Religion, social change and social stability P2

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 responses successfully focused on the concept of powerful groups. Marxism and feminism featured strongly, often contrasted with functionalism. Better answers were able to apply a range of studies and when attempting to evaluate avoided drifting into listing functions. A minority answered the question more as if it were about religiosity by class or gender.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• top band debates Marxism and feminisms against functionalism, postmodernism and interactionism
• evaluation should not drift into listing functions
• a minority wrongly treated it as religiosity by class or gender

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 will not 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. A breakdown of the marks awarded by assessment objective can be found in the mark scheme. 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; they take up time and rarely improve the mark. 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 points are unlikely to develop two of them sufficiently. Q13: Most students successfully identified two ways in which social change might lead to secularisation. Popular responses included individualism and personal choice, the privatisation of religion, and rationalisation alongside scientific advancements. Explicit 'connections' to secularisation were often underdeveloped. Some answers focused on changes within religions, which are themselves aspects of secularisation, and so lost focus on the question.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• two ways social change drives secularisation (e.g. industrialisation and urbanisation breaking up religious communities, rationalisation and disenchantment, structural differentiation and privatisation, individualism, pluralism undermining the sacred canopy)
• drift into patterns of belief = 1–3
• explicit links to secularisation often underdeveloped

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 will not 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. A breakdown of the marks awarded by assessment objective can be found in the mark scheme. The items for 10 mark “analyse” questions are written to give prompts or “hooks” for student answers. These have to be used to access application marks. Answers can indicate use of hooks by quoting, by a reference in parentheses or by wording ( eg “As the item says…”). Items end with a sentence restating the question; the hooks are in the preceding part of the item. Students should avoid writing all they know about a “hook”, and focus on applying the idea to the question. Introductions and conclusions are not required for 10 mark questions; they take up time and rarely improve the mark. 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 points are unlikely to develop two of them sufficiently. Q14: Some responses were too descriptive, failing to engage with the item's “hooks”. There were, however, some outstanding answers that demonstrated a deep understanding by incorporating concepts, religious examples, and theory. There was a tendency for answers using the second “hook” to just give an example when a more general point, then exemplified, would have been better.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• two developed applications from Item I (oppressive ideology protecting the powerful
• inspiring protest and change), e.g. false class consciousness, patriarchal ideology, fundamentalism driving change
• drift into non-religious ideologies is a tangent
• descriptive answers missed the hooks
• with the second hook make a general point then exemplify rather than just give an example

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 13: Many answers were able to identify two ways that globalisation has affected religion, for example how new media can provide access to a range of beliefs online. The connection to the functions of religion was often less clear and led to less successful answers.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• must link globalisation to the functions of religion (legitimation, social solidarity, cultural defence, psychological support)
• drift into globalisation in general = 1–3
• many identified effects on religion (e.g. online access to beliefs) without connecting them to functions

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. The questions will ask them to bring together aspects of their sociological knowledge in a way that they are unlikely to have done before. There was a tendency, however, to attempt to answer the question by giving knowledge based on words or phrases in the question, rather than meeting the demands of the question. Students are advised to spend time reading the question, and, where there is one the item, to ensure that they are answering the question. Some students seemed unaware of the different demands of the two types of questions. The marks awarded for the assessment objectives are different in the two types of ten mark questions, and students should be aware of this. In “analyse” (with item) questions, the answers need to be clearly based on the prompts or “hooks” in the item, not just on the final sentence of the item which restates the question. There is no need for an introduction or conclusion for 10 mark questions. It is helpful if answers are set out to clearly indicate the two answers, with wording such as “One way is…” or by starting a new paragraph for the second point. The best answers to 10 mark questions were focused, clearly stating a point that addressed the question and then developing it, using sociological concepts, evidence and, where appropriate, theory. Answers need to address all aspects of the question. For example, answers to question 14 (B1 Beliefs in Society) needed to be clear about how the “way” given applied to sects in particular, rather than being in a form that could apply to other types of religious organisation. In this case, one way to do this would be to discuss features of sects relevant to the question, with a named example. Q14 As suggested above, there was a lack of knowledge of sects and their characteristics. This led to answers that were in general terms about how religion could help people in poverty or those experiencing uncertainty in times of rapid social change.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• hooks: poverty (marginality, theodicy of disprivilege) and uncertainty from rapid change (anomie)
• each way must apply to sects specifically, ideally with a named sect, not religion in general
• many lacked knowledge of sects' features
• describing sects' characteristics alone = 1–3 band

