Sociology is one of the four A Levels offered within the Social Science Department. It is a fascinating subject that aims to make sense of the world around us, this includes answering some key questions such as:,

Do individuals control society or are we simply puppets?

Why does conflict in society exits?

Why do people conform?

Sociology also aims to discover the truth behind different patterns and behaviours in society, for example:

Why do we have to go to school?

Why do women tend take on the caring roles in society?

Why do girls do better in school than boys?

Why do men commit more crime than women?

What makes humans human?

In answering these questions, Sociology makes use of number of different sociological perspectives such as Functionalism, Marxism and Postmodernism. Each of these have their own answers to the above questions and the task of sociology students is to evaluate each of these perspectives and decide which theory is the most valuable.When making these decisions we look at sociological evidence. This is information that sociologists have collected from undertaking social research such as observation, interviews or experiments, and these provide us with evidence to help us reach conclusions.

A good sociology student will be interested in the world around them and keen to question why society works in the way that it does. Choosing this subject will help you to develop your skills of evaluation and analysis and provide you with the necessary facts, evidence and opinion to reach informed conclusions about modern society.

Studying sociology at university can give you a whole host of exciting career options, including:

Social Work

Human Resources

Advertising

Policing

Marketing

Journalism

Law

Teaching

The department is led by Ms Crisford, Head of Social Sciences and teacher of sociology and politics, supported by Miss Graham, teacher of sociology and politics.

If you would like to find out more about the course please come and find us in the mobiles at upper school, attend one of the taster sessions on offer, access the specification online from AQA Specification

or speak to some of our students.