This Getting Ahead work is designed to help get you up to speed before starting your Sociology A Level in September.
Please read through the sections below and complete the optional work.
We are looking forward to meeting you!
Studying Sociology A-level involves questioning and exploring the social structures around us.
We are all directly or indirectly impacted by various social institutions.
For example, the education system, the media and the workplace all shape our behaviour, our beliefs and the opportunities we have.
Our class, gender, ethnicity and age will have a large impact on our experiences within each of these institutions.
Sociologists are interested in explaining why there are inequalities in different areas of society. For example…
Education – Why, on average, do girls achieve more grade 4s compared to boys?
Workplace – Why are nearly 1 million young people (16–24) not in education, employment, or training?
Media – 8-14 year olds spend an average of 2 hours 59 minutes a day online (according to a study by Ofcom), but often girls spend more time online than boys, why is this?
Crime – Why do minority ethnic groups make up around 27% of the total prison population in England and Wales, despite only representing around 18% of the general population?
Different sociologists will have different concepts they use to help answer these questions.
A few sociologists would argue these inequalities result from individual people’s own efforts and personal decisions.
However, many sociologists believe that the reason for these significant differences is due to factors outside of our control in many ways.
These factors are usually linked to our class, gender, ethnicity and age, as well as how different groups of people are treated by people in positions of authority in society.
We have put together the following ‘Getting Ahead’ work to give you a taste of the Youth Culture topic from the first year of Sociology A-level.
This is a topic you will cover during your first year of Sociology A-level at the Havant campus.
We look forward to you starting college with us soon.
Some young people choose to join a youth culture when they are in their teenage years.
Youth cultures can have a significant impact on members as they transition from childhood to adulthood.
In the youth culture topic, we will explore reasons why young people used to join very specific youth subcultures like Punks, Hippies and Goths.
We will also analyse how and why youth culture has changed today.
Optional ‘Getting Ahead’ Work
Research contemporary youth culture and then create a poster to display what you find out.
You could draw up the poster by hand or create it online, whichever you prefer.
Make sure to include any behaviours or beliefs that are important to the youth culture. Include some images or photos too.
Fashion and music are often important to youth cultures.
Some examples of more modern youth subcultures are skaters and VSCO Girls.
Alternatively, as a lot of youth culture is now online, social media like TikTok or Snapchat has a large influence on youth culture. You could focus on how social media has impacted the fashion, music, language, or any trends engaged in by young people.
Additional Information
The term youth culture and youth subculture are often used to mean the same thing, but, technically they are slightly different.
‘Youth culture’ is anything related to the behaviours and beliefs of young people in general, whereas ‘youth subcultures’ are specific groups of young people who have different behaviours and beliefs to other groups of young people and adults.
You can make your poster on youth culture in general or on a specific youth subculture.
Read the article about the recently opened ‘Museum of Youth Culture’.
Watch ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix for a critical analysis of how social media has changed societies around the world, for better and for worse.
