16 | Religion: Part 1
The opening chapter in this series on religion looks at “Key Concepts and the Changing Nature of Religious Movements in Society” – something that lends itself neatly to two broad sections: 1. Key Concepts – an “introduction to the sociology of religion” that covers two important areas: • how we define religion, considered in terms […]
12 | Youth: Part 1
It’s probably fair to say the topic of Youth is one of the roads less travelled when it comes to a-level sociology, but I always found it an interesting area to teach / study, particularly because it also links neatly with a couple of the more popular a-level Units in education and deviance. This initial […]
11 | The Research Process: Part 4
The final part of the Research Methods chapter covers the use of mixed methods in the context of sociological research and is split into three theoretically-discrete, but related, areas: 1. Methodological pluralism involves the idea of combining methodologies, methods and data types to arrive at a more-rounded, reliable and valid insight into social behaviour. 2. […]
9 | The Research Process: Part 2
The focus here is quantitative data and research, with the free chapter split into three discrete, but necessarily related, parts. The first part outlines a selection of primary quantitative research methods (questionnaires, structured interviews and content analysis) and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. The second part does something similar for secondary quantitative methods (official and […]
8 | The Research Process: Part 1
While Research Methods at a-level aren’t everyone’s cup of tea they can be interesting if students are given the time and space to bring together the theory with the practice. Unfortunately I can’t help you here with the practice (although I can give you a few pointers about how to carry-out a range of cheap […]
7 | Families and Households: Part 4
The final part of the Family chapter looks at “Roles, responsibilities and relationships within the family” through the media of: • Domestic division of labour • Power relationships • Children and parents • Functionalist / Marxist / Feminist explanations of family roles • Demographic trends and changes As with previous chapters I can’t emphasise strongly […]
6 | Families and Households: Part 3
After the raw, enervating, excitement of Family Trends and the Role of Family in Society, the rollercoaster ride that is Family Life continues with the unalloyed joy that is Family Diversity. While some commentators (who shall remain nameless because I haven’t named them) have described family diversity as a “thrill-a-minute fun-fest filled with fantastic fripperies”, […]
1 | The Formation of Culture
Around 5 years ago I published a book for the OCR Specification (don’t thank me, somebody had to) and although it’s still available if you want to buy it , it’s probably out-lived what little economic utility it once had. I decided, therefore, it’s probably time to make it freely available to anyone who wants […]
Mapping Differential Educational Achievement
Differences in UK educational achievement are normally categorised across three main dimensions – class, gender and ethnicity – of which the former is generally seen by sociologists of education as the primary determinant of achievement differences (as measured by exam grades), while gender and in some instances ethnicity is generally preferred by politicians and media […]