the consequences?

Unit 6: Education

• What is education and what roles do power and social control play in it?
• What are the links between education, the economy and social inequality?
• What is the relationship between education and the state?
• What is the relationship between education and social mobility?
• What is the relationship between educational achievement and intelligence?
• What inequalities are there in education, by factors such as gender, race, social class or culture?
• How is language important in education?
• What are pupil sub-cultures and what effect do they have?

Unit 7: Crime and Social Deviance

• What are crime and deviance?
• What role do the mass media have to play in societal attitudes to crime?
• What is the relationship between deviance, power and social control?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of official crime statistics?
• What explanations are there for the distribution of crime by age, social class, ethnicity, gender and region?
• What is white-collar crime?
• What are the biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime and deviance?
• What are the positivist and functionalist theories of crime?
• What is the interactionist approach to crime?

Unit 8: The Mass Media

• What are the mass media?
• What are the trends in the organisation and control of the mass media?
• What are the Marxist and Pluralist theories on the nature and role of the mass media?
• What is the relationship between the mass media and the state?
• What explanations are there for the process of selection and presentation of media content?
• What is the relationship between the media and ideology?
• What are the social trends of media consumption?
• What different theories are there about the effects and use of the media?
• What impact does the mass media have on behaviour?