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Sociology flashcards

134 cards covering every topic of the 8192 syllabus (first teaching 2017). Study one topic or mix them all, turn each card, and mark yourself honestly.

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Topic 1: The sociological approach

Consensus vs conflict perspectives: Consensus (functionalism): society rests on shared values. Conflict: society rests on competing interests, by class (Marxism) or gender (feminism).
Macro vs micro approaches: Functionalism, Marxism and feminism look at society as a whole (macro). Interactionism looks at small-scale, face-to-face interaction (micro) and stresses agency.
What was Durkheim's view of society?: Durkheim (1858-1917, France) argued shared norms and values hold society together; when rules break down there is anomie (normlessness).
What was Marx's view of society?: Marx (1818-1883) argued class struggle between owners (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletariat) drives change, and ruling class ideology creates false class consciousness.
What did Weber contribute to sociology?: Weber (1864-1920, Germany) saw stratification as class, status and party, with market situation shaping life chances, and identified three types of authority.
Power vs authority: Power is getting others to act as you wish, even against their will. Authority is power accepted as legitimate.
Prejudice vs discrimination: Prejudice is a negative attitude, often based on stereotypes. Discrimination is an action: treating a group less favourably.
Anomie: Normlessness, when rules break down (e.g. Merton: "anything goes" to get rich).

Topic 2: Social structures, social processes and social issues

Social structure vs social process: Social structure: a lasting, organised pattern of institutions and relationships (families, schools, class). Social process: the way structures act on people over time (socialisation, social control, labelling).
Agency: People's ability to act and make choices within structures.
Social construct: Something whose meaning is created by society rather than fixed by nature.
Mixed methods research vs triangulation: Mixed methods combines qualitative and quantitative data in one study. Triangulation uses more than one method or source to cross-check findings.
Recorded vs reported vs actual crime: Reported crime is what victims tell the police; recorded crime is what police log; actual crime also includes the unreported and unrecorded dark figure.
What does "compare and contrast" require?: Compare means similarities and differences; contrast means differences only. A compare and contrast answer needs both.
Selective use of data: Choosing only the figures that support an argument.

Topic 3: Families

Name the four functions of families in the specification: Sexual, reproductive, economic and educational.
What two basic functions did Parsons (1959) say every family keeps?: The primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities (giving and receiving emotional support). Critics say he idealised middle-class family life.
How do Marxists see the functions of the family?: The family serves capitalism: it reproduces the next generation of workers, passes on private property through inheritance, and acts as a unit of consumption.
How do feminists see the functions of the family?: The family reproduces patriarchy: women's unpaid domestic labour and emotional work benefit men.
Nuclear vs extended vs reconstituted family: Nuclear: parents and dependent children. Extended: nuclear family plus other relatives. Reconstituted (step): at least one partner has children from a previous relationship.
What is a beanpole family?: A long, thin family with several living generations but few members in each, caused by longer life expectancy and fewer children.
Name the Rapoports' (1982) five aspects of family diversity: Organisational (e.g. division of domestic labour), cultural (beliefs and values), class (resources), life course (stage in the family life cycle) and cohort (historical period).
Give three reasons for growing family diversity: Rising divorce rates, secularisation and changing attitudes, as well as women's employment, cohabitation and later marriage.
Joint vs segregated conjugal roles: Joint: partners share housework, childcare, decisions and leisure. Segregated: separate, traditional roles, e.g. male breadwinner and female homemaker.
How did Oakley (1982) define the conventional family?: Nuclear families composed of legally married couples, voluntarily choosing the parenthood of one or more children. She examined the power of this idea and the strains of being conventional.
Dual burden vs triple shift: Dual burden: women doing paid work plus most of the housework. Triple shift: paid work, housework and emotion work.
Which issues affect conjugal role relationships today?: Decision making, money management, dual career families, child rearing and leisure activities.
What is the symmetrical family (Willmott and Young, 1973)?: A home-centred nuclear family in which spouses make similar contributions to running the household, e.g. shared chores and decisions. Based on a survey of nearly 2,000 people in and around London.
What is the principle of stratified diffusion?: Willmott and Young's theory that what happens at the top of the stratification system today will diffuse downwards tomorrow.
How have family relationships changed from pre-industrial to modern times?: From families as units of production with extended kin, to industrial nuclear families with segregated roles, to more child-centred families with more joint roles today.
Give one feminist criticism of the symmetrical family: Feminists found little evidence of real symmetry: women still did most of the housework and childcare.
What did Zaretsky (1976) argue about the family?: A Marxist view: capitalism creates an illusion that the private life of the family is separate from the economy. The family cushions but props up capitalism, and cannot meet people's needs.
What did Delphy and Leonard (1992) argue about the family?: A feminist view: the family is an economic system in which men, rather than capitalists as such, benefit from and exploit women's labour.
Name four criticisms of families in the specification: Isolation and unrealistic idealisation, loss of traditional functions, lack of contact with wider kin, the status and role of women, marital breakdown and dysfunctional families.
What is a dysfunctional family?: A family that fails to perform its functions properly, e.g. through abuse, neglect or conflict, which harms its members.
How did the Divorce Reform Act 1969 change divorce?: It allowed divorce on the ground of "irretrievable breakdown"; later reforms made divorce cheaper and simpler.
Give four reasons for the rise in divorce since 1945: Changes in the law, changes in social attitudes and values (less stigma), secularisation, and changes in the status of women in society.
What are the consequences of divorce for family structure?: More lone-parent families, mostly headed by women and linked to a higher risk of poverty, and more reconstituted families with step-relationships.
How might feminists and functionalists view rising divorce differently?: Feminists may see it as women escaping unequal or abusive marriages. Functionalists may see it as reflecting higher expectations of marriage, with remarriage showing marriage is still valued.

