Sociology

Sociology Curriculum Overview, 2019-2020
Why do we teach Sociology at Ark BDA?	Sociology is valuable as a subject which teaches students to be critical – critical of interactions and experiences, critical of their background and lives, and most importantly, critical of society. Studying the ‘science of society’ gives our students a language and theoretical framework to understand the injustices and inequalities that have affected their lives, and the lives of their families. Through unpicking stereotypes teachers may hold, prejudices about teenagers in the media and the inherently unequal structure of capitalist society, students come to understand both the complexity of our society, and the different layers of stratification within it. This means that whatever they go on to study or do later in life, they can be critical consumers of information, rather than passively accepting what they are told. This is a crucial skill, not just for academia, but also to be involved and responsible citizens. Finally, and most importantly, it helps students to understand that they can play a part in tackling the injustices and inequalities in our society. Students learn about contemporary issues and problems within all topics, such as the gender pay gap and the huge inequalities that exist in the education system. Through teaching these issues, our aim is to empower them and motivate them to make a positive difference in the world. Whether that is through standing up to discrimination on an individual or wider level, volunteering with disadvantaged people or one day working for a charity or becoming a teacher, students should feel motivated and empowered to make a positive impact and tackle the embedded inequalities and social problems that exist in our society.
How do we deliver our Christian values in Sociology?	Sociology teaches students to develop love and compassion by teaching the important values of respect and tolerance, through a close study of diversity, social norms and attitudes and discrimination. Students develop a strong awareness of injustice and become active agents in tackling inequality in its many guises, encouraging them have the courage to always act with integrity. Through receiving regular feedback lessons, students are also encouraged to develop resilience and commitment to their work. This is also embodied through the inclusion of and encouragement to read wider texts beyond the curriculum.
How do we build core skills and knowledge over time?	In Sociology, students return to a number of key concepts which are interwoven throughout the GCSE and A-level curriculum. These include: socialisation, norms, social control, social solidarity, sociological perspectives, globalisation, oppression, patriarchy, capitalism, social class and roles. These are recurring key concepts and themes in Sociology, so students return to them again and again to develop this key knowledge in different contexts, best preparing them to transfer this knowledge to new contexts. They develop the necessary skills through first developing a knowledge of the main theoretical perspectives in Sociology: functionalism, Marxism and feminism, and then applying these to the contexts of the topics we study: Families, Education, Crime, Social Stratification and Beliefs. The initial study of Sociological perspectives gives students a solid foundation in the ‘big ideas’ of Sociology. Students study Families and Education in Year 10, which are topics that students can relate to, and which contain less abstract thinking. Students study Social Stratification, the topic which contains the most abstract ideas and is therefore the most challenging, last, so that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to understand these concepts. At A-level, students gain a more detailed understanding of these abstract theoretical ideas through the study of Theory and Methods, which also encompasses key debates in the study of Sociology.
How does the study of Sociology prepare students for life beyond Ark BDA?	Students become critical consumers of society, so they are able to evaluate information effectively, and not take information at face value which is a crucial skill for life and future study. It also gives students the skills they need to craft a convincing and well-structured argument, which again is valuable both in future studies and in life. Students also come to understand the same issue can be analysed from a range of perspectives, which links to humanities and other Social Sciences. By comparing the functionalist, Marxist and feminist perspectives on Crime, Education, Stratification and Families, students develop crucial evaluative skills, and the ability to weigh up evidence and reach a balanced conclusion, which again prepares students well for humanities subjects. Through writing mini essays, they become well-versed in constructing convincing arguments, evaluating their own ideas and defending their overarching argument. This is a transferrable skill which prepares students well for success in English, humanities and social sciences too. In addition, the knowledge of concepts like social class also link to English and History, as these concepts run between different subject areas.
