Questions by topic

Every AQA AS (7191) and A-level (7192) Sociology past-paper question since June 2016, sorted into topics by the specification content each question assesses. Each topic page shows every question with its Item, the mark scheme with its level descriptors and the examiner's comment, every essay title set, and filters by paper, year and question type. Theory and Methods questions from Papers 1 and 3 and AS research-methods questions sit together.

Paper 1: Education · A-level Paper 1 Section A; AS Paper 1

• Role and functions of education (functionalist, Marxist, New Right)P1 22 parts
• Differential educational achievement: class, gender and ethnicityP1 47 parts
• Processes within schools: labelling, subcultures and the hidden curriculumP1 29 parts
• Educational policy, marketisation and globalisationP1 26 parts
• Methods in Context: research methods applied to educationP1 19 parts

Theory and Methods · A-level Paper 1 (Methods in Context and Theory and Methods) and Paper 3 Section B; AS Papers 1 and 2

• Quantitative and qualitative methods and research designT&M 11 parts
• Research methods: questionnaires, interviews, observation, experiments, documents and official statisticsT&M 40 parts
• Primary and secondary data, quantitative and qualitative dataT&M 11 parts
• Positivism, interpretivism and social factsT&M 18 parts
• Theoretical, practical and ethical issues in researchT&M 28 parts
• Consensus, conflict, structural and social action theoriesT&M 7 parts
• Modernity and postmodernityT&M 3 parts
• Is sociology a science?T&M 3 parts
• Theory and methods, value freedom and social policyT&M 5 parts

Paper 2: Culture and Identity · A-level Paper 2 Section A (option); AS Paper 2 Section B (option)

• Conceptions of culture: subculture, mass, folk, high, popular and global cultureP2 18 parts
• Socialisation and the agencies of socialisationP2 20 parts
• Self, identity and differenceP2 18 parts
• Identity and age, disability, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexuality and classP2 38 parts
• Identity, production, consumption and globalisationP2 21 parts

Paper 2: Families and Households · A-level Paper 2 Section A (option); AS Paper 2 Section B (option)

• The family, social structure, the economy and state policiesP2 19 parts
• Marriage, divorce, cohabitation and family diversityP2 35 parts
• Gender roles, domestic labour and power in the familyP2 18 parts
• Childhood and the changing status of childrenP2 16 parts
• Demographic trends: birth rates, death rates, ageing and migrationP2 20 parts

Paper 2: Health · A-level Paper 2 Section A (option); AS Paper 2 Section B (option)

• The social construction of health, illness, disability and the bodyP2 19 parts
• Health inequalities by class, gender, ethnicity and regionP2 24 parts
• Inequalities in the provision of and access to health careP2 19 parts
• Mental illnessP2 15 parts
• Medicine, the health professions and the globalised health industryP2 20 parts

Paper 2: Work, Poverty and Welfare · A-level Paper 2 Section A (option); AS Paper 2 Section B (option)

• The nature, existence and persistence of povertyP2 26 parts
• The distribution of poverty, wealth and incomeP2 22 parts
• Responses and solutions to poverty: the state and welfare providersP2 20 parts
• The labour process: division of labour, technology and deskillingP2 15 parts
• Work, worklessness and life chancesP2 24 parts

Paper 2: Beliefs in Society · A-level Paper 2 Section B (option)

• Ideology, science and religionP2 8 parts
• Religion, social change and social stabilityP2 10 parts
• Religious organisations: churches, sects, cults and New Age movementsP2 7 parts
• Religion and social groups: gender, ethnicity, age and classP2 7 parts
• Secularisation and the global spread of religionP2 15 parts

Paper 2: Global Development · A-level Paper 2 Section B (option)

• Development, underdevelopment and global inequality (modernisation and dependency theory)P2 10 parts
• Globalisation and developmentP2 7 parts
• Transnational corporations, NGOs and international agenciesP2 7 parts
• Aid, trade, industrialisation, urbanisation, environment and warP2 12 parts
• Employment, education, health, demography and gender in developmentP2 13 parts

Paper 2: The Media · A-level Paper 2 Section B (option)

• The new mediaP2 9 parts
• Ownership and control of the mediaP2 10 parts
• The media, globalisation and popular cultureP2 6 parts
• Selection and presentation of the newsP2 7 parts
• Media representations of age, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disabilityP2 9 parts
• The media and audiencesP2 9 parts

Paper 2: Stratification and Differentiation · A-level Paper 2 Section B (option)

• Stratification and differentiation by class, gender, ethnicity and ageP2 15 parts
• Class, status, power and life chancesP2 16 parts
• Defining and measuring social classP2 5 parts
• Changing structures of inequality and the transnational capitalist classP2 7 parts
• Social mobilityP2 8 parts

Paper 3: Crime and Deviance · A-level Paper 3 Section A

• Crime, deviance, social order and social controlP3 13 parts
• Crime by ethnicity, gender and social classP3 15 parts
• Globalisation, the media, green crime and state crimeP3 8 parts
• Crime control, surveillance, punishment and victimsP3 14 parts

By question type

Or work on a kind of question across every topic: 2-mark definitions, 2-mark "using one example" questions, 4- and 6-mark outline questions, 10-mark outline and explain, 10-mark Item questions (analyse), Methods in Context, 16-, 20- and 30-mark essays.