Topic 4: Education

What did Durkheim (1925) see as the main function of education?: Transmitting society's norms and values, welding individuals into a united whole; the teaching of history links the child to society, and strict rules teach self-discipline.
Particularistic vs universalistic standards: Particularistic: rules that apply to one person because of who they are, as in the family. Universalistic: the same rules for everyone, as in school and wider society (Parsons).
How did Parsons see the school?: As a bridge between the family and society, operating on meritocratic principles so status is achieved, and selecting individuals for their future roles.
Home schooling vs de-schooling: Home schooling moves education out of school. De-schooling (Illich) rejects formal schooling as an institution altogether.
State vs private schools: State schools are funded by taxation and free to attend. Private (independent, fee-paying) schools are funded mainly by fees.
Correspondence principle: Bowles and Gintis's idea that school relationships mirror workplace relationships.
What did Bowles and Gintis (1976) argue education does in capitalism?: It reproduces labour power, creating a hardworking, docile, obedient and motivated workforce too divided to challenge management. They rejected the idea that capitalist societies are meritocratic.
How does Willis (1977) differ from Bowles and Gintis?: Both are Marxist, but Willis argues education is not a very successful agency of socialisation: pupils can resist, and schooling can have unintended consequences.
Hidden curriculum: What pupils learn from how school is organised, not from lessons, e.g. obedience and punctuality.
What did Halsey, Heath and Ridge (1980) find?: In over 8,000 males born 1913–1952, service-class boys were 4 times as likely as working-class boys to be at school at 16, 8 times at 17, 10 times at 18 and 11 times as likely to attend university. Females were excluded.
What did Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz (1994) find about parental choice?: A study of fifteen schools: parental choice and league tables pushed some schools to reintroduce streaming and setting and to focus on more able pupils.
Cultural capital: Middle-class knowledge, tastes and confidence that schools reward.
Material vs cultural deprivation: Material: lack of money for housing, diet, equipment and study space. Cultural: claimed lack of parental attitudes and language codes that schools value. Critics say cultural deprivation blames the victim.
Why do girls now outperform boys?: Feminism and changing aspirations, equal-opportunity policies, and a crisis of masculinity as traditional male manual work declines.
Ethnocentric curriculum: A curriculum centred on one culture's history, language and values.
Streaming vs setting vs mixed ability teaching: Streaming: one ability group for all subjects. Setting: ability groups subject by subject. Mixed ability: pupils of all abilities taught together.
Labelling vs self-fulfilling prophecy: Labelling is the act of defining a pupil, e.g. as "bright" or "lazy". The self-fulfilling prophecy is the result when treatment and self-image change until the pupil matches the label.
What did Ball (1981) find at Beachside Comprehensive?: In three years of participant observation, middle-class pupils were more likely to be placed in band 1 and faced higher teacher expectations; he compared a banded cohort with a mixed ability cohort.
What did Willis (1977) find about counter school culture?: Working-class "lads" in a Midlands school rejected school values, felt superior to teachers and conformist pupils, and their rejection prepared them for manual work.