How do we implement this curriculum at BDA?	Our lessons are split equally between the different topics we study in each year group, with content sequenced from foundational to more abstract and advanced – for example, beginning with sociological perspectives, then families (which is a more familiar topic to our students which they already have a degree of background knowledge on) before progressing to social stratification at the end of Year 11, which is much more abstract. Our topics are grounded in key questions about the nature of society (what types of inequalities exist and why? For example), which are explicitly linked to current and relevant issues affecting our students. The structuring of topics reflects the demands of the specification, which is rooted in classic sociological studies as opposed to recent research, but this is complemented by the use of contemporary examples in lessons. Core knowledge is explicitly planned and clear in knowledge organisers and booklets, and homework focuses on learning key concepts and ideas. Regular retrieval is built into lessons to revisit and consolidate prior learning.

		Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Year 10	Topic	Introduction to Sociology The Sociology of Families Research Methods	The Sociology of Families Research Methods	The Sociology of Families The Sociology of Education	The Sociology of Education	The Sociology of Education	The Sociology of Education The Sociology of Crime Introduction to Y11 content – the Sociology of Crime
	Key question	What is Sociology? What skills does a sociologist need to carry out research? Why and how has family diversity increased? Socialisation, norms, social stigma, diversity, conflict, consensus	What functions does the family serve? What trends have there been in marriage and divorce and why? Sociological perspectives, oppression, capitalism, patriarchy, social class	How and why have family structures and relationships changed over time? Norms, roles, patriarchy, oppression	What is the purpose of education? How is education organised today, and is this organisation fair? Sociological perspectives, social solidarity, capitalism, oppression, social class	Do all social groups have the same experience in education? Why not? Interactionism, social class, patriarchy, inequality	What effects have the marketisation of education had on schools? Marketisation, social policy, inequality, globalisation
	Content	What is Sociology and key terms Functionalism Marxism Feminism Family diversity; the Rapoports Nuclear family and alternatives Research design Practical, ethical, theoretical sampling	Functionalist, Marxist, feminist views on the family Marriage and divorce Perspectives on divorce Surveys Questionnaires Interviews Observation Secondary sources Longitudinal studies	Changing family structures and relationships Conjugal roles Symmetrical family Contemporary issues Review of families Purposes and role of education (introduction)	Functionalist perspective Marxist perspective Alternative provision; organisation of current education system State vs private schools	Internal processes Education and social class Education and gender Education and ethnicity	Marketization and policy Families revision Education revision
	Assessment	Assessment: HW quizzes, 3,4, and 12-mark Qs in lessons	Formal assessment: Families section of Paper 1	Assessment: Families end of unit assessment	Assessment: HW quizzes, 3,4, and 12-mark Qs in lessons	Assessment: HW quizzes, 3,4, and 12-mark Qs in lessons	Formal Assessment: Full paper 1 (specimen set 1)
Year 11	Topic	The Sociology of Crime and Deviance	The Sociology of Crime and Deviance The Sociology of Social Stratification	The Sociology of Social Stratification	The Sociology of Social Stratification Revision	Revision
	Key question	Why do people commit crime? Norms, social control, sociological perspectives, social class	What explains trends the links between ethnicity, gender and crime? How is society stratified and why do these divisions exist? Inequality, patriarchy, social class, stratification	What are the different ways society is stratified and how does this affect life chances? Why does poverty exist? Social class, stratification, patriarchy, poverty, inequality	Is political power distributed equally? Why/ why not? Inequality, conflict, social class, poverty, democracy	NA
