The whole course, paper by paper

Education

• 3.1.1
  The role of education: functionalism, the New Right and Marxism

  • Compare consensus and conflict accounts of the purposes of schooling.
  • Explain how schooling can allocate roles, reproduce advantage or influence opportunity.
  • Evaluate an explanation using a counterexample and limits of its evidence.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Class reproduction: evidence and the item

  • Compare consensus and conflict accounts of the purposes of schooling.
  • Explain how schooling can allocate roles, reproduce advantage or influence opportunity.
  • Evaluate an explanation using a counterexample and limits of its evidence.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Class, gender and ethnicity: outside school

  • Explain how material and cultural resources may produce class differences in attainment.
  • Compare explanations of gender and ethnic differences without assuming homogeneous groups.
  • Use interacting internal and external factors to interpret a new attainment pattern.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Reading attainment gaps

  • Explain how material and cultural resources may produce class differences in attainment.
  • Compare explanations of gender and ethnic differences without assuming homogeneous groups.
  • Use interacting internal and external factors to interpret a new attainment pattern.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Labelling, subcultures and the hidden curriculum

  • Explain how teacher expectations, labelling and pupil responses can alter school experience.
  • Analyse subcultures, pupil identities, the hidden curriculum and school organisation.
  • Compare interactionist explanations with structural accounts and evaluate research design.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Classroom studies and their limits

  • Explain how teacher expectations, labelling and pupil responses can alter school experience.
  • Analyse subcultures, pupil identities, the hidden curriculum and school organisation.
  • Compare interactionist explanations with structural accounts and evaluate research design.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Education policy: selection, markets and equality

  • Explain selection, marketisation, privatisation and policies aimed at equal opportunity.
  • Trace how a policy may affect access, school choice and differentiated outcomes.
  • Evaluate policy and global influences using competing effects and contemporary UK context.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.1
  Privatisation, globalisation and weighing policy

  • Explain selection, marketisation, privatisation and policies aimed at equal opportunity.
  • Trace how a policy may affect access, school choice and differentiated outcomes.
  • Evaluate policy and global influences using competing effects and contemporary UK context.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  LessonPractice

Methods in Context

• 3.1.2
  Questionnaires in schools

  • Apply a survey or questionnaire to a specified education aim, access route, sampling frame and respondent group.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  • Design a social survey; diagnose question wording, response categories, non-response and sampling effects.
  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.2
  Interviewing pupils, teachers and parents

  • Apply interview design to pupils, teachers or parents; link power, language, trust and rapport to the data obtained.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  • Compare structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews; explain rapport, interviewer effects and data comparability.
  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.2
  Observing classrooms

  • Apply observation to an education setting; link gatekeepers, timetables, consent, identity and reactivity to research quality.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  • Compare participant/non-participant and overt/covert observation; explain access, reactivity, recording and ethical trade-offs.
  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.2
  Experiments and comparisons in schools

  • Apply experimental or comparative design to schooling; connect control and feasibility to ethical and validity consequences.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  • Compare laboratory, field and naturally occurring comparisons; explain control, causality, realism and consent in social research.
  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.2
  School documents

  • Apply document analysis to education records, messages or personal accounts; explain provenance and the research aim.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  • Evaluate documents, personal accounts and content analysis for provenance, meaning, coding and selective survival.
  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  LessonPractice
• 3.1.2
  Official education statistics

  • Apply secondary statistics to an education investigation; evaluate definitions, coverage, comparability and what is not recorded.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  • Evaluate official statistics for definitions, administrative purposes, coverage, comparability and changes over time.
  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  LessonPractice

Culture and IdentityGroup 1

• 3.2.1
  Types of culture

  • Distinguish subcultures, mass, folk, high, low, popular and global culture.
  • Apply competing meanings of culture to an unfamiliar practice.
  • Evaluate how cultural classifications can reflect status and power.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.1
  Socialisation and its agencies

  • Explain primary and secondary socialisation and the roles of different agencies.
  • Analyse how norms and values are transmitted, negotiated and resisted.
  • Compare structural and action accounts of socialisation.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.1
  Self, identity and difference

  • Explain the social construction of self, identity and difference.
  • Distinguish imposed labels from negotiated and self-defined identities.
  • Evaluate the balance between structural constraint and agency.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.1
  Identity: age, disability, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality and class

  • Analyse how class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, age and disability intersect in identities.
  • Apply the distinction between imposed labels and self-defined identities.
  • Challenge deterministic accounts using variation within and between groups.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.1
  Identity, production, consumption and globalisation