Topic 5: Crime and deviance

Crime vs deviance: Crime is behaviour that breaks the law. Deviance is behaviour that breaks social norms. Deviance is broader: a deviant act need not be illegal.
What are Merton's five responses to success goals?: Conformity, innovation (illegitimate means, e.g. crime), ritualism (abandoning goals but keeping rules), retreatism (dropping out of both) and rebellion (replacing goals and means).
What is anomie in Merton's theory?: When success is valued more than the means of achieving it, the usual rules are abandoned and "anything goes" in pursuit of wealth (Merton, 1938).
What did Becker (1963) argue about deviance?: An act only becomes deviant when others define it as such. The label becomes a master status, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy and a deviant career.
What does the social construction of crime mean?: What counts as crime and deviance depends on who commits the act, when, where and who reacts, so definitions vary between societies and over time.
Formal vs informal social control: Formal: official agencies with written rules and sanctions, e.g. police and courts. Informal: unwritten rules and sanctions from family, peers and others, e.g. disapproval.
What did Heidensohn (1985) argue about female conformity?: Patriarchal societies control women more effectively than men: at home (housework, childcare), in public (threat of male violence, reputation) and at work (male hierarchies, harassment).
What is control theory?: People are neither naturally good nor bad but make a rational choice to turn to crime when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages; strong social controls make crime less likely.
Positive vs negative sanctions: Positive sanctions reward conformity (praise, promotion). Negative sanctions punish deviance (fines, exclusion, disapproval).
What did Albert Cohen (1955) argue about delinquent subcultures?: Working-class boys share mainstream success goals but, after educational failure, suffer status frustration and form subcultures that give status for stealing, vandalism and truancy.
What did Carlen (1988) find about women, crime and poverty?: From interviews with 39 mostly working-class women, crime becomes more likely when the "class deal" (consumer goods for wages) and "gender deal" (rewards from a male breadwinner) fail.
Which factors affect criminal and deviant behaviour in the specification?: Social class, gender, ethnicity and age.
Name some public debates about crime: Concerns over violent crime, sentencing, the treatment of young offenders, the prison system and media coverage of crime.
What is the dark figure of crime?: Crime that is unreported or unrecorded, so it does not appear in official statistics.
Official statistics vs victim surveys vs self-report studies: Official statistics: crimes recorded by the police. Victim surveys: ask people about crimes against them, revealing unreported crime. Self-report studies: ask people about crimes they have committed.
Why might people not report a crime?: They may think it too trivial, fear reprisals, distrust the police, feel embarrassed, or not realise a crime has taken place.
How do interactionists view crime statistics?: As socially constructed: they reflect decisions by victims to report and by police to record, and policing that targets some groups, rather than the true amount of crime.

Topic 6: Social stratification

What did Davis and Moore (1945) argue about stratification?: Stratification is a "universal necessity": unequal rewards attract the most able people into the functionally most important positions, so roles are filled and performed well.
Functionally important roles: Positions that need rare skills or carry high responsibility (Davis and Moore).
Give two criticisms of Davis and Moore: Lower-paid jobs such as nursing are also vital, and pay differences may reflect power rather than importance. There is no agreed way to measure talent.
Meritocracy: A system where rewards depend on ability and effort, not background.
Means of production: Land, capital, labour power, buildings and machinery (Marx).
Bourgeoisie vs proletariat: The bourgeoisie own the means of production. The proletariat are workers who sell their labour.
False class consciousness: Workers accepting a system that exploits them, because of ruling class ideology.
Marx vs Weber on class: Marx: two main classes defined by ownership, which polarise. Weber: non-owners are divided by market situation, the middle class expands, and status and party are separate dimensions.
Market situation: A person's position in the market for skills and pay (Weber).
Life chances: Chances of good outcomes such as health, education, work and housing.
Which factors affect life chances in the specification?: Social class, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality, age, disability, and religion and belief.
What did Devine (1992) find in Affluent Workers Revisited?: Interviewing Vauxhall workers in Luton and their wives in the late 1980s, she found no clear evidence of privatised instrumentalism, and workers still resented inherited wealth.
Embourgeoisement: The idea that affluent workers become middle class in lifestyle and values.
Glass ceiling: An invisible barrier that stops women reaching top jobs.
Relative deprivation (Townsend): Lacking the resources for the diet, activities and living conditions widely available in society.
What did Townsend find about poverty in 1968–69?: Using a deprivation index from questionnaires to over 2,000 households, more than 22% of the population were in poverty on his measure, against just over 6% on the state standard.
What did Murray (1984) argue about the underclass?: A New Right view: welfare benefits create dependency and an underclass, shown by rising illegitimacy, crime and unwillingness to work. Critics say he ignores economic causes.
Poverty trap: Earning more leads to losing benefits, so people gain little from work.
Culture of poverty vs material deprivation: Culture of poverty: values passed on that keep people poor. Material deprivation: lack of money and resources.
What are Weber's three types of authority?: Traditional (custom and inherited status), charismatic (devotion to a leader with exceptional qualities) and rational-legal (acceptance of shared impersonal rules).
Formal vs informal sources of power: Formal: official position or law, e.g. a judge. Informal: personal influence, peer pressure or money.
Pluralism: The view that power is spread among competing groups.
What is a party in Weber's sense?: A group concerned with gaining political or social power, including pressure and interest groups as well as political parties.
What are Walby's (1990) six structures of patriarchy?: Paid work, patriarchal relations of production (in the home), patriarchal culture, sexuality, male violence towards women, and the state.
Private vs public patriarchy: Private: direct control of women by fathers and husbands. Public: women have access to public life but are segregated into low-paid, low-status work (Walby).
Which factors affect power relationships in the specification?: Social class, gender, sexuality, race, age, disability, and religion and beliefs.
Ageism: Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of age.
Institutional racism: Racism built into the routines and rules of an organisation.

