Sociology - AQA Unit 4 - Crime and Deviance and Research Methods Jan 2011

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Are you studying the theory and methods stuff as a separate unit in the book as well as the crime and deviances stuff or just the c and d.

You really should consider the "sociological theory" section of the exam as being separate from the crime and deviance section (with the proviso that you will need to link crime and deviance to sociological theory as part of that section).

Consider "sociological theory" as a separate paper (which it was until a couple of years ago). All they've done is collapsed two papers into one so they can - for political reasons - say it's "one unit". It isn't.

Reply 41

IHeartAmerica1993

Original post by Chris.Livesey

Well, it's potentially a BIG area to explain, but as a good rule of thumb it's all basically condensed (as far as the exam / examiners are concerned at A-level) into "Interactionism" - which you'll no-doubt have done quite a bit about.

The key thing to remember, in order to differentiate "Interactionists" from "Structuralists" is the concept of meaning - the idea that we interpret the world differently based on the meanings we give to things (such as people's behaviour). Where structuralists tend to look at how social structures impact on our behaviour, Interactionists tend to argue that this is an insufficient explanation because it neglects the different ways we can interpret the same thing - simple ideas being things like the difference between two people fighting in the street and two people fighting in a boxing ring. In other words, it's not the behaviour itself that's important for our understanding but the context in which that behaviour takes place.

Given that the social world is a symbolic space (think about language and how words symbolise certain things) it follows that the meaning we give to these symbols is going to be crucial in any explanation of how and why people behave in the ways they do. Simple example - think about what the word "crime" symbolises and means to you. Does it mean the same to everyone? And if not, how is this going to explain how and why people behave differently?

Thanks this kind of helped :smile:

My school are rubbish so they haven't taught us anything about interactionsim or action theory grrrr :mad:

Reply 42

Chris.Livesey

If you want a basic introduction to "action" (or micro sociology) perspectives try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYBNRUStZsg&

Alternatively, if notes are more your thing:

A quick'n'dirty overview of:
Weber: http://www.sociology.org.uk/tmweber.pdf
"Interactionism": http://www.sociology.org.uk/tmint.pdf

In terms of crime and deviance, this introduces some key Action ideas and theories: http://www.sociology.org.uk/devtint1.pdf (it may also show you that you probably have done some "action theory" but might not have recognised it for what it is).

This is also an introduction to "the social construction of crime" - a key action theory idea: http://www.sociology.org.uk/A2_deviance.pdf (and as a bonus there's a section on postmodern criminology - always a winner).

Also, have look through this thread - http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=18800767&stat_userid=34271&stat_usergroupid=12&stat_membergroupids=&stat_widgettype=gutter&stat_widgetname=widget_quoted_me
for a general idea about structure and action.

Finally, if nothing else this should help you identify "action / interactionist" ideas, concepts and theories that you can find and look through in whatever textbook you're using.

Reply 43

Brooklyn123

For Unit 4, Question 3 is 'an essay on Theory and Methods' Does this mean we could get a question on straight theory, or straight methods?! there's all ready to much content, will be very annoying to have to learn loads of theory case studies on top of everything else

Reply 44

Chris.Livesey

Unfortunately the answer's "yes" - you could get a question on theory, methods or indeed both.

The thing to do is to have a look at past papers for this Unit (both crime and deviance and stratification and differentiation) because this will give you some idea of the type of questions asked.

Reply 45

Jeanie.m

This exam is impossible! Im taking it in January too and am actually dreading it.
I have barely revised because I just do not know where to start which isn't helped by the fact that I have a pretty uninspiring and poor teacher.
Despite getting an A last year I find this exam so content heavy and confusing in terms of knowing what to expect going in to the exam I'm worried I wont even get a C!!!
So glad to know that I am not the only one feeling this way though
Any good advice would be largely appreciated on how to get some motivation and learn what I need to know! :s-smilie:

Reply 46

Jade2009

Does anyone know if there are any particular topics that are more likely to come up in the exam, or is there no way of knowing? It would help a lot as there's a lot of course content.