  • Explain links between production, consumption, globalisation and identity.
  • Compare consumer choice with constraints imposed by resources and power.
  • Evaluate whether global culture produces convergence, hybrid identities or resistance.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Families and HouseholdsGroup 1

• 3.2.2
  Families, the economy and social policy

  • Compare theories linking family arrangements to the economy, social structure and the state.
  • Explain how social change can alter family functions and relationships.
  • Evaluate whether a claimed function benefits society or particular groups.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.2
  Marriage, divorce, childbearing and family diversity

  • Distinguish household structure, family relationships and life-course transitions.
  • Explain changes in marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce and childbearing. Include personal-life explanations and relationships beyond a household type.
  • Evaluate competing accounts of diversity, choice and constraint.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.2
  Gender roles, domestic labour and power

  • Explain divisions of domestic labour, care and paid work in households.
  • Analyse decision-making, resource control and power within relationships.
  • Evaluate claims about equality using suitable evidence and research limitations.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.2
  Childhood

  • Explain childhood as a changing social category.
  • Compare explanations of children's status, rights and relationships.
  • Evaluate variation by class, gender, culture and historical period.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.2
  Demography since 1900

  • Interpret long-run UK changes in births, deaths, family size and life expectancy.
  • Explain consequences of ageing, migration and global processes for households.
  • Evaluate demographic explanations while separating trend evidence from causal claims.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

HealthGroup 1

• 3.2.3
  Health, illness and the body as social constructs

  • Compare medical and social accounts of health, illness, disability and the body.
  • Explain how definitions and experiences of illness can vary socially.
  • Evaluate the consequences of classifying a condition as medical or social.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.3
  Health inequalities: class, gender, ethnicity and region

  • Interpret class, gender, ethnic and regional inequalities in UK health chances.
  • Compare material, cultural and structural explanations of health patterns.
  • Evaluate evidence while accounting for confounding and within-group variation.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.3
  Inequalities in access to healthcare

  • Analyse unequal access to and provision of healthcare in contemporary society.
  • Explain how resources, location and institutional practices can shape treatment.
  • Evaluate policy and provision using both access and outcome evidence.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.3
  Mental illness

  • Explain the social definition and distribution of mental illness.
  • Compare labelling, structural and other sociological accounts of diagnosis.
  • Evaluate evidence without treating diagnostic differences as simple differences in underlying illness.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.3
  Medicine, the professions and the global health industry

  • Analyse professional power, medicalisation and the organisation of medicine.
  • Analyse professional power and the globalised health industry alongside practitioner, patient and institutional interests.
  • Evaluate challenges to professional authority and the limitations of medical knowledge.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Work, Poverty and WelfareGroup 1

• 3.2.4
  Poverty: existence, nature and persistence

  • Compare definitions and explanations of the existence and persistence of poverty.
  • Distinguish absolute, relative and other poverty measures and their assumptions.
  • Evaluate individual, cultural and structural explanations against evidence.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.4
  The distribution of poverty, wealth and income

  • Distinguish income, wealth and poverty distributions.
  • Interpret unequal resources across social groups and over time.
  • Evaluate measurement and distributional evidence rather than treating an average as a full account.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.4
  Responses to poverty: state, private, voluntary and informal welfare

  • Compare state, private, voluntary and informal welfare responses.
  • Explain how eligibility, reach and resources affect poverty and security.
  • Evaluate welfare responses using effects, assumptions and unintended consequences.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.4
  Organising work: division of labour, technology and skill

  • Explain the division, organisation and control of the labour process.
  • Analyse technology, changing skills and deskilling in work.
  • Compare accounts of autonomy, managerial control and exploitation.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.4
  Work, worklessness, life chances and globalisation

  • Explain links between work, worklessness and life chances.
  • Analyse how globalisation changes employment opportunities and insecurity.
  • Evaluate differentiated effects by class, gender, ethnicity and other social positions.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Beliefs in SocietyGroup 2

• 3.2.5
  Ideology, science and religion

  • Compare ideology, science and religion, including Christian and non-Christian traditions.
  • Compare claims about knowledge, authority and truth.
  • Evaluate how belief systems can sustain or challenge relations of power.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.5
  Religion, social stability and social change

  • Explain how beliefs and organisations can support social order.
  • Analyse ways religious ideas and movements may contribute to social change.
  • Evaluate the conditions under which a belief system is conservative or transformative.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.5
  Religious organisations and New Age movements

  • Distinguish churches, denominations, sects, cults and new spiritual movements.
  • Explain links between organisational form, beliefs and practices.
  • Evaluate typologies against change, overlap and diversity of organisations.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.5
  Religion across social groups

