Sociology

Our Sociology curriculum gives students an understanding of the social forces that affect their lives, their communities, and the society to which they belong. Sociology is a multifaceted discipline that empowers students to understand the complexity of social issues. This supports students to be tolerant of different views whilst also supporting them to express their opinions in a rational and academic manner. 

The curriculum is designed to enable students to think like a sociologist – to see the world in an objective way without value judgement. Students are exposed to a range of sociological skills and knowledge and are assessed on their ability to form balanced judgements on a range of sociological issues. For example, students look at how the concepts of material and cultural deprivation impact educational achievement. Then, in Year 13, students build nuance and complexity to these concepts by applying them to the crime and deviance unit, to think about how these concepts link to criminality.

Students study the core sociological themes of socialisation, culture and identity, social differentiation, and power and stratification. These themes are applied to substantive areas of sociology including education, families, crime and deviance, media, research methods and theories. Additionally, students engage in theoretical debates of conflict vs consensus and social structure vs social action.