Sociology is, very simply, the study of why people behave the way they do and why society works the way it does. There are five key topics which cover a range of questions about how we form our identity (including a strong focus on gender and ethnicity) and how the behaviour and attitudes of individuals affect others.

Sociology is an optional subject taken in Years 10 and 11 and is a popular choice. We follow the Eduqas GCSE Sociology course which is structured as follows:

Key questions covered:

• Are we born with our identity or is it created? Would our identity be different in a different culture?
• To what extent do gender and ethnicity influence our identity?
• Who influences our identity and behaviour and how do they do it?
• How are people controlled in our society?
• Why does inequality exist?
• Why are some people wealthy and some poor? How does poverty affect people’s life chances?
• Do will still have a class system in the UK? Is there an “underclass”?
• What types of prejudice and discrimination exist in our culture?
• How does the family influence our identity & behaviour?
• How has the UK family changed over the last 60 years? Why has this happened?
• Are some types of family “better” than others? Why?
• How do schools continue to teach us behaviour and identity?
• Why do some groups of students achieve better than others?
• Why do we go to school?
• What is the difference between crime and deviance?
• Can we trust crime statistics?
• How do deprivation and inequality affect crime?
• What role does the media play in reporting on and crafting opinions about crime?
• How do we research society? What methods can we use and how reliable and valid are they?

Alongside considering all the above and more, students will take an in depth look at different theoretical perspectives on society including Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism and will study the ideas of highly influential thinkers within these groups of theory such as Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Anne Oakley and Max Weber.