AQA GCSE Sociology (8192): Social structures, social processes and social issues – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover section 3.2, Social structures, social processes and social issues, of the AQA GCSE Sociology (8192) specification, Version 1.2 (June 2026), for GCSE exams 2019 onwards. The specification does not attach section 3.2 to one paper. Paper 1 (The sociology of families and education) and Paper 2 (The sociology of crime and deviance and social stratification) both assess “relevant areas of social theory and methodology”. All places, extracts and data below are invented for practice.

Revise first with the study guide and the revision notes. Track your progress on the AQA GCSE Sociology hub and checklist.

Questions

1. Define the term “theoretical perspective”. [2]

2. Define “triangulation” and give one reason a sociologist might use it. [3]

3. Identify the sociological perspective that each of the following wrote from, as the specification presents them: (i) Zaretsky; (ii) Heidensohn; (iii) Davis and Moore; (iv) Becker. [4]

4. Explain one similarity and one difference between Merton’s and Albert Cohen’s explanations of crime. [4]

5. Study the table. The data are fictional.

Calderby (a fictional town): 4,000 households surveyed	Households classed as poor
Measure A: income below the level that qualifies for state benefits	260
Measure B: income below a set share of the average for similar households	480
Measure C: lacking several items on a deprivation index (diet, heating, clothing, social activities)	840

(a) Calculate the percentage of households classed as poor under Measure C, and how many times larger this is than the percentage under Measure A. Show your working. [2] (b) Explain why the three measures give such different figures for the same town. [4] (c) Explain which measure Townsend would prefer, and give one criticism of that measure. [4]

6. Read the extract. It was written for this practice set and does not quote a real sociologist.

“After a day on the production line, the worker goes home to be fed and cared for, ready to return tomorrow. Wages are spent on cars, furniture and holidays. Home seems a private world, separate from work, but it keeps the factories and shops running.”

(a) Identify the perspective the extract most closely reflects, and quote one phrase that shows it. [2] (b) Explain how Delphy and Leonard might respond to the extract. [4]

7. A researcher wants to find out why young women in Fendlow (a fictional city) are convicted of fewer crimes than young men. Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of using in-depth unstructured interviews for this research, and one way mixed methods could improve the study. [6]

8. Using Halsey’s findings, explain how a sociologist could challenge the everyday view that “school gives everyone the same chance, so the cleverest succeed”. [4]

9. Explain how the idea of labelling connects the study of education and the study of crime. [4]

10. Evaluate the usefulness of qualitative methods for studying social issues in education and crime. [12]

11. Discuss how far feminist interpretations of family life, crime and power remain convincing today. [12]

Answers

1. A general approach or set of ideas used to explain how society works [1], such as functionalism, Marxism, feminism or interactionism [1]. [2] Examiner insight: The second mark needs a named example; “a point of view” alone is too vague to earn both marks.

2. Using more than one method or source of data [1] to check whether the findings agree [1]. Reason: if two methods give the same result, the researcher can be more confident the findings are valid [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Keep triangulation separate from mixed methods; the reason must refer to checking or confidence in findings.

3. (i) Marxist [1]; (ii) feminist [1]; (iii) functionalist [1]; (iv) interactionist [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Learn the perspective printed with each named sociologist; questions on extracts often start from this link.

4. Similarity: both are functionalist accounts in which working-class people share society’s success goals [1] but lack legitimate opportunities to reach them, for example through educational failure [1]. Difference: Merton describes individual responses to the strain, such as innovation [1], while Cohen describes a group response: a delinquent subculture in which boys gain status and prestige from their peers, a reaction to status frustration [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Each half needs a point and its development; a similarity that just says “both are about crime” earns nothing.

5. (a) 840 ÷ 4,000 × 100 = 21% [1]. Measure A is 260 ÷ 4,000 × 100 = 6.5%, and 21 ÷ 6.5 ≈ 3.2 times larger [1]. [2] (b) Poverty is a social construct, so the figure depends on how it is defined [1]. Measure A depends on benefit rules set by government, which Townsend called arbitrary [1]. Measure B compares income with similar households, so it counts more people but ignores what life is actually like [1]. Measure C counts lack of everyday items and activities, which picks up households the income measures miss, so it gives the highest figure (840) [1]. [4] (c) Townsend would prefer Measure C [1], because relative deprivation means lacking the resources for the diet, activities and living conditions widely available in society [1]. Criticism: the index may confuse choice with poverty [1]; a household may lack an item, such as fresh meat, because it chooses to, not because it cannot afford it [1]. [4] Examiner insight: In (a) show both percentages before the comparison; in (b) refer to the table’s measures by letter so the examiner can see you used the data.

6. (a) Marxist [1]. Phrase: “it keeps the factories and shops running” (also accept “Wages are spent on cars, furniture and holidays”) [1]. [2] (b) Delphy and Leonard are feminists who would agree the family is a site of exploitation [1]. However, they would ask who does the feeding and caring the extract describes [1]. They argue men, rather than capitalists, are the main beneficiaries, because the family is an economic system in which men exploit women’s work [1]. Even when wives have paid jobs, they still do household tasks that are not equally shared [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Use the extract’s own words (“fed and cared for”) to show what the feminist response adds; a general account of feminism scores less.

