AQA A Level Sociology Book One Including AS Level: Book one

Product Information

Banyard, K. (2010) The equality illusion : The truth about men and women today. London: Faber and Faber.

the relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices The resources have been designed for A-level sociology and cover the core themes on the AQA’s specification but are suitable for new 16-19 students studying any specification. crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies

Qualifications

The methods chapter is OK – gets a bit thin towards the secondary data material at the end. What’s nice about this chapter is that the book has clear methods in context boxes throughout the methods chapter which link to education research (some of which has even been done this decade!) The book is divided up into 10 sections, which each section exploring around seven sociological concepts, providing a ‘working definition’, a section on the origins of the concept, meanings and interpretations, critical comments, and a final section on the continued relevance of the concepts. The book follows the new 7191 specification more closely than all of the others – It uses the kind of ‘structure’ examiners are expecting to see in the exam, so it’s definitely a safe option – for example, the methods section is clearly broken up into Theoretical, Practical and Ethical Factors and there are solid sections on Methods in Context. It also has the most significant updates on the new areas in the specification – such as some reasonable material on globalization and migration, the ageing population, privatization and education, and the sociology of personal life, although the later section seems to have borrowed heavily from from edition 8 of Haralambos This is a handy little supplementary text for students studying mainly degree level sociology. It covers most of the classic and contemporary sociological concepts from ‘society’ to ‘globalisation, and from ‘patriarchy’ to ‘intersectionality’. Sudhir Venkatesh (2008) Gang leader for a day: A rouge sociologist crosses the line. London: Penguin books.

Upon successfully completing this home learning course, you will receive the qualification: AQA A-level Sociology, issued by AQA. Your certificate is identical to that issued to students at any other school, college or university. This course carries UCAS points. This means that it can be used to gain direct access to University courses and other Higher Education, through the UCAS system.

Integral elements

the social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime Ask “How” and “Why” questions when revising and try to connect ideas (this method is called “elaboration”) The chapter on education is less well updated than the rest, but it is still good enough to get you through the specification.

All in all I like this book the best, it’s less of a relic than Robb Webb’s book. Good Text Books for Specific Areas within Sociology Evaluate from other PERSPECTIVES – What would other perspectives say about the theory / concept? Is there a counter-argument?Ken Brown’s excellent text book is a nice balance of depth and breadth. The chapters are clearly broken down by specification area, and covers the new areas of the specification well – it is the only text book to specifically deal with the issue of Selection in education for example. Evalaute – POWER/ BIAS/ VALUE FREEDOM? Who developed the concept/ theory – whose interests does it serve? For example, “x” theor is ethnocentric because….