Cambridge A-Level Sociology: Socialisation, Identity and Methods of Research (9699)

This guide covers Paper 1 Socialisation, Identity and Methods of Research, one of two AS Level papers in Cambridge International AS & A Level Sociology (9699). This topic area has two central aims: examining the role of socialisation in creating social identities, and introducing the research methods and concepts used to evaluate sociological findings. These two aims are deliberately paired within a single paper, since the methods content is needed to properly evaluate the evidence base behind every claim about socialisation and identity made elsewhere in the syllabus.

Where this fits in 9699

Paper 1 establishes the theoretical and methodological foundations that the rest of the qualification builds on – Paper 2 (The Family) at AS Level, and Papers 3-4 (Education, Globalisation, Media and Religion) at A Level all draw on the concepts and research methods introduced here. This means Paper 1’s content is examined not only in its own right but implicitly through every later paper, since a candidate who cannot apply the positivist/interpretivist distinction or the concept of socialisation confidently will find it resurfacing as a weakness in Family, Education and every other later topic.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL SOCIOLOGY (9699) — PAPER 1 SOCIALISATION, IDENTITY AND METHODS OF RESEARCH

• 1.1 The process of learning and socialisation — culture, roles, norms, values and status in the social construction of reality; the nurture versus nature debate; and agencies of socialisation and social control (family, education, peer group, media, religion)
• 1.2 Social control, conformity and resistance — structure and agency in shaping the individual-society relationship; factors explaining conformity; mechanisms maintaining social order; and explanations of deviance and non-conformity
• 1.3 Social identity and change — social class, gender, ethnicity and age as elements of social identity, and how these identities change due to globalisation and new or hybrid identities
• 2.1 Types of data, methods and research design — primary and secondary, quantitative and qualitative data; the strengths and limitations of different research methods; and the stages of research design
• 2.2 Approaches to sociological research — case studies, social surveys, ethnography, mixed methods, and the positivist and interpretivist approaches
• 2.3 Research issues — the practical, ethical and theoretical issues that arise in conducting sociological research

How to approach it

Socialisation and identity (1.1-1.3) is best revised by tracing one continuous argument – how socialisation shapes identity, how conformity and resistance are explained, and how identity then changes over time – rather than treating the three sub-topics as separate. The structure/agency debate that runs through 1.2 in particular is worth practising applying to specific examples, since it is a recurring theoretical lens across the wider sociology syllabus, not a topic confined only to Paper 1. Methods of research (2.1-2.3) rewards precise, method-specific knowledge of strengths and limitations rather than general statements, since exam questions typically ask students to evaluate a named method in a specific research context — a generic “strengths and weaknesses of interviews” answer scores lower than one that explains why an unstructured interview specifically suits a study of a sensitive or hard-to-access topic. Because the positivist and interpretivist approaches (2.2) recur as a framing device throughout the qualification, get comfortable applying this distinction to new research scenarios, not just defining the two approaches, since it is this applied skill — not the definitions alone — that Cambridge’s mark schemes reward most heavily.

The socialisation-to-identity argument, traced through

1.1 establishes that identity is not innate but constructed through socialisation — the family, education, peer group, media and religion each transmit norms and values, sometimes reinforcing and sometimes contradicting one another. 1.2 then asks how society maintains conformity to those norms (formal and informal social control) and how it explains cases where conformity breaks down (theories of deviance). 1.3 completes the argument by showing that the identities constructed through 1.1’s socialisation are not fixed: class, gender, ethnicity and age-based identities shift over time, and globalisation in particular has generated new, hybrid identities that earlier sociological theory did not originally account for. This forward-looking, change-focused framing of identity is deliberately what 1.3 adds beyond 1.1’s more static account of how identity is initially formed.

Revising these three sub-topics as one continuous chain — construction, maintenance, change — rather than three separate definitions lists is what lets a candidate answer synoptic questions that span more than one sub-topic, which Cambridge’s Paper 1 questions frequently do rather than confining a question to a single numbered sub-topic — a candidate revising 1.1-1.3 as isolated definitions lists is poorly placed to answer a question that deliberately spans two or more of them.

Applying positivism and interpretivism

The positivist approach favours quantitative, structured methods (social surveys, official statistics) that aim for objectivity, reliability and the ability to generalise findings across a population, reflecting positivism’s roots in modelling sociology closely on the natural sciences. The interpretivist approach favours qualitative, less structured methods (unstructured interviews, participant observation) that aim for validity — a rich, authentic understanding of meaning from the research subjects’ own perspective — even at some cost to reliability and generalisability, reflecting interpretivism’s view that human behaviour cannot be fully understood through the same methods used to study the natural world. Exam questions consistently ask candidates to apply this framework to a specific, sometimes unfamiliar research scenario, so practise identifying which approach a described method sits closer to, and why, rather than only being able to define the two approaches in the abstract.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International AS & A Level Sociology (9699) syllabus for 2024, 2025 and 2026 — cambridgeinternational.org.