OxfordAQA International A-level Sociology (9690): Unit 3 – People and development – 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 Unit 3, People and development, of the OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Sociology (9690) specification, Version 1.1 (first teaching September 2026; first A-level exams May/June 2028): content points 3.2.1.1 to 3.2.1.5. The specification assesses this content in the Unit 3 exam, 1 hour 30 minutes, 50 marks, with short and extended response questions. All countries, towns and figures below are fictional.

Revise first with the Unit 3 study guide and the revision notes for this unit. The OxfordAQA A-level Sociology hub and the 9690 checklist list the other units.

Questions

1. Explain what is meant by neocolonialism. [2]

2. Outline two differences between a refugee and an economic migrant. [4]

3. Explain what is meant by glocalisation, using one example. [3]

4. Study the table, which gives fictional data for three fictional countries.

Country	Life expectancy (years)	Adult literacy (%)	Income per person (US$, fictional)
Arvella	74	92	6,200
Bressin	61	58	9,800
Coltane	68	81	4,100

(a) Identify the country with the highest income per person and the country with the highest life expectancy. [2] (b) Using the table, explain why income per person alone may give a misleading picture of development. [4]

5. Read the item.

In the fictional town of Lirovo, a foreign clothing company has opened a factory employing 900 workers. Most are women aged 18 to 25 who moved from surrounding villages. Wages are higher than farm earnings but lower than the company pays in its home country. Shifts are long, and supervisors are mostly men. Some workers send part of their pay home to parents.

(a) Identify two ways the factory may benefit Lirovo. [2] (b) Using the item, analyse two ways feminist sociologists might see the factory as reinforcing patriarchy. [6]

6. Outline three arguments against development aid. [6]

7. Read the item.

Remittances sent home to the fictional country of Tamaro by its diaspora rose from 1,200 million US dollars in 2015 to 1,500 million in 2020 and 2,100 million in 2025. Tamaro community associations now run online groups linking members in four continents, and many families hold video calls every week.

(a) Calculate the percentage increase in remittances to Tamaro between 2015 and 2025. Show your working. [2] (b) Using the item, explain two ways transnational networks help to sustain a diaspora. [4]

8. Explain two ways climate change may affect migration. [4]

9. Evaluate the usefulness of dependency theory for understanding how a gap developed between countries that developed quickly and those that developed more slowly. [12]

10. To what extent has globalisation led to cultural imperialism? Use examples from your own society or a society you know about. [12]

11. Discuss the roles of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and grassroots movements in development. [8]

Answers

Extended answers (Questions 9, 10 and 11) are shown as indicative creditworthy points. The real exam marks extended responses with levels of response, judging the answer as a whole, not point by point.

1. Continued control of formally independent countries by former colonial or other powerful states [1], through indirect means such as debt, aid conditions, trade terms or foreign ownership [1]. [2] Examiner insight: “Colonialism after independence” alone is too vague; name a mechanism of indirect control for the second mark.

2. A refugee flees persecution [1], while an economic migrant moves mainly for work or higher income [1]. A refugee is protected under the 1951 Refugee Convention and cannot lawfully be returned to danger [1], while an economic migrant’s entry depends on the destination’s visa and immigration rules [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Each difference needs both sides stated; describing only the refugee earns half the marks.

3. Glocalisation is the adaptation of global products, brands or ideas [1] to fit local cultures, tastes or practices [1]. Example: an international fast-food chain offering a vegetarian or halal menu designed for a local market [1]. [3] Examiner insight: The example must show adaptation, not just a global brand being present locally.

4. (a) Bressin has the highest income per person [1]. Arvella has the highest life expectancy [1]. [2] (b) Bressin has the highest income (US$9,800) but the lowest life expectancy (61) and literacy (58%) [1]. Arvella earns less than Bressin but its people live 13 years longer and literacy is 34 points higher [1], so income does not show how wealth is shared or spent on health and education [1]. Development includes health, education and rights, so a single income measure can rank a country higher than its people’s lives justify [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Quote the figures; a general statement that “GDP is not everything” without data gets no application credit.

5. (a) Any two: jobs and wages higher than farm earnings [1]; remittances sent to village families [1]; investment and possible spending in local shops and services. [2] (b) The factory employs mainly young women, which Elson and Pearson link to the stereotype that women are docile and dexterous, so they can be paid less [1]. Pay below the home-country rate shows women’s labour treated as cheap, which Mies links to housewifisation: women’s paid work treated as a supplement to a male wage [1], so profit depends on gendered undervaluing of work [1]. Supervisors are mostly men, so workplace authority stays with men [1]. This mirrors patriarchal power in the family and limits women’s promotion [1]. However, some feminists note that wages and independent income may also raise women’s bargaining power at home, so effects are mixed [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Each point should start from a detail in the item (young women, low pay, male supervisors), then link to a feminist idea.