Topic 7: Sociological research methods

Aim vs hypothesis: An aim is a general statement of what a study wants to find out. A hypothesis is a testable prediction about a relationship between two things.
Pilot study: Small trial run to test the method before the main study.
Sampling frame: List of the population from which a sample is drawn.
Quota vs snowball sampling: Quota: set numbers from each group, chosen by the researcher to match the population. Snowball: participants recruit further participants, useful for hard-to-reach groups.
Random vs representative: Random describes how people are chosen (everyone has an equal chance). Representative describes the result: the sample shares the population's characteristics.
Questionnaires with closed questions: strength and weakness: Strength: large samples, cheap and reliable. Weakness: little depth, and response rates may be low.
Structured vs unstructured interview: Structured: standard questions in a fixed order, reliable and comparable. Unstructured: a flexible guided conversation, giving depth and validity but hard to compare or repeat.
Participant vs non-participant observation: Participant: the researcher joins the group and sees real behaviour. Non-participant: the researcher watches without joining and stays detached.
Overt vs covert observation: Overt: the group knows it is being studied, risking the observer effect. Covert: the group does not know, risking breaking informed consent.
What is a focus group?: A group interview in which participants discuss a topic; it shows how views form in discussion, but one person can dominate.
Why use a mixed methods approach?: Combining quantitative and qualitative methods gives both reliable patterns and valid, in-depth meanings, and lets findings be checked against each other.
Qualitative vs quantitative data: Qualitative data are in words or meanings, from methods such as unstructured interviews. Quantitative data are numerical, from methods such as closed-question questionnaires.
Reliability vs validity: Reliable = repeatable. Valid = true to life. Questionnaires lean reliable; unstructured interviews and participant observation lean valid.
Official vs non-official statistics: The difference is who produced the figures (government and its agencies vs others such as charities or researchers), not whether they are accurate.
Official statistics: strength and weakness: Strength: national, regular and free. Weakness: definitions are set by government, and unrecorded events are missed.
Primary vs secondary data: Primary data are collected first-hand by the researcher. Secondary data already exist, produced by others for another purpose.
Give three examples of secondary sources: Official statistics, documents such as diaries, letters and reports, and media content such as newspapers and websites.
Give one strength and one weakness of secondary sources: Strength: cheap, quick and may cover large populations or the past. Weakness: produced for another purpose, so may be biased or not measure what the researcher needs.
Content analysis: Systematic study of documents or media content.
Trend: General direction of data over time.
Percentage vs percentage points: A rise from 20% to 30% is a 10 percentage point rise, which is a 50% increase.
What should you check when interpreting a graph or table?: The title, axes or headings, units and dates, the source, the overall pattern or trend, and any exceptions or changes in direction.
Why should you be careful about cause when reading statistics?: Two trends moving together (a correlation) do not prove that one causes the other; other factors may explain both.
Name the practical issues in research in the specification: Time, cost and access.
Why is access a practical issue in researching schools?: Gatekeepers such as head teachers control entry, pupils are minors so parental consent is needed, and timetables limit when research can happen.
Why might a researcher choose a questionnaire for practical reasons?: It is cheap and quick to give to a large, spread-out sample, and the results are easy to analyse.
Why is participant observation practically difficult?: It is time-consuming, needs the researcher to gain acceptance into the group, and can only study a small group.
Name the ethical issues in the specification: Consent, confidentiality and harm to participants, and how each can be addressed.
Informed consent: Agreeing to take part with full knowledge of what the research involves.
Confidentiality: Keeping participants' identities and information private.
How can harm to participants be avoided?: By not asking distressing questions without support, letting participants withdraw, protecting their identity, and debriefing them afterwards.

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Written for AQA GCSE Sociology (8192), syllabus 8192 (first teaching 2017).

Cards by Marlbridge Academic Team; 28 restate definitions from the 8192 revision notes. This deck has not yet been reviewed as a whole by a subject teacher. Report an error.

All 8192 notes, practice and topics