	Content	Crime, deviance, social control, social order Functionalist view and Merton’s strain theory Cohen’s subcultural theory Marxist perspective Becker’s labelling theory Crime statistics Class and crime	Ethnicity and crime Gender and crime The media and crime Contemporary issues relating to crime Defining stratification and systems of stratification Functionalist perspective Marxist vs Weberian views on class	Is social class important today? Ethnicity and life chances Gender and life chances Age and life chances Affluent worker studies Poverty and explanations for poverty	The welfare state Murray and the underclass Power and authority Political power	Families revision Education revision Research methods revision Crime revision Social stratification revision
	Assessment	Assessment: HW quizzes, 3,4, and 12-mark Qs in lessons	Formal assessment: Full Paper 1	Formal assessment: Paper 1 and Crime section of Paper 2	Formal assessment: Full Paper 2	Assessment: HW quizzes, 3,4, and 12-mark Qs in lessons
Year 12	Topic	Introduction to Sociology Families Education	Families Education	Families Education	Research methods	Review of Year 1 content
	Key question	What are the key sociological perspectives? What is the function of the family? What is the function of education? Sociological perspectives, norms, inequality, patriarchy, social class, social control, social solidarity	Why and how are families changing? Why do different social groups have different experiences of education? Diversity, norms, social stigma, patriarchy	What demographic trends have changed recently and why? How do these link to globalisation? How has marketisation, privatisation and globalisation affected education? Demography, globalisation, marketisation	How do sociologists carry out research in the context of education?	NA
	Content	Key words/ ideas Functionalism Marxism Feminism Interactionism Functionalist perspective New Right perspective Marxist perspective Feminist perspective Postmodern perspective Functionalist perspective Marxist perspectives New Right and vocationalism Internal processes –labelling, setting, streaming	Social policy and families Changing family patterns: divorce, same-sex marriage, marriage, child-bearing/ rearing Subcultures, pupil identities Social class and education Gender and education Ethnicity and education	Family diversity – globalisation and postmodernism Demography – birth/ death rates Demography – immigration/ emigration Childhood Marketisation Privatisation Globalisation	Choosing a method Research process Sampling Practical, ethical, theoretical Questionnaires Interviews Experiments Observations Ethnography Logitudinal Methods in context	NA	Introduction to Sociology of beliefs Importance of religion Perspectives on religion Gender, ethnicity, class and religion
	Assessment	Assessment: practice 10 and 30-mark essays; knowledge quizzes	Formal Assessment: Education section of Paper 1; Families section of Paper 2	Assessment: practice 10 and 30-mark essays; knowledge quizzes	Assessment: practice MiC and RM essays; knowledge quizzes	Assessment: practice 10 and 30-mark essays; knowledge quizzes	Formal Assessment: Whole Paper 1; Families section of Paper 2
Year 13	Topic	Beliefs in Society Theory and methods Sociological perspectives, social control, social solidarity, patriarchy	Beliefs in Society Theory and methods Globalisation, secularisation	Crime and deviance Social control, norms, sociological perspectives, capitalism	Crime and deviance Globalisation, social solidarity	Revision
	Key question	What is the purpose of religion? How well do different theoretical perspectives explain society?	How and why is religion changing? Should sociology be considered and treated as a scientific discipline or not?	Why do people commit crime? How can we explain why some social groups appear to have a higher involvement in criminality?	How has globalisation impacted crime? What is the role of punishment in our society?
	Content	Defining religion Functionalist perspective Marxist perspective Feminist perspective Interpretivist/ postmodernist perspective Religious organisations NAMs and NRMs Functionalism Marxism Feminism Interactionism Postmodernism Link between theory and methods	Sects and cults Class, gender, ethnicity and religion Secularisation Globalisation and religion Science, ideology and religion Sociology and values Sociology and social policy Sociology as a science Research methods revision	Functionalist perspective Marxist perspective Interactionist perspective Left and right realist perspective Crime statistics Crime and class Crime and gender	Crime and ethnicity Crime and globalisation Crime and the media Green/ state crime Punishment and victimology
	Assessment	Assessment: Practice 10 and 20 mark essays; knowledge quizzes	Assessment: Theory and Methods practice papers; Beliefs assessment	Assessment: Practice 10 and 30 mark essays; knowledge quizzes	Formal assessment: Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3	Assessment: Practice 10 and 30 mark essays; knowledge quizzes

Ark Burlington Danes Academy

Sociology