OxfordAQA IGCSE Sociology: Differences and Inequalities — Revision Notes

Condensed for the final weeks. These notes cover 3.2.1 Differences and inequalities in Paper 2 of OxfordAQA International GCSE Sociology (9292). For the full explanation, use the Differences and Inequalities study guide.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Status	Social honour or prestige attached to a position
Caste	Closed, ascribed hierarchy fixed at birth
Cohort	People born in the same period who share experiences
Life chances	Opportunities for employment, education, health, long life and mobility
Power	The ability to get your way, even against opposition
Intersectionality	Differences such as class, gender and ethnicity combine (Crenshaw, 1989)
Income / wealth	A flow of money / a stock of assets
Glass ceiling	Invisible barrier keeping women out of the top jobs
Institutional racism	Discrimination built into the routines of organisations
Diaspora	A community dispersed from its homeland that keeps links with it
Hybrid identity	An identity blending more than one culture

3.2.1.1 Differences

Ten ways of classifying people: social class; status; caste; slavery; sex and gender; race and ethnicity; age and generation/cohort; religion; ability/disability; nationality. Identities can be individual (how I see myself) or collective (a shared group belonging).

3.2.1.2 Inequalities

Inequalities in power and life chances: employment, education, health, life expectancy, social mobility. Intersectionality means a working-class ethnic-minority woman’s position is not simply the sum of class, ethnicity and gender. Effects fall on individuals (poorer health, fewer opportunities) and society (wasted talent, conflict).

3.2.1.3 Social class — three theories

	Marxism	Functionalism	Weberianism
Name	Marx	Davis and Moore	Weber
Core claim	Bourgeoisie exploit proletariat; class conflict	Inequality is a functional necessity	Class, status and party are separate
Key concept	False consciousness	Meritocracy	Market situation
Criticism	Ignores gender, ethnicity, status	Inherited advantage undermines meritocracy	Less clear about why inequality persists

• Measuring class: usually by occupation; also income, wealth, education, self-assessment.
• Wealth is more unequal than income, within and between societies.
• Mobility: upward or downward; intergenerational (versus parents) or intragenerational (within a career). Factors: education, family background, gender, ethnicity, the job structure.

3.2.1.4 Gender

• Walby: six structures of patriarchy — paid work, household production, culture, sexuality, male violence, the state; a shift from private to public patriarchy.
• Connell: hegemonic masculinity — the dominant ideal of manhood.
• Roles, status and power vary between societies, so gender is socially constructed.
• Sexism (prejudice), sex discrimination (unequal treatment), the glass ceiling.

3.2.1.5 Ethnicity

• Race = supposed physical differences (socially constructed); ethnicity = shared culture.
• Apartheid (South Africa): legal racial segregation.
• Legacies of colonialism and enslavement in global inequality and racist ideas.
• Du Bois: the “colour line” and double consciousness.
• Assimilation (adopting the majority culture) versus multiculturalism (coexistence with equal respect).

3.2.1.6 Reducing inequality

Approach	Method	Criticism
Marxism	Abolish capitalism; common ownership	Inequality and lack of freedom in states claiming this route
Social democratic welfare state	Progressive tax, universal services	Costly; wealth inequality remains
Development aid	Transfers from richer to poorer countries	Dependency; may serve donors’ interests

Worked example

Explain one Marxist and one functionalist view of social class inequality. (4 marks)

Marxist: the bourgeoisie own the means of production and exploit
the proletariat, keeping the surplus value workers create; false
consciousness stops workers seeing this. (2)
Functionalist: Davis and Moore argue unequal rewards are functionally
necessary to motivate the most able to fill the most important
roles, so inequality reflects merit. (2)

Exam traps

• Mixing up wealth and income.
• Treating race and ethnicity as identical.
• Calling Weber a Marxist.
• Naming a sociologist without stating their idea.

Frequently asked questions

How is Paper 2 of OxfordAQA International GCSE Sociology structured? 1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks: Section A Differences and inequalities (22 marks), Section B Socialisation and social control (22 marks) and Section C Research methods (16 marks).

What is intersectionality? The idea, associated with Crenshaw, that inequalities such as class, gender and ethnicity combine, so a person’s life chances cannot be explained by one alone.

What counts as a life chance? The specification lists employment, education, health, life expectancy and social mobility as areas of inequality in life chances.

Self-test

1. Name Weber’s three dimensions of inequality.
2. What is false consciousness?
3. Distinguish intergenerational from intragenerational mobility.
4. Who identified six structures of patriarchy?
5. Give one criticism of development aid.

Answers: 1. Class, status and party. 2. The Marxist idea that workers accept ruling-class beliefs that make inequality seem fair. 3. Intergenerational compares a person with their parents; intragenerational is movement within one person’s working life. 4. Sylvia Walby. 5. It can create dependency, or serve the interests of donor countries.

Related resources

• Differences and Inequalities practice questions
• Socialisation revision notes