6. Aid can create dependency, as governments rely on donors rather than building their own tax base (Moyo) [1], which weakens accountability to citizens [1]. Top-down aid plans can ignore local knowledge and fail (Easterly) [1], so money is wasted on projects people do not need [1]. Tied aid serves donor interests, for example by requiring purchases from donor companies [1], which Marxists see as a form of neocolonialism [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Three arguments need three different mechanisms; listing “corruption” three ways counts once.

7. (a) (2,100 - 1,200) / 1,200 x 100 [1] = 75% increase [1]. [2] (b) Online community groups link members across four continents, keeping a shared identity and passing on information about jobs and housing [1], which supports further migration along the same routes [1]. Weekly video calls and remittances keep family obligations alive across distance [1], so migrants stay part of households at home rather than cutting ties [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “Explain” needs a consequence for each way; describing the technology alone gains half the marks.

8. Drought or failed harvests remove rural incomes [1], adding a push factor that drives rural-urban or international migration [1]. Sea-level rise or stronger storms can make coastal areas uninhabitable [1], causing forced displacement, often internal, of people not covered by the refugee definition [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Link each climate effect to a named type of migration, not just “people move”.

9. Indicative content:

• Dependency theory sees development and underdevelopment as one process [1].
• Frank: the metropolis grew by extracting surplus from satellites [1].
• Rodney: enslavement and colonial rule drained Africa’s labour and wealth to Europe [1].
• Williams: slave-trade profits helped fund British industry [1].
• Application: former colonies exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods [1].
• Analysis: neocolonialism keeps this pattern after independence, through debt and trade terms [1].
• Strength: explains why the gap opened at the same time as empire [1].
• Pomeranz supports a material account: coal and colonial land gave Britain its lead [1].
• Limitation: some former colonies, such as South Korea and Singapore, grew rapidly [1].
• Modernisation theory and Weber point instead to values, such as the Protestant ethic [1].
• Dependency theory treats less developed countries as passive and underplays their own politics [1].
• Judgement: useful for the role of exploitation, but needs other factors to explain the full pattern [1]. [12] Examiner insight: Top-band answers weigh dependency against at least one alternative and reach a judgement, not two separate summaries.

10. Indicative content:

• Define cultural imperialism: Western, especially American, culture displacing local cultures [1].
• Ritzer’s McDonaldization: standardised global consumer culture [1].
• English spreads through the internet, business and education [1].
• Own-society example: global streaming and fast-food brands popular with urban young people [1].
• Analysis: TNC ownership of media means profit flows to rich countries [1].
• McLuhan’s global village: shared global media audiences [1].
• Counter: glocalisation (Robertson) shows global brands adapting locally [1].
• Cultural flows are multi-directional, for example Bollywood or K-pop abroad [1].
• Own-society example of local survival: local language media or religious practice remains strong [1].
• Transformationalists see hybrid cultures, not replacement [1].
• Political and religious revivals can be a reaction against global culture [1].
• Judgement: globalisation has spread Western culture widely, but “imperialism” overstates its one-way nature [1]. [12] Examiner insight: The question asks for examples from a society you know; without them, application credit is limited however strong the theory.

11. Indicative content:

• NGOs deliver services such as clinics, schools and disaster relief [1].
• They can reach remote groups that states fail to serve [1].
• Limitation: they may answer to Northern donors and set priorities from outside [1].
• Grassroots movements organise from below, for example the Chipko movement in India [1].
• They defend local land and resources against states or TNCs [1].
• Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement in Kenya linked tree planting with women’s empowerment [1].
• Limitation: grassroots groups often lack money and can be ignored or repressed [1].
• Judgement: both widen participation, but structural change still needs states and global agencies [1]. [8] Examiner insight: Treat NGOs and grassroots movements separately before comparing them; merging them loses the analysis marks.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining a term with a synonym, for example “glocalisation means global and local”.
• Ignoring the figures in a data question.
• Treating all migrants as refugees.
• Naming a theorist with no explanation of their idea.
• Giving one-sided extended answers on aid, migration or globalisation.
• Leaving out own-society examples where the question asks for them.
• Merging separate actors (TNCs, NGOs, UN agencies) into one vague “they”.
• Not showing working in calculations.
• Ending extended answers without a judgement.

Next steps

Check your weaker areas with our free diagnostics. For one-to-one help with Unit 3, book a free trial class. The OxfordAQA 9690 exam preparation guide explains how the units fit together.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International AS and A-level Sociology (9690) specification, Version 1.1 (first teaching September 2026; first A-level exams May/June 2028), section 3.2.1 People and development, and the Unit 3 assessment details in section 2.2.