Reply 47

sarp

Does anyone know what came up in the June 2010 paper? And perhaps Jan 2010 too, it might help us see what *could* come up in ours!

I've found Sociology extremely tedious and boring this year - perhaps 'cause I was doing Crime in Psych too but I don't know a thing and the exam is in what... 22 days D: Oops.

Any ideas on how to revise?!

Reply 48

clairelou92

Original post by sarp

Well ive revised by making small revision cards for each section in my folder and im also just learning 2 or 3 sociologists names or theories for each section (e.g. Merton and the American Dream).

Just make 3 or 4 cards per section with just basic info on and this will trigger stuff you have already unconsciously learnt in your lessons and keeping going through all the cards

Once you have done that, you can then just make a simple grid on A4 card with the titles of every section and just a few names and words (terminology) underneath each title

This is how i revise and it works after a while :smile:

(Though it is time-consuming- Its took me about 2 months when ive been working on itfor 2 hours a day......if your struggling for time just make the grid)

Hope this helps you!!

Reply 49

Lily B

Anyone have any ideas on what they think is coming up?
January 2010 paper had Ethnicity & Crime, Feminism C&D and Unstructured Interviews.
June 2010 paper had Conflict theorists C&D, Is Sociology a Science and Covert PO

We were told that Experiments is a hgih probability of coming up and perhaps questionnaires.
Also maybe Crime & Media.

Anyone else got their own ideas?

Reply 50

tpettitt

Right Darls,
I have never used this before!! And really do not have any idea how to use this!! But- does anyone have any idea what the question for crime and deviance will be??????????????????

Im actually disgusted with the amount of information we have to learn!! Its a bloody joke!! Im freaking out, my teacher is freaking out!!!

So anyone in the same boat???

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 51

molly2005

i did it last year! and managed to get an A, serioulsy the content wasn't too bad :smile:

Good luck.

Reply 52

Jade2009

Original post by molly2005

i did it last year! and managed to get an A, serioulsy the content wasn't too bad :smile:

Good luck.

Hey, well done on your A! :biggrin:

I was just wondering if you have any general revision tips that might help for this exam? It's not long away now so the worrying is starting to begin :p:

Thanks!

Reply 53

molly2005

I did so many mind maps on each page of the book! however i took a chance and didn't learn much research meths and it paid off because it was a Feminst theory question! and it was quite an easy question!

I tihnk i just got lucky on my paper! as we were the first group of people to sit the exam as it being a new spec.

:smile:

Reply 54

geekaymillay.

The amount of content we have to learn for this unit is ridiculous... like really really ridiculous.

Reply 55

IHeartAmerica1993

Original post by geekaymillay.

The amount of content we have to learn for this unit is ridiculous... like really really ridiculous.

Ain't that the truth brother. I suppose the good news is that the examiners know this so the grade boundaries are fairly low. I think it's like roughly 65% for an A and 50% for a B... well I hope at least!

Reply 56

molly2005

I think i got 108/120 and got an A :smile:

Reply 57

IHeartAmerica1993

Apparentely they're changing the spec. for next year- they're going to make it easier by getting rid of the methods question. Hopefully seeing as we're the last lot (except for the people doing it in June)- they'll give us a fairly nice question.
All I'm praying is that a social action theory question doesn't come up in the theory section- I don't understand it at all!! Anything else I think I'll be able to cope with.

Reply 58

sweety.c

I am absolutely sh*ting it cos I attended my lessons, and it would go in one ear, and out the other. It's soooooooo bad plus ima negative person so im absolutely brickin it now.. and the revision for this kills it cos nothink makes sense at all.. I MEAN AT ALL... i just wanna know roughly what kinda questions will be coming up otherwise theres no hope for meeeeee :confused: