OxfordAQA A Level Sociology: Introducing Sociology — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, in the style and at the standard of the examination. They are not reproduced past-paper questions — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Introducing Sociology revision notes

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Section A

1. Distinguish between structural (macro) and social action (micro) theories, naming an example of each. [4]

2. Distinguish between positivism and interpretivism. [4]

Section B

3. Explain how a positivist and an interpretivist would each approach the study of suicide, referring to Durkheim and to Douglas or Atkinson. [8]

4. Explain the practical, ethical and theoretical factors influencing a sociologist’s choice of research method. [9]

5. Explain three criticisms of functionalism. [6]

6. Evaluate the view that sociology can and should be a science. [12]

7. Distinguish intergenerational from intragenerational social mobility, and explain the cycle of deprivation. [6]

8. Explain what is meant by the “dual burden” and “triple shift” in relation to gender inequality, and outline the postmodernist view that class identity has fragmented. [8]

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Answers

1. Structural (macro) theories examine society as a whole and see individuals as shaped by social structures, e.g. functionalism or Marxism [1] [1]. Social action (micro) theories start from the individual and the meanings people attach to their actions, seeing society as constructed through interaction, e.g. symbolic interactionism [1] [1].

2. Positivism holds that society can be studied using the methods of the natural sciences, seeking objective, quantitative data and general laws of cause and effect [1] [1]. Interpretivism holds that people are conscious beings who act on meanings, so research must uncover verstehen — subjective understanding — through qualitative methods [1] [1].

3. Positivist (Durkheim): treated suicide as a social fact with social causes [1]; used official statistics from different countries and groups, looking for correlations [1]; found suicide rates varied with levels of social integration and moral regulation, producing four types and thus a general law relating suicide to society rather than individual psychology [1] [1]. Interpretivist (Douglas / Atkinson): argued the statistics are not objective facts but the outcome of decisions made by coroners [1]. Douglas held that suicide has different meanings in different cultures, so cases must be studied qualitatively through case studies and personal documents to recover the meaning of the act [1] [1]. Atkinson went further, arguing that suicide statistics tell us only about the taken-for-granted assumptions coroners use to classify a death — so Durkheim was studying coroners, not suicides [1].

4. Practical factors: the time and funding available, the size and accessibility of the sample, and the researcher’s own skills — a lone researcher with a small grant cannot run a national survey [1] [1] [1]. Ethical factors: the need for informed consent, protection from harm, confidentiality and the right to withdraw [1]; covert methods raise particular problems, and research on vulnerable groups may require extra safeguards [1] [1]. Theoretical factors: a positivist will prefer methods generating reliable, quantitative, representative data such as questionnaires and official statistics [1]; an interpretivist will prefer methods generating valid, qualitative data such as unstructured interviews and participant observation [1]; the researcher’s theoretical position therefore largely determines which methods appear appropriate at all [1].

5. Any three, 2 marks each: it is too deterministic, presenting individuals as puppets shaped entirely by society with no free will or capacity to resist [1] [1]. It is teleological — it explains institutions by their effects, arguing the family exists because society needs it, which is not a genuine causal explanation [1] [1]. It cannot adequately explain conflict and change, presenting society as harmonious and consensual when it is marked by inequality and struggle [1] [1]. It is ideologically conservative, justifying the existing order by presenting inequality as functional and inevitable [1] [1].

6. For sociology as a science: positivists argue society consists of observable social facts external to the individual, which can be measured and correlated [1] [1]; Durkheim’s work on suicide demonstrated that statistical patterns and general laws can be established [1]; sociology uses systematic, replicable methods, hypotheses and evidence, distinguishing it from common sense [1]; Popper argued sociology can be scientific provided its statements are falsifiable and open to testing [1]. Against: interpretivists argue that people have consciousness and act on meanings, unlike the objects of natural science, so behaviour cannot be reduced to cause and effect [1] [1]; laboratory experiments are impossible for practical and ethical reasons, so the key scientific method is unavailable [1]; the sociologist is part of the society being studied, so complete objectivity is unattainable and values inevitably influence the choice of topic and interpretation [1]; Kuhn argued sociology lacks a single agreed paradigm, having many competing perspectives, and is therefore pre-scientific [1]. Judgement: much depends on what is meant by “science” [1]. If science requires laboratory experiment and universal laws, sociology cannot qualify [1]. If it means systematic, evidence-based, self-critical enquiry open to falsification, sociology can meet the standard [1]. Whether it should aspire to science is a separate question — some argue the attempt sacrifices the understanding of meaning that is sociology’s distinctive contribution [1].

7. Intergenerational mobility compares an individual’s social position with that of their parents [1]; intragenerational mobility compares stages within a person’s own career, such as being promoted over time [1]. The cycle of deprivation describes how disadvantage reproduces across generations: poor housing and diet lead to poor health and educational outcomes, which lead to low-paid, insecure work, which reproduces poverty in the next generation, restarting the cycle [1] [1] [1] [1].

8. The dual burden refers to women who take on paid employment while remaining primarily responsible for domestic labour and childcare, effectively working two jobs [1] [1]. The triple shift extends this further to include a third form of unpaid work — emotion work, managing the family’s emotional wellbeing — alongside paid work and domestic labour [1] [1]. Postmodernists argue that class, gender and national identity have fragmented: identity is increasingly chosen and fluid rather than fixed by structural position, and grand theories built around a single structural factor such as class no longer adequately explain identity in a media-saturated, consumer-driven society [1] [1].

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Where marks are usually lost

• Treating positivism and interpretivism as methods rather than epistemologies.
• Describing Durkheim’s study without the concept of social facts.
• Giving practical factors when theoretical ones are asked for.
• Not defining “science” before judging whether sociology qualifies.
• Discussing social mobility or the cycle of deprivation without naming the specific mechanism linking one stage to the next.
• Treating postmodernism’s fragmentation thesis as simply “class no longer matters” rather than as a specific claim about identity becoming chosen and fluid.