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

Some answers here recounted examples of change influenced by religion, such as the US Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, without being able to make clear connections to globalisation. Those that approached the question by considering aspects of globalisation (such as Westernisation, technology and social media, diasporas and migration) tended to have more success. The particular requirements of both types of 10 mark questions mean that the role of the teacher in explaining the format of questions and, for ‘analyse’ questions, the structure and content of the items, is essential, as is practice followed by constructive feedback. Students need to be aware that these questions will always require connections to be made between different parts of the specification for the topic, and that this will require thinking in the examination about how the two aspects are connected.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• no marks for evaluation in this question type
• each way must link an aspect of globalisation (technology and social media, migration and diasporas, Westernisation) to religion as a force for change, e.g. fundamentalism as a response to uncertainty
• examples of religious change (e.g. US civil rights) with no link to globalisation = 1–3

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Examiner's comment

There was some good knowledge shown in answers both for and against the view that religion acts as a force for social change. Examples were sometimes well evaluated (eg the extent to which religion was important in the US Civil Rights movement) but there were noticeably few contemporary examples. This was often the last question students attempted, and answers were sometimes brief, suggesting students still find time management for this paper difficult. For 20-mark questions, the item will provide useful starting points for answers but students should be encouraged to bring into their answers other points and ideas from their own knowledge. It is understandable that because of time pressure many answers lack a conclusion, but a conclusion weighing up arguments and evidence to reach a judgement will show analytical and evaluative skills that will be credited.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• apply Item J (religion inspiring protest vs preventing change)
• evaluation via Marxist, feminist, functionalist views of religion as conservative or the extent of change
• good use of examples such as the US Civil Rights movement but few contemporary examples
• often the last question attempted, with brief answers and no conclusion

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. The phrase “conservative force” was misinterpreted by a minority as referring to change. A few answers also had two ways which were almost indistinguishable, such as churches creating a sense of belonging and social solidarity. Other answers gave two examples of only one ‘way’. Most students however were able to answer the question well, by applying a range of sociological ideas from different theoretical perspectives.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• conservative force means maintaining stability, not change (a minority misread it)
• the two ways must be distinct (belonging and solidarity counted as one)
• two examples of one way not credited
• drift into religious organisations in general = 1–3
• 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

A number of students wrote introductory paragraphs and/or conclusions. These are not necessary, and are unlikely to gain additional marks. A number of students made only one point in their answer, or three or more, rather than the two asked for. In these cases, the two best answers were rewarded and will be in future series. 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. The assessment objective allocations are different in the two types of 10 mark questions, and students should be made aware of this. There was a wide range of responses to these questions. A minority of students wrote very brief answers. For these 10 mark items, a simple statement of two ways, reasons or factors, without development, is not sufficient to access more than the lower marks in the mark range. The best answers were focused, clearly stating a point and then developing it, with use of sociological concepts, evidence and theory where appropriate, in ways that demonstrated the skills expected from the targeted assessment objectives. There was a tendency, however, for many answers to focus on the first aspect of the question at the expense of the second. Students need guidance on how to approach these questions and how to best demonstrate their sociological understanding. The nature of these questions means that students cannot rely on reciting knowledge. They require students to bring together two aspects of their sociological knowledge in a way that they are unlikely to have done before. Answers will sometimes require claims that students may be unsure of because they do not know of specific evidence (for example, in question 5, whether migrants from Eastern Europe who are single workers tend to live alone or in shared households). However, answers that are sociologically plausible will be accepted. There was a tendency with this question to use examples (such as the Protestant ethic and the Civil Rights Movement) without drawing out a general point in answer to the question. Some wrote about the New Christian Right in the USA but concluded that it had not brought about social change, and so was not a relevant answer.

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• e.g. beliefs that challenge injustice, Protestant ethic and capitalism
• drift into general functionalist/Marxist accounts of religion = 1–3
• examples (Protestant ethic, civil rights) often given without a general point
• New Christian Right not relevant if the answer concludes it caused no change

Mark scheme, including the levels grid and indicative content

Notes from the mark scheme and report

• item hooks: doctrines legitimising existing structures, wealthy churches tied to elites
• top band debates functionalist, Marxist, neo-Marxist, Weberian and feminist views (e.g. Calvinism, liberation theology)
• drifting into secularisation = 5–8