Social Constructionism

Introducing Sociology Series: This film introduces the key concept of social construction and looks at how cultures teach us to see the world in certain ways.  Dr Steven Taylor illustrateds this by looking at and comparing cross cultural constructions of gender. 

Identity

Introducing Sociology Series: In this activity-based film Dr Steven Taylor looks at the interaction between the individual and society through the concept of identity, with a particualr focus on illustrating and explaining the difference between personal and social identities.

What Is Sociology?

Introducing Sociology Series: In this short film Dr Steven Taylor provides a concise and accessible introduction to sociology for students new to the subject. It introduces, outlines and examines four key areas covered at the start of any course: the distinction between social and sociological problems. the problem of order. how to explain social change […]

Social Inequality Smoothies: The Presentation

To complement the Social Inequality Smoothies blog post I thought it might be helpful to create an accompanying PowerPoint Presentation for those who like to take a more-visual approach to these things. It’s a very simple Point-and-Click Presentation (you Point at a picture, Click it and get some basic information) that covers most of your glass-related favourites (I might […]

The A-level Gender Gap: A Visual Tool

Although I’ve posted before about the gender gap in subject choice, the focus has largely been on explanations for the gap in various broad subject strands (see, for example, Archer 2013). While this type of analysis is, of course, vital, what sometimes gets overlooked in the rush to explain is data that actually allows students […]

Theory Summaries

I was going to tack this on to one or other of my previous Knowledge Organiser posts but then thought better of it because it’s more a classroom presentation than an Organiser per se. Originally a 2019 PowerPoint Presentation by Colette Cradock (I’m assuming – that’s what the metadata says but whether she is the […]

Crime Prevention Strategies: Plain Language Summaries

Although keeping up-to-date with the latest research is something that should happen in an ideal world, the reality is that few of us have either the time or inclination to: a. Find and read a whole bunch of often-obscure research publications. b. Summarise this meta-analysis in a pithy, student-friendly, way. c. Present the information so […]

Q and A: Does the Gender of the Teacher Matter?

The Question A popular (as in “a lot of people seem to believe it“) and recurring question around the “failing boys” discourse in education across many western societies (from Britain to America and Australia) is whether a lack of male role models, particularly in early-years education, is to blame. The Answer Supplied by Carrington, Francis, […]

More Gaps to Mind…

If you’ve read the recent Mind the Gap blog post you might be thinking: “That’s all very well and good but what would be really useful is a Pdf version of the post that’s been designed in the style of the recent Sociology Shortcuts Magazine Issue 3 with all kinds of pictures and stuff or, […]

Mind the Gap: gender identity and educational achievement

Key Points Recommended for those with short attention spans or too little time to spend wading through a lot of informative but quite detailed stuff. Students. Probably. Yu, McLellan and Winter (2021): study based on sample of 597 students, aged 14 -16, drawn from 4 state-maintained secondary schools in England. Educational achievement is linked to […]

Sociology Shortcuts Magazine No.3: The Intro Issue

Issue 3 of Sociology Shortcuts Magazine arrives just-in-time for the start of the new school year, which is just as well because the Intro Issue is aimed squarely at those new to Sociology as they take their first faltering steps in their new favourite subject taught by their new favourite teachers. In terms of content, […]

Geographical Profiling Applied: The M25 Rapist

Continuing the recent Crime and Criminology vibe with our films (if you’re interested in Geographic Profiling you might also be interested in it’s better-known counterpart Offender Profiling), this companion-piece to Introducing Geographical Offender Profiling complements the original film by using the example of Antoni Imiela, the man the media dubbed the M25 Rapist because the […]

The Sociology Show Podcast: Starter Pack

Although I’ve previously posted about Mathew Wilkin’s Sociology Show Podcasts, I thought it might be helpful to draw your attention to a very specific podcast designed to provide students with a Starter Pack of information pertinent to the start of their new A-level Sociology course (or, if you’re listening in America, their new High School […]

Footnotes Magazine

Footnotes is the American Sociological Association’s (ASA) quarterly magazine that “showcases sociologists’ perspectives on relevant and topical themes and includes information related to ASA and the discipline of sociology“. It is, in other words, an online magazine that contains a range of short(ish) articles dealing with contemporary sociological issues and ideas that are useful for […]

Podcast: The Social Breakdown

Podcasts, as you may have noticed, have become something of “A Teaching Thing” over the past few years, partly as the technology to create them has become increasingly simple and accessible and partly because they can be an interesting way to get information across to students in a relatively chatty, informal, kind of way. As […]