Development, underdevelopment and global inequality (modernisation and dependency theory) P2

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. Questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in ways they have not done before. It is therefore important for students to allow time to think about how to answer the question. Students should be aware that there are two types of ten-mark questions. These have different requirements and different mark schemes. There are different marks available for the assessment objectives. The items for 10 mark “analyse” questions are written to give prompts or “hooks” for student answers. These must be used to access application marks. Answers can indicate use of hooks by quoting, by a reference in parentheses or by wording (e.g. “As the item says…”). Items end with a sentence restating the question; the hooks are in the preceding part of the item. Introductions and conclusions are not required for 10-mark questions, are unlikely to help students and take up time. It is helpful if answers are set out to clearly indicate the two answers, with wording such as “One way/reason is…” or by starting a new paragraph for the second point. Answers that give more than two answers are unlikely to develop two of them sufficiently. The most successful answers to 10-mark questions were focused, clearly stating a point that addressed the question and then developing it, using sociological concepts, evidence such as an example and, where appropriate, theory. Most students showed some knowledge of the information in the hooks but some had difficulty making a connection with global inequalities. This was particularly the case for the first hook. Good answers often explored how having a young population provided workers who could help a country develop. The second hook led to more developed answers, often considering how remittances from emigrants could reduce poverty in the country of origin.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• must link demographic change to global inequality
• item hooks: young populations (workforce for growth) and emigration (remittances vs brain drain)
• first hook often poorly linked
• drift into demography in general = 1–3

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

These require answers that are essays and are best written in paragraphs. A brief introduction can help set out the argument of the essay. It will not attract marks if it only repeats the question or parts of the item. The purpose of the items for these questions is to suggest a few starting points for students, including ways into evaluation. Students are expected to also bring in further ideas (“and your knowledge” in the instruction) rather than relying only on the item. A wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, so students need to be selective. It is more effective to cover a limited number of views/theories in depth rather than to try to include everything. Students should keep to the question. When a question is about a particular view, other views can be used for evaluation but without writing all that the student knows about them. There was a tendency for answers to progressively lose sight of the question and to become a list of different views. Students who made brief essay plans appeared to benefit by having more structured and coherent responses. Most answers showed good knowledge and understanding of different theories of industrialisation, though some lacked range. There was a tendency to give information about modernisation and dependency theories without relating these clearly to industrialisation. Answers could often have been stronger with detailed examples of countries that have followed different paths to development.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band debates modernisation against dependency, people-centred and post-development views
• many described the theories without tying them to industrialisation
• named country examples of different paths would strengthen answers

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

The items for these questions have a different purpose to those for 10 mark “analyse” questions. The items will suggest a few starting points for students, including ways into evaluation. Students are expected to also bring in further ideas (“and your knowledge” in the instruction). A wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, so students need to be selective. It is more effective to cover a limited number of points in depth rather than to try to include everything. Students who made essay plans appeared to benefit by having more structured and coherent responses. Q18: Students generally had some good knowledge and understanding of gender and development. Less effective answers drifted into generic feminist material regarding male dominance and patriarchy without linking to development and underdevelopment. Evaluation was often through contrasting the gender blind theories of modernisation and dependency with more modern theories and examples.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band debates modernisation, dependency and feminist theories of gendered development
• drift into generic feminism on patriarchy not linked to development limits marks
• evaluation often contrasted gender-blind modernisation and dependency with later theories

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. Questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in ways they are unlikely to have done before. It is therefore important for students to allow time to think about how to answer the question. Students should be made aware that there are two types of 10 mark questions. These have different requirements and different mark schemes. There are different marks available for the assessment objectives. 10 mark “outline and explain” questions have more marks available for knowledge and understanding, and none for evaluation. Introductions and conclusions are not required for 10 mark questions and take up valuable time. It is helpful if answers are set out to clearly indicate the two separate points, with wording such as “One way/reason is…” or by starting a new paragraph for the second point. Answers that give more than two points are unlikely to develop two of them sufficiently. Question 16: Most answers were able to identify two ways education affects global inequalities. Ways included how girls are often disadvantaged in education or how education can help girls escape restrictive roles. Others looked at how education can help redress inequalities in aspects of development such as health.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• two ways education affects global inequalities (skilled workforce and competitiveness, girls' education, brain drain, elite legitimation)
• drift into education in general = 1–3
• common answers on girls' education and education improving health

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Most students answered their chosen questions in the order in which they appeared on the question paper. They therefore answered the section B 20 mark question last. For some this was a relatively brief and often apparently unfinished answer. This suggests that students need to track carefully time spent on each question. The purpose of the items for these questions is to suggest a few starting points for students, including ways into evaluation. Students are expected to also bring in further ideas (“and your knowledge” in the instruction). A wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, so students need to be selective. It is more effective to cover a limited number of views/theories in depth rather than to include every possible theory. Students who made essay plans appeared to benefit by having more structured and coherent responses. Question 18: There were some very good answers analysing other measures of development such as the Human Development Index, Sustainable Development Goals and indices of sustainability and happiness. Most students showed a good knowledge of theories as well. Sometimes, however, discussion of a theory led to a loss of focus on the question.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band debates economic-growth measures (GNP) against wider measures (HDI, SDGs, gender, sustainability, happiness)
• strong answers analysed alternative indices
• theory discussion sometimes lost focus on measurement

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Most candidates answered their chosen questions in the order in which they appeared on the question paper. They therefore answered the section B 20 mark essay question last, and for many this was a relatively brief and often apparently unfinished answer. This suggests that timing is a problem for many candidates. The items for 20 mark questions are written to provide a number of ideas on which students can begin to build their answers. Students are expected to also bring in further ideas (hence “and your knowledge” in the instruction). It is often the case that a wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, and students need to be selective. For example, it may be more effective to cover a limited number of views or theories in some depth rather than to include every possible theory. There was a tendency for answers to progressively lose sight of the question and to become a list of different views. Many attempts at evaluation were learned criticisms. Evaluation is more effective where it is focused on the demands of the question. Students should also be aware that evaluation includes awareness of the strengths as well as the weaknesses of an argument or theory. Following feedback from centres regarding the advance information for the 20 mark questions, we have monitored the marking of these questions, as well as carrying out statistical analysis on student performance. Based on this analysis, we can confirm that students have performed as we expected them to on these questions, and their performance on these questions is in line with previous series. Q18 Answers were strong on environmental problems, with good discussions of how development is linked to, for example, global heating, pollution of land, sea and air, deforestation and loss of species. Discussion of solutions and positive aspects of development, such as sustainability and grass roots or people-centered development, were less evident. There was some application of theories.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band debates early theories (modernisation, dependency) against sustainable development
• answers strong on environmental damage but weaker on sustainability and people-centred or grass-roots solutions

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• must apply Item L (copying developed countries, take-off, critics who say it traps poor countries)
• top band: debate between modernisation and dependency or other theories (world systems, post-development)
• a basic account of factors promoting modernisation = 9–12
• no examiners' report comment for this part

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Some students wrote introductory paragraphs and/or conclusions. These are not necessary, and are unlikely to gain additional marks; they also take up time. Some students made only one point in their answers, or three or more, rather than the two asked for. The word ‘two’ is put in bold in the question to try and draw students’ attention to this. Sometimes it was not clear how many points were being made. It is helpful for students to clearly indicate their two answers, with wording such as “One way is…” or by starting a new paragraph for their second point. Notably, some students wrote far more than was needed for a 10-mark response. The two types of 10-mark question, “outline and explain” and “analysis” types, are marked differently as the assessment objectives have different weightings. It is important that students are aware of this. In particular they should note that evaluation is not a requirement for answers to 10 mark “outline and explain” questions. For 10 mark “outline and explain” questions, students cannot rely on reciting knowledge; these questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge of the topic in a way that they are unlikely to have done before. The best answers to 10-mark questions were focused, clearly stating a point and then developing it, and used sociological concepts, studies, evidence and theory as appropriate. There were some very good answers to this question, with many choosing to discuss one way in which inequalities might be being reduced and another in which they might be increasing, applying relevant theories and examples.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• drift into globalisation in general = 1–3
• good answers gave one way inequalities may be narrowing and one way they may be widening, with theory and examples
• AO split from AQA's standard grid for this paper (this year's mark scheme does not print it).

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Most students answered their chosen questions in the order in which they appeared on the question paper. They therefore answered the 20 mark essay question in section B last. Some student responses to this question were relatively brief and seemingly unfinished. This suggests that timing was a problem for some students. Many scripts had one substantial well developed answer to a 20 mark question and one significantly briefer one, suggesting problems with timing. It is often the case that a wide range of material can be relevant to these questions, and students need to carefully choose the content they wish to use by planning their answers. For example, it may be more effective to cover a limited number of views or theories in some depth rather than to include every possible theory. There was a tendency for answers to progressively lose sight of the question and to become a list of different views. The best answers will address all aspects of the question and will draw on theories, concepts and empirical examples or evidence. Evaluation which meets the demands of the questions is better than points of criticism which have been learned and included, regardless of the question. Students should also be aware that evaluation includes awareness of the strengths as well as the weaknesses of an argument, theory or piece of evidence. Most students showed good knowledge of theories of development and underdevelopment. Some concentrated on modernisation theory and others were unable, for dependency theory, to go beyond a brief outline of Frank’s ideas with some supporting empirical evidence. In explaining theories, students should be able to use the key terms used within that theory (in the case of dependency theory these would include satellite and metropolis, colonialism, neo-colonialism and chains of dependency) and be able to relate the theory to empirical evidence (in this case, this could include the effects of aid and trade). Better answers showed awareness of the historical context of the theories, their relevance today and differences within theories.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band debates dependency against modernisation or other theories
• many stopped at a brief outline of Frank
• expected key terms: metropolis/satellite, colonialism, neo-colonialism, chains of dependency, plus evidence such as aid and trade
• best showed historical context and variation within theories
• packet question text drops part of the item (crop is complete)
• AO split from AQA's standard grid for this paper (this year's mark scheme does not print it).

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• item hook: lack of development causing frustration and conflict, conflict limiting development (DRC)
• top band locates the debate between modernisation, dependency and post-development theories
• alternative causes include resource curse, colonial legacy, arms trade, ethnic conflict