7. Advantage: unstructured interviews let the young women explain their lives in their own words [1], giving high validity and detail, as Carlen found in her interviews about class and gender deals [1]. Disadvantage: they take a long time, so only a small sample is usually possible [1], which means the findings may not be representative of all young people in Fendlow [1]. Mixed methods: the researcher could add a questionnaire or use official conviction statistics for the city [1], to show how widespread the patterns from the interviews are [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Tie each point to young women and crime in Fendlow; a list of general advantages of interviews stays in the lower marks.

8. The everyday view assumes a meritocracy in which ability alone decides success [1]. Halsey, Heath and Ridge studied over 8,000 males and grouped them by father’s occupation [1]. A boy from the service class had four times the chance of a working-class boy of being at school at 16, and about eleven times the chance of attending university [1]. Differences this large suggest class background, not just cleverness, shapes success, which challenges the everyday view [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Use Halsey’s actual ratios; “Halsey found working-class pupils did worse” is too thin for full marks.

9. In education, Ball’s work on teacher expectations shows that how teachers see pupils can shape their progress [1]; pupils may live up or down to the label, a self-fulfilling prophecy [1]. In crime, Becker argues an act becomes deviant only when others label it, and the label can become a master status [1]. In both cases the reaction of people with power (teachers, police, courts) shapes the outcome, not just the person’s behaviour [1]. [4] Examiner insight: The fourth mark is for the connection itself; two separate descriptions with no link between them cap the answer.

10. The real exam marks extended answers with levels of response, not point by point; these are indicative creditworthy points. Qualitative methods produce data in words and meanings, such as participant observation and unstructured interviews [1]. They aim for validity by seeing the world as participants see it [1]. Willis used observation, group discussions and informal interviews to understand school from the pupils’ point of view [1], revealing a counter school culture that a questionnaire might miss [1]. Ball spent three years as a participant observer, showing how banding and mixed ability shaped pupils’ experience [1]. Carlen’s unstructured interviews with 39 women showed how the class deal and gender deal break down [1]. Limitation: small samples, such as one school or 39 women, may not be representative [1]. Limitation: findings are hard to repeat, so reliability is low [1]. Limitation: the researcher’s presence or interpretation may bring bias [1]. Quantitative studies such as Halsey’s sample of over 8,000 males show how common a pattern is, which qualitative work cannot [1]. Mixed methods can combine depth with scale [1]. A possible judgement: qualitative methods are most useful for explaining why a process happens, but need quantitative support to show how widespread it is [1]. [12] Examiner insight: Evaluation needs both education and crime examples; an answer that uses only Willis covers half the question.

11. The real exam marks extended answers with levels of response, not point by point; these are indicative creditworthy points. Feminists argue society is patriarchal: men dominate institutions and benefit from women’s subordination [1]. Families: Delphy and Leonard argue men exploit women’s labour within the family [1]. Oakley examined the power of the idea of the “conventional family” [1]. Crime: Heidensohn argues women commit less crime because they are controlled more closely at home, in public and at work [1]. Carlen argues working-class women turn to crime when the class deal and gender deal fail [1]. Power: Walby identifies six patriarchal structures, including paid work and the state [1], and argues private patriarchy has given way to public patriarchy [1]. Still convincing: inequalities in paid work and household tasks remain, as Walby argued [1]. Less convincing: Heidensohn is criticised for generalising to all women [1]. Oakley’s paper predates civil partnerships and same-sex marriage, and family life has become more diverse [1]. Functionalists such as Parsons see family roles as meeting society’s needs rather than as exploitation [1]. A possible judgement: feminist accounts still explain gender inequality well, but work best when they recognise differences between women by class, ethnicity and family type [1]. [12] Examiner insight: “Today” asks you to judge change since the texts were written; using their dates and context earns evaluation credit.

Where marks are usually lost

• Describing a perspective in general instead of its key features in the topic the question names.
• Giving only differences when a question asks for a similarity and a difference.
• In data questions, not showing working or not quoting figures from the table.
• Treating the extract as background, instead of quoting its words and judging them.
• Naming a method without linking its strengths and weaknesses to the research scenario.
• Confusing triangulation with mixed methods.
• Answering “challenge the everyday view” with personal opinion instead of named evidence.
• Writing two separate topic descriptions when the question asks for a connection.
• Ending an extended answer without a judgement that follows from the evidence.

Next steps

• Check gaps with the diagnostics.
• Revise topic content in the families and education practice set and the crime and stratification practice set.
• Practise the related 8192 units: the sociological approach and education.
• Review exam technique with AQA GCSE Sociology exam preparation.
• Book a free trial class to work through extended answers with a tutor.

Official syllabus

These questions are written against the AQA GCSE Sociology (8192) specification, Version 1.2 (June 2026), for GCSE exams 2019 onwards: section 3.2 (Social structures, social processes and social issues), the section 3 general requirements and Appendix B (texts and summaries).