AQA Sociology A2 - Crime & Deviance module

Hi everyone i'm having a major stress episode. Our apparently "experienced" sociology teacher (who replaced the person I had for AS) is absolute crap. His lessons are meaningless, and the notes he give us provide us with trivial information that has no real value for the exam in summer. I've tried talking to him/speaking to my head of year but this is pointeless and has had no effect. I'm trying to teach myself the module so i'm prepared for it in summer but i'm having no luck. Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated thanks.

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Reply 1

kellywood_5

Oh my God, I'm having exactly the same problem!! For the first term I had an absolutely crap teacher, now she's left and we've supposedly got a new teacher but he hasn't actually bothered turning up to a single lesson yet :rolleyes:

The other class say he's slightly better than the teacher we had before, but still pretty crap, so I've resorted to teaching myself as well. What I'm planning to do is use of combination of textbooks (Sociology for A2, Introduction to Sociology etc) to get all the information, do loads of past papers and ask one of my other 2 teachers, who are both excellent, to mark them.

Reply 2

*starry_eyed_*

omg what is it with sociology teachers? i have two teachers for this module, one is very good and has engaged my interest very well! the other one though is crap, the amount of notes i'm able to make in lesson time is ridiculous. I've just decided that I'm going to make my own notes from text books such as Introduction to Sociology and Socoilogy in Focus. I'll try to get hold of some past papers as well. :rolleyes:

Reply 3

lostinfantasies

We've not even started this module yet! We're focusing on the coursework for the next week, and starting the week after!

Reply 4

sunshine_6

i have only just started but if i get any important helpful work i will put it on this thread if u want

Reply 5

8owman

i have only just started but if i get any important helpful work i will put it on this thread if u want

That would be great thank you.

Good to see that i'm not the only one with this problem. I have one very good teacher that does theory and methods with us, but the other one i mentioned earlier is terrible. What makes it even harder is that he's a really nice bloke so you feel evil saying "i don't have a clue what you're on about-you can't teach". Once i get some decent notes typed up i'll PM them to everyone if youse want them. I'd be glad to receive any also.

Reply 6

Podge

ooo i'll like to recieve them too 8owman. please? when you get some and ill repay the favour.
at the moment...we are just learning how to apply all the stuff we have learnt previously to C & D.

Reply 7

8owman

no problem - i'm typing up some notes on gender and crime at the mo

Reply 8

Podge

you have done that already ^^^ Jesus! (opps Blasphemy! )

Reply 9

8owman

Yeah lol we started the module at the same time as religion. Didn't really help like, i've learnt nothing from my teacher.

Reply 10

gemby!

isnt there an AQA sociology crime and deviance book ?

you could try searching it on amazon or something ...

Reply 11

ogechi

get books out from the library and read them. download d syllabus from internet and follow it

Reply 12

xxAprylxx

We still havent finished the religion module yet. A new teacher has taken over for A2 and she cant teach to save her life. Last week she didnt even bother turning up to one of five lessons because apparently she was ill-but then one of my friends saw her in monsoon!. We are supposed to be moving on to crime and deviance soon but im really worried i wont be prepared for the exam. This year has gone totally t**s up because of this teacher

Reply 13

8owman

I think the majority of sociology teachers are like that. I've had to take things completely into my own hands and teach myself everything. It sounds like a chore but actually, I find that things sink in better when I come up with my own ways to learn things.

Reply 14

sahsum

Hey guys, I studied this module last year and had quite a good teacher.
I'll post the main theories, and the main names linked of each theory, if you look them up in text books or general sociology and crime books you should be able to find the relevant information.

Social Constructionism Becker, Lemert, Cooley
InteractionismRosenhan and Goffman
Labelling theoryJock Young, Stanley Cohen, Chibnall
Functionalism and Control TheoryDurkheim, Merton, Clinard, Hirschi's control theory
Traditional Marxism and Critical Criminology (left idealism) Hall (policing the crisis), Steven Box, Croall, Chambliss, Pearce, Snider
Older subcultural theories Albert Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin, Matza, Miller, Downes, Willmott
Ecological and Environmental theoriesPark, Shaw and McKay (important study), Sutherland, Morris, Bottoms and Skogan
Neo-Marxist and Radical Theories Hebdige, Hall, Gilroy, Brake, Phil Cohen and McRobbie - Marxist Subcultural studies of youth by Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University, Lea and Young (left realism)
New Right Conservative theories R. Clarke, Van den Haag, Charles Murray, Milton Friedman
Ethnicity theories Links with crime stats as a social construction. Examine reasons for 'real' differences in rates by ethnicity e.g. Pryce, Cashmore, Gilroy and Bridges. Sewell, Alexander. Ethnic minorities as victims- Lawrence case and Macpherson report.
Gender theoriesHeidensohn and Pollak. Oakley, McRobbie. Campbell

A book we used quite alot was Invesitgating Crime and Deviance by Moore, and also Haralambos.
Hope this is helpful, I have quite a lot of notes so will try to help you out if you have any queries.

Sarah

Reply 15

8owman

Thanks Sarah :biggrin:

Would u be able to PM me any notes on marxism please?

Reply 16

so_this_is_sam

lol we dont really do anything in our lessons at all, our teacher gets distracted by things like what people are having for dinner, its funny tho. i just use the text book Soc in Focus for A2, its really good. u have ages till the exam..its like the 28th june so dont worry too much !!

Reply 17

8owman

u have ages till the exam

Time flies when you're under pressure though!

Reply 18

Mellie

We haven't started Crime and Deviance yet, and only really started the coursework last week (I just handed in my Methodology and Rationale today). Last year, we started Education really late on and I was concerned but actually did better on Education than I did on Family and Households.

My teacher is as mad as a box, everyone loves her.

Reply 19

8owman

It's really surprising to see how many people have not yet started crime and deviance. We started both religion and crime & deviance from the beginning of the academic year, and after the religion exam in jan, started theory and methods.