I'm doing sociology with AQA and with all the past papers I've been doing recently, I've been getting 12/12 on every last question without mentioning any sociologists. Of course, I always worry that that might be my teacher's marking and other teachers might be more harsh, but it's not like I wrote my answer thinking it WASN'T worth an A*. The key thing for the 12 markers, my teacher told me, is that you really need to show that you're answering it as a sociology student and not as a regular human who pays attention to the news and society around us.
This means using key terms literally everywhere possible. That's one way of showing your sociological knowledge to the examiner, and knowing sociologists and their research is another way. You could definitely get 12 marks with either approach, however I prefer just using consistent key terms throughout my answers because I think it's easier than just memorising sociologists' names AND their studies.
I'm also aiming for an A* like you, but from my past paper practise, I mostly mess up on the 4 and 5 mark questions! My main issue with 12 markers was not giving an evaluation at the end and running out of time. If you ever do run out of time, make sure you add a conclusion that sums up how far they agree. Where a 3-point essay with a conclusion might get you 9/12 or 10/12 marks, a 3-point essay without a conclusion will cap you with less marks, likely around 6-8 marks.
Also, you want to give yourself at least 15 minutes on the 12 marker, and in my opinion, timings for this exam are criminal. In maths, I'm sitting there with like 20 mins spare but with sociology I'm literally writing til the last second, non-hyperbole. Just make sure you get through the first 4 marks (the easy questions) in 1 or 2 mins to gain some extra time for the 12 mark question.