  • Explain patterns of religious participation among social groups.
  • Compare explanations involving class, gender, ethnicity and age.
  • Evaluate membership evidence without equating belonging, belief and practice.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.5
  Secularisation, globalisation and the spread of religion

  • Analyse the significance of religion and religiosity in the contemporary world.
  • Compare secularisation, globalisation and the growth or spread of religious and spiritual movements.
  • Evaluate competing indicators and national comparisons rather than asserting inevitable decline.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Global DevelopmentGroup 2

• 3.2.6
  Development, underdevelopment and global inequality

  • Compare definitions and indicators of development and underdevelopment.
  • Explain how a measure can privilege particular models of social progress.
  • Evaluate development theories against inequality and historical relationships.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.6
  Globalisation

  • Explain economic, political and cultural dimensions of globalisation.
  • Analyse links between global connections and uneven development.
  • Evaluate whether global integration expands opportunity or dependency in a specified setting.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.6
  TNCs, NGOs and international agencies

  • Compare the roles of transnational corporations, international organisations and NGOs.
  • Trace how institutional decisions can affect development outcomes.
  • Evaluate power, accountability and divergent interests within development processes.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.6
  Aid, trade, industrialisation, urbanisation, environment and conflict

  • Explain links between aid, trade, industrialisation, urbanisation and development.
  • Analyse environmental pressures and the effects of war and conflict.
  • Evaluate policies by tracing benefits, costs and distribution across groups.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.6
  Employment, education, health, demography and gender

  • Explain how employment, education, health, population change and gender relate to development.
  • Analyse feedback between these processes rather than assuming one-way causation.
  • Evaluate development strategies using both aggregate outcomes and unequal life chances.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

The MediaGroup 2

• 3.2.7
  The new media

  • Explain distinctive features and social consequences of new media.
  • Analyse participation, inequality and changing producer-audience relationships.
  • Evaluate claims about democratisation and control using the research design.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.7
  Ownership and control of the media

  • Compare theories of media ownership, control and concentration.
  • Explain how commercial, political and professional interests may influence content.
  • Evaluate accounts of control without equating ownership with automatic effects.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.7
  Media, globalisation and popular culture

  • Explain connections between globalisation, media and popular culture.
  • Compare cultural dominance, hybridisation and local resistance.
  • Evaluate claims using variation in production, circulation and reception.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.7
  How the news is selected and presented

  • Explain how news is selected and presented.
  • Analyse news values, organisational routines and source access.
  • Evaluate accounts of bias by distinguishing selection, framing and audience interpretation.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.7
  Media representations

  • Analyse representations of age, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability.
  • Explain how stereotypes, visibility and framing may relate to power.
  • Evaluate evidence without treating a content sample as proof of audience effects.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.7
  Media effects and audiences

  • Compare direct-effects, indirect-effects and active-audience accounts.
  • Explain mechanisms linking content, presentation and audience responses.
  • Evaluate media-effects research for causality, sampling and contextual variation.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Stratification and DifferentiationGroup 2

• 3.2.8
  Stratification: class, gender, ethnicity and age

  • Compare theories of stratification by class, gender, ethnicity and age.
  • Explain differentiation, hierarchy and intersecting forms of advantage.
  • Evaluate an explanation against variation within and between groups.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.8
  Class, status, power and life chances

  • Explain the relationships among class, status and power.
  • Analyse effects on life chances, explicitly including disability.
  • Evaluate explanations of unequal outcomes through resources, institutions and agency.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.8
  Defining and measuring class

  • Compare definitions and measures of social class.
  • Explain relationships between occupation, gender and class position.
  • Evaluate how a classification captures or obscures inequality.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.8
  Changing inequality and the transnational capitalist class

  • Analyse changes in inequality associated with globalisation.
  • Explain the idea of a transnational capitalist class and its possible consequences.
  • Evaluate competing accounts of persistent and changing inequalities.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.2.8
  Social mobility

  • Distinguish forms and measures of social mobility.
  • Explain barriers and opportunities affecting movement between social positions.
  • Evaluate mobility evidence and distinguish absolute change from relative opportunity.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Crime and Deviance

• 3.3.1
  Explaining crime and deviance

  • Distinguish crime, deviance, order and social control.
  • Compare consensus, conflict and action explanations of criminalisation and rule breaking.
  • Evaluate how a theory explains both conformity and deviance.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Crime theories: evidence and the item

  • Distinguish crime, deviance, order and social control.
  • Compare consensus, conflict and action explanations of criminalisation and rule breaking.
  • Evaluate how a theory explains both conformity and deviance.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Crime by ethnicity, gender and class

  • Interpret patterns by class, gender and ethnicity in offending, victimisation and criminal-justice data.
  • Explain reporting, recording and enforcement effects on apparent patterns.
  • Compare explanations without treating official figures as a complete measure of crime.
  • Evaluate official statistics for definitions, administrative purposes, coverage, comparability and changes over time.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Crime statistics and the item

  • Interpret patterns by class, gender and ethnicity in offending, victimisation and criminal-justice data.
  • Explain reporting, recording and enforcement effects on apparent patterns.
  • Compare explanations without treating official figures as a complete measure of crime.
  • Evaluate official statistics for definitions, administrative purposes, coverage, comparability and changes over time.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Global, green, state and media crime

  • Analyse connections among globalisation, crime and contemporary social change.
  • Explain media, green crime, human rights and state crime through appropriate sociological concepts.
  • Evaluate the difficulties of defining, researching and regulating transnational harms.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Global, green and state crime: evidence

  • Analyse connections among globalisation, crime and contemporary social change.
  • Explain media, green crime, human rights and state crime through appropriate sociological concepts.
  • Evaluate the difficulties of defining, researching and regulating transnational harms.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Control, punishment and victims

  • Compare crime prevention, surveillance, punishment, criminal-justice institutions and other agencies.
  • Explain victimisation, the position of victims and differentiated effects of crime and intervention.
  • Evaluate intended effects, displacement, unequal control and unintended consequences.
  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  Coming
• 3.3.1
  Crime control: evidence and the item

  • Compare crime prevention, surveillance, punishment, criminal-justice institutions and other agencies.
  • Explain victimisation, the position of victims and differentiated effects of crime and intervention.
  • Evaluate intended effects, displacement, unequal control and unintended consequences.
  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming

Foundations

• 3.0
  Social explanations, culture and power

  • Distinguish a social explanation from an individual opinion; identify culture, socialisation, norms and values in a new case.
  • Explain how class, gender, ethnicity, age and other social positions can shape power and life chances without treating a group as uniform.
  Coming
• 3.0
  Evidence, values and research quality

  • Separate an empirical claim, a theoretical interpretation and a value judgement; identify what evidence would challenge a claim.
  • Identify a research population, sampling frame, access problem and ethical risk; distinguish representativeness, reliability and validity.
  Coming
• 3.0
  Reading items and writing reasoning

  • Read a question precisely: command word, topic, time/place qualification, item requirement and number of requested reasons or ways.
  • Select a concise piece of textual evidence and explain its implication rather than retelling the source.
  • Construct a claim, sociological mechanism and supporting example; develop a relevant objection and reasoned reply.
  Coming
• 3.0
  Reading social data accurately

  • Read percentages, rates, tables and trends; separate a percentage-point difference from a percentage change and correlation from causation.
  Coming

Research methods

• 3.1.3
  Quantitative and qualitative research

  • Design and compare qualitative and quantitative social investigations.
  • Connect a research aim to an appropriate data strategy.
  • Evaluate the claims each design can support and its limitations.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Primary and secondary sources and data

  • Distinguish primary and secondary sources and quantitative and qualitative data.
  • Evaluate provenance, purpose and fitness for a new research question.
  • Explain why a data type alone does not establish validity or objectivity.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  Social surveys and questionnaires

  • Design a social survey; diagnose question wording, response categories, non-response and sampling effects.
  • Compare questionnaires, interviews, participant/non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
  • Select and adapt a method for an unfamiliar sociological research aim.
  • Explain effects of method features on access, data quality and permissible conclusions.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Interviews

  • Compare structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews; explain rapport, interviewer effects and data comparability.
  • Compare questionnaires, interviews, participant/non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
  • Select and adapt a method for an unfamiliar sociological research aim.
  • Explain effects of method features on access, data quality and permissible conclusions.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Participant and non-participant observation

  • Compare participant/non-participant and overt/covert observation; explain access, reactivity, recording and ethical trade-offs.
  • Compare questionnaires, interviews, participant/non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
  • Select and adapt a method for an unfamiliar sociological research aim.
  • Explain effects of method features on access, data quality and permissible conclusions.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Experiments and comparative methods

  • Compare laboratory, field and naturally occurring comparisons; explain control, causality, realism and consent in social research.
  • Compare questionnaires, interviews, participant/non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
  • Select and adapt a method for an unfamiliar sociological research aim.
  • Explain effects of method features on access, data quality and permissible conclusions.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Documents and content analysis

  • Evaluate documents, personal accounts and content analysis for provenance, meaning, coding and selective survival.
  • Compare questionnaires, interviews, participant/non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
  • Select and adapt a method for an unfamiliar sociological research aim.
  • Explain effects of method features on access, data quality and permissible conclusions.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Official statistics

  • Evaluate official statistics for definitions, administrative purposes, coverage, comparability and changes over time.
  • Compare questionnaires, interviews, participant/non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics.
  • Select and adapt a method for an unfamiliar sociological research aim.
  • Explain effects of method features on access, data quality and permissible conclusions.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Sampling

  • Choose and evaluate a sampling strategy against the research population, frame, access and likely non-response.
  • Apply practical, ethical and theoretical considerations to a research process.
  • Evaluate sampling, reliability, validity, representativeness and generalisation in context.
  • Justify a design while recognising the costs of an alternative.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Reliability, validity and generalisation

  • Explain how operationalisation and research design affect reliability, validity and generalisation.
  • Apply practical, ethical and theoretical considerations to a research process.
  • Evaluate sampling, reliability, validity, representativeness and generalisation in context.
  • Justify a design while recognising the costs of an alternative.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Mixed methods and triangulation

  • Design mixed-method or comparative research; justify triangulation without assuming methods automatically remove bias.
  • Apply practical, ethical and theoretical considerations to a research process.
  • Evaluate sampling, reliability, validity, representativeness and generalisation in context.
  • Justify a design while recognising the costs of an alternative.
  Coming

Sociological theory

• 3.1.3
  Positivism and interpretivism

  • Compare positivist and interpretivist approaches and conceptions of social facts.
  • Connect epistemological assumptions to method choices.
  • Evaluate what each approach can explain or understand.
  Practice
• 3.1.3
  Consensus, conflict, structure and action

  • Compare consensus, conflict, structural and action perspectives.
  • Explain how assumptions about society shape explanations of social processes.
  • Use perspectives to explain a new case and evaluate their explanatory limits.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  Modernity and postmodernity

  • Distinguish modernity and postmodernity as accounts of social change.
  • Explain implications for identity, social structures and sociological knowledge.
  • Evaluate competing claims about continuity, fragmentation and change.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  Is sociology a science?

  • Explain competing positions on whether sociology is a science.
  • Distinguish testability, explanation, interpretation and prediction.
  • Evaluate scientific-status arguments using an explicit account of science.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  How theory shapes method

  • Explain how theoretical assumptions affect research aims, methods and interpretations.
  • Compare different approaches to investigating the same social issue.
  • Evaluate whether a design can support the theory-based claims made from it.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  Objectivity, subjectivity and values

  • Distinguish objectivity, subjectivity and value freedom.
  • Explain how values enter selection, conduct, interpretation and use of research.
  • Evaluate reflexivity and attempts to limit bias without dismissing evidence as opinion.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  Sociology and social policy

  • Explain links between sociology and social policy.
  • Compare how different perspectives frame policy problems and solutions.
  • Evaluate the influence and limits of sociological evidence in policy decisions.
  Coming

• 3.1.1
  Outlining: the 4 and 6-mark questions

  • Give two distinct, creditworthy outlines for a 4-mark question, developing each beyond a label.
  • Give three distinct, creditworthy outlines for a 6-mark question without repeating the same explanation.
  Coming
• 3.1.3
  The 10-mark explain question

  • Develop two relevant explanatory chains for a 10-mark no-item explanation; satisfy the requested scope.
  Coming
• 3.1.1
  The 10-mark item question

  • Extract two usable item hooks for a 10-mark analysis and connect each to a distinct sociological mechanism.
  Coming
• 3.2
  The 20-mark essay

  • Plan a 20-mark item-based evaluation with relevant perspectives, developed challenge and a supported answer.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Coming
• 3.1.2
  The 20-mark Methods in Context answer

  • Apply a specified research method to the exact education setting and research aim in a 20-mark methods-in-context answer.
  • Explain how age, vulnerability, hierarchy and institutional access affect an education research design and its findings.
  • Connect a specific method feature to a specific education condition and an effect on evidence, then evaluate the trade-off.
  Coming
• 3.1.1
  Building a 30-mark answer

  • Sustain a focused 30-mark evaluation using the item, competing explanations and a reasoned judgement.
  • Evaluate the design and limitations of evidence, including what a study can and cannot establish.
  Lesson
• 3.0
  Synoptic links and timed writing

  • Use the two core themes and links between topics where they help answer the actual question.
  • Complete a timed answer, then revise the weakest passage using evidence-linked feedback.
  Coming