gcse questions

SCHOOL SOCIOLOGY
Sociology at Bryn Hafren school and the Barry Sixth Form

GCSE Sociology: Questions and revision topics

Contents

Learn the vocabulary of sociology

Learn the following lists of things
Twenty practice questions for you to work out

Learn the Vocabulary of Sociology

These pages will offer you some words and meanings. Learn them off by heart. Get friends and family to test you if necessary. Show understanding by writing your own examples next to the words.

Word	Meaning	Example
Socialisation	Is the process of learning how to behave
Informal socialisation	We are trained by friends and families
Formal socialisation	We are trained by people who set out to change us
Nature theory	We behave as we do because we are like animals
Nurture theory	We behave as we do because other people train us into this.
Deviant	Someone who breaks the rules of society
Norms	The behaviour that is normal for any situation.
Values	The things that we think are important about society
Mores	Our sense of right and wrong
Sex	The physical differences between males and females
Gender	The social differences between male and female

Moral codes	The sense we have of right and wrong.
Legal codes	The laws that are made
Formal sanctions	These are punishments that come from breaking the rules
Informal sanctions	These are punishments from breaking moral rules
Inequality	The differences between people’s chances in life
Life chances or life style	The differences between people’s quality of life
Culture	The set of rules we have about who we are and where we belong in society
Ethnicity	The national group that you think that you belong to
Value laden	Contains opinions
Value free	Is a statement of fact
Objective	Is value free and scientific
Subjective	Contains personal feelings and is unscientific
Absolute poverty	When people have none of the things that they need for life
Relative poverty	When people are poor compared to other people
Stereotype	A simple belief about someone based on appearance or culture
Working class	People who work with their skills with their hands for a living
Middle class	People who work with their brains for a living
Overt curriculum	Things we are taught in school deliberately
National curriculum	Things that the government says all children should learn
Hidden curriculum	Things that we are taught in school by accident but which contain values
Social stratification	The layers that we have in society
Marxist theory	The world is divided into rich and poor for the benefit of rich people
Nuclear family	Mum, Dad and the children in one house
Extended family	Lots of relatives live close to or even with each other and support each other
Labelling theory	People are labelled by other people and then behave in that way
Moral panic	People get hysterical about things in newspapers

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Learn the following lists of things - you can find them in your units

You are advised to concentrate on the lists that are from the topics that you will study for the examination first. If you try to learn everything it will be hard work.

If you work with a friend, you could talk through ideas.

It is sensible to swap your notes. Print or photocopy two copies and give one set to your friend.

Five reasons why divorce rates have gone up since the turn of the century

Four reasons why some children do not do as well in school as others

Three reasons why sociologists reject nature theories of human behaviour

Five reasons why some people are nervous about what the newspapers tell us about the world.

Four different reasons why some people like to go to work

Five ways in which women’s lives have changed

Five reasons why women’s lives have changed

Five ways in which people from another culture are different from us

One family style that is very different from our ideas of family

Five things that can influence what an editor chooses to put into a newspaper

Three reasons why girls commit crime less than boys do

Three reasons why people wanted comprehensive schools

Three reasons why people rejected comprehensive schools

Three reasons why some people are racist

Four laws that tell children what they can and cannot do

Four differences between social class and caste

Four reasons why rich people tend to have easier or better lives than poor people

Four reasons why we need schools for the good of society

Four ways in which you can do better in school

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Here are some practice questions for you to have a go at:

What is the difference between primary and secondary socialisation? (5)
What is the difference between nature and nurture theories of human behaviour? (5)
Explain the meaning of cultural relativity with reference to a culture other than our own. (8)
What is the difference between sex and gender? (5)
How do the mass media influence our leisure time activities? (10)
Can sociologists rely on official statistics when looking at crime? (10) Your answer here should criticise official statistics but also point out how they can be useful.
Why have divorce rates risen since the beginning of this century? (8) Do not give personal reasons why some people divorce. Talk about society.
What is streaming in school? How may it cause some children to do less well than they ought to do? (10) Talk about labelling theory and the idea of an anti-school subculture.
What is meant by the term social mobility? (4)
Why have some people criticised the Registrar General’s Index of Social Class? (10) Talk about the new social class index that will be used in 2001 as well as about the problems that there are with the old Index.
What is meant by youth culture? (4)
Suggest ways in which the mass media can actually cause crime. (8) Look up folk devils and moral panics for this one.
Give three reasons why people may have come from other cultures to live in Britain. (6)
Why are some people racists? (9) Revise the reasons for racism from the units and use the technical terms. Do not rely on your common sense but show sociological knowledge.
Suggest reasons why girls have begun to do better in GCSE than boys in recent years. (10) Give a nice wide variety of suggestions backed up with some facts here.
Why do people from middle class backgrounds tend to do better in school than children from working class backgrounds? (10) Offer a lot of ideas here and think around the topic. Do not forget to mention values and norms!
What effects will the increasing number of old people have on our society? (10)
Why are most people in prison male and working class? (10) Offer a lot of ideas here and think around the topic. Do not forget to mention values and norms!
Explain the Marxist theory of social class and offer some criticisms of this view of society. (10)
The index of social class has changed for the 2001 census. Explain